Haynes Road Cycling Manual review

We’ve had a read through the new Haynes Road Cycling Manual and like the breadth and depth of its coverage

Haynes Road Cycling Manual
(Image credit: Cycling Studio)
Cycling Weekly Verdict

A great single source for a wide range of cycling information. But you’ll probably need more specialist and detailed knowledge after a few years of cycling.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Single source for a wide range of road cycling knowledge

  • +

    Well laid out and illustrated

  • +

    Enough depth to proceed with confidence

  • +

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    You’ll probably outgrow the manual as you get more involved in cycling

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Haynes has a manual for pretty much everything you might want to fettle, from a cat to a Vulcan bomber and that now includes road bikes. Written by Luke Edwardes-Evans, a former editor of Cycling Active and Cycle Sport magazines, it covers pretty much everything you need to know to get out on the road and keep your bike going.

There’s a foreword by ex-professional rider Sean Yates, before you get into the nitty gritty.

The Haynes Road Cycling Manual then carefully guides you through the world of road cycling, starting off by explaining the different types of riding you might enjoy, from leisure rides and commuting through to sportives, joining a club and racing.

Haynes Road Cycling Manual

There's advice on clothing choices to be comfortable on the bike
(Image credit: Cycling Studio)

Of course, the first thing you’ll need is a bike and the Haynes Road Cycling Manual guides you through the process of choosing and buying one. There’s also a section explaining the bike’s components and what to look out for. And further on Edwardes-Evans explains how to set up your bike so that you’re comfortable and efficient.

Then there’s all the other kit which goes with the bike. So there’s advice on clothing, accessories, storage and the dreaded turbo.

Haynes Road Cycling Manual

Cycling skills and fitness are covered, not just the hardware
(Image credit: Cycling Studio)

Having got through all that lot, you’re going to want to use your bike so the manual goes through how to get fit and organise your training both on and off the bike. Then there’s advice on how to ride safely on the road. And there’s more information on sportives and competition.

Finally, there’s a section of around 40 pages on how to maintain and repair your bike. This goes from the basics of cleaning and lubing right through to sorting out your bottom bracket. Each task has a box telling you what tools you’ll need.

It all adds up to enough breadth to understand road cycling, the options and what’s involved, along with the detail to get deeper into cycling as your enjoyment of the sport increases.

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Paul Norman

Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.

He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.