Saturday, February 19, 2011

Sutherland’s Handbook for Bicycle Mechanics by Howard Sutherland

Sutherland’s Handbook for Bicycle Mechanics by Howard Sutherland  |Most bike shops have a copy of Sutherland’s — and with good reason: it contains a huge amount of useful information. The scope is mostly reference tables, diagnostics, gotchas, and hints. For example, Sutherland’s lists bolt circle diameters and subtle variations for most brands of cranks and chainrings; it also describes how to diagnose various problems with poor shifting, skipping, and so on. Sutherland’s is not a how-to manual, nor an engineering guide like “Bicycles and Tricycles” or “The Bicycle Wheel”. Nor will it substitute for one of them. However, there is nothing that will substitute for Sutherland’s! If you work on bicycles a lot, you will find lots of information to help you do it right and do it quickly. If you work on custom bikes (mixed parts), unusual bikes (parts with odd construction or dimensions) or old bikes (hard-to-find and unfamiliar) parts, you will find it especially useful. You will also enjoy this book if you simply enjoy bike part trivia — a Swiss bottom bracket has the same thread pitch and diameter as a French bottom bracket, but with the right cup thread reversed. True or false? The answer is in Sutherland’s, and is easy to find. Sutherland’s contains 25 years of specifications, experience and hints, collected from many sources ranging from manufacturers to folks who service bikes every day. It has lots of time-tested tips on “how to deal with hard problems”, frame damage, compatibility, part substitutions, and so on. Each new edition has lots of updates for recent changes in the bike biz. Sutherland’s is both authoratative and practical. Sutherland’s is well-thought-out right down to the construction — a binder so it opens flat, you can spread out the pages you need right now, and the pages are heavy paper coated to make them grease-resistant.

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