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

i think zinn is the standard. but these days you're probably better looking for a video on youtube.

edit: zinn - https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/193771537X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

I started with this. Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World's Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/193771537X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_.ALcAb2R65KY3

Since I got it, I apprenticed at a shop for about a year and I'd consider that book pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of the wheelbuilding section in it, but it's enough to get you through your first wheel. After that you may want to start exploring other methods as I find the one in that book overly time consuming/confusing compared to the one I learned on the shop.

Edit: I read you might be able to find it in your local library, so you could check it out before you buy it or just simply check it out when you need.

I bought a copy of Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance specifically because it includes a sensible list of regular maintenance tasks. It has several lists, like “before every ride,” “after every ride (or three),” “every 1000 miles,” “every 20,000 miles,” and helpful hints about how to know specifically when you need to do certain things, regardless of how many rides or miles you do.

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is basically the bible of bike repair. Buy that and supplement it with videos on YouTube from Park Tools or GCN.

If you live in a decent sized city, check and see if there's a bike co-op. They usually offer free/low cost repair classes and have a whole bunch of tools so you can see what you like/need.

I'm a Park Tool loyalist and will only buy that brand for 90% of my bike tools (my hex wrenches, tire levers, screwdriver, and fixie chainwhip are not PT). They're more expensive but they're solid and last forever. Can't really go wrong with them.

Zinn and the art of Bike Maintenance

Pretty good reference book to have on hand as well.

For maintenance guide, I really like the Zinn guides. There's one for road bikes and one for mountain bikes, but a lot of the content is the same.

https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/193771537X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

I would also suggest attending a "bike maintenance 101" class. You can often find them through your friendly local bike shop or cycling collective, or sometimes your county DOT will offer them. I took one through the county and learned how to change a flat, adjust brakes and shifters, and clean/lube all the bike parts. It was really helpful!

I really like Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance for most projects. Much easier for me than YouTube videos.

Also get a book. I really like my copy of Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance.

Handy in the shop. He also has a MTB version if that's your style.

park tools website

https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/193771537X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=193771537X&pd_rd_r=R8YN2XFTHMWAE783999N&pd_rd_w=DMd4u&pd_rd_wg=dezz3&psc=1&refRID=R8YN2XFTHMWAE783999N

Do yourself a favor and pick up the 5th edition (just came out) of Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance.
http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/193771537X/

The cost of the book will pay for itself in repair savings and educate you about tools, parts, and even some safety information. A little knowledge will save you money and frustration.

Yeah, that is some serious RTFM kinda stuff. In addition to your other suggestions, OP should get the Zinn book, if they really want to dive into bicycle repair.

Do you still have the original chain? This guide might help.

It's a little different for each cable, so I always end up YouTube searching. Park Tool also has a ton of repair resource videos (which is what I linked above). This book is supposedly a really good resource, too, but I haven't bought it yet.

If you haven't noticed yet, you'll see this reference mentioned everywhere. Because it really is that good. It's exactly how I got started with my first build, and I know at least two others that started the same way. You need to know nothing more, and nothing less than what this man has written. I found that even the parts I didn't understand at first, later made sense after building a bicycle. It's wonderful. Next, check and see if there are any community bike shop cooperatives near you. They're bicycle goldmines, and nearly anyone involved will be happy to give you a hand. Most of them are ran by volunteers. If they didn't want to help you, they wouldn't be there. If you have access to a cooperative shop, and read through some Sheldon Brown, building your first bike is going to be awesome.

If you prefer paper references, I would also suggest this. Another very well written, knowledgeable guide for first time builders/tinkerers.

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World's Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/193771537X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_57YjDbVJ58GA7

>pretty puzzling that your mechanic hasn’t dialed it in.

The mechanic I'm usually talking to is a right sweetheart, but he's not been in the job for long. I've seen them checking YouTube-videos for guidance on how to fix everyday tasks on common parts, like the Shimano Tiagra handle assembly. When I think about that, I'm not too surprised over the situation, to be honest.

I never cross chain. I always have the chain on the big ring and small gear, or vice versa. Despite this, the chain rubs. I've bought this book, and will try to see if I can't fix it myself before I turn it in.

If you're looking for a book, Zinn is hard to beat. Basically the Bible of bike maintenance.

I rebuilt a couple Schwinn varsity's, my old Schwinn caliente (rip), and my current Fuji S10-S and just used Zinn's road bike manual.

The industry has really moved toward this as a way away from custom bikes. Once they had a lot of fit data statistics, some of the bigger companies actually adjusted their sizing philosophies, too. There's more to it than height and inseam. CompetitiveCyclist.com has a fit calculator that will have you do the measurements of each joint, etc. That's close but it's not a substitute for a pro fit.

I just (last week) bought a new bike by mail order. Know that if you do this you will have to have some (but honestly not a lot) mechanical ability to put it together and get it running and adjusted.

Check out http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/193771537X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk There's probably a copy at your local public library.

I custom build my touring bike with this book. And of course Shelton Brown.

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World's Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/193771537X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Tsl8AbQ1CPQ4M

I started with this book (mine is the older version): Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance

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