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by: C. Calvin Jones
Topics include: derailleur cable tension, cable pinch bolt, limit screw settings, maximum sprocket size, vertical face alignment, compressionless housing, chain tool pin, threaded race, derailleur housing, fork steering column, locknut face, outermost sprocket, chainring bikes, rim braking surface, pad fixing bolt, freehub body, derailleur capacity, pad centering, crown race seat, articulated housing, cassette lockring tool, caliper adjustment, caliper arm, primary cradle, stem binder bolt
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CyclingNews.com
The book covers everything from basic skills to servicing hydraulic systems in brakes and suspension forks.
Book Description
The Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair is a comprehensive manual of over 130 bicycle repairs and maintenance procedures. It is written by Calvin Jones, one of the top bicycle mechanics in the country, and published by Park Tool, the world's leading manufacturer of bicycle tools.
The book is written for the novice to expert home mechanic and features hundreds of color pictures to assist the reader in a step-by-step fashion. It is current with the latest technologies and makes allowances for variations by manufacturer.
About the Author
The author, Calvin Jones, is without a doubt one of the most qualified mechanics and instructors in the world today. With over 30 years experience, Calvin lives, eats, sleeps and breathes bicycles. Here is a list of just a few of his many qualifications:
National Team Mechanic and Manager of the USA National Team Mechanics at the MTB World Championships in 1994, 96,97, 01, 03 and 04.
Instructor at USA Cycling Mechanics Licensing clinics at the US Olympic Training center in Colorado Springs since 1984.
Eight years instructor at Barnett's Bicycle Institute for bicycle mechanics.
Author of the Park Tool School Manual. Park Tool's in store clinic presented by local bike shops.
Director of Education at Park Tool since 1996.
Mechanical advisor for countless bicycle industry manufacturers, racing teams and retailers.
Direct, succinct, detailed, Up-to-date!,
For decades, bicycle repair manuals repeated the same kind of general instructions for maintaining and repairing the bearings and mechanisms of the bicycle. Over the past 20 years, new mechanisms and materials used in bicycles now require more attention to torque settings and other adjustments, some of which are brand-specific. This new book strikes a data-packed balance between the general advice and the details relevant to modern bicycles for home bicycle mechanics. It doesn't read like a novel to me, though; it's top-notch technical writing.
Prior to reading this book I knew absolutely nothing about the maintenance & repair of bicycles but as I just purchased a decent MTB I needed some sort of guide. Within an hour reading this book I discovered that my chain was too long, the rear derailleur housing cable was too short, my linear pull breaks were out of kilter and my front derailleur required some lateral adjustment - and this is a brand new bike!! I found the book to read more like a novel than a technical manual and could not put it down. It is extremely well written, the examples are beautifully photographed and I would highly recommend this book to anybody who owns a bike in fact I would go as far as to say you can not do without this book. Even a complete novice like me now feels confident enough to carry out the above adjustments myself and lets face it some people might not want to trust their brand new pride of joy to some local bike shop that charges like a wounded bull. As I get to feel more comfortable with doing my own maintenance and repairs this book will pay for itself over and over. Calvin Jones would have to be the authority on bicycle mechanics.
Reviews:
Redefining DIY
It seems like eons since such a comprehensive bicycle maintenance guide has been available for the DIY er. In the meantime technology has changed like never before.
Calvin's guide not only includes all the stuff DIY ers are struggling with today like chain and derailleur technology and of course disc brakes, but also a few we are yet to experience like cartridge wheel bearings. You may ask how he squeezed so much into 223 pages, all the servicing details for a wide range of makes and models, with lots of really clear pictures; plus a few for the more advanced mechanics, e.g. facing the fork crown race. To achive all this, the guide meshes with parktool.com and of course the various Park Tools, complete with their reference numbers.
Next time you are weighing up whether to send your bicycle in for repair or DIY, grab a copy of BBB-1, it might just change the way you think.
This book is a good book for the repair of bicycles. However, the writing tends to be sparse and direct. While this in its self is not bad, often more writing can help a less experienced reader in better conceptually understanding how the thing works. On the plus side, you will never have to guess which park tool to use as the author references each tool by name and part number. As another reviewer mentioned, I feel that the Bicycling Mag/Todd Downs book is a better value. Downs has a casual writing style that makes the reading easy. He covers much more information including some history and the pros and cons of different types of conponets. This book includes both photos and drawings, while the Park book only uses photos. Drawings are a plus and they show views (sections or cut-a-ways) that are difficult to achieve using only photos. I guess the best way to summarize the difference is to say that the Bicycling book is produced by a publishing company staffed with editors and artists. Their sole business is publishing, so they are experts in written communication. Park is a tool company and their manual reads as though it was written by people who make and use tools, i.e. machinists. That's not bad, it just results in a different style of book. For me, I preferred the Bicycling book as I enjoyed the extra information. Both books seemed good on the technical info...