Good resource on Bicycles?

[Kaido]

I have a mountain bike that is on the rusty side and I'm looking for a good book, website, or other resource on the A-Zs of bicycles. I want to start biking to improve my health but my bike is in poor shape! I know there are some bikers here so lay it on me!

 

[Dirigible]

http://www.parktool.com/repair/

Edit: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/

Zinn's the art of mountain bike maintenance is a good book, but redundant if you have the web.

 

[DrVos]

bikeforums.net has a sub-forum devoted to bike mechanics
There is always http://www.sheldonbrown.com/ for more than you'd ever need to know about bicycles

EDIT: http://www.parktool.com/repair/ as mentioned above is a great resource

 

[Dirigible]

Originally posted by: DrVos
bikeforums.net has a sub-forum devoted to bike mechanics
There is always http://www.sheldonbrown.com/ for more than you'd ever need to know about bicycles

Hah! You posted Sheldon's (RIP ) web site while I was editing my post to add it.

 

[DrVos]

I'd also suggest that you take your bike to a local bike shop for a cleaning and tune-up so that you know what a properly functioning bike should look, sound, and feel like. After that, do all the maintenance yourself.

 

[Kaido]

Thanks for the tips everyone!

Can someone recommend a good used road bike? I'm looking for a Ironman-style triathlon bike, just a used starter. I'm not familiar with the brands well enough to know what's what. Budget is $500 or less, preferably less since I'm saving up for a treadmill. Here is one of the sites I've been looking at:

http://www.triathlon-bikes.com/

Also, how do I found out what bike size I am?

 

[DrVos]

I just came across this site:
http://bicycletutor.com/guide/

This is a collection of video tutorials on bike maintenance and repair.

 

[thedarkwolf]

www.mtbr.com has a good mountain bike forums along with other info.

 

[sobriquet]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Also, how do I found out what bike size I am?

My advice would be to go to your LBS and have them fit you on a range of bikes, seeing as sizes between makes will be slightly different. Learn the procedure used to properly fit yourself, and then you can use that when you search for a used bike. I would strongly recommend against buying a bike without being able to ride it first (unless you can ride an identical model at your LBS), because even small sizing problems can cause huge comfort issues down the road.