This website is such a treasure. When I was first getting into bicycles in 2013, it was a mix of Sheldon Brown and the local volunteer-run co-op that taught me everything I need to know. He is himself a generous spirit, advocating for DIY tooling, repair, and reuse.
I would highly recommend anyone into bicycles to try building their own wheel using his article.
> I would highly recommend anyone into bicycles to try building their own wheel using his article.
Hear, hear. It's an incredible resource.
I got into building and fixing bikes around 2004, and built a couple of fixed-gear bikes on a shoestring budget using parts from Nashbar.com, and Sheldon Brown's wheelbuilding guide.
A wealth of knowledge here, especially helpful for wheelbuilding and checking the compatibility of archaic sizing systems. Lennard Zinn is another great reference in bike maintenance: https://lennardzinn.substack.com/
Sheldon was a wealth of information when I first started tinkering on my vintage 3-speed back in 2007. I would pore over these simple pages for hours in my dorm at college instead of studying. That led to dropping out and working in the bike industry for almost 10 years. It was a great preparation in problem solving and systems-oriented thinking before I got into programming.
Sheldon's website is such an awesome relic of the internet we all miss. It still has a ton of relevant information if you ever find yourself dealing with obscure wheel sizes or something like that. Love it. RIP.
This was a major influence for me, both getting into single speed and fixed gear biking before the craze, and building geo cities sites with my friends in high school
There was a point a few years back where someone did a site revamp with modern CSS and all that horrible jazz in clear attempts to monetize this incredible resource.
When I was a young(er) postdoc and had to overhaul my bicycle -- my main transportation to work-- this site was invaluable. Forever grateful to Sheldon.
I learned wheel building many years ago from Sheldon's website and that lead to many great memories fixing other racer's wheels around camp fires in my 20s.
Legend! I was a bicycle mechanic for a decade and this guy was our jezus! He influenced so many of my creative bicycle builds and exposed me to things like Alex Singer, Rene Herse, bicycle quarterly etc.. Big love for Sheldon and all his passion and work.
i worked as a bicycle mechanic when I got completely tired of it-world. This website saved my ass numerous times while fixing bicycles. Absolutely legendary webdesign also that just works well.
This is an incredible ressource without which I feel so many bikes and bike parts would go to waste. At the bike coop I volunteer at we’re trying to follow Sheldon’s footsteps by collecting information and procedures that are about making bikes & parts last for as long as they possibly can. What’s truly amazing is that all that documentation is amazing for both low-resource repairs on the cheapest of old parts and vintage part enthusiasts.
I think Sheldon Brown’s impact is a valuable lesson on sustainable engineering and the enormous role documentation plays in it
There is (was?) a bike shop in Pittsburgh, Kraynick's Bike Shop [1], where you could bring your bike and use their tools. It was nice, and I appreciate the DIY ethics and generosity.
So happy to see this featured here! Had been tinkering with bikes a long time before finding Sheldon’s site, but when I did I was dumbstruck by the amount of insight. And to top that, what a person he was. RIP
I lost my "Clear Creek Bike Book" in the 1980's but eventually Sheldon made me not miss it at all.
It's not as comprehensive, and more corporate than Sheldon's site, but I currently love Park Tool's youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@parktool). They shamelessly mention their tools, but they frequently give alternatives like, you can get this park tool for pushing your disc brake pads back into place, or you can just use a plastic tire tool.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 63.2 ms ] threadI would highly recommend anyone into bicycles to try building their own wheel using his article.
Hear, hear. It's an incredible resource.
I got into building and fixing bikes around 2004, and built a couple of fixed-gear bikes on a shoestring budget using parts from Nashbar.com, and Sheldon Brown's wheelbuilding guide.
I also corresponded with Sheldon a few times via email, and created the Wikipedia article about him. He contributed to it a few times himself, before his untimely death in 2008. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Brown_(bicycle_mechani...
Imagine my heartbreak when I didn't tighten the lockring enough and stripped the threads the first time I tried to skid stop :')
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/real-man.html
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tork-grip.html
if you like this you may also like:
https://outspokencyclist.com/tag/harriet-fell/
https://www.wired.com/2008/02/sheldon-brown-w/
There was a point a few years back where someone did a site revamp with modern CSS and all that horrible jazz in clear attempts to monetize this incredible resource.
Happy to hear they reverted
A fantastic resource!
And the web design!
> To update an old saying, 28 grams of prevention are worth 454 grams of cure.
I think Sheldon Brown’s impact is a valuable lesson on sustainable engineering and the enormous role documentation plays in it
[1] https://kraynicksbikeshop.weebly.com/
It's not as comprehensive, and more corporate than Sheldon's site, but I currently love Park Tool's youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@parktool). They shamelessly mention their tools, but they frequently give alternatives like, you can get this park tool for pushing your disc brake pads back into place, or you can just use a plastic tire tool.