Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance (2nd Edition)
Road bikes are surprisingly complex machines, but there’s no need to spend excessive amounts on repairs and maintenance. The cost of a copy of Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance should be sufficient in most cases. This well-organized and -illustrated guide, which incorporates the latest in component technology and innovations, shows how to maintain every part of a road bike. This includes chains, derailleurs, shifters, wheels, brakes, cranks, bottom brackets, pedals, saddles, seatposts, handlebars, stems, headsets, forks, and frames — all covered in Lennard Zinn’s trademark clear and concise prose. Novices and seasoned mechanics alike can benefit from the clear illustrations, exploded views of how components go together, and practical tips on how to completely and properly maintain all aspects of their road bikes to ensure hours of trouble-free riding. Zinn shows exactly when to tackle a maintenance project and when a trip to the bike shop for repair is unavoidable.Lennard Zinn explains that it doesn’t take special skills to learn how to care for one’s bike, only “a passion for spreading new grease on old parts.” Clearly, his ambition is to share with newcomers the Zen-like joy of bike maintenance. But it’s seasoned bike mechanics that should be tripping over each other for a copy of this comprehensive and ambitious manual. Zinn differs from other how-to books by guiding readers–with plain-speaking text–through almost every imaginable repair on almost every imaginable part. He covers everything from rebuilding hubs, to loosening seized stems, to installing six different types of bottom brackets. He even risks cycling blasphemy by walking mere mortals through the art of wheel building–an intimidating task that can take years to perfect. Although best suited for the old pros, his guide is user- friendly, funny, and essential to anyone willing to love their bike. –Ben Tiffany
Product Features
- Used Book in Good Condition
Generally Comprehensive & Detailed I bought this book and Down’s (more popular) book at the same time. Both books have good illustrations, but this book is by far the more detailed and helpful. Down’s book is VERY basic and leaves out detail needed to really tune anything to any extent.Having said that, this book does a decent job of showing how to tune a number of bike features, as well as doing routine maintanence/repairs. However, if you are a gear-head, you probably won’t be happy with less than Barnett’s…
The Gold Standard for Home Bike Maintenance I’ve got a shelf full of bicycle maintenance/repair books, and the Zinn books are the best of the bunch. First of all, they’re very comprehensive, describing in detail anything and everything you might need to do to keep your bike rolling smoothly. Descriptions and photos are straightforward and easy to understand. Best of all, the Zinn books go beyond just laying out the bare bones step-by-step instructions—they actually give theory and background as to why or why not. There’s some good…
Great to have! Zinn’s interest in and experience with bikes and biking is obvious to me when I look over this book or read his tech reports in Velo News (magazine and website). I found the second edition a welcome improvement over the first edition in its inclusion of a section on cantilever brakes (the first edition refers the reader to Zinn’s mountain bike book). Since I have owned cyclocross bikes for several years, and found cantilevers infinitely more adjustable (and sometimes infinitely more…