It's All About The Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness On Two Wheels
Author: Robert Penn
In this day and age,
it's easy to forget that there once was a time when cars were not the
dominant vehicle on our highways, and bicycles were in fact king of
the road. In Robert Penn's book, It's all about the bike, he
goes a long way in explaining how that used to be the case and just
how far the bicycle has come.
I find Robert Penn's
writing to be fantastic. His style is complex and detailed but
somehow accessible to all. He's a man who is clearly passionate about
his subjects. I first picked up his book on woodworking, The Man
Who Made Things Out of Trees and I couldn't put it down.
In that book he
includes a chapter on a company that manufactures wooden bicycle
frames. He mentions that the story of going to visit this particular
company was omitted from his first book “It's all about the bike”.
“He's also written a
book about bikes?!” I thought.
I think it took me all
of 30 seconds to order it.
But what about this
book?
Well, it really is
all about the bike. Robert's dream bike to be exact. It is a
chronicling of Robert, putting together all of the elements of a
bicycles. Each chapter is broken down into each component part.
The Frame, the Steering
system, the drivetrain, the wheels and the saddle
Each chapter tells the
story of Robert getting these parts for his own dream machine but
also delves deep into the history of each of these areas. The reason
I liked this book, is the same reason I liked the book in my previous
review, Shop class as soulcraft (Read here). It combines personal
story and grounds it with historical, factual information. If fact
they are pretty similar in terms of style, so if you liked that one,
give this one a try too.
If there has to be a
negative, for me, it's that there is a lot of information and detail
covered over very few chapters. It can be a little jarring to go from
a historical story about the penny farthing straight into a story
about visiting a wheel factory in America today.
But in the end, they
are connected. And I think that's the point of the book.
Bicycles connect us
all, in so many ways and have shaped a lot of our automotive lives
today. Roads, for one thing-The bicycle literally paved the way for
all road users today. Tarmac roads where used to aid cyclists, years
before the car was even invented (A useful piece of info in the
never-ending car vs bike debate).
Just one of the many
interesting facts I have learnt from reading this book.
Thanks for reading
folks.
Are you reading
anything about two wheels at the moment? Let me know your
recommendations on the old social media places!
