Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World's Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide

I have had many years of wrenching on cars and bikes alike. I felt that this book was a great all-in-one general maintenance book for Road Bike Maintenance. It does not give every single detail that is possible for all parts (e.g. shimano brakes, it doesn't tell give you a parts breakdown like one would if you went to the manufacture site and downloaded their technical documents).***TIP for specific instructions for bike parts: most manufactures will post up online detailed technical specifications for each part and some will even post a parts breakdown document as well. Many of my opinions are also formed based upon my maintenance use and owner ship of the Park Tool Big Blue Book 2nd Edition (which should be the current edition). Hands down, this book is much better than the Park Tools book, for it is much more detailed in many areas that the Park Tools book lacks. This book covers most of the popular designs and manufactures (e.g. different shifting systems including campagnolo, shimano, and sram). It also details the differences between the companies as well on certain parts that need attention because of the unique design by the company. The book does a great job at sorting the different repair tasks by three different levels, which most takes I feel are generally level 2. Not only that, it also gives an overview of different type of maintenance tool sets one should have from level 1, the basic level tool kit for the beginner, to level 3 + tools that a shop should own. Zinn also explains each of the parts for every kit level as well. I feel they do a pretty good job overall on giving a easy to follow guideline as to what common tools are needed for each of the different levels of repair difficulties.For the new bike maintenance person, this book provides a comprehensive view of what it takes to wrench on a road bike (which I believe just about everyone can manage (if they proceed carefully and slowly). Also, the writing style is extremely simple to follow and believe or not written in an encouraging manner that it makes a person feel they can repair anything on their road bike.This book does not give advise onto which brands to get for all the tools (although they do have some recommendations for certain tools interspersed throughout the book). But it gives enough advise to pretty much get most things and help guide a person onto which tools to look for and which ones may be avoided.This is a great book for those who do not have an all-in-one reference book. It is cheap and affordable and definitely worth the small amount you pay for it. I don't know right now if it is offered as a digital book, but if it ever does, I'd personally continue to pick up the paper version, since having a physical book in the workshop is much better than digital!Happy Wrenching!

To be fair, I'm handy with tools, and have worked on my own cars, etc. for years. I've torn broken things apart, say a toaster, and tried to fix them. More than often I was able to fix things I'd never seen before, but I've also failed. And that's where this amazing book comes in.Many of you may own a Haynes manual for your car, and if you do you know that it assumes you have some skills already. Thus their manual for cars typically runs 200 or so pages. Thus, is it surprising that the Zinn manual for bicycles runs close to 600? Sure is, but here's why:First, it covers a wide range of road bikes, not just one or two, and their many different parts and methods. Second, it is written for BOTH newbies and for the experienced. The amount of information in this book is astounding and I rather doubt that anyone who needs to read this review will find this book exactly and completely what he/she needs.The only thing missing - but only in part - is how to do things without special bike tools. Example: removing an old, three piece bottom bracket - this can be done with a large, adjustable wrench but you'd better be strong, careful and lucky. And perhaps that's why he doesn't tell you about that one. OTOH, where common methods can be done - like cleaning your rear gears with an old t-shirt, he does. Not to mention that you can always do a search on "How to XXXX with ordinary tools" and you'll find all manner of videos, etc.The important thing is that you will do so having been very well informed by Zinn, a considerable advantage over the youtube geniuses. A tour de force, a must buy. With the knowledge in this book, I was able to rebuild a worn out Chinese Schwinn Hybird which had a good frame but not much else, with good Shimano crank, gear sets, bottom bracket, brakes and cables, top quality 40-spoke rims and 28mm Continental tires for around $200. My ride is now every bit the equivalent of bikes commonly selling for $600 to $700 and best yet since I put it together I now know how to maintain it.My advice: buy it. Rather than going to the bike shop, if you do just one repair you will more than pay for the trivial cost of this book, learn something and feel good about it. Free at last!

As a bike mechanic, I've read all the books. This is by far the easiest to read, has detailed yet easy to understand instructions, and the hand drawn pictures are more than adequate.Each edition is thoroughly rewritten and updated, so it keeps me up to date. Lennard is a guru and for all the right reasons.Best of all, this book serves absolute beginners as well as experts. He has an easy writing style that makes this an (almost) can't-put-down book. Once you start reading, you do want to keep going. I've read it cover to cover about three times and gotten information each pass. It's a MUST for any mechanic's bookshelf.I literally built my first bike, from scratch, just by reading his first edition. I didn't know a darned thing about bikes (literally, I didn't know ANYTHING about bike repairs), but by following closely, I build up a Felt 10x2 that was an amazing ride, all from parts I ordered off eBay by knowing the size I needed because Lennard TOLD me what I needed. It was an amazing experience, and I've built probably 30 more for friends since that first Felt.I own the previous editions, and each is better than the previous one. That's rare in my opinion. Buy this; it's a must read for the bike enthusiast who wants to wrench himself. And if you don't know a derailleur from a screwdriver, don't worry: Lennard explains the difference.

This is pretty much my review as for the mountain bike version but changed to be specific to this version, exactly what Zinn has done with this book!I've purchased this book as there were some maintenance tasks I wanted to carry out on my road bike, the book itself is a good broad guide to road bike repair and maintenance and covers all maintenance tasks that most home mechanics would like to carry out.Since buying this book I found I had a few tasks I wanted to do on my mountain bike so I bought the mountain bike book, unfortunately having got this book I'm finding that there is lots of duplication between the two books and not enough detail on some of the topics I would like to see in a mountain bike book which would be things like maintaining suspension shocks which is covered but very briefly for a few specific types.If you already have the road bike edition then searching online is probably better than buying the mountain bike book, however what I would like to see would be a "Zinn and the complete book of bike maintenance" which covers both road and mountain.

This is a near perfect book on road bike maintenance. There's no point in me going much further than that. If you need to know what to do on your road bike, why to do it, and which tools you need - here you go. The author writes with a lovely manner, making it a relaxed yet precise, comprehensive and easy to follow guide.The binding of the book and the paper it's printed on are lovely quality too - that perhaps doesn't matter to most of us, but I'd expect it to handle years of heavy use without it falling apart.I read some negative reviews on amazon - I'd say that different people prefer different ways of presenting information and of course this book will not suit everyone, but I would say it will suit the vast majority of people out there looking for the best in road bike maintenance guides. Simply one of the best reference books I own.

Again, yes! Written with humour and passion much in the style of its great forerunner 'Richard's Bicycle Book' which had served me so well for 30 years, but which is now slightly old hat!! I'm a relative novice at bike maintenance but this makes for fun bedtime reading and I'm champing at the bit now to get the tools out and have a twiddle!!One small gripe; it's rather too clumpy to schlepp round France on an extended tour, but then that would mean editing out stuff or reducing the format and therefore print size and we don't want either really!

Zinn's books are fab. I have an older version of the MTB one, and decided to get a newer one ready for buying a road bike. The line drawings take getting used to (there are no photos), but they're actually better than photos. If you're not convinced just look at the photos in a haynes manual... they're very hard to see detail in, whereas the drawings in here are super clear.Also, these books cover all components both new and old. E.g. pedals look at the latest carbon trickster ones, and old cup/ball bearign ones... and everything in between. The maintenance techniques range from basic to advanced....Wonderful.

This book is clear, concise and easy to follow. The only down side is the pictures are hand drawn, but you know this actually doesn't detract from the knowledge its passing on as you dont end up thinking thats not my bike.This has helped me reset my rear mech, bleed my breaks, check for chain wear, suspension set up and loads of general maintenance. A really first class book, that after 2 years of ownership is now covered in oily finger prints.. I love this book.