Bike Cult: The Ultimate Guide to Human-Powered Vehicles

By David B. Perry

Book Overview

A mega bike book for the bicycle fanatic covering every imaginable topic applicable to human-powered vehicles, including technology, physiology, transport, sociology, politics, amusement, creativity, and spirituality. Full of practical and offbeat b&w illustrations and jillions of appendices. Annota

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568580274
• ISBN13: 9781568580272
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 570 Pages
• Weight: 2.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.3" x 1.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

no title

Whew! What a tome! Oversized paperback of over 600 pages and thin paper at that. Filled with any and everything about bicycles you could possible imagine. Lots of terrific illustrations and pictures, many from very early times. Much so darned technical, about all the zillion parts of a bike, that I must admit I skimmed over. Pages and pages of footnotes, a glossary and a huge, huge bibliography containing even videos and artwork and music about bikes. This book just leaves no stone unturned in discussing its subject. It's more than you want to know. Even recipes, which of course I made, two of which were horrible; the pasta carbonera and fruit punch delicious. Perry is to be commended for the extraordinary amount of work done to write this treatise.

"Cult?"--Seems Normal To Me!

What a great book! At time of its release in 1995, "Bike Cult" was the first attempt at an encyclopaedia of cycling. This fat book (570 rather dense pages) covers the history of the bicycle its high-performance engine (that is, the human body), the bicycle as transportation and, lastly, the culture of the bicycle and the effect it has had on the human spirit.There have been some changes in bicycle technology since 1995, and of course the tables of race winners is out of date, but "Bike Cult" remains a fascinating look into the origins and use of "the perfect machine." I enjoyed the lovingly described history, which not only went over the bicycle as a whole but devotes sections to individual parts of the bike, such as handlebars and seats, and the whole question of how a bicycle is steered. It is a mad compendium of information: there is a list of international names for bicycles and related items on page 99, and we learn that the Hawaiian word for bicycle is ka'a paikikala, while in Uruguay it is known as a chiba.The benefits of cycling are described in detail but there is no attempt to shield us from descriptions of bicycle ailments discovered in the heyday of cycling in the 1890s. However, in these times of great concern about the rise of obesity in America and Europe it is clear that the bicycle offers a solution, particularly when we read that Tour de France riders burn 6,000-9,000 calories per day! But where are we to ride, given the modern, car-centric world we live in? The section of the book entitled "Bikeable Planet" is beguiling. For a brief and glorious moment, bicycles were actually seen as the best transportation alternative for the West and in some countries they still are. Too often derided as a child's toy and treated by motorists as a menace, the bicycle can, with proper planning, be integrated into an urban transportation network. Low-cost in terms of acquisition, space requirements and maintenance, the bicycle in operation does not pollute, create noise or horrific traffic congestion. In the United States alone each year more than 40,000 people are killed in traffic accidents. Nonetheless, those who would propose bicycle-inclusive transportation systems are often derided as dreamers or utopian socialists or worse. This section of "Bike Cult" is provocative but perhaps only because our society has gone in an illogical direction.Author David Perry, who operates a bicycle shop in New York City, then takes us on a tour of cycling as a sport, including not only the expected pro racing/Tour de France information, but also strange sports such as Indoor Cycling and Bicycle Polo. Then our long journey takes us into art and bicycles and fashion and bicycles and even sex and bicycles."Whoever invented the bicycle deserves the thanks of humanity," said Lord Charles Beresford. And we should thank David Perry for this enchanting and entertaining look at the bicycle in all its forms and seasons. This is the kind of book that g

For All Bike Lovers

This book definitely caters to bicyclists of all types, with an exhaustive array of passages concerning all aspects of the bicycle. Dave Perry covers pretty much covers all the bases with his highly enjoyable writing style, and scattered illustrations on almost every page. I particularly enjoyed the role of the bicycle as personal transportation AND as a working tool, not only in the States, but all over the world. The book makes the simple bike a cult symbol to the reader, and sets itself apart from all those other books out there by leaving out the "what gear do I need?" sections and fix-it-yourself stuff, and keeping the love for the bike foremost in your mind.

Enjoyable, with a lot of Gee, I didn't know that.

An informative, entertaining great for rainy/snowy days book loaded with history,information, evolution of cycling and human powered vehicles. Not a repair manual, but some tips are given. Lot's of information on health and safety.

Life is a bike

Everything you wanted to know about the bike, multiplied by ten thousand. A must read for anyone who thinks that life is a bike; a must present for anyone who doesn't!