Need to fix your bicycle? Library has lots of manuals

By Edward Hirst Rowan Public Library

Recently I needed to do some repairs on my bicycles and so I thought it might be wise to see what the library offered in the way of repair manuals. I knew I could save some money if I could do the repairs myself. I was able to find a number of good repair manuals to help with my endeavors.

“The Bicycle Repair Manual” by Chris Sidwell (628.2877 SID) is a well designed manual that will help everyone from the novice mechanic to the seasoned veteran repair their own bicycles. Illustrated with highly detailed color photographs to guide your efforts, this book breaks repairs down in easy-to-follow steps.

“The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair for Road and Mountain Bikes” by Todd Downs (629.2877 DOW) is illustrated with black and white photos and line drawings. Each part of a bicycle has its own section that explains that part in detail, which is then followed by a troubleshooting list of common issues related to that part and what steps to take to fix it. Finally, there are detailed photos and steps that go into further detail about the part in question.

Leonard Zinn has written two books about bicycle maintenance that the library owns: “Zinn and The Art of Road Bike Maintenance” (629.2877 ZIN) and “Zinn and The Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance” (629.2877 ZIN). Both books have clear instructions with line drawings to help guide your work, and it covers many of the repairs you would need to do to maintain or fix most types of bicycles.