Product Details
The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance and Repair: For Road and Mountain Bikes(Expanded and Revised 5th Edition)

The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance and Repair: For Road and Mountain Bikes(Expanded and Revised 5th Edition)
By Todd Downs

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Average customer review:
Bicycling: One of the greenest modes of transport! Know someone that could use a few pointers to get back in action?

Product Description

This revised, updated, expanded fifth edition is indispensable-with all the latest models, parts, and repair techniques, and terrific money-saving tips to keep any ride in tip-top shapeSince its first publication, Bicycling Magazine's Complete Guide to Bicycle Maintenance and Repair has sold over 400,000 copies. The fifth edition is guaranteed to remain the category killer. This long-overdue update is a must-have for weekend riders and serious cyclists alike. Whether they own the latest model or a classic with thousands of miles on it, beginners and experienced cyclists alike can depend on this book to get their bikes out of the shop faster and keep them on the road longer. They'll discover information on:o Building a dream bike workshopo Disc brakes, both cable-actuated and hydraulico Dialing in front and rear suspension shocks for comfortable rideso The latest crankset and bottom bracket designso Overhauling freewheels and cassettes for peak performanceo Specs on all the latest handlebar and headset sizeso Servicing clipless pedals for maximum safetyWith troubleshooting sections to quickly identify and correct common problems, 450 photographs and 40 drawings to clarify all the step-by-step directions so even the complete neophyte can get repairs right the first time, and Web sites and phone numbers of bicycle and parts manufacturers, this is truly the ultimate bicycle repair and maintenance manual-now better than ever in its fifth edition!

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #2045 in Books
  • Published on: 2005-03-16
  • Released on: 2005-02-24
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 384 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
TODD DOWNS is a self-taught, full-time wrench since 1989. He's built wheels that were raced in the 2003 UCI Cyclocross World Championships and prepared a bike for an Olympic hopeful's trip to the 2004 Summer Olympic Trials. Downs has been published in DirtRag magazine and serves as an editor of MTBJournal.com. He currently resides in the Boston area.

Customer Reviews

Great Pictures5
The photos are really detailed and clearly explain what the text is referring to. Highly recommended.

Great bicycle repair manual5
This is a great book for anyone wanting to save money and do their own bike maintenance and repairs. It's straightforward, easy to understand, and has lots of pictures to guide you through the process. I highly recommend it.

Decent, but best for rank novices4
I bought this book and the Zinn book at the same time. Both books have good illustrations, but this book is much less detailed and helpful. It is VERY basic and leaves out detail needed to really tune anything to any extent.

Having said that, this book does a fair job of showing how to do routine maintanence/repairs. It spends time describing things that should be obvious at a gance, while leaving out detail you need to fix something, however. So, it would seem to be aimed at the rank novice, with 2 left thumbs--above a "Dummies" book, but not by a whole lot, IMHO.

Zinn's book is more detailed, and offers a more comprehensive tour of subjects than this book. It can be used by the novice, but aims at those who have some basic understanding of what is right before their eyes--bike or tool.

However, if you are a gear-head, you probably won't be happy with less than Barnett's painfully exhaustive 4 volume set--which is likely overly detailed for anyone short of a professional shop-set.

Anyway, if I had to do again I would have bought the Zinn book and skipped this one.