Bike mechanic book recommendations

Wheardo

Hi there,

Loving having a nose through the forums. Fairly new to road and love it love it, but finding there's so much to learn, so much choice it's a veritable minefield!

I was just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a good book that goes through the basics of bike maintenance. There's a fair few out there so any suggestions would be greatly received. I don't plan to start changing cables just yet but I also don't want a trip to the bike shop every time my gears need adjusting etc.

CiB

Never used any tbh but keep seeing the Haynes Bike Maintenance book which seems to cover most bases.

Phill B

Youtube, you will find all you will ever need on there.

arthur_scrimshaw

I use this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Park-Tool-Blue- ... B001B6NAW2

works for me

nicklouse

the links in my sig. and the part makers webbys for anything new.

Wheardo

Thanks for the suggestions, don't want to go poking around cluelessly!

Hoopdriver

Zinn and The Art of Road Bike Maintanence is excellent. Far, far better than the Haynes mentioned above. Another to consider is the Park Tools Blue Book. Park Tools also has an excellent website with videos and a great deal of authoritative advice.

g00se

+1 for Zinn and The Art of Road Bike Maintenance - VERY detailed and road bike specific. It covers vagaries of carbon and different groupsets. etc.

Between that - plus the Park Tools and Sheldon Brown websites - it all be just about covered.

simona75

There are some ok smartphone apps for bike maintenance. I've got one (bikerepairapp). They dont have the detail of a book or some of the websites but are quite useful if you have a problem while out and about

Wheardo

Ah, smartphone app sound like it might be a useful quicklook guide.

How do you guys with the Zinn book find the illustrations? Seen a few reviews saying the detail is good, but the text is a little dense and the diags are a bit rubbish?
May have to add a couple to the amazon wishlist!

mellow velo

I bought the Park Tools Blue Book but found myself referring to the video explanations either on YouTube or the Park Tools website which is far easier to understand than a book imo, especially when it came to wrapping bar tape.

peejay78

the interweb, as someone else mentioned, has everything you could need.

Hoopdriver

Wheardo wrote:

Ah, smartphone app sound like it might be a useful quicklook guide.

How do you guys with the Zinn book find the illustrations? Seen a few reviews saying the detail is good, but the text is a little dense and the diags are a bit rubbish?
May have to add a couple to the amazon wishlist!

Zinn's text is very readable. That's one of the things I like about it. I certainly never had any problems with the diagrams. In fact I find them better thn photographs, since the exploded diagrams and dotted lines make the assembly and re-assembly much easier to comprehend. I find the Zinn book the best, followed by Park's which feels more clinical to me.