Book Review

Lugged Bicycle Frame Construction: A Manual For The First Time Builder by Marc-Andre R. Chimonas.


I bought this book a few months ago from Amazon

I bought it because it seemed like a simple process to building a frame and the price was very fair compaired to the over complicated Paterek Book Paterek Manual for Bicycle Framebuilders Don't get me wrong, I own and love my Paterek Book but for the novice it is a lot of info to digest.

Marc's book is a quick read and offers some neat and simple ideas to building a frame. I do have a small issue with his love of power grinders for the novice builder. Dremel and bench grinders. I use grinders from time to time, but it is so very easy to really detroy a tube or lug with a grinder. I would recomend buying some quality files instead. Nicholson Files
The other items I was disappointed in was the lack of custom fit information. There also seems to be a lack of charts to help decipher critical information. Overall this book is well worth the money and sits proudly on my bike book shelf. It does what it says it does. It helps a novice build a frame with limited resources. I have recommended this book to several friends and loaned it out on several occasions... I would rate it an 8 out of 10.