Comments on: Park Tool's bicycle repair help and education pages

Park Tool's bicycle repair help and education pages

cog_nate — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:58:23 -0800

Major bicycle tools manufacturer Park Tool maintains a neatly sorted bevy of repair, maintenance and technical information articles. Their lead mechanic Calvin runs a video channel that includes -- among many other things -- on-the-road bicycle repair tips. Even more bike info (new bike assembly procedures, road and mountain bike positioning charts, thread concepts, drive train troubleshooting, etc.) is available on the miscellaneous topics page. Don't forget to check out the bicycle mechanics language spreadsheet!

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:13:55 -0800

Park's a quality outfit. My decades-old PCS-1 stand was the best bike-related purchase I ever made (other than the bike, of course).

By: sonascope

sonascope — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:15:00 -0800

Between this and Sheldon's archives, a cyclist gearhead can't help but love this world of the future.

By: entropone

entropone — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:32:39 -0800

I've often directed people to Park Tools' website. In fact, despite being a fairly experienced wrench, I often consult it for occasional guidance on the right way to do things, or how to do tasks that I do very infrequently. Park Tools are great. I get a lot of mileage out of my Park PZT-2.

By: Rustic Etruscan

Rustic Etruscan — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:46:02 -0800

I'll be referring back to this when I finally replace the bike I busted years ago. Gotta learn to be handy with something.

By: His thoughts were red thoughts

His thoughts were red thoughts — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:03:59 -0800

I trued my own wheels the other day, for the first time, using an online tutorial. I felt MANLY. But that's beside the point - the internet is an incredibly powerful teaching tool, and I'm astounded by the enthusiam of people and companies that create these resources, just because they love knowledge and their subject and want to share that love.

By: PuppyCat

PuppyCat — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:19:59 -0800

So timely!I have been bike-less for about 20 years. That's horrible, I know, but shit happens. At any rate, my daughter taught her self to ride a bike without training wheels and then I got the itch for a bike. Which I found on Craigslist, just waiting for me - vintage Bridgestone (remember when Bridgestone made bikes?) mountain bike built up more like a commuter. LOVE. I did have to pry off the reflectors and kickstand immediately upon purchase - I thought the guy was gonna cry. Anyway, after having been something of a bike-aficionado-tag along kind of person, it's good to be back in the business of bikes.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:26:19 -0800

These are better than the majority of books out there. Really great.

By: capnsue

capnsue — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:33:42 -0800

Hey PuppyCat, how come you wanted to pry off the reflectors? Serious question -- is it just a looks thing or what? (I'm really ignorant about everything regarding bikes except how to like, ride them down the street.)

By: sauril

sauril — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:36:52 -0800

I'll join the chorus talking about Park's great tools. I have a couple of repair books at home, and honestly my big obstacle in doing repairs is finding the time (I have a 4 year and 1 year old), but these videos look great. Thanks!

By: PuppyCat

PuppyCat — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:45:18 -0800

Capnsue, partly because they're unnecessary and cheesy looking and partly because when you go off-road, they tend to fall off by themselves and create a litter nuisance/trail hazard for riders behind you. If you want illumination now, you can get all manner of LED's that will stay stuck to you. Forever.

By: Slap*Happy

Slap*Happy — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:50:43 -0800

I went from knowing jack-diddly-squat about bikes to swapping out a suspension fork and threaded headset for a fixed fork with threadless headset and riser stem in under a 6 months thanks to this site and the immortal Sheldon site.

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:53:38 -0800

Oh. Yes. I need this.

By: alex_skazat

alex_skazat — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:38:17 -0800

The creepy, blue-gloved shots are what makes it, for me.

By: dbmcd

dbmcd — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:11:46 -0800

Sigh. I worked in the bicycle biz for almost 15 years "back in the day". One of my most valued tools (I was in sales, not a wrench), was a stainless steel 5cm rule, w 1mm increments precisely stamped along its length. Some bastard stole it out of my vest at REI. Yeah, Park Tools rule.

By: lonefrontranger

lonefrontranger — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 07:30:08 -0800

In addition to the fantastic general knowledge on Park's site, there are also a host of industry-specific manufacturer Youtube channels, which host HD-quality tutorials on all the latest-greatest industry and manufacturer-specific high-end widgets. Some of this stuff is really expensive and if you do happen to race and/or ride a fancy whip, you'll probably find yourself looking for this stuff at some point after scratching your head over 11-speed front mech alignments or b0rking a BB30 install, or trying to figure out how Dual Air fork adjustments work compared to Solo Air (and how to get them right). I'm ten years + out of being a shop rat, and am on these channels rather frequently, because like it or not, bike tech is rapidly evolving, and knowing how to properly install a BB30 pressfit crank/BB system right out of the box will save you a ton of frustration, cost and time down the road. not that I'd know anything about that, heh. SRAMTech Youtube channel (great stuff here, including how to rebuild their Rockshox suspension systems) Fox Racing Tech, for everything Fox-related suspension, not just bike stuff. Campagnolo SRL (bonus: work on your high school Italian!) for everything late-model Campy. Shimano Videos, which includes helpful troubleshooting for Di2 electronic shifting systems - I have seen shop rats shamelessly reference these vids right there in the shop. The new stuff is just that complex, and the industry is changing that fast. The bonus of HD quality video is having good, clear, repeatable demonstrations of how this (for example) godsbedamned Campy 11-speed shifter body replacement actually fits into the stupid assembly, because books, pictures and the inscrutably Italian text descriptions in the user manual, however thorough or high-quality, just don't quite do it for me.