Customer Reviews

Zinn's Cycling Primer: Maintenance Tips and Skill Building for Cyclists

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Zinn's brand new book (2004) is must have in any bike enthusiast's library. Building on his excellent maintenance books, which go into every detail of fixing and tuning your bike, the cycling primer is abundant with tips and tricks to improve riding skills.
Ok, I ride a Zinn bike and might be biased but he is a competent author who used to race internationally and who explores unorthodox ways to cater for special needs of tall (and short) people. The book goes into great detail on how to properly fit a bike, tune it and a good overview on training techniques. I enjoyed reading it and will keep consulting it.

Excellent reference volume for any cyclist. Nearly all aspects of biking including basic set-up, maintenance, physical conditioning,and honing riding skills are dealt with in "blocks" consisting of a few pages to full chapters. I find myself checking a section for a few minutes in the "library" and then rereading full chapters.

Zinn's "Road Bike Maintenance" is a handy guide to maintaining any road bicycle. His experience in physiology, mechanics and science gives him a unique take on wrenching a bicycle. Very concise and detailed.

When I first saw the title of this book, I thought "That is an odd combination." How about a book on "diet and wheelbuilding"?

But seriously, the book is valuable because it also includes a good overview on bike fit, as well. I believe proper bike fit is the first and most important aspect of riding a bike that needs to be understood and routinely revisited.

If my friends would read the sections on road and mountain bike maintenance tuning, they would be more self-sufficient on group rides. But then they wouldn't need our help, and it's nice to be needed. Please note that the maintenance tips are not a substitute for the detailed books on advanced maintenance and assembly by Mr. Zinn and others. I don't believe the book description is misleading, I just wanted to be clear to readers.

I respectfully disagree with one of the reviewers that the book is too advanced for a beginner. We have to start somewhere. We might as well read books that educate.

I am also an author of a road cycling skills book Watch Your Line: Techniques to Improve Road Cycling Skills and considered this book by Mr. Zinn as a useful reference.

This book is pretty much worthless. A primer is supposed to be written for those who are generally unfamiliar with a topic. This book, however, is full of confusion, jargon, and irrelevance. It is not a primer! For example, for one of the most basic items of maintenance (adjusting bicycle brakes) it refers readers to a website. I didn't buy the book for web references. I considered it a waste of money and returned it.