Seems the last 12 months have been the time for everyone that’s written a book about bike maintenance to update (like this and this), revise and expand their tomes. Maybe they’ve seen the coming summer of $5/gallon gas and know everyone will need to dust off those Panasonic road bikes that’ve been collecting dust in their grandma’s garage and start riding…or maybe they’ve realized that anything written more than two years ago is already out of date.
Anywhoo, the latest is Fred Milson’s Complete Bike Maintenance, which has sold more than 800,000 copies. The new version has 185 pages of full color instructions for tuning, maintaining and replacing anything from hydraulic disc brakes to hub brakes, 2×10 to internal geared hubs, headsets, bottom brackets and more. There’s also a solid index and “What’s That Mean” glossary at the end to explain what parts and terms are. Where some of the other books on this shelf focus on one type of bike, Milson’s covers pretty much anything you’re likely to ride. MSRP is $21.99 (or $15.24 on Amazon).
Flipping through our review copy, it’s well illustrated with photos and relatively clearly written. The only downside to the breadth of the coverage is that some topics are a bit oversimplified. Full on techies may want something more in-depth or step by step (which, honestly, is what web video is for), but for a quick garage reference or gift for the commuting friend/family member that’s still learning, it looks like a great way to ease them into self maintenance.
