Repair Manuals

[Body2Big]

HI, Anyone have any suggestions for a good repair manual?? I will not pay the shope 65.00 to do a 20 min. tune up on my bike. I have 1 year of free adjustments and 1 free tune up but after that i want to do all my own repairs and maint. I can do the basics already like tire changes. I worked on old bikes as a kid as most of us probably did. But would like a good repair book that covers the newer technology of bikes.

Shawn

[truckboy]

It's not a book, but I always do a goooooogle search for what I'm doing and get good results. Park Tools has excellent instructions with pictures.

[Ben-O]

I have the "Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance". It's pretty good, I like it.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1884737994/104-6094408-9019947?v=glance

[MTBME]

While picking up my bike at Naults in Nashua NH last week, I noticed a stack of the latest Bicycling Complete Guide to Bicycling repair for about 20 bucks or so. Turns out the mechanic pictured on the cover of the repair manual, also works at Naults as, well what else, a bike mechanic. We talked about my bike for awhile. I was thinking maybe if I bought the book there, I could always go back and get additional detail from the source if needed.

[slapheadmofo]

Armed with the internet and a decent basic set of tools, there's hardly anything you shouldn't be able to take care of yourself. The only things that get tricky are wheelbuilding and fork/shock rebuilds. Other than that, there's not much to it, it's just a bike after all.

Much more complicated than doing the actual work is keeping up with compatibility issues. That's something you really only learn a lot about thru experience, so for the time being it's not a bad idea to ask for advice when you're thinking of changing parts. You can save yourself a lot of time returning things that way. :)

[Body2Big]

I am looking at putting on a rock guard for my top sprocket. I thought I had to pull the crank. But I don't at least by looking at it I don't. Just unbolt the 4 allen screws slide the top sprocket off of the bike and put the rock guard on. If anyone has any advice on this please let me know. I will pick up a manual as well. they also have one at park tool. but the Zinn one posted above looks good too and its cheap enough.

thanks
Shawn

[slapheadmofo]

One handy tool tool to have when you're doing any swapping of chainrings is chainring nut wrench. Very cheap and worth it's weight in gold.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=4794&subcategory_ID=4207

Also, it's a good idea to keep the chainring bolts clean and greased, and don't overtighten them or you'll snap the heads off. Once you get a ride one them, go back and give them all a snugging up - you can get a lot of creaking from loose chainring bolts.

[CsharpDev]

this is the manual I have http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/155297734X/002-3189868-9785613?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance I was going to get Zinn but it was published in 2001, this book was published in 2004. Not sure what if anything has changed since 2001 in MTBs but I wanted to make sure I had a current book. Bike is brand new and havn't abused it too much yet, so I havn't tried any of the maintenance in the book, but from thumbing through it it looks like a decent manual.

[Quo Fan]

I obtained an older copy of the Barnett's Manual. You can also purchase a current one from Barnett's for $115. Comes in 4 volumes. Check it out at http://www.bbinstitute.com/ .

Most of what I learned, I learned from doing, and reading the instructions that came with the new parts. I build my own wheels, but I haven't yet tried to rebuild a fork. I don't seem to wear them out, I just replace them with a newer one.

[gnurider1080]

the park tools manual is awesome. its so easy to understand and has everything you need to know to be a basic mechanic.

[SteveC]

If it's specific parts maintenance you're looking for, there's always
www.angryasian.com (http://www.angryasian.com)
for fork manuals and good advice,
and
www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/index.html (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/index.html)
lots of good links there......

[dmw010]

I like both Zinn and the internet for repair advice, as others have said. If you're just getting started, get the Zinn book. I've got several books, and that one is clearly the best of its kind IMHO. I think the more expensive Barnetts and Sutherlands manuals are aimed primarily at shop mechanics and other more advanced mechanics.

[bike187]

the best condensed one i've seen, which is still huge and very in depth is the one that bibcycling magazine puts out. i picked on up about 7 years ago, learned to do all my own maintenance. i knew the basics but it had really good tips and tricks for troubleshooting too. and good pictures and it was updated. now i work in a shop, so i geuss that's a good testament to it. barnetts...is huge! i know there are a few sites you can pirate it off of. even then, unless you know what you're talking about, i think you would be better off with a more simple manual. also, the sheldon brown site ahs some good info too. especially on older parts. i give bicycling magazine's one 2 thumbs up! it's big, detailed enough, has tips and tricks, updated, and has good illustrations. i've also heard godd things about the park manual book. plus if you're a tool whore, you can order a catalogue from then too ;D

also, on doing your own wrenching, it's a great idea. if you're emchanically inclined, it'll come easy. it's a trial and error process, which good manuals and teachers greatly shrink the amount of errors. you can take park tool school at some local shops. i know Bike Express in randolph offered it and i think belmont wheelworks does too. if doing your own wrenching, remember to try to do it before the day of riding or before that so that if you botch something, you can have time to go to the shop and pick up anohter one, ask someone with more experience to help/ ask for advice, or bring it in to the shop and give them enough time to fix it. it also helps to start collecting parts and maybe have access to anohter bike in the event that you can't solve your own dilema at the time but prefer to tackle it at a later time, but still have a ride later that day or the next.

also, invest in good tools! junk ones strip easy. i personally have not had great luck with cheapo tools. some people have no prob with them, but i prefer nice ones, plus i'm a tool whore, so i just kinda collect em. some good brands that offer a good selection of tools: Park, pedros, craftsmen, snap-on, ultimate. the first 2 are great for biking specific tools. good thigns to have in a basic kit: multitool, spoke wrench, cassette lockring tool, chain tool, bb removal tool, torx-25 (if you got disc brakes) cable and housing snips (invest in something nice, i reccomend shimano and/or a dremel), metric allen set (p-handled ones are great to ahve around) adjustable wrench, repair stand, some sort of wheel truing rig, 15mm wratchet wrench, good small flathead screw drivers (for drlr adjustment), tire wrenches, patch kit (i prefer park glueless but some swear by the contact cement type), a torque wrench, pressure gauge. that's all i can think off the top of my head. search the forum for better list as i know it's been covered before.