Customer Reviews

Bicycling Magazine's Complete Guide to Bicycle Maintenance and Repair for Road and Mountain Bikes

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an excellent book on the maintenance and repair of all bicycles.
Each of the 17 chapters discusses one component of the bike, such as rear derailleurs, front derailleurs, brakes, wheels, suspension, frame and others. Each chapter begins with a drawn illustration of the system, which is followed by a text description of the system and maintenane and repair of the system. This is followed by a troubleshooting section listing common problems and their solutions. But the best part of each chapter are the step-by-step procedures with excellent black-and-white photographs of each step.

In addition to discussing bike systems, there are chapters on creating a home workshop and even how to box a bike. (Exactly how my bike came from its manufacturer!)

There's really not a lot more to ask for from this book. The main complaint is that some of it seems a little out-of-date despite its 1999 copyright date, and I regret now that I did not list examples as they struck me, but a minor one, for example, was ignorance of 10-speed cassettes. However, some bicycle components are changing rapidly, and it's difficult for authors to keep up. Note that this is the 4th "expanded and revised" edition, so it does appear that the editors of Bicycling have made a commitment to update the book regularly.

I also got bogged down some times in the text description of procedures without pictures, but everything is clear when you get back into the step-by-step procedure section with the photographs. So it also seems that information is unnecessarily repeated.

Bicycling magazine has run articles on how to get home from different types of roadside breakdowns. It would be nice if they include this as one separate chapter that can be read before a trip. The rest of the book lends itself to a "only read the chapter I need at the moment" type of use. You don't need to read through the whole book to understand chapter 15 on saddles, for example.

I have also read and reviewed Complete Idiot's Guide to Bike Maintenance and Repair, and despite its knowledgable author and fun style, did not have step-by-step illustrations which are required for such a book. Others have also recommended the books by Zinn and Van Der Plas, and I have seen them and they look good, but separate books are written by each author for road bikes and mountain bikes, while this book is one reference for all bikes.

I had great hopes for this book. They have been repeatedly dashed. About 10% of the time I find what I need to know. Until recently, I thought the problem was me, since I'm a novice cyclist and bike mechanic. But then I discovered 'Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance'. I no longer feel stupid! I respect Bicycling Magazine, so it's a bummer that this book, which they published, is lousy.

This book might suffice if you've got an old bike, and need advice on something simple like cleaning, or tire replacement. But, if you're a do-it-yourselfer like me, who wants all the details, and maybe even some tips and tricks, this book falls pathetically short. Most of the components pictured look like they were late 80s vintage. There's little or no information on newer equipment. I've even found blatantly incorrect information. The "step by step" instructions jump around like they were written by someone in the late stages of Alzheimer's. You'd be better off trying to assemble a bike from scratch using only a picture of what it's supposed to look like when it's done!

I recently built my own criterium bike from the bottom bracket up. This was my first attempt at bike building, so naturally, I had a lot of questions and needed step by step instructions. I went through just about every chapter of this book during the project, and found serious problems with nearly all of them. I spent more time trying to decipher the book than if I would have learned on my own by trial and error!

Save yourself some money and a whole lot of headaches, and buy Zinn & The Art of Road (or Mountain) Bike Maintenance.

This guide is just okay. For a more precise and clearer description of how to fix a mountain bike the Zinn book is preferable. The Zinn drawings are more detailed and he addresses the specific differences between various brand parts more precisely. Zinn is a better writer.

Like most of the other reviewers for this book, I too had high hopes for something that is published by such a big-name magazine! Unfortunately, my hopes were all shot down as soon as I needed to do some repairs that would be considered futher than the "basics". I felt very confused with many of the diagrams and the text just didn't make it any easier. ...

I don't and won't own this book.
I reviewed it carefully at my local bookstore and then returned it to the shelf.
I suggest prospective buyers do the same.
Material is dated and lacking in illustrative photos. Unable to find decent photos of modern brake systems.
Bicycling magazine should be able to do better.
Bicycles are covered extensively, but as other reviewers have stated, a great deal of detail required for repairs is missing.
Revising and updating should involve more than changing the cover and/or the publication date.
Currently marketed bikes such as Fischer, Trek or even Huffies have newer components, not illustrated.
A good beginners book, but tough problems will still have to go to a pro shop.

I found this book to be a big disappointment! One would think with Bicycling Magazine's endorsement, that this book would be more complete. This book will get you through basic tune-ups and some maintenance, but evades the larger jobs by stating in the book to seek your local professional bicycle technician. Heck if I wanted to do that, I wouldn't need this "flippin" book! If all you want to do is the basic things, then this book may be for you, for me however, I do not want to go to the shop, I want to do it my self. I am returning this book for a more complete book on bicycle maintenance.

I was looking for a very detailed manual for bicycle repair. This is a general book for maintenance but it fails to explore into the nitty-gritty of indiviual components.
It does show how to repair and adjust various brake sets but I feel it did not depict this very well for the Shimano V brake series. Removing the freewheel and rear derailleur adjustments sections are very good.
It probably could have been an excellent manual, had the authors take a little more time and went into more detail.

It's a goog book for any "Joe Smoh" looking for his first book on "How to fix and do maintenance on bikes". After seeing and buying "The Haynes Bicycle Book", it makes you wanna throw away the "Bicycling Magazine's Complete Guide..." in the trashcan.

There is a BIG lack of pictures of up-to-date bicycles parts. You know, the parts sold by bike shops and not at a garage sale. Nothing really details on how to bleed a set of hydraulic disc brake system or even how to tune one. Or even the famous V-brake system.

As for suspension tube-up... you might as well save your coins and take your bike to your local bike instead of buying this book.

But if you're looking for the real "bible" on how to repair bikes, here's the best book set: Barnett's Manuals (4 Volumes Set) by John Barnett.

I bought the whole thing and made me realized how much money I've waisted on other bike repair books. Those manuals are by far the best ones released yet (and updated every year or so). They're like the shop manual of any car or truck. Loaded with pictures, graphics, torque charts, "where to" and "not to" grease a bike pictures, the step-by-step procedures of overhauling forks, rear shocks, hydraulic brake systems and so much more. At over 1000 pages, the manual simply got too large to handle! The fifth edition (just released) is separated into four separate volumes for easier handling. The standard soft-back book binding is convertible to loose-leaf format, if preferred, by virtue of perforated pages and 3-hole drilling. And all pages are grease-resistant (gloss).

In other words, get the Barnett's manuals. That will be your best investment for your knowledge.

I like fixing and modifying bikes almost as much as I love riding them. I have an extensive toolset and can perform many repairs myself. So..... around 2001 I received this book as a gift and thought that it would be comprehensive and high quality because Bicycling magazine published it. I was very disappointed. --It is poorly organized and indexed. --Most components shown are from the early to mid-1990s. Coverage of modern components (carbon fibre, gripshift, aerobars, areowheels, hydralic brakes, v-brakes, sealed bearings, etc) are either missing or very poor. --Drawings are incomplete. Drawings are used where a picture would be better. --Some pictures are small, unclear, poorly lit, or at weird angles. --Some pictures exist for operations that are very common or clear, while pictures of more complex tasks are missing. --Spelling and grammer errors make it obvious it was not proof-read before publishing.
P.S. The HAYES bike repair book is just as Bad.... similar to the poor quality that many of their car repair books have.