Richard Ballantine (1940–2013)

This is a fantastic book - I was lucky to find a copy way back in 1975 when I wanted to get a sports bike.

10-speed bicycles were very popular at the time, good ones were not easy to get where I lived at the time. I decided it would make sense to build one, from parts purchased at the stores, and putting it all together myself.

With the detailed information, illustrations and know-how presented in this book, I had fun, learned a lot, and built a better bike than I could buy in the stores. Fantastic book!

After so many years, I am back to cycling very intensively, and the mechanical knowledge I learned from this manual still serves me well. I love Classic and Vintage bikes, and their mechanics are all covered in detail in the book.

The only thing the book might not cover is the newer technologies like brake/shifter combos, so if you are interested in maintenance of more modern bikes you might find a better, more recent book.

Excellent reference, used copies are very low priced, recommended.… (más)

Only skimmed - Sections on different bike types, uses and basic mechanics. Useful pictures and some details on riding in traffic - BUT he advocates jumping red lights "without unduly annoying other road users" !!!! Without being noticed by any other road user might be better and legal. Loses several marks for this already.

After full read:
Basically very good. Clear pictures with descriptive text. It is limited in scope with a good distinction through the various types of bikes and cyclists but solely for environments involving cycling in a city. Often only overviews are provided but many links and other sources are given for more detailed information specific to your situation.

However:
It has some errors in it. Some trivial some less so. Some are a matter of style, but some like the jumping read lights and "using a bike to work bike solely for cycling to work" are just flat wrong. This is a shame. Richard Ballentine is a ardent cyclist with a real passion for biking, that shines in many places. There is no excuse for making mistakes of the magnitude he does. These errors detract from the entire rest of the book, for if you know you can't trust some of the information can you trusts that which is new to you.

Could be so much better with very little extra effort.… (más)