Customer Reviews
Good introduction but for practical advice forget it - By: G. Thulbourn, 02 Jul 2004 
If you've never owned a bike before then this is a good book from which to get a basic knowledge, what the various bits are callled & what they do etc.
However, the servicing information it contains lacks any practical advice & if you follow it you'll get nowhere in my experience. They show nice photos of a clean brand new bike (with parts removed for clarity) which just doesn't map across to the real world. And what happens when you follow their instructions but it still doesn't work: well, you're left with a bike in a worse condition then when you started. If you want hands on, real world, practical advice on how to maintain your bike you are better searching the web where you will find excellent articles with more explanation & more 'if that doesn't work, then do this' kind of advice.
Not bad... if you own a mountain bike - By: Vince Cabrera, 15 May 2002 
I'm somewhat disappointed by this book as it spends WAY too much time discussing mountain bikes.
I own a Bianchi city bike (a hybrid, but hardly from an unknown brand) & it's hard to find pictures of ANYTHING that looks like my bicycle. Maybe the pictures just aren't clear enough or maybe I'm just obtuse but I DO find this book rather confusing.
There's a LOT of space (pages & pages, actuallly) devoted to giving free & shameless plugs to ANYTHING made by Avenir. I find that tacky. A second line of attack seems to be to talk you into spending lots & lots & LOTS of money on weird & wonderful tools. A lot of space is wasted on pictures of tools, but with very little space devoted to how to USE the blessed things.
Finallly, as far as the "housewife from Bolton"'s review for this book goes, you can find the exact same review (verbatim!) on the page for Fred Milson's "The Bike Book". I can only presume it was placed here by some zealous sales type.
Maybe if I owned a mountain bike I'd get more out of this book, as it is it's been a waste of money. Ask the guys at the shop to show you how they fix things.
Excellent book for beginners. - By: , 23 Jun 2000 
I am a housewife who does a lot of her shopping by bicycle, but was rather ignorant about cycle technicalities. But no longer, as with the help of this excellent book I have now successfully repaired & serviced my three current bikes: a smalll folding bike, a racing bike & a ladies shopper bike. The pictures & text are very clear, it just takes a little more time to grasp alll the new jargon if you are a complete beginner.
An Essential Manual for Enthusiastic Bikers - By: , 26 Oct 1999 
This is an excellent & well-illustrated guide to DIY bike maintenance. It describes alll that a non-pro will need to know ... as well as most of what a pro ought to know. Pity it has not been updated ... it is now starting to get out-dated, but nevertheless strongly recommended. Very easy to follow instructions.
Four crowns not five only because it has been published almost five years ago.
Excellent Basic Knowledge - By: , 23 Apr 1999 This book provides an excellent introduction to how to maintain your bike. It has good clear pictures with easy to read & understandable text. I managed to not feel scared in taking apart my headset & get it back together so that it still worked. Not so good for top end bikes as the bits become less standard
