3alarmer 

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...I don't know how long they'll last, because apparently the publishing industry is preparing a lawsuit.

Not sure what the legal copyright issues are in providing online copies of stuff that is still under copyright, but has no chance of being republished, nor am I interested in getting involved in a long and impressively angry discussion over those issues, which seems to be how these threads always devolve. At any rate, for anyone interested, here is a link to their bicycle repair category. It also has some remarkably obscure stuff from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

No Sutherland's 4th/5th copies yet, which is a shame. They are close to me in the Bay Area, so I might get inspired and suggest those. Sutherland seems to have gone on record as having no intentions of republishing them, and they are expensive to buy used.

Andrew R Stewart 

When I posted the Proteus Manual (not to the listed archive) I asked for permission from the only coauther I could find. Andy

3alarmer 

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...Hi Andrew:

If you were interested in the Proteus book, you should check out

Manual of instruction in hard soldering, with an appendix on the repair of bicycle frames; notes on alloys and a chapter on soft soldering

It's from 1898, and I had never seen it before this.

WizardOfBoz

A quick glance through these shows a lot of books from back in the 70s, 80s, or 90s (even the 1890s! see above). There's a lot of chaff and (IMHO) little wheat. Having said that, if these are copyrighted, downloading them and using them is stealing.

For books still in print or available (for example, Calvin Jone's "Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair") it really does hurt the author and publisher to download stuff like this, without buying,. And, as helpful as Mr. Jones has been (he's replied to my emails and given excellent customer service) I'd feel like a real jerk stealing revenue from him. I mean, if the info is useful, buy the book! For example, the Jones Book is here.

There is one possible legitimate (in both senses of the word: not actually illegal, and acceptable use) approach to this material. This is for ancient (or even more recent) books now out of copyright, like the 1898 book on hard soldering.

Can anyone identify any really good (excellent technical, historically significant) books on this list that aren't under copyright? This would separate the wheat from the chaff for a lot of us.

PS If you do choose to download these books, and you want to use them, you may have to print out significant sections. This may end up costing more than (for example) an entire copy of said book from eBay, and might be close to the actual price of a new book.

PS Given that the Sutherland 6th and 7th editions are still available (here), I have to think that the getting the copyrighted 4th or 5th edition as pdf, for free, seems sketchy.

3alarmer 

... that took no time at all, did it ? FYI, I have all those Sutherland's manuals. My guess is you've never seen a copy of the 4th/5th, because the information is completely different. Sutherland was kind of ahead of the times in not simply reprinting stuff that it was assumed shops already had, because they already bought the earlier versions (and presumably kept them, like me). But it's old information...on topics that deal with the bicycles of the 70's/80's. So unlikely to be reprinted because it won't sell enough copies to make back the costs.

Anyway, have a nice day, and try to remember why some of us prefer whole wheat flour.
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WizardOfBoz

That makes sense. I did wonder why Sutherland's sells both the 6th and 7th editions but I guess it's cuz they have different content. And looking at ebay, the old editions ARE expensive.

Ok, I don't get this at all...

(I was tempted to say "How did you know I hate whole wheat?". But I still don't get it.)

Andrew R Stewart 

Thanks for the reminder. I have heard of it, likely on an old now gone email list before Google was a giggle. I might look through it but I long ago stopped collecting books for the sake of having them.

When i was into that, collecting books that mostly told me what I already knew (Sutherlands being the exception, but I am in the LBS service industry...), I gathered quite a few of what's found on the archive. There's only a few that I would keep if someone asked to buy them. Andy

Oldguyonoldbike

Thanks for sharing.
They seem to have done their homework as far as copyrights are concerned -- limited view (as with Google Books), borrowing for members (as with libraries), and some titles freely available, presumably those in the public domain or for which they've obtained permission.

ted_major

I think it’s a metaphor: whole wheat flour has the chaff along with the wheat.

ted_major

Looks like I have a new favorite superhero: Sprocketman (and most of the advice seems to hold up pretty well, too).

3alarmer 

...yes, I think so. I guess maybe if you're a regular library user it makes more sense as a model to minimize trips and visits to the library. Which is how it came to my attention.

WizardOfBoz

WizardOfBoz

Ah, thanks. BTW, are there any really classic repair books here?