Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance [Paperback]

Lennard Zinn (Author), Todd Telander (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2009

You only need one look inside to see why Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance has become one of the world's best-selling books on bike repair. This smartly organized and clearly illustrated guide to road bike repair and maintenance—now in 2 colors for easier reference—can make a mechanic out of anyone. Lennard Zinn's expert advice makes quick work of taking care of every part of a road bike.

Zinn can teach anyone how to completely and properly maintain all aspects of a bicycle to ensure years of trouble-free riding. Newcomers and experienced mechanics alike will benefit from the hundreds of illustrations, the exploded views of how components go together, and Zinn's practical, time-saving tips. The level of detail is astonishing, but Zinn's friendly advice is confidence-inspiring, and his years of experience make tackling even the most daunting task fun and easy.

All the latest high-tech equipment is covered in this new edition, but Zinn does not neglect older bike technology. Indeed, no matter what road bike you may have in your garage, chances are you'll find it—and the way to fix it—in these pages.

This new edition includes:

• The basics: Even if your mechanical skills stop at pumping tires, Lennard's guidance will show you how to maintain your bike in perfect condition.
• The advanced: No matter how arcane the task, Lennard has time-saving tips to speed your work. Integrated spindle cranks, carbon forks, internal headsets, ceramic bearings — they're all in here with exploded diagrams to show you the way.
• The latest tech: Lennard makes sense out of the newest components including: Campagnolo's 11-speed, Shimano's electronic Dura-Ace, SRAM's Red shifters, Campagnolo's Ultra-Torque cranks, and more.
• Older components: Still spinning a SunTour freewheel? Let Lennard's years of experience help you make sense of old metal.
• Cyclocross: New cyclocross-specific information throughout, along with more Pro Tips, more illustrations, more recommendations — more of what you need to know.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Lennard Zinn is a cycling god. Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance is revered as a bible among the fat-tire set; he now extends the gospel to the rest of the cycling faithful in Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance.

From simple, routine maintenance to more complicated tasks, Zinn remains "convinced that anyone with an opposable thumb can perform any repair on a bike." He begins with "Basic Stuff" such as pre-ride inspections and cleaning the drive train, and continues on through the super-advanced task of wheel building--arguing that "the construction of a good set of bicycle wheels is actually a straightforward task." Zinn guides readers step by step through every possible repair on every possible part, handlebar grips to Maric Mektronic electronic shifting, with plain-speaking text and helpful illustrations. There's even a section on emergency repairs, including unexpected advice such as straightening a bent rim by hitting it against the ground: "You may be surprised how straight you can get a wheel this way."

This comprehensive manual is essential reading for those who love their bike. "All you have to do is follow the instructions and trust yourself." Indeed. --M. Stein --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Today's bicycles are complicated machines that can be expensive to maintain and repair. Zinn (The Mountain Bike Owner's Manual) has written this book to help both the leisure bike rider and expert mechanic handle almost any problem associated with road bikes. In an effort to appeal to people of varying mechanical abilities, the book separates bicycle repair procedures into three levels, depending on difficulty. Level one is reserved for novices, while levels two and three are for more mechanically savvy bike owners. Each chapter covers a certain bicycle component and includes the tools needed to repair that particular part. Zinn also includes troubleshooting guides at the conclusion of each chapter and, for those interested only in general maintenance, a chapter that covers the basics of keeping a bike road-worthy. Whether someone is experienced at repairing bicycles or is just a weekend rider, this book includes everything to keep bikes rolling. Recommended for all public libraries.DPatrick Mahoney, Off-Campus Lib. Svcs., Central Michigan Univ., Mount Pleasant
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Velo Press; Third Edition edition (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934030422
• ISBN-13: 978-1934030424
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 1.1 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 50 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Individual Sports > Cycling > Bike Repair

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars After one day with this book... March 28, 2010

By Brennan Johnson

Format:Paperback

I spent the better part of yesterday reading through this book and working on my badly-out-of-tune bike. I learned how to properly clean and maintain my bike, adjust derailleur positioning, cable tension, limits, and how to true the wheels. I also learned a bunch of emergency repair techniques. By the end of the day, my bike was properly cleaned and lubed, was shifting quickly and smoothly, and my noticeably wobbly back wheel was perfectly straight. I did all of these things using only my Topeak Alien II (which I highly recommend) and a makeshift bike stand. Today, I took my bike out on a 3-hour ride to test it and it worked flawlessly. I'm giving this book a 4-star rating now because I haven't had enough time to read through the whole thing yet, but I can say that it definitely deserves a 5-star rating for basic bike maintenance instruction.

The book is well illustrated and the instructions are very much to the point and generally very easy to follow. The pages are 8.5 by 11", so there's plenty of room for large illustrations and the text spacing makes it very easy on the eyes. It explains each process for multiple brands (Shimano, Campy, SRAM, etc.), which is extremely useful because the directions describe the exact part you're working on. It is well written and the author's personality comes out to some degree and makes it entertaining to read. The illustrations are excellent and very helpful--there are many exploded-view drawings of parts so you can see exactly how it works and how to take it apart and put it back together. Overall, it has been an excellent resource so far and one day's use has saved me a ton of money.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars no V-brake section, attn hybrid owners September 27, 2009

By Jace

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have a hybird bike (Trek 7.3fx) that sits a little more toward the road bike side of the Road-Mountain bike spectrum among hybrids. Because of this, I thought this road bike edition of the Zinn book was more appropriate.

Turns out I was wrong. There is no V-brake section in this version. You need the mountain bike version for that. I am now a happy owner of Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, but it would have been nice if the choice had been clearer earlier on.

For what its worth, having seen both the road and mountain versions of this book, I'd recommend the mountain bike book to hybrid bike owners. Of course this depends on the particular bike you have, but the hybrids I've seen will mostly likely be better covered in the other work. Especially if you have V-brakes, the choice for the mountain bike book is a no-brainer.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Zinn & the ARt of Road Bike Maintenance October 16, 2009

By Jeffery G. Gedgaud

Format:Paperback

Lennard Zinn takes you through your road bike to get it tuned up and in perfect working order for beginners and professional bikers alike.

Contents 25/25
Ease of Understanding/Practicality 23/25
Pictures/Illustrations 18/25
Additional Features 20/25
Total 86/100

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance takes you from basic bike anatomy to maintaining, tuning up and troubleshooting problems. Lennard Zinn has been an award winning writer of bicycle maintenance books and has released an updated release for road bikes to keep your road machine in top condition.

With winter now upon us we can put those bikes up and get out our winter sports gear but you should not just hang that bike up on the rack and forget it. It's time to do some preventive maintenance as well as get anything you find fixed and have it ready for the next nice day.

Preventive maintenance is a term I really learned in the military and have come to respect the idea behind keeping things working and in top condition. Money spent on preventing rust and other wear and tear as well as fixing things when they are small really makes sense and saves you money.

Lennard Zinn has spent years as a bicycle frame builder, master framebuilder is the term I keep reading on the internet so he does know his bikes. He takes beginners and experienced riders through the bike anatomy, preventive maintenance and on into those complex repairs like replacing gears and crank bearings.

The Art of Road Bike Maintenance goes from simple bike anatomy and tools to doing what you need to fix and keep your bike in top shape. He explains not only the common bike parts available from stores and gives explanations for generic parts as well as those more expensive brand name parts and bikes.

Zinn goes into specific part replacement and tuning up your bike really well but he also goes into many of the special and brand name parts and systems, including Shinamo, Trek, Campagnolo, SRAM, and many more. Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance works equally well for less expensive bikes purchased at stores like Wal-mart as well as those more expensive and better made bikes like Shimano and Trek.

Each repair or tune up section has basic terms and explains in detail what you are going to do and how to do it whether it's a more expensive bike or the lesser costing ones. Each repair or tune up is broken into levels of difficulty and the book starts out with tools in each level you will need.

Some of the tools you may already have but others you will need depending on what you want to do on your bike so the book starts off with very helpful information about tools, what they do and where you can purchase them. You can also wait to purchase many of the tools until you need them but in the first two levels of repair they are mostly common tools and other things that are handy to have around a home as well as for bicycle repair.

The book goes into tools to take with on everyday riding or longer trips and explains emergency repairs you can perform to get you to your destination or to somewhere to make better repairs. They also go into helpful information for safety equipment you should wear or have when biking for various types of riding like those every day trips or longer treks.

Each level of repair and tune up gives you from basic and necessary repairs like inner tube patching or replacement and adjusting brakes to replacing bearings or other integral parts. Level one repairs are things like adjusting brakes and gears, repairing or replacing inner tubes and other common tasks associated with keeping your bike in shape.

Level two repairs are more in depth jobs like replacing crank arms and pedals while level 3 repairs are things like overhauling parts or even building your own bike from the frame up. This book not only goes into repair and troubleshooting but at level 3 you have all the knowledge and with the right tools explained in the book you can build your own bike with parts you order or purchase.

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is a great book that goes into such depth that you will understand and know how to repair, tune up and even build your own bike. This is one of those all in one books that goes beyond simple repairs and shows you everything you could possibly want to know about a bike and how to work on it.

The book includes an important chart with torque information for various parts as well as information on how to fit your bike when you adjust the seat, handlebars add a and even purchase a new bike. The Art of Road Bike Maintenance includes a glossary and occasional tips throughout the book to give more in depth tips from professionals about the topic they are in.

I really like this book and highly recommend Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance for a fantastic manual for repair, tuning up and maintaining your road bike.