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Rating: 
Summary: Good text, knowledgable author, but no useful illustrations!
Review: I bought a bike 11 days ago (and, as this and other authors [who all run bike shops, it seems] say, is a disdainful "department store" bike - but I'm starting cheap to see if I stay with it.) I bought this book the next day. On the way to the post office on my third or fourth trip out, a tire goes flat. Having read most of this book, I walked into the local bike shop for the first time and confidently asked for tire levers and a patch kit. The helpful saleswoman immediately went and got them for me, and as I was checking out, having incorrectly identified me as an experienced biker, she began to talk to me of problems with a customer's bike they were looking at in back and of the Tour de France. This book seems to have done the trick. I was wanting a more general book than one only on maintenance, and I wanted the maintenance sections to cover all bikes. There are several books available just on road bikes or just on moutain bikes. This book does what I want, and began with an interesting history of bicycles. In usual Idiot's Guide style, the book is easy to read, has a personable style and interesting margin notes defining terminology, giving some related, interesting facts, or giving notes of warning. The author seems to be very qualified and knowledgable to write such a book. I thought the sections on on-the-road emergencies, buying a bike, and riding a bike were particularly helpful, and were nice additions. However, this book has one major flaw. Almost all of the figures were supplied by Park Tool and Campagnolo. If the author had one of these illustrations that demonstrated the subject of the text, he inserted it, but often there was no figure, or the figure didn't quite illustrate the text. In a book on maintenance, good figures showing the procedures are a must - especially for a book aimed at beginners as this is (It IS an "idiot's guide," after all). Figures are also needed to simply show what items look like. I could probably find several examples on every page, but how about a diagram of a butted tube, or of a quill pedal, or of the different brake systems? Although this book meets its goal somewhat painfully (you may need to sit in front of a bike to figure out what it is trying to describe in words), a much better book is Bicycling Magazine's Complete Guide to Bicycle Maintenance and Repair for Road and Mountain Bikes. Its authors have not skimped on the figures as those of the Idiot's Guide have, including clear step-by-step black-and-white photos of all procedures. For those wanting some color, and don't mind that mountain bikes and road bikes are covered in separate books, you may want to examine the books by Zinn and Van der Plas, which I've seen but have not read.
Rating:
Summary: Good text, knowledgable author, but no useful illustrations!
Review: I bought a bike 11 days ago (and, as this and other authors [who all run bike shops, it seems] say, is a disdainful "department store" bike - but I'm starting cheap to see if I stay with it.) I bought this book the next day. On the way to the post office on my third or fourth trip out, a tire goes flat. Having read most of this book, I walked into the local bike shop for the first time and confidently asked for tire levers and a patch kit. The helpful saleswoman immediately went and got them for me, and as I was checking out, having incorrectly identified me as an experienced biker, she began to talk to me of problems with a customer's bike they were looking at in back and of the Tour de France. This book seems to have done the trick. I was wanting a more general book than one only on maintenance, and I wanted the maintenance sections to cover all bikes. There are several books available just on road bikes or just on moutain bikes. This book does what I want, and began with an interesting history of bicycles. In usual Idiot's Guide style, the book is easy to read, has a personable style and interesting margin notes defining terminology, giving some related, interesting facts, or giving notes of warning. The author seems to be very qualified and knowledgable to write such a book. I thought the sections on on-the-road emergencies, buying a bike, and riding a bike were particularly helpful, and were nice additions. However, this book has one major flaw. Almost all of the figures were supplied by Park Tool and Campagnolo. If the author had one of these illustrations that demonstrated the subject of the text, he inserted it, but often there was no figure, or the figure didn't quite illustrate the text. In a book on maintenance, good figures showing the procedures are a must - especially for a book aimed at beginners as this is (It IS an "idiot's guide," after all). Figures are also needed to simply show what items look like. I could probably find several examples on every page, but how about a diagram of a butted tube, or of a quill pedal, or of the different brake systems? Although this book meets its goal somewhat painfully (you may need to sit in front of a bike to figure out what it is trying to describe in words), a much better book is Bicycling Magazine's Complete Guide to Bicycle Maintenance and Repair for Road and Mountain Bikes. Its authors have not skimped on the figures as those of the Idiot's Guide have, including clear step-by-step black-and-white photos of all procedures. For those wanting some color, and don't mind that mountain bikes and road bikes are covered in separate books, you may want to examine the books by Zinn and Van der Plas, which I've seen but have not read.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Intro Book.
Review: If you need a repair manual that explain simple repairs and doesn't go to far into complex repairs this is a good book, It has some good diagrams and instructions but it also has alot of useless information. There are definately better bike manuals out there but for the average person this book is sufficient.
Rating: 
Summary: Not enough substance or details
Review: This book is a general introduction to bikes and bike maintenace, not a book that will guide you through difficult repairs or even many routine adjustments. The book's breezy, informal tone is friendly at first but becomes annoying when using the book as a repair guide.
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