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.
This is my favorite kind of website. An individual going into depth on a topic they're passionate (in the true sense of the word) about. Another example is Dan's Motorcycle Repair Web page [1]. A collection of such websites would be awesome.
Yeah. There's probably tens of thousands of internet users worldwide with that same story. Myself included: when I was fixing my Bianchi retro road bike's derailleur etc some 20 years ago as a univesity freshman, this site was a definite gold mine, immensely helpful, and taught me a ton. One of my favorite procrastination rabbit holes as well back then. :) And -- a prime example of 1990s era internet and information freedom and layman-level enthusiasm -- selfless sharing of knowledge (and, I wonder if he also used Notepad to write the HTML :). Thanks, Mr Brown, for everything, all the way from Estonia!
> I would highly recommend anyone into bicycles to try building their own wheel using his article.
Hear, hear. It's an incredible resource.
I got into building and fixing bikes around 2004, and built a couple of fixed-gear bikes on a shoestring budget using parts from Nashbar.com, and Sheldon Brown's wheelbuilding guide.
Came to say the same, I meet him once in his shop, what a great person he was. His wife also has a great amount of bicycle knowledge from what I heard.
Ah that’s the reason why reading several articles on the site it felt out of date. For example the website states “Disc brakes have become increasingly popular on mountain bikes and are gaining some popularity for other bicycles” whereas in my experience disc brakes are popular for all kinds of bicycles.
If you liked Sheldon Brown (who was a treasure but the content is out of date now), definitely check out the Park Tool videos on YouTube. Calvin Jones, their director of education, recently retired after building an incredible library of instructional videos. As an amateur bike mechanic, I wouldn't have been able to build or maintain my bikes without Calvin's videos.
+1. I would add RJ The Bike Guy's youtube channel -- straightforward, down-to-earth, no-nonsense videos, may prove immensely useful if you have simple, traditional, cheaper-end bicycles at home, and only a basic set of tools. Excellent explainer; has similar "vibe" to Sheldon Brown's site IMO: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaAK2FaxQ2xiBbAUVZsvDYQ
I loved the wedding photo. It also left me wondering if they played "Bicycle Built for Two" at their wedding. It would be appropriate, both for the bicycle angle and because Dr. Fell moved over to a computer science department.
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.
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 have a vague recollection of someone using a cheap old saddle and a rubber mallet to unstick a seat post.
Friends don’t let friends put aluminum posts in steel frames. Especially if those friends ride in the rain instead of wussing out and calling for someone to pick them up.
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
Similar story here. Sheldon’s site took the mystery out of wheel building, at least for my basic needs. I was motivated by acquiring a couple of ancient Sturmey Archer hubs and wanting to put them on modern rims. Those wheels have been bulletproof.
I did build a tandem based on Sheldon’s website. Never used it in anger on the road just cycle paths, used to have two kids on the back and a third following on their own bike. Because of the age differences between the kids it was one activity we could enjoy together on the local cycle paths.
It’s amazing what a difference just a little generosity of knowledge can make in other peoples lives.
...and his widow, Harriet Fell, is a CS Professor (emerita) at Northeastern[0], and an accomplished cyclist who completed Paris-Brest-Paris (a 1200km ride and to qualify you have to complete 200km, 300km, 400km, and 600km rides in the 8 months leading up to it.)
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/
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
Amen. If you've ever had to deal with repairing French frames from before the 1980s you know that finding a memory leak in a race condition is easy in comparison.
The service Sheldon Brown provided to cyclists worldwide cannot be overstated. It also becomes apparent every time one needs to research some bike subject involving any technology that appeared after his death.
Hey Gemini, can you describe the imperial bicycle tire sizes compared to ISO in concise and preferably comical way?
Trying to understand imperial bicycle tire sizing is like trying to learn a language where the grammar rules change based on how the speaker feels that morning. It’s a chaotic legacy of Victorian engineering and regional stubbornness.
Here is the breakdown of the "Imperial Nonsense" vs. the "ISO Sanity.... etc etc
One ISO mishap I had recently. I tried to fit fat 47-622 to narrow 23-622 rim. Looked I ok, but when I raised pressure the rim cracked length-wise along the spoke-holes. Never heard this happening to anybody.
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.
Similar story. As a student I bought an old bike and restored it thanks to lots of info I found from Sheldon. And building a wheel was such a fun but weird experience. Part mechanics, part art.
I ended up writing my thesis on bicycle wheels after this. Or, it's a thesis on optimization algorithms, but I managed to play around with optimizing wheels as the "real world application". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10410813
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.
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.
I once posted in rec.bicycles.misc that I had just completed a 6 week solo bike tour of France. Someone asked me a series of questions about riding and camping in France and I spent about 10 minutes writing a response. Francophile Sheldon Brown asked if he could put it on his website and I was thrilled to say yes. He did so, formatting it and adding links and photos for the places I mentioned. (The page is still there but the photos and links are gone). Years later, a co-worker stopped by my cubicle and asked if I was the person who wrote that article -- he said it had inspired him to start bike touring ... I was again thrilled.
I've been a fan of this website for ages. What I like is the no-nonsense approach and referring to the underlying mechanical principles.
Cycles are an interesting invention as it's easy to look at and figure out what the parts are doing and this leads to a huge number of people thinking that they can improve certain bits. Unfortunately, most "improvements" aren't and there's very good reasons why cycles have evolved to their modern designs. In engineering terms, I find it fascinating as cycles are all about trade-offs e.g. strength/weight/aerodynamics/cost
I rebuilt a bicycle using tools in my dad's garage and basically just guesswork. Then I discovered this website and found out everything I'd done wrong. I had mismatched bearings, crap brakes and gears, you name it.
Must admit, though, this was pre-YouTube. While I do admire written works like this, and I still treasure some of my cookery books, there's nothing like watching someone do these things. Especially things involving subtle skills that nobody would think to write down, like adjusting derailleur gears. Learning by copying is the original and best way for many things.
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.
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
TBF that's a fairly contrarian view from Sheldon. I started favoring the front brake after reading his writing on it, and do find it useful. I do find it easier to go down in the ice that way though, so be careful!
Since I’ve worked on a lot of bikes for friends and family members, the condition of the front and rear brake pads tells me that many casual cyclists are afraid of their front brakes. The rear pads will be totally worn down and the fronts practically new. The advice I give people is: Don’t be afraid of your front brake, but learn to use two-wheel braking effectively, and find a safe place to practice it if necessary.
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.
When I started biking in the early 80s, Fred DeLong’s guide to cycling was THE book. But it didn’t have videos (obviously). My interpretations weren’t standard because I never had another human to compare with. Sheldon’s guides were the logical torch passing from Fred and it was neat to see how the things I had been doing for 30+ years we’re supposed to look.
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.
Too bad there isn't something like this bug focused on Dutch and German city bikes. There's a lot of knowledge not covered in one single place, spread over hundreds of small webpages, YouTube videos etc in multiple languages. Some of it just passed as word of mouth.
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).
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?
As long as you don't mirror daily and use rate limit there is no reason you would be a dick doing it.
FWIW I have a local copy of sheldown brown's website I mirrored a few years back when they announced the shop would close as I expected they would eventually shutdown the website too. I don't know if his wife is still alive, she had her own space nor if someone has taken over the maintenance.
A single user's one-off recursive wget seems fine? Browsers also support it iirc, individual pages at very least (and saved to the same place, the links will work).
No doubt it's already in many archive sites though, you could just fetch from them instead of the original?
In the old-web days, I just used wget with slow pacing (and by "pacing" I mean: I don't need it to be done today or even this week, so if it takes a rather long time then that's fine. Slow helped keep me from mucking up the latency on my dial-up connection, too.)
I don't think that's being a dick for old-web sites that still exist today. Most of the information is text, the photos tend to be small, it's all generally static (ie, light-weight to serve), and the implicit intent is for people to use it.
But it's pretty slow-moving, so getting it from archive.org would probably suffice if being zero-impact is the goal.
(Or, you know: Just email the dude that runs it like it's 1998 again, say hi, and ask. In this particular instance, it's still being maintained.)
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
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.
RIP Sheldon Brown. His enthusiasm for and ability with bicycles - and his clear and engaging way to communicate both to you - were a large part of getting me back into cycling as an adult.
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.
a truly heartwarming website and discussion. I built my wheels the Sheldon Way as well, I'm looking at them right now. Such a rare combination of wisdom and generosity.
Thank you, OP, for posting. Also, hey all, click that donate button!
a lot of the changes and updates to articles since Sheldon Brown died are controversial, I recommend checking out an old version on the Wayback machine
keithjl|24 days ago
I would highly recommend anyone into bicycles to try building their own wheel using his article.
klum|24 days ago
[1] http://dansmc.com/
marttt|24 days ago
PS, interesting to note that Mr Brown seemed to be quite a fan of sci-fi books: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/org/books.html
fyrabanks|24 days ago
dlenski|22 days ago
Hear, hear. It's an incredible resource.
I got into building and fixing bikes around 2004, and built a couple of fixed-gear bikes on a shoestring budget using parts from Nashbar.com, and Sheldon Brown's wheelbuilding guide.
I also corresponded with Sheldon a few times via email, and created the Wikipedia article about him. He contributed to it a few times himself, before his untimely death in 2008. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Brown_(bicycle_mechani...
rsingel|24 days ago
https://www.wired.com/2008/02/sheldon-brown-w/
jmclnx|24 days ago
kccqzy|24 days ago
bsimpson|24 days ago
Time is strange.
xmddmx|23 days ago
Curious, what does "He was 68 63" mean. Is it a bicycle gear joke about his age at death?
hinkley|24 days ago
lemper|23 days ago
Metacelsus|23 days ago
hackingonempty|24 days ago
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/real-man.html
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tork-grip.html
ak217|23 days ago
marttt|23 days ago
kyorochan|23 days ago
Melatonic|23 days ago
jacquesm|24 days ago
if you like this you may also like:
https://outspokencyclist.com/tag/harriet-fell/
II2II|23 days ago
rectang|23 days ago
A devious genie maliciously interprets your wish, and…
Poof!
This website’s content is now regurgitated across dozens of AI slop websites.
czscout|24 days ago
foco_tubi|24 days ago
sloosh|24 days ago
> To update an old saying, 28 grams of prevention are worth 454 grams of cure.
hinkley|24 days ago
Friends don’t let friends put aluminum posts in steel frames. Especially if those friends ride in the rain instead of wussing out and calling for someone to pick them up.
luqtas|23 days ago
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
analog31|23 days ago
smackeyacky|23 days ago
It’s amazing what a difference just a little generosity of knowledge can make in other peoples lives.
Melatonic|23 days ago
carabiner|24 days ago
hackingonempty|24 days ago
0: https://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/fell/
cos2pi|24 days ago
hilsdev|24 days ago
2color|24 days ago
simlevesque|24 days ago
cguess|24 days ago
bcrack|23 days ago
timonoko|23 days ago
Trying to understand imperial bicycle tire sizing is like trying to learn a language where the grammar rules change based on how the speaker feels that morning. It’s a chaotic legacy of Victorian engineering and regional stubbornness.
Here is the breakdown of the "Imperial Nonsense" vs. the "ISO Sanity.... etc etc
timonoko|23 days ago
comprev|24 days ago
A fantastic resource!
matsemann|24 days ago
I ended up writing my thesis on bicycle wheels after this. Or, it's a thesis on optimization algorithms, but I managed to play around with optimizing wheels as the "real world application". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10410813
ian-g|24 days ago
LTL_FTC|24 days ago
behole|24 days ago
jibal|23 days ago
ndsipa_pomu|23 days ago
Cycles are an interesting invention as it's easy to look at and figure out what the parts are doing and this leads to a huge number of people thinking that they can improve certain bits. Unfortunately, most "improvements" aren't and there's very good reasons why cycles have evolved to their modern designs. In engineering terms, I find it fascinating as cycles are all about trade-offs e.g. strength/weight/aerodynamics/cost
globular-toast|23 days ago
Must admit, though, this was pre-YouTube. While I do admire written works like this, and I still treasure some of my cookery books, there's nothing like watching someone do these things. Especially things involving subtle skills that nobody would think to write down, like adjusting derailleur gears. Learning by copying is the original and best way for many things.
manithree|24 days ago
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.
nerdponx|23 days ago
bookstore-romeo|24 days ago
I think Sheldon Brown’s impact is a valuable lesson on sustainable engineering and the enormous role documentation plays in it
haritha-j|23 days ago
compass_copium|23 days ago
analog31|23 days ago
chromatin|24 days ago
gorounditup|23 days ago
diggyhole|24 days ago
sebastian_z|24 days ago
[1] https://kraynicksbikeshop.weebly.com/
barbs|24 days ago
https://thebikeshed.org.au/
andrewshadura|23 days ago
ho_schi|24 days ago
The German Wikipedalia tries to safe some stuff.
Melatonic|23 days ago
Front wheel is still vulnerable but if you don't use QR skewers you have a huge leg up
Melatonic|23 days ago
Always tried to street people away turning a perfectly good road bike into a fixed gear but it was the rage at the time
neoromantique|24 days ago
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?
prmoustache|23 days ago
FWIW I have a local copy of sheldown brown's website I mirrored a few years back when they announced the shop would close as I expected they would eventually shutdown the website too. I don't know if his wife is still alive, she had her own space nor if someone has taken over the maintenance.
OJFord|23 days ago
No doubt it's already in many archive sites though, you could just fetch from them instead of the original?
ssl-3|23 days ago
I don't think that's being a dick for old-web sites that still exist today. Most of the information is text, the photos tend to be small, it's all generally static (ie, light-weight to serve), and the implicit intent is for people to use it.
But it's pretty slow-moving, so getting it from archive.org would probably suffice if being zero-impact is the goal.
(Or, you know: Just email the dude that runs it like it's 1998 again, say hi, and ask. In this particular instance, it's still being maintained.)
userbinator|23 days ago
jannniii|24 days ago
tetris11|24 days ago
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
FpUser|24 days ago
gashad|24 days ago
Duanemclemore|23 days ago
Legends Never Die.
sorbusherra|24 days ago
good-idea|23 days ago
emsign|23 days ago
skhr0680|23 days ago
sebnukem2|24 days ago
shrubby|24 days ago
And the web design!
compass_copium|23 days ago
rekoros|23 days ago
MrCurryCasino|23 days ago
[deleted]