Bicycle Mechanics - Recommendations for bicycle maintenance book?

I’m about to buy a repair and maintenance book so I can become an expert at tweaking my Mtb and so I can spew off all kinds of wisdom to less informed Bike Forum members. Can someone recommend a good bicycle maintenance book?


:beer:

This question comes up from time to time. I'll save you having to do a quick search though. Lennard Zinn's book "Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance" and "Bicycling Magazine's Complete Guide to Bicycle Repair and Maintnance" by Jim Langley are two highly regarded manuals.

And see this thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20639&highlight=Barnetts) for the index to a free, online, downloadable Barnett's Manual which has more technical information than a home mechanic will ever need.

Have fun!

Another great online source if information is at Sheldon Brown's web site, many her consider him a cycling guru.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/articles.html

Enjoy!

Originally posted by RegularGuy
Lennard Zinn's book "Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance"

This is truely a great book! I find it indispensible.

At the suggestion of another forum member I picked up 'Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenace'. I own a couple of other books that have been helpful but this one is the best.

Ditto the Zinn. I've used all these other resources, many of which are excellent, but it's usually Zinn that ends up getting me through unfamiliar repairs. I just wish the book was spiral-bound.

RichC

Another great source of info is the Park Tools website: http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQindex.shtml If you are good at following directions, this is one of the very best.

as a bike mech the best suggestion anyone can give you is to tinker and develop your skill you cant make too many mistakes go for it man and p0ay attn ask questions at your shop i have read most bike mech books out there and most of the crap in the books is toilet paper i think the worst part about bike mechs are the special tools 100 bucks will set you up with every thing you need less a stand good luck dog

Thanks for all the tips!

I kind of want info in book form, as it is handier then dragging the computer to the bike or vice versa. I have always tinkered with my bike and let my bike technician handle the important jobs. My skills have improved and so has my tool collection, I want to learn more about the appropriate techniques and about proper assembly and adjustments.

Gordon: You can read what is on the Park Tool website to get a feel for what to do. You can print the salient pages to take with you to your work area. The sections on how to set up and maintain your derailluers are the best that I have ever seen. You cannot have too much information.

Nice bookmarks. :D

A volume of Barnette's Manuals, the book by Zinn, and a lot practice worked for me!

-Moab

Speaking of Barnetts, I have an essentially new, latest edition, four-volume set of Barnetts Manuals. Anyone interested?

The Zinn book is listed at $28.00 Cdn. so I think I will just print off the information I need and make my own Book. I will spend that money on tools.
Thanks again for the links and tips.
Gordon p

:beer:

The Barnettes guide seems to have been removed, is this so? Do you know if it exists elsewhere on the web? I just got myself a Claud Butler Classic, and although the shop did plenty of setup on it for me there were some adjustments (particularly with the front derailleur) that weren't obvious at that time - the chain rubs when on the middle cog regardless of which rear gear I am in, and the v brakes need adjusting. I assume this should be a simple thing to do, but rather than take it back to the shop I'd quite like to explore the bike for myself and work out how to do things. Previously I only knew my old Dawes with levers, so indexed gears and v brakes are totally new to me.

A new edition of Zinn's road bike book is due out later this year, to match the new edition of his mountain bike book which came out this last spring. I think November is the scheduled timeframe.

A new edition of Zinn's road bike book is due out later this year, to match the new edition of his mountain bike book which came out this last spring. I think November is the scheduled timeframe.

Amazon link (http://tinyurl.com/9wasv) says Nov 9.


Product Details

* Paperback: 360 pages
* Publisher: VeloPress; 2nd edition (November 9, 2005)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 1931382697

You can pre-order, though.