Building a road bike - Books to assist

Chris1178

Hi all

I'm new to this forum and wanted some advice on a book that would help me to build up my road bike. Been cycling for about 20 yrs now and just had my old frame resprayed.

Want to attempt to build it up myself (I have some experience but not loads!).

Seen a book (Zinn & Art of Road bike maint) and wondered if anyone has any views on whether this is good to help me or not?? Or any others??


Thanks
Chris

slowbike

What are you expecting the book to tell you?

If you've been cycling for about 20 years you should've picked up a fair bit of fettling knowledge ... more than mine I expect!

nicklouse

why waste money on outof date paper?

Parktools covers everything you could need to know and then use the makers sites for any part specific info.

you then have the latest and greatest to hard rather than waiting for some paper that does not cover anything new?

Ok Zinn might be good if you are a retro person but so does Sheldons pages.

links below.

arlowood

Have built up 4 framesets over the past couple of years ranging from vintage carbon (Trek 5200) to my current Genesis Equilibrium steel disc bike.

Like you I had been cycling for many years and had a bit of fettling knowledge.

However I opted to tackle the first build by using YouTube videos and also consulting on this forum if there was an issue that YouTube did not address directly. The Park Tools website is also an excellent source of tech advice

http://www.parktool.com/videos?blog=repair-help

and

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... aintenance

Go ahead and buy a book by all means but I'm not sure you will get value for money based on what is out there for free on "tinterweb"

Chris1178

Slowbike wrote:

What are you expecting the book to tell you?

If you've been cycling for about 20 years you should've picked up a fair bit of fettling knowledge ... more than mine I expect!

I suppose you're probably right. although when i joined my first club i was only 14 ish and my technical knowledge hasn't improved that much! I remember my mum & dad always steering clear when i got my tools out cos they reckoned i could take something apart but when it came to putting back together i was stumped! :roll:

I'm probably more patient nowadays though!

Chris1178

arlowood wrote:

Have built up 4 framesets over the past couple of years ranging from vintage carbon (Trek 5200) to my current Genesis Equilibrium steel disc bike.

Like you I had been cycling for many years and had a bit of fettling knowledge.

However I opted to tackle the first build by using YouTube videos and also consulting on this forum if there was an issue that YouTube did not address directly. The Park Tools website is also an excellent source of tech advice

http://www.parktool.com/videos?blog=repair-help

and

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... aintenance

Go ahead and buy a book by all means but I'm not sure you will get value for money based on what is out there for free on "tinterweb"

Thanks. I have been watching some of these videos recently to try and brush up on knowledge etc. I think i'm probably just a bit nervous about making a mess! but it does look relatively straight forward from these videos so i'll probably use these as a start point as you say...

Thanks everyone for the advice.... Picking the frame (Ribble - Reynolds 531) up on Sat and i'm quite excited! It was bought for me as a 16th birthday present from my parents so it has sentimental value. Had a bit of a job though convincing the wife that i need a summer AND winter bike!

slowbike

Chris1178 wrote:

Had a bit of a job though convincing the wife that i need a summer AND winter bike!

You need to sort that out PDQ ... it's not a "Summer bike" and "Winter bike" - it's main bike 1, main bike 2, mountain bike 1, CX bike 1, commuting bike 1, commuting bike 2, fixy bike 1, track bike 1 etc ...

then you need spare wheelsets ...

arlowood

Chris1178 wrote:

Thanks everyone for the advice.... Picking the frame (Ribble - Reynolds 531) up on Sat and i'm quite excited! It was bought for me as a 16th birthday present from my parents so it has sentimental value. Had a bit of a job though convincing the wife that i need a summer AND winter bike!

When does the frame date from then?

Pretty sure it will have standard English BSA threaded bottom bracket so you will be fine with any of the Shimano Hollowtech stuff. However you just need to check the width between rear drop-outs. On some older bikes it might be 126mm rather than the current standard 130mm. If it is 126mm then you will be limited in terms of the gearing as you may have to rely on a freewheel type hub rather than the current freehub/cassette combinations. I think 8 speed is the max for a freewheel type hub but I may be wrong.

However you may be able to have the rear seat/chainstays splayed to take a standard 130mm hub but that would probably have to be done by a bike shop at extra cost.

letap73

I used this + looked at their series of you tube videos to build my bike:

http://www.flocycling.com/buildabike.php

Chris1178

arlowood wrote:

Chris1178 wrote:

Thanks everyone for the advice.... Picking the frame (Ribble - Reynolds 531) up on Sat and i'm quite excited! It was bought for me as a 16th birthday present from my parents so it has sentimental value. Had a bit of a job though convincing the wife that i need a summer AND winter bike!

When does the frame date from then?

Pretty sure it will have standard English BSA threaded bottom bracket so you will be fine with any of the Shimano Hollowtech stuff. However you just need to check the width between rear drop-outs. On some older bikes it might be 126mm rather than the current standard 130mm. If it is 126mm then you will be limited in terms of the gearing as you may have to rely on a freewheel type hub rather than the current freehub/cassette combinations. I think 8 speed is the max for a freewheel type hub but I may be wrong.

However you may be able to have the rear seat/chainstays splayed to take a standard 130mm hub but that would probably have to be done by a bike shop at extra cost.

I was 16 in nov94. Lbs confirmed width of drop outs at 130mm so should be good for 10spd apparently. Hope the hollowtech stuff does fit cos that's what I've been ordering! Fingers crossed!!

keef66

1994 vintage and 130mm dropout spacing you should be OK with modern wheels and BS threaded bottom brackets. And headsets for threaded steerers are still widely available.

When I helped my son tart up an 80's Peugeot I managed to true the original wheels and find a 7 speed freewheel to fit. BB shell was BS threaded so fitted a new square taper cartridge BB. Had to replace the downtube shifters and both brake calipers because they were simply too corroded / knackered. New long drop calipers don't look too out of place and I found some NOS DT shifters that do look the part. The headset bearings were also shot so replaced the whole thing with some cheap but functional Ritchey job.

Very satisfying renovating a bike on a shoestring

DeVlaeminck

nicklouse wrote:

why waste money on outof date paper?

Parktools covers everything you could need to know and then use the makers sites for any part specific info.

you then have the latest and greatest to hard rather than waiting for some paper that does not cover anything new?

Ok Zinn might be good if you are a retro person but so does Sheldons pages.

links below.

Very good advice and worth repeating - the internet offers some excellent tutorials with video that even a decent book like Zinn (which I did buy a few years back when I was in the same position of building my first bike) can't replicate. Even stuff like rebuilding campag shifters is doable for a novice using the youtube vids. The one thing I would add is do take your time and things are a lot easier if you have the correct tool for the job - or at least a decent recommendation of how to make do without.