Complete Bike Maintenance | Fred Milson | Better than Zinn for most

Complete Bike Maintenance | Fred Milson | Very basic but great everyday book.

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Complete Bike Main...

	Complete Bike Maintenance Fred Milson MBI, 2002 - 176 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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This third generation of The Bike Book has been designed to help you get the very best from your bike. Produced by Motorbooks International, it gives step-by-step guidance on all aspects of bike care. It has been revised and updated extensively to include 300 new photos covering the latest develpments in cycling technology. These include vee and disc brakes, nine speed, Rapid Rise and SRAM gears, and front and rear suspension. Packed with practical information and handy tips covering almost every bike built over the last thirty years, The Bike Book gives riders the confidence and knowledge required to tackle regular maintenance, repairs, or even a major overhaul.

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Better than Zinn for most

While I think that the Zinn book (Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance) is pretty good, for most people this book will be much better. It is concise yet thorough, with plenty of detail, but not overly technical. And the book is filled with excellent color photographs -- hundreds of them.

I took a couple of bicycle repair classes last winter at a local bike shop. Then, many months later, I decided to put what I had learned to good use by adjusting my derailleurs. I grabbed the Zinn book I had purchased last year for a quick reminder of how to make that adjustment. It didn't make any sense. His procedure was too complicated, his description confusing, and he didn't even talk about the obvious trick to setting the low gear position on the rear derailleur. I set the book aside and fumbled my way through the procedure from what I could remember from the class. I was not satisfied with my results.

Then, while at a local bookstore recently, I saw "Complete Bike Maintenance" by Fred Milson sitting on the shelf. I took a gander to see if it had a better explanation of the adjustment procedure. As soon as I opened the book, I was grabbed by the beautiful color photography. I located the sections on adjusting derailleurs. Mr. Milson has described the adjustment in a few simple steps, and his description was very similar to what I remember from the class.

I immediately bought the book and readjusted my gears the following weekend. They came out great! My only complaint is that there should have been one more photograph for the rear derailleur setup -- one showing a view from the rear with the two jockey wheels lined up with the smallest sprocket. The written description gets you there just fine, but there was room on the page for one more picture.

All of the other chapters appear to be just as good -- great pictures, easy to understand text. I can't believe I'm the first person to write a review for this excellent repair manual.

I'll hang on the the Zinn book for reference (you can't own too many reference books), but Complete Bike Maintenance will be the first book I will grab when heading out to work on my bike.

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Very basic but great everyday book.

I definitely wouldn't say this is greatest bike maintenance book on the market. Far from it. But it is a great start for beginners and is probably all you need if you only want to do basic everyday tasks like making adjustments ect... I'd highly recommend this book to every family that has bikes.

Guideline to basic bicycle maintainance

This is a good reference for maintainance of bicycles. This book and a basic tool kit will keep you on the road.

Just not enough info...

After having looked around some more at other bicycle repair manuals, I have re-evaluated my review of this book and decided, quite frankly, that it's not very good.

To be fair - the book does a decent job of explaining how to do "maintenance", but just not much in the way of repair. I was continually frustrated by the many jobs that are delegated to a "professional repair shop", particularly those involving headsets and wheels. True, these parts do require certain special tools to install and adjust properly, but it would have been nice if the author had made the effort to empower people a little more, and show them how to use the tools if they have them. After all, part of the reason someone buys a book like this is to save money by not taking the bike to a shop for every little thing that goes wrong.

The book does have a lot of decent color photography, but is still lacking in in-depth explanations and instruction. Rather than trying to be an in-depth resource, the book is more of a glorified owners manual for a bike, explaining the basics of most parts of the bike, but still not giving you enough info to inspire the confidence and guidance you need.

I think this bike is only really good for the novice bicyclist who only wants to do the bare minimum on his or her bike, and needs some pictures to help out. However, if you want to fully understand how your bicycle works, and the best ways to repair it, you need to look elsewhere.

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