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Collectible price: $35.00
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Used price: $1.10
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Get A Bike! Since I first started reading Mr.Ballantine, I've "gotten" five and partly due to him, I've loved them all.
Everyone who owns a bike should get this, especially if you're just starting out. It is really what got me started off, now I own my ultimate dream machine and I still refer to it now and then. You see so many riders out there with incorrectly set up bikes. The three things I can notice from about 100 feet away are: their seat is too low; their chain is insufficiently lubricated; and the derailleurs are not adjusted properly. This book will teach you how to set up your bike correctly, and provide you with essential knowledge on cycling.
This has all the info in it for beginners and intermediates alike. The main sections are: mountain bikes, racing bikes and touring bikes, future bikes and cycle maintenance. Within these pages, you'll find info about bike set-up/positioning, sizing of frames, clothing, riding techniques, racing and stretching. Plus more info on other specific bike parts, such as: frame construction, types of wheels, gears/brakes, etc. Also specific info about various types of bikes used in: observed trials, the tour de France, criterium races, time¨Ctrials, triathlons, track racing (& classic bikes).
The maintenance section is quite extensive, and will generally be adequate for most people's needs. It covers tools (and there's a lot!), wheel truing, fixing flat tires, adjustments for comfort, brakes, chains, pedals, derailleur adjustment, and cleaning/lubrication.
There are plenty of good colour photos, it is well written and very informative - what more could you ask for? If you haven't actually flicked through this book and you're still having doubts about getting it, go to your local bookshop and just have a look through it, you'll see what I mean. All in all a very comprehensive guide to cycling - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for youngsters and/or beginners.
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List price: $10.00 (that's 20% off!)
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There's nothing quite like the pleasure of riding out of a beautiful bike showroom on a great bicycle! Yet within months, I always noticed that the feel was gone. Pretty soon, I wasn't riding as much.
Now from reading this book, I know that all bikes need regular maintenance to keep that top-performance feeling. And I know what to do. It's a wonder that my bikes and my children's bikes ran at all before reading this book!
My idea of bike repair was to patch a puncture, adjust the seat and handle bars, and get a new chain if it broke. That's about 3 percent of what you really need to know.
The book is also useful as a guide to what type of bike to buy in the first place. The pros and cons of various types of materials and structures are well developed.
For those who enjoy mastering physical tasks, this book also offers much potential pleasure. "Keeping your bike in tip-top shape is very satisfying -- and makes riding more enjoyable."
Although I am far from being a mechanical person, I could clearly do everything in the book. But I do need different tools. No problem! The book shows you just what to buy, with many choices (more kinds of bike stands than you ever knew existed, as an example). Not only that, it tells you which ones to take with you on a long touring ride. If you don't have the right tool, it shows you how to improvise with materials usually found along the side of any road. This was fascinating! In fact, the paperback is just the right size to take along on a ride, so you can figure out what to do if you bend a rim.
One of the real insights for me was to realize that all of the bearings are meant to be rebuilt once a year. And there are a lot of bearings on any bike.
Where a bike might have different types of equipment (such as for brakes and transmissions), you get descriptions of what to do with all the major types.
Many pictures show you what each part looks like, and the steps to go through for maintenance. This is the main drawback of such a compact book. Some of the images can be a little small. But I see no way around that if you are to have a truly portable guide to repair and maintenance.
Most people will decide to still get some maintenance and repair at the local bike shop. But this book can show you what's involved so you can figure out what it might cost in time and money to do the work yourself.
One of my favorite parts of the book was the Troubleshooting Chart to give you an idea from the symptom you have observed what is a likely cause, the solution, and where the information is found to implement that solution.
I suggest that you both get this book and try doing some of the maintenance. If you enjoy this, it could become a very satisfying hobby. You could also do maintenance for other people to help cover the cost of the tools. I suspect that less than 1 bike in 50 is properly maintained.
If you have children who like to learn to fix and maintain things, this could be a fun family activity. My dad was very good at such things when I was a wee lad, so good that I never learned how to fix anything. Be sure to pass along what you know and learn instead.
But whatever you do, be sure you get out and enjoy biking with loved ones! That's the ultimate payoff.
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Used price: $10.50
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This is a very interesting book covering the struggle for liberty Finnish people had to fight against the Soviet rolling machine.
A lot of maps and photos help a lot to show the hard conditions in which this war took place. It's amazing to see how heavy outnumbered but very valiant troops resisted and defeated time after time overwhelming enemy forces. Sadly, Finland was finally defeated, but its heroic resistance let them go on existing as a free and independent country. Was it worth? Well, they're still there while the Soviet Union has gone forever.
I missed some more info about orders of battle and foreign voluntary units participation in the Winter War.
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