Recommendation for maintenance manual?

[laura jane]

Since we now have 4+ bikes living with us between my husband and I, we're going to invest in a stand so we can start doing more maintenance ourselves.

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a generalized manual, and other equipment that would be helpful? I'm looking for specific brand recommendations. We have a pretty diverse family- a hybrid, 2 roadbikes, and 2 mountain bikes.

Thanks!

[out_spokin']

Check out these threads:

Workstands:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=22136

Maintenance Books:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=28980

Tools:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=27158&highlight=tools
and
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=27647&highlight=tools

Since I started with a road and MTB I got the Bicycling Magazine Guide to Maintenance & Repair instead of one of Zinn's more specialized ones, and have found it to be a great overall guide. Now I always pair reading with watching a tutorial over at http://bicycletutor.com/ or the Park Tool website.

I had a pretty crummy entry level Performance workstand, but they let me trade it in for an upgrade waaay after the fact, and I'm happy with the new one tho' wish I could have afforded an Ultimate like those in the thread. It's the Spin Doctor Pro G3, made by Topeak. Easy to use and solid, tho occasionally tippy if you don't have it centered over the feet correctly.

And tools? You mostly get what you pay for. I quickly discovered cheap tools aren't worth it!!