Bike Repair and Maintenance For Dummies

Great first kids and teens wanting to learn bike repairs for themselves.

I needed a book for making repairs and improvements on my recumbent trike. I am a bit mechanical but was not familiar with some of the new types of bikes. I haven't worked on a bike since the early 60's so the gears, cables, dic brakes, and cassette on the rear wheel, and all the accompanying adjustments is all new to this old timer. Easy to understand and good diagrams.

I bought this book to supplement "Anybody's Bike Book" because I always like to get a second opinion. This book uses photos extensively rather than drawings as in the other book. They are well composed and quite helpful providing additional detailed information in a clear, conciseful manner. Information is provided in heirarchy format and geared from initial purchase to daily maintenance of my two wheeled friend. Good book!

I bought this book for someone who needs to know the basics, of bike repair. My guess is that there is enough information here to get this guy on the right track to keeping his bike rolling. Maybe some more options on how to do repairs without the fancy stand and all the cool tools. I did notice some clever product placement in the illustrations. I like the "ten steps to take before you ride". Without being too nit picky, this is a good enough book to get a new rider on the road to self sufficient riding.

I've made it about halfway through the book and have mixed feelings. It is good for entry level and people like me who want a strong foundation before proceding. So far I would give this book a 5 star on the basics and things easy to overlook. I just wish that it had more indepth guidance. Usually when I maintenance something I will take every bearing and screw out to overhual and inspect it. So far this book wouldn't serve that purpose. I also purchased the Zinn book and am awaiting it too arrive. I am hoping what with this as the entry the Zinn will take me to moderate to advanced maintenance. I recommend the dummies guide as a 101 course book for all riders. If you feel comfortable or wish to advance further then look elsewhere. It is a guide for dummies/beginners, so keep that in mind.

It has some useful information for basic repairs... not so heavy on the maintenance side but there is some in there. The pictures and drawings are in black and white, but mostly visible. Only a few are difficult to see. However, they are in 2-dimensions and they don't show you HOW to do the thing, they only show you the general area and the part you want to manipulate. The phrasing in the instructions can be hard to follow without a good visual reference unless you're already a master bike mechanic (which you aren't if you're thinking about buying this). So, buy this for general reference and rely on Youtube for video. The two together are better than either one alone.

Written in clear, easy to understand language, this book is the perfect entry-level guide for the bicycle enthusiast who wants to take care of the bike and perform repairs on it, whether they have previous mechanical experience or not. My concern that the graphics would be hard to see on my basic Kindle were unfunded. All in all, this book gets five stars from me. (BTW, for who wants to go deeper into advanced bike repair projects after reading this book I recommend Lenard Zinn's manuals, also available at Amazon)

Found it above my mail box and looking through it it looks like it will help me a lot to maintain my beloved bike.

I have read a lot about bicycle maintenance and repair online, because I live in a rural area with the closest bike shop I know of 150 miles away. Many online sources have poor pictures, and assume you know the technical names of every part. I finally purchased this book, and it has everything I need to know how to do, as well as things I may not attempt to do myself, but I should know about when I do have to seek professional work (such as truing the wheels). The illustrations and photographs are great, and the book is laid out logically. It includes discussion of the tools you might need to do your own serious bike repair and maintenance, including things like the shop space required and lighting needed, that I had never considered, as well as discussion of some things you can do using items you already have at home. The writer takes you from the place of knowing nothing about bike repair through some of the most technical but necessary repair and maintenance topics. I love my bike, and am glad I bought this book, so I can take care of it.

Covers pretty much everything you need to know about keeping your bike working as it should and on thw road!

There's nothing wrong with the content and the descriptions of how things work are quite good, but the procedures to actually do the repairs need far more detail and better illustrations. For less than ten dollars extra you can get Park Tools Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair which is a far better resource if you are actually trying to work on bikes. I ended up buying the big blue book anyway and it's worth the extra few bucks. You can also leverage Park Tools Youtube content for some excellent videos that show you the job being done for your type of components which is priceless both literally (they're free) and figuratively. They are of course in the business of selling their tools and they're good tools but I don't begrudge them that when their content is tool agnostic and it's well presented.

Thanks so much! This product has been incredibly helpful

It won’t make you a bike technician but it helps for the diy stuff. It at least gave me intro to terms and gave me enough info to know what questions to ask.