A visit to your local mechanic costs you time and money, especially when you could learn to pull that bottom bracket yourself. But even the most seasoned home mechanic will find the Park Tool book useful when there's a $5k jewel dangling from the stand. Compiled and updated yearly by the number-one bike-tool company in the world, the Big Blue Book contains step-by-step instructions for repairing everything from road to bmx bikes, whether you're doing simple maintenance or a complete overhaul. Lots of photos allow your 6-year-old daughter to walk you through the most complicated of repairs, and as a result you'll spend less money on six-packs for your local mechanic.
Product Features
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
This new Park Tool Big Blue Book of Repair - 2nd Edition (also known as BBB-2 to differentiate it from the first edition) is a superb improvement over the original edition, Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair, which was considered by many to be THE "must-have" reference for bicycle repair by many enthusiasts, cyclists and bike shop owners.
This is a good, solid repair manual for almost any bike, be it the single-speed classic cruiser, mountain bike, BMX or road bike. At 246 pages, this new edition has hundreds of photos that will prove to be quite helpful when doing bike maintenance. Like the previous edition, it was written by Calvin Jones, whose years of experience as the Park Tool Director of Education shows.
There is a definite emphasis on tool selection (don't forget that it comes from Park Tool), but such topics as general bike upkeep, emergency repairs, on-the-road fixes and even bike cleaning tips are well covered. There's a thorough table of contents that will appeal to novice, experienced enthusiast and shop mechanic alike.
The various sections cover a wide range of topics. For example, the chapter on pedals covers everything from removal and installation to bearing service to servicing Shimano pedals. There are plenty of helpful photos in each chapter to help illustrate the repair topics. The four appendices in the back of this edition cover such topics as a tool list, glossary, the recommended torque for bike components and a bike map.
The Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair is used as the official student textbook in a unique program for learning bicycle maintenance and repair known as the Park Tool School. Check with your local bicycle dealer to see if one of these hands-on programs is coming to your area. If so, getting this new edition will give you a jump on the curriculum covered.
Another excellent manual worth considering is The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance and Repair: For Road and Mountain Bikes, a more basic, well-written reference that is also excellent for teaching youngsters how to perform their own bike repairs.
Even if you just want to get BBB-2 as your sole bike repair manual, it's a great 5-star reference. Highly recommended.
