Riding More with Less: A Future for Bike Repair

Riding More with Less is the bike repair manual for everyone else.

Pulling away from the obsolescence and disposability so often implied within consumer economies, the book surveys experienced community bike shop mechanics worldwide to identify the best and safest repair solutions when new parts are not an option. For those already familiar with the finer arts of bicycle preservation, Riding More with Less aligns the most useful technical references within a well-organized compilation of the most effective low-cost and for-free repair techniques. And for the uninitiated, the book includes an overview of the community bike shops many readers may find in their own neighborhoods, where many begin to discover real alternatives.

Presented in a compact and info-rich writing style, the technical discussion within Riding More with Less goes beyond identifying innovative techniques for fixing bikes with little or no money to demonstrate just how common these approaches really are. Most cyclists globally do not ride expensive or even modern ones, after all, and from this perspective the option of new repair parts might even be exceptional, rather than normative. Moreover, the Covid pandemic underlines how supply chain disruptions beyond our control can lead larger numbers of people towards reusing salvageable bike parts and other creative solutions.

What People Are Saying

“What other maintenance manual observes ‘the biggest barriers to riding bikes are capitalism, classism, sexism, and racism’? If your bicycle lies somewhere between the Tour de France and the local landfill, this book is for you. Seasoned wrench and rider Sam Tracy combines decades of personal experience with input from dedicated community bike shops thriving on low-cost or no-cost repairs. Even as bicycle transportation remains undervalued, cycling generates a sense of freedom that is hard to replicate yet begs to be shared. Some maintenance required.” Craig O’Hara, Bike Den, State College, PA

About the Author

Sam Tracy began working as a bike mechanic in 1993 at Wheel and Sprocket in Milwaukee, WI. After earning a BA in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin he moved to Arcata, CA to serve as managing editor of the Auto-Free Times. From there he moved to Minneapolis to develop and refine safe and effective low-cost repair techniques. He also immersed himself in the experimental DIY frame-building culture around recumbents for which the ’bent riders are known. He is the author of Roadside Bicycle Repair: A Pocket Manifesto; How to Rock and Roll: A City Rider’s Repair Manual; and Bicycle! A Repair & Maintenance Manifesto. He and his wife have in recent years cycled through Riga, Latvia; Georgetown, Guyana; Washington, D.C., Pretoria, South Africa; and Montevideo, Uruguay.