Customer Reviews:
 Everything is relevant July 3, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
If, like the reader from Paris, you're just looking for a book that tells you how to twiddle the screws on your bike, Richard's may not be the book for you. If you're looking for a book that helps you to understand how to ride the bike and, more importantly, how to enjoy riding a bike, Richard's is the only book. Richard Ballantine gives essential advice on how to choose a bike to suit you, how to behave in traffic, and how, little by little, to extend your capacities - to become a fitter, safer, cleverer cyclist.Along with all this, he suggests that cycling is not just a pastime or a way of getting from A to B, but a way of seeing the world. To ride is to experience a degree of freedom no other form of transport will allow - you set your own pace, and you don't need to worry about traffic jams or petrol stops. Cyclists know their surroundings more intimately than motorists or riders on public transport; but they can travel much further than people who walk. The seemingly irrelevant bits are part of an argument: cycling can be the starting-point for a freer, happier and more rational way of living and thinking. To a lot of readers, this may seem cranky, "religious". Spend some time reading Richard's and riding your bike; you may begin to wonder if it isn't just common sense.
 Bicycles as a religion December 6, 2001
11 out of 18 found this review helpful
It looks like the author had difficulties on deciding what was this book all about. He covers such an enormous terrain of anything even remotely related to biking that on the other hand he can't discuss any of the topics properly, just scratch the surface. I was expecting this book to be a comprehensive information package of modern bicycles, their technology, selecting one, servicing, tips and tricks and only a little bit of ideology. Unfortunately such practical topics have very much given space for philosophical or should I say, religious, discussions of merits of cycling. Topics such as careers with bicycles (!?!) and many other quite irrelevant subjects are discussed. The book is also rather poorly organized from a point of view of finding factual information. It is there, but systematically hidden inside the lenghty religious discussions throuhgout the book. The illustrations are sparse and rather simplified.
Bicycles 101 - or all you ever wanted to know & then some June 17, 2001
22 out of 23 found this review helpful
In the late 70's, I was lucky enough to purchase a copy of Richard's Bicycle Book, 1978 edition, which told me everything I needed to know to setup and maintain my 10 (well, actually 12) speed bike. [I still own this edition - probably a collectors piece now, except it is well thumbed...]However, as a recent convert to a Mountain Bike, I was looking for something similar, but somewhat more up to date. I ended up with a couple of books by Leonard Zinn, and something called Mountain Biking Skills - all of which are excellent books as far as I can tell. But they all assume you know the basics. For example, they all refer to "spinning", but assume you know what that means. Richard's new book provides that information. It has the basics, and goes much further than that in that it explains why and how as well as what. And it is not just about mountain bikes. It gives equal time to all bicycles - road, commuter, track, mountain, recumbent & HPV. But do not get me wrong, it is not just a book for beginners. For example, it is the only book I have found so far that not only talks about how to shift, but also how to select ratios, determine what you have and determine what you need, and then build and maintain it. The guy is obviously a cycling fanatic, but he presents his ideas pragmatically and intelligently. I wish I had found this book two years ago (obviously not possible without a time machine), but am glad I have found it now. Can anyone tell me how to give it 6 stars out of 5?
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