alt Hacker NewsSheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info
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i built a set of wheels following his instructions, using my brake pads as the reference for centering and truing, rode dozen of thousands kilometers on them, daily, part of my courier job. all the wheels i had after that old Mongoose were also built the same way. i cycle a 1997 Trek 430 as my main transportation and i freaking love it. soldered a custom rack for panniers after its geometry. farewell Sheldon, i literally read your entire blog, at least twice
if i had found a cycling crazie to date back in the days, i would certainly use "building a tandem" section of that blog for suuuure
I wished more of the web was like this.
if you like this you may also like:
The old Web... Thanks to Sheldon for teaching me how to fix my bike, how to launch from a stop, and how to April Fools.
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 is such a great website. I have enjoyed reading the articles in the past. It was the final push that inspired me to build my own wheel set instead of buying a complete when I was building my new mountain bike piece by piece. The art and zen (and frustration of trying to feed a shift/brake line through a frame), I tell ya.
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.
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.
I’ve learned about that website only four years ago. It is still helpful, teaches me how to install front derailleurs properly (as deep and far to the front as possible, better chain line with less trimming and better shifting).
The German Wikipedalia tries to safe some stuff.
I always loved this quote from here: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/stuck-seatposts.html
> To update an old saying, 28 grams of prevention are worth 454 grams of cure.
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
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
I used to work on bikes professionally, and this was the first place we went for help. Even today, it's one of the clearest resources out there
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.
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/
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.
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.
A fantastic resource!
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
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.
Thank you for sharing. This is wholesome as f*ck.
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.
I'm so glad they went back to the old design.
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 web site as old as the internet, and still relevant.
Random tidbit, his daughter is a researcher/mathematician at OpenAI.
Ask HN: How does one archive websites like this without being a d-ck?
I want to save this for offline use, but I think recursive wget is a bit poor manners, is there established way one should approach it, get it from archive somehow?
Still awesome.
And the web design!
Used to be my worship place along with the crazyguyonabike and Ken Kifer
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.