Bicycle Maintenance Books

2wheelgood

Retro Newbie
Ok Experts...

Which Bike Maintenance Manual is the best for getting a novice started on basic repairs and maintenance?

We have road bikes, old school ones.

I am looking at
Essential Bicycle Maintenance & Repair by Daimeon Shanks
and
The Bike Book by Mike Storey

Comments appreciated
 
To be honest a search of the net will answer pretty much anything. YouTube has thousands of videos on maintenance and repair.

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is a good all round guide :)
 
Welcome to your very own personal guru; Mr. Sheldon Brown :).

As a mechanical novice myself, I've found the internet to be the greatest most immediate source of information available to the home mechanic - YouTube, RetroBike Forum or just good ole' Google - you should be able to find all your require with a lil' searching.

Having said that, I have sound it useful to have a textbook present, if for nothing other than reference. I can't speak of Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance as I don't own it but I've heard some very positive feedback from those who do. I own the a couple of versions of the Haynes Manuals for Bicycles and I find them to be clear, concise and the elements of repair and maintenance are photographed clearly. I also own Bicycling Magazine's Illustrated Guide to Bicycle Maintenance and I would recommend this book for the same reasons as the Haynes manual.

Best of luck, I hope my advice helps :).
 
For me, the Barnett Manual is the terrier's testicles as far as bike manuals go.
It is much more detailed and breaks things down into clearer steps than most other manuals.

You have to pay for the latest editions, but you might get lucky and find
an older pdf edition if you search for a bit.

The Park Tool site is also pretty good, with decent photos and some fairly clear explanations.

Good luck,

Johnny
 
If you like books, like me, Zinn is hard to beat, for all the other associated problems that the book can't help with there is here and Sheldon Brown - i doubt you will ever be beaten with any problem following that advice!!
 
The Steve Snowling and Ken Evans book ("Bicycle Mechanics" I think) is the one I like - not as much detailed "how to" information but a great insight into the life of a pro mechanic and some good tips along the way.
It's completely out of date with the modern stuff, but then so is most of what's in my garage... :D
 
Another vote for Zinn, he knows his stuff (and I like reading his column on velonews).

Nice, easy to follow guide to all the things you need to do to build a bike and maintain it.

My first ever bike build was done by following this book, and it never failed me.
 
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