Haynes Road Cycling Manual review

Haynes has a manual for pretty much everything you might want to fettle, from a cat to a Vulcan bomber and that now includes road bikes. Written by Luke Edwardes-Evans, a former editor of Cycling Active and Cycle Sport magazines, it covers pretty much everything you need to know to get out on the road and keep your bike going.

There’s a foreword by ex-professional rider Sean Yates, before you get into the nitty gritty.

The Haynes Road Cycling Manual then carefully guides you through the world of road cycling, starting off by explaining the different types of riding you might enjoy, from leisure rides and commuting through to sportives, joining a club and racing.

Of course, the first thing you’ll need is a bike and the Haynes Road Cycling Manual guides you through the process of choosing and buying one. There’s also a section explaining the bike’s components and what to look out for. And further on Edwardes-Evans explains how to set up your bike so that you’re comfortable and efficient.

Then there’s all the other kit which goes with the bike. So there’s advice on clothing, accessories, storage and the dreaded turbo.

Having got through all that lot, you’re going to want to use your bike so the manual goes through how to get fit and organise your training both on and off the bike. Then there’s advice on how to ride safely on the road. And there’s more information on sportives and competition.

Finally, there’s a section of around 40 pages on how to maintain and repair your bike. This goes from the basics of cleaning and lubing right through to sorting out your bottom bracket. Each task has a box telling you what tools you’ll need.

It all adds up to enough breadth to understand road cycling, the options and what’s involved, along with the detail to get deeper into cycling as your enjoyment of the sport increases.