Advice Wanted- Beginner Biker, Which Repair Manual to Buy

Bob Sims Lie Detector

Hi, I'm new to biking and am looking for a decent Repair/Advice Manual
for my city/road bike, so I don't have to keep going to the bike shop
when the thing breaks down. I've read reviews on Amazon of authors
like Leonard Zinn, etc, but there seems to be a lot of choice.. anyone
got any recommendations to make? I'm not looking at high-level stuff,
more a well-diagrammed, straightforward manual which includes most of
the common problems a bike owner would come across and solutions to
solve them. Thanks

Ken

bob_sims_lie_detector@yahoo.co.uk (Bob Sims Lie Detector) wrote in
news:9b8e5b60.0404210837.6e6ed4a6@posting.google.com:
> Hi, I'm new to biking and am looking for a decent Repair/Advice Manual
> for my city/road bike, so I don't have to keep going to the bike shop
> when the thing breaks down. I've read reviews on Amazon of authors
> like Leonard Zinn

The Zinn books are good. The Haynes book has better diagrams. I recommend
getting both. If one confuses you, read the other one, too.

DRS

Bob Sims Lie Detector <bob_sims_lie_detector@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in
message 9b8e5b60.0404210837.6e6ed4a6@posting.google.com
> Hi, I'm new to biking and am looking for a decent Repair/Advice Manual
> for my city/road bike, so I don't have to keep going to the bike shop
> when the thing breaks down. I've read reviews on Amazon of authors
> like Leonard Zinn, etc, but there seems to be a lot of choice.. anyone
> got any recommendations to make? I'm not looking at high-level stuff,
> more a well-diagrammed, straightforward manual which includes most of
> the common problems a bike owner would come across and solutions to
> solve them. Thanks

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=38747

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Paul Southworth

In article <9b8e5b60.0404210837.6e6ed4a6@posting.google.com>,
Bob Sims Lie Detector <bob_sims_lie_detector@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>Hi, I'm new to biking and am looking for a decent Repair/Advice Manual
>for my city/road bike, so I don't have to keep going to the bike shop
>when the thing breaks down. I've read reviews on Amazon of authors
>like Leonard Zinn,

The Zinn book is pretty good, there isn't any book I'd recommend
over it, unless you would be happy with a shop manual like
Sutherland's or Barnett's.

William Holiday

On 21 Apr 2004 09:37:34 -0700, bob_sims_lie_detector@yahoo.co.uk (Bob Sims Lie
Detector) wrote:

<Hi, I'm new to biking and am looking for a decent Repair/Advice Manual
<for my city/road bike, so I don't have to keep going to the bike shop
<when the thing breaks down. I've read reviews on Amazon of authors
<like Leonard Zinn, etc, but there seems to be a lot of choice.. anyone
<got any recommendations to make? I'm not looking at high-level stuff,
<more a well-diagrammed, straightforward manual which includes most of
<the common problems a bike owner would come across and solutions to
<solve them. Thanks

Bike to your nearest library.

Werehatrack

On 21 Apr 2004 09:37:34 -0700, bob_sims_lie_detector@yahoo.co.uk (Bob
Sims Lie Detector) may have said:

>Hi, I'm new to biking and am looking for a decent Repair/Advice Manual
>for my city/road bike, so I don't have to keep going to the bike shop
>when the thing breaks down. I've read reviews on Amazon of authors
>like Leonard Zinn, etc, but there seems to be a lot of choice.. anyone
>got any recommendations to make?

The Zinn book is a very good place to start, but might I suggest
checking to see if it's in your public library? Checking it out and
reading it may help you decide whether it's worth buying a copy.
They'll probably have some of the others available as well.

Don't expect any book to be right up to the minute on bleeding-edge
high-performance gear, but don't bother with a book that's so obsolete
that it doesn't recognize the existence of stuff that's common today
like brifters, 8- and 9-speed cassettes, etc.

Oh, and if you have a mountain bike with a suspension fork, bear in
mind that the fork's servicing procedures are unlikely to be in any
book. There are enough different fork designs to fill a good-sized
book without ever mentioning the rest of the bike.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Ryan Cousineau

In article <pc7e809l3uo7fgca3a4rgepp9lvk3a66ke@4ax.com>,
Werehatrack <rault00@earthWEEDSlink.net> wrote:

> On 21 Apr 2004 09:37:34 -0700, bob_sims_lie_detector@yahoo.co.uk (Bob
> Sims Lie Detector) may have said:
>
> >Hi, I'm new to biking and am looking for a decent Repair/Advice Manual
> >for my city/road bike,

> The Zinn book is a very good place to start, but might I suggest
> checking to see if it's in your public library? Checking it out and
> reading it may help you decide whether it's worth buying a copy.
> They'll probably have some of the others available as well.

I'm happy with the Zinn: I got the mountain bike book for my father,
then it came to live at my house (some gift! Well, I did give him a
bike). There's a lot of overlap between the road and mountain bike
books. So much so that I'd recommend getting the one appropriate to your
main bike and adapting as necessary. Bike maintenance isn't rocket
science.

That said, the Barnett's (available online) is the bible of bike
maintenance, but it covers stuff that just isn't ever going to happen to
most home mechanics (are you planning to re-face your bottom bracket?),
and it's expensive. But that one can be scrounged up from online sources.

Then you get people like me: I now own my own dropout alignment tool. No
reason, it's the sort of thing that just happens sometimes.

> Oh, and if you have a mountain bike with a suspension fork, bear in
> mind that the fork's servicing procedures are unlikely to be in any
> book. There are enough different fork designs to fill a good-sized
> book without ever mentioning the rest of the bike.

On that note, I cannot speak for other fork-makers, but Marzocchi has
what appears to be the service manuals for every darned fork they ever
made available online. It came in very handy when I re-did my 1997 Z.2.
--
Ryan Cousineau, rcousine@sfu.ca http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

sfcommuter

Bob Sims Lie De wrote:
> Hi, I'm new to biking and am looking for a decent Repair/Advice Manual
> for my city/road bike, so I don't have to keep going to the bike shop
> when the thing breaks down. I've read reviews on Amazon of authors like
> Leonard Zinn, etc, but there seems to be a lot of choice.. anyone got
> any recommendations to make? I'm not looking at high-level stuff, more a
> well-diagrammed, straightforward manual which includes most of the
> common problems a bike owner would come across and solutions to solve
> them. Thanks



I own Hayes, Zinn (got both cheap/used) and Barnetts (new 5th edition
- note that the version you can download online is the 4th edition
from 2000 ).

If you don't want to spend too much money, I'd get Hayes or Zinn (used
or from Amazon), but there is so much useful info online that you don't
even need those necessarily. I find it's useful to cross reference
because some sources cover issues better than others.

Since I'm currently building up a road bike from scratch, I appreciate
the level of detail in Barnetts and can spend hours looking at exploded
diagrams of brifters but it's overkill for just general maintenance tips
and the older online version is fine unless you're a fanatic about up-to-
date detail.



--

A Muzi

Bob Sims Lie Detector wrote:

> Hi, I'm new to biking and am looking for a decent Repair/Advice Manual
> for my city/road bike, so I don't have to keep going to the bike shop
> when the thing breaks down. I've read reviews on Amazon of authors
> like Leonard Zinn, etc, but there seems to be a lot of choice.. anyone
> got any recommendations to make? I'm not looking at high-level stuff,
> more a well-diagrammed, straightforward manual which includes most of
> the common problems a bike owner would come across and solutions to
> solve them. Thanks
Peruse Anybody's Bike Book, completely approachable to the
novice.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971