Bicycle maintenance books: Seven of the best

Michelle Arthurs-Brennan

Summary

Knowledge is power, a wise old cyclist once said. So when it comes to swotting up on first class fettling and learning your ferrules from your freewheels, we’ve found seven paper paths to enlightenment

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Verdict

Despite the plethora of bike standards and the constant turnover and trickle-down of fancy new parts, bicycles remain, at heart, rather simple creatures. Because of this, total maintenance newbies may be comfortable with a simple, straightforward guide to the basic concepts, such as Haynes and For Dummies.

Remember, you can always check YouTube and manufacturers? own websites for extra instructions and videos to ?top up? your knowledge on individual manufacturer standards.

Nevertheless, the stand-out book here was Lennard Zinn?s excellent Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance. It manages to be all-encompassing enough for the beginner without patronising the more advanced fettler.

It?s text dense, but the writing style is both clear and digestible. OK, it?s one just for the roadies, but for off-road rangers, there?s also a Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance.