tiger1964 

Is there a book that could conceivably been titled something like that?

I am not afraid if diving into a bike (I just got a dishing tool and used it for the first time today; yea!) but everything I have is old, thus I am usually on the Classic & Vintage forum. I am unlikely to change my tastes (famous last words?)

But my friends who ride all ride modern stuff - most have "gone carbon". And they take their bikes to the LBS for the most mundane things (Handlebar tape? Really?); and I feel helpless to assist. Yesterday we were out and a friend's wife's bike was making the most horrendous noise, and I swear I saw unnatural movement in the left crank, of a type where the arm is secured by a perpendicular Allen key bolt... was it loose? And I could not help.

So, for someone with reasonable bike-service skills but many decades out of date, is there a recommendable book that might be a good reference guide? I'd like to know more about the modern cranks, index shifting (maybe even electronic), disc brakes (perhaps hydraulic?), threadless headsets. I"m not 100% sure about "through axles". It would be nice to say to a friend "bring over a six-pack of beer and let's puzzle this out".

I have not even begun to think about what specialized tools I might want to buy.

Bill Kapaun

PARK tools website seems to be more up to date then I am.

smd4

If you're looking for a book as opposed to videos, there's also Park's Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair. It's pretty thorough.

Eric F 

YouTube is your friend for this stuff.

prj71

Books = Old School.

YouTube or Park Tool website.

Chinghis

Thanks for the Park book rec. I can't stand having to wade through videos to figure stuff out. Unless they're the Park videos, those have been very good and helpful, with minimized fluff.

deacon mark

I can do anything really on a road bike. I don't make the frame or components but I can build one and build my own wheels. I still ride a rim brake bikes but I had to work on a few disk brakes bikes and youtube and park tool videos are you friend. If you have basic mechanic skills you can figure it out it is not rocket science. Sometimes things get frustrating depending on what is going on but patience and level thinking gets you a winner most of the time.

I repair guitars for a living and most expensive jazz guitars are my specialty. Working on bikes way easier not as much caution and care needed just basic wrenching and diligence. Compared to refretting a $12,000 vintage super 400 a bike is easy. Park Tool simply does a great job I really like Calvin Jones wonder if he still is working there.

squirtdad

I like this book it covers both classic and "modern" though for me the line blur a bit.. I like classic frames with modern components https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road...dp_ob_title_bk

and no books are not always old school

and of course park https://www.parktool.com/en-us/blog/repair-help

Iride01 

If you have a mechanical aptitude, then just take it apart and you'll figure it out. If you have questions a diligent google search usually answers those. But first stop by the manufacturers website and see if they have the various documents linked that you might need. Usually that's the manufacturer of the components, not the bike itself.

Park tools website and videos are good to great. Though sometimes the horsing around of Calvin and friends is annoying. YouTube videos you have to be careful with. Some of the better produced ones are utter garbage and false in what they tell you. So don't judge them as being gospel just because they were well spoken and well produced.

SoSmellyAir

Is wrapping cables and/or hoses under handlebar tape really a step too far!? If you can wrap a C&V handlebar, you should also be able to wrap a modern CF handlebar, right?

Joe Remi

I tend to learn the new stuff one part at a time with internet searches, it doesn't work for me to read a book and try to get it all at once. For instance I now know that the crankarm you saw is part of a two-piece crank: the driveside has a spindle attached which slides through; then the left arm is slid onto the splines, the crankbolt tightened down, then that Allen bolt you saw snugs the arm tight on the spindle. Which I had to figure out when I bought a bike with these cranks. I learned about discs on that same bike.

drlogik 

I felt the same as Tiger 1964 when I bought my Kona MTB a few years back. It turns out that adjusting the gears is easier but those hydraulic brakes threw me for a loop until I watched the Park Tool video. Well wudya know, it's the same as bleeding car brakes and I have done that many times. I dove in and the very first time I bled them they were perfect. And, the funny part, I used a trick that an old car mechanic I worked with decades ago taught me...and it worked on the bike too!

TiHabanero

drlogik, I'll be the first to bite. What's the trick?
I have bled every system out there and have done the big two hundreds of times and found that doing it per manufacturers instructions works. Always interested in short cuts that really work.

oldbobcat

In your world, how new is new?

For the standard "new as of the last 15 years," the Park Blue Book is as good a starting point as any. For stuff like road hydro disk brakes, electronic shifting, concealed cabling, and all that proprietary esoteric stuff like 1x, clutches, 12-speed freehubs, proprietary freehubs, proprietary thru-axles, and suspensions, look to the manufacturers' websites, YouTube, and Park's videos. Sorry, it gets no better than that.

drlogik 

TiHabenero,

Here it goes but you'll need a helper. You man the bleed valve and your helper mans the brake lever.

• Have helper slowly pump the brake lever 6 or 7 times. Slowly and squeeze it tight.
• This is the trick: After that, get ready on the bleed valve and tell helper to start squeezing the brake lever s l o w l y and tell say "Now" when it almost bottoms-out to the handlebar.
• As the helper is squeezing, bleed the fluid out and when the helper says "now" shut off the bleed valve.
• It's important to shut the bleed valve before the brake lever bottoms out on the handlebar (i.e. when it's still in motion). Otherwise air "can" (and often does on cars at least) get sucked back into the line.
• Ask the helper if the brake had a hard stop when you shut the bleed valve. If it didn't you still have air in the line.
• Remember that you will most likely need to fill the reservoir at some point during this process.

Repeat until no bubbles come out. For me it took three repetitions.


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dedhed

ANYTHING I work on now days it's google and youtube. Everything from a model A Ford to a recent Vexilar flasher

tiger1964 

Sounds like a great idea for a back-up.

Let's see if a Google Search, or Park's website, finds that for me.

That spoke me. I was able to replace a string on my wife's Les Paul - and got away with it. I cannot imagine the outcome if I had damaged it...

I'll check that out too!

Well, wait a minute. I mentioned they had been to the LBS for that one, but I wasn't along or I would had suggested I do it. the point is I don't mind picking up tools, some cyclists I know do not. Pretty sure I can wrap bars.

Lombard

I think this is a good place to start.

But be very careful about the source. I have seen some pretty hamfisted mechanics on YouTube.

Both Park and Art's Cyclery have some excellent videos.

tiger1964 

Good point, one I forgot to mention. Apparently everyone that can record on a cell phone thinks he's a "YouTube Sensation" and an expert. On anything, not just bikes.

SoSmellyAir

On YouTube, Park Tools videos are my go to; GCN and Art's Cyclery are generally pretty good too (at least for the things I had to figure out).

sweeks

I've done this a few times on my R100S with dual front discs. I manage to do it by myself.

Gresp15C

Being self sufficient for maintenance is part of the enjoyment of cycling for me. I'm quite mechanically inclined, so the inner workings of bikes actually seem pretty straightforward. I also do most home repairs, though not on cars. I don't have the tools, strength, or space for car repair, and my mechanic is so quick!

Coping with the evolution of bike technology has been with us for more than a century. There will always be a bike more modern than mine. Stuff that seemed complex and tricksy 30 years ago is routine today, like adjusting indexed shifting systems.

Possibly suggested by the OP is the issue of working on someone else's bike. That's partly a psychological game, and I try to be realistic about what I can do for people. I'm up front about the fact that I'm going to look at something and figure it out on the fly, or find guidance online. Often, people have settled in their minds that a cyclist shouldn't try to repair their own bike, and that's it. So I'm willing to make gentle suggestions, but I don't push it.

Camilo

Nobody uses "Glenn's" any more?

smd4

Only the smart ones.