Sheffield_Tiger
Legendary Member
As the title, any suggestions for a good book for teaching bicycle assembly/maintenance
Not for me, I've had an "interesting" day trying to show a group of 6 novices at 2 shops stocking BSO's from the dire to the acceptable entry level, the basics of cycle assembly. Interesting day, we had it all, a shocking quality bike to perfectly illustrate the difficulties of low-grade unbranded mismatched components, perfect for showing them the otherwise overlooked things as it had play in the threaded headset - picked another with a threadless to strip and show them the difference.
Thankfully none of my students were that bad they put the forks back to front.
Got another bike to show them front indexing - thought it would be a doddle as it did have EZ-fire shifters but, ideally for showing the problems and best set-up, the front mech had been factory fitted about 3/4" too high, chain slapping on the bottom plate and indexed shifting non-existant
I think they got as much as could be expected out of a mere 4 hour session (punctuated with 1/2 hr lunch) and at least I delivered them some basic tools. Unfortunately we never got as far as cassettes vs freewheels (& drivers for the BMX models), wheel bearings, cone spanners and bottom brackets/cranks.
I think the bast thing I can do since I can't be there, is to furnish each store with an easy to read illustrated guide.
Never having read either from a novice viewpoint, perhaps one of the 3 I remember from a while back (if they are still updated) would be suitable?
Not for me, I've had an "interesting" day trying to show a group of 6 novices at 2 shops stocking BSO's from the dire to the acceptable entry level, the basics of cycle assembly. Interesting day, we had it all, a shocking quality bike to perfectly illustrate the difficulties of low-grade unbranded mismatched components, perfect for showing them the otherwise overlooked things as it had play in the threaded headset - picked another with a threadless to strip and show them the difference.
Thankfully none of my students were that bad they put the forks back to front.
Got another bike to show them front indexing - thought it would be a doddle as it did have EZ-fire shifters but, ideally for showing the problems and best set-up, the front mech had been factory fitted about 3/4" too high, chain slapping on the bottom plate and indexed shifting non-existant
I think they got as much as could be expected out of a mere 4 hour session (punctuated with 1/2 hr lunch) and at least I delivered them some basic tools. Unfortunately we never got as far as cassettes vs freewheels (& drivers for the BMX models), wheel bearings, cone spanners and bottom brackets/cranks.
I think the bast thing I can do since I can't be there, is to furnish each store with an easy to read illustrated guide.
Never having read either from a novice viewpoint, perhaps one of the 3 I remember from a while back (if they are still updated) would be suitable?
- Haynes Bike Book?
- Richard Ballantyne's Bicycle Book?
- Rob Van Der Plas' Bicycle Repair
- or other?
