Hi all, I can do some things things to fix my bike but I'd like to get a decent and comprehensive bike maintenance book. Has anyone got any recommendations? Cheers, Rob.

The Leonard zinn ones have always served me well. Heard good things about the park tools book too, but no personal experience of that

You can find guides to most things on You Tube. Almost always exactly your exact kit, eg how to bleed your brake rather than generic advice about how to get air out a system and a discussion on mineral via dot.
Eg I can bleed brakes but my sram drop bars I still needed a guide.
Dont think I would bother with a book personally YMMV and sorry for not really answering the q but I am trying to be helpful

Lazarus wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 10:27 am You can find guides to most things on You Tube. Almost always exactly your exact kit, eg how to bleed your brake rather than generic advice about how to get air out a system and a discussion on mineral via dot.
Eg I can bleed brakes but my sram drop bars I still needed a guide.
Dont think I would bother with a book personally YMMV and sorry for not really answering the q but I am trying to be helpful

Cheers, I do this mostly, and appreciate it. Sometimes, I just prefer to leaf over a book rather than sit in front of a screen.

We've one entitled "Mountain Bike Maintenance" by Mel Allwood. Let's just say it's a bit old - there's a chapter heading: "Disc Brakes - one day all mountain bikes will be fitted with these"

We've also got the Zinn road bike maintenance book. I can't remember when I actually last read or referred to either of them.

While I'm a great lover of books, I tend to learn practical things better by seeing them being done, either in person or on video. Sometimes a writer puts things in a certain way that doesn't gel with how my/your brain works. It's not that they are wrong, there's just a mismatch between how different people perceive things. A bike mechanics course might be another option - quite a few shops and mechanics do them.

The Park Tools book is a good general guide..

Another vote for Zinn. The internet is a great resource and sometimes needed for very specific things, but having a general reference in the garage which I know is reliable (rather than spending ten minutes watching Chad from Instagram fail to explain something very well) is nice. If you get the latest version, it's surprisingly comphrehensive (well, the version I have was when it was new) but obviously it will become outdated.

^^^
Never realised Zinn’s books were still going, had one from maybe 20-25 years ago and it was full of lovely (I assume hand drawn) diagrams. Was just lovely to read as a book (which is probably the reason I’m a rubbish mechanic, as I never got past the reading stage of the book )

Richard’s Bicycle book was the best (I still have it) but sadly out of date

I have the Leonard zinn one and the park tools one. Both good, though the park tools one might have the edge

Although YouTube is pretty good

Recently updated from 2000's Bicycle Maintenance and Repair (Langley) to Park Big Blue Book 4 (Jones) which covers the modern stuff for me.

Greetz

S : )