There have been dozens of books on bicycle maintenance, riding techniques and even the history of the sport, but little has been written that actually describes the technology around a bike – at least not in a way for the average rider. Authors Rob van der Plas and Stuart Baird, who both share a lifelong passion for bicycles, have finally addressed this and have written a concise book that examines everything you’d ever need to know about the two wheel contraptions.
This effort, Bicycle Technology: Understanding the Modern Bicycle & Its Components will appeal to the hardcore gear head as well as the causal rider. It offers 28 chapters, beginning (fittingly enough) with a short yet thorough history and development of bicycle, its accompanying technology and finally to what the future may bring for riders. Additionally, this book offers detailed information on practically every single component and materials used in bike construction, and while this isn’t meant to be a study on maintenance, it will help anyone who tinkers with their cycles have a better understanding of how the specific parts work. Other key topics such as different types of bicycles, as well as information on design are all presented over the course of the 320 pages.
All this is extremely well written, and presented in a way that is easy to understand, although this is much more a reference book than a tome you’d likely set about reading cover to cover. About the only significant complaint about this particular book is that while there are more than 800 illustrations most of the photos are quite small, and none inside the book are in color. The only full color photographs are those on the dust jacket, and many of the photos within the book just don’t do the text justice. A book of this depth seems simply lacking in this regard, especially as many cycles can be seen as true works of arts. A picture, especially one in vibrant color, tells a thousand words – and those would so compliment the efforts of van der Plas and Baird.
This is by no means the final word on bicycles, but it is a very good word nonetheless, and this book will likely be appreciated by anyone who puts in the long miles.
Bicycle Technology: Understanding the Modern Bicycle and its Components
Rob van der Plas & Stuart Baird
ISBN: 978-1-892495-66-2 (2nd expanded and updated edition)
August 2010
Hard cover, 320 pages with 800 illustrations
$39.95