Recommend a bike maintenance book

[GordyFaeEdinburgh]

Thought about getting the Park Tools Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair - Volume II after I happened across it on a website, but then I realised that it might be a total waste of cash and maybe someone here could recommend another book.

So ... any suggestions?

Ideally it would cover suspension forks, hydraulic disc brakes and the other assorted gubbins that are likely to go wrong on my mountain bike.

 

[Garz]

I bought myself one from whsmith (total bike repair & maintenance) for about £11, which was ok. Then my friend gave me the big blue book as a present about a fortnight later which is far superior (he must have heard me mention it the swine).

 

[GordyFaeEdinburgh]

You'd recommend it then? Or is it just better than the WH Smith one?

Had a look around and Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance seems to be well regarded too.

 

[Garz]

The WHSmiths one is great if your a tightwad (like me), however as I have them both I would highly recommend the park one as its superior in comparison.

 

[HJ]

There plenty of on-line resources which are free...

 

[trustysteed]

i saw 'Bike Repair And Maintenance For Dummies' in Waterstones today. Seemed OK, has anybody else got it and could recommend it to GFE?

 

[GordyFaeEdinburgh]

> There plenty of on-line resources which are free...

Good point, that man. The Book of Google.

 

[Bodhbh]

There plenty of on-line resources which are free...

Probably come across as playing to the gallery, but it's fair to say I've either posting on this forum, searching the archives or checking the manufacturers literature online, far more use to sort out any queries on bike maintenance or repair than the couple of text books I have.

 

[Dayvo]

Cycling Plus have a maintenance magazine out in the newsagents at the moment. It looks quite good and seems to be pretty comprehensive!

 

[Maizie]

Online is good because you can find the answer to pretty much everything.
Where books win for me is that I can be sat out on my driveway with the book next to me, so I have the reassurance of step-by-step help there (I even have a copy of the "how to fix a p*nct*re" page in my pannier - I've only had to do this once in my life to date [oh, I'm going to regret saying that on the way home], and it was very nice to have instructions with me!)
My computer can't come out on to the driveway/into the garage with me (yeah, I know, get a laptop and wireless wotnot, but I don't need to, I've already got a book!)

 

[bicyclerubber]

Online is good - sheldon brown's site is a gold mine

If its books you want though, you can't go far wrong with

Zinn and the Art of MTB maintenance

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike maintenance

 

[OLDSHUNTER]

what book?

Haynes the bike book 4th edition complete bicycle maintenance.
It's cover's everything you mentioned plus more would recommend or go to local libary go through there bike maintenance books then buy the one you prefer ? but to save you all the hassle thats got what you want.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Online is good because you can find the answer to pretty much everything.
Where books win for me is that I can be sat out on my driveway with the book next to me, so I have the reassurance of step-by-step help there (I even have a copy of the "how to fix a p*nct*re" page in my pannier - I've only had to do this once in my life to date [oh, I'm going to regret saying that on the way home], and it was very nice to have instructions with me!)
My computer can't come out on to the driveway/into the garage with me (yeah, I know, get a laptop and wireless wotnot, but I don't need to, I've already got a book!)

easy answer - print the pages you require off the website, take with you to driveway, they can get covered with oil, no hass - weigh down with stone if windy.