bicycling restoration clues

September 28, 2006 3:13 AM

My 20+ year old low end racing Trek bicycle is coming back to me. I need to restore it to working condition. I'm going to go to the bicycle kitchen to do the work but before I do that I'd like to read a bit. What books can a mechanically naive cyclist read to learn about tuning a bike?
posted by rdr to travel & transportation (5 comments total)

Zinn will tell you everything you need to know.
And if he can't tell you, Sheldon Brown can.
posted by gally99 at 3:17 AM on September 28, 2006

In the latest issue of Bicycling (October, I think, with Landis on the cover), there's a section of basic "what do I need to do if I notice X" that covers some good stuff: shark-finned crank, busted ol' tape, etc. That will get you started. For more specific questions beyond Zinn and Sheldon, bikeforums.net is a good place, particularly in their Bicycle Mechanics forum, though they can be dicks to newbies, much more so than AskMeFi.
posted by The Michael The at 5:45 AM on September 28, 2006

I've always been 'mechanically naive' as you put it, but as I now ride so much I decided I should fix that. The afore-mentioned Zinn is excellent, with very clear instructions and diagrams. One rainy Sunday morning when I couldn't ride I was able to fix my skipping-like-crazy gears and get my brakes exactly where I wanted them. I'd always been too scared to try anything like that before. Saved myself the $75 or higher that my LBS would charge for a tune-up, and it's very satisfying to be able to do it myself. Lots of good advice in the book too, like taking the couple of minutes to carefully drip oil on the chain only where it's needed, rather than quickly squirting it all over.
posted by valleys at 6:17 AM on September 28, 2006

The repair pages on Park Tool's website are incredibly helpful as well. I've been able to assemble/disassemble/repair pretty much everything on my bikes from bare frame up using Park's site in concert with Sheldon Brown's.
posted by fet at 7:14 AM on September 28, 2006

Ditto on Sheldon Brown; I got into restoring and building fixed gear bikes this summer, and the guy's crazy smart when it comes to bikes.
posted by craven_morhead at 8:01 AM on September 28, 2006