Good book to get a serious newbie started on bike repair?
07-16-05, 03:24 PM
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Good book to get a serious newbie started on bike repair?
Hi all,
I've been commuting by bike for about a year and a half but have started to get more seriously into riding since buying my first "nice" bike - a Giant Cypress hybrid that I l.o.v.e. (though I have to admit that after a number of months of being thrilled at how fast and light it is compared to my old mountain bike, I'm already starting to fantasize about getting my first road bike). Loving my bike is making me want to learn how to take care of it myself, so I recently bought Lennard Zinn's book on Mountain Bike maintenance (the guy at the shop thought it would make more sense as a manual for hybrids than a book that focuses on road bikes).
It seems like a conscientiously written book, but for a true novice like me it's pretty frustrating. For every one term Zinn uses that you can look up in the glossary, there are five or six that he doesn't bother to define. I feel like I'm reading a foreign language.
It's only been a few weeks since I started studying this stuff, and I know that some things just ARE confusing at first. I'm happy to be patient. But I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a better starters book. I feel like there must be something out there that really helps you get oriented to the bike.
Any ideas?
I've been commuting by bike for about a year and a half but have started to get more seriously into riding since buying my first "nice" bike - a Giant Cypress hybrid that I l.o.v.e. (though I have to admit that after a number of months of being thrilled at how fast and light it is compared to my old mountain bike, I'm already starting to fantasize about getting my first road bike). Loving my bike is making me want to learn how to take care of it myself, so I recently bought Lennard Zinn's book on Mountain Bike maintenance (the guy at the shop thought it would make more sense as a manual for hybrids than a book that focuses on road bikes).
It seems like a conscientiously written book, but for a true novice like me it's pretty frustrating. For every one term Zinn uses that you can look up in the glossary, there are five or six that he doesn't bother to define. I feel like I'm reading a foreign language.
It's only been a few weeks since I started studying this stuff, and I know that some things just ARE confusing at first. I'm happy to be patient. But I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a better starters book. I feel like there must be something out there that really helps you get oriented to the bike.
Any ideas?
07-16-05, 03:56 PM
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Zinn is an excellent book. Stick with it. You should also go to www.sheldonbrown.com and do some reading. Sheldon Brown has lots of excellent articles on nearly every aspect of bike repair from simple to complex. Sheldon Brown has an comprehensive glossary to help with unfamiliar terms. Also see www.parktool.com for good info on specific repairs.
