[David9694]

Now the nights are drawing in, there are old copies of this on Ebay for £3 or £4.  If you’re under 40 and missed this, it’s still worth a look.  It rapidly takes you through what cycling is and can be, getting and keeping a bike. 

Not sure what happened to mine, but this is the book that got me hooked and to some extent you might say radicalised me. All the stuff about drivers and cars 2ww talk about is charted in there – and they hadn’t even got phones back then.

Steel was real and “10 speed” meant “10 in total” (minus the 2 illegal gears, of course.)

Topic

[David9694]

Cover bike is decal-ed as an

Cover bike is decal-ed as an F W Evans – do you mean Mercian built for them?

[Rendel Harris]

David9694 wrote:

Ian, that is a bike after my own heart and looks a lot like many of mine. Nice coachlining around the lugs. Band on downtube levers, I think. Those Cyclo top tube guides are pretty old school, though.  

Obviously, I run SPDs and I’d have sprung it at the back to run the gears and hubs of today.

Woods valves – come on. Front QR lever visble. 700c or 27″ I wonder?

I think I read somewhere that bottle cage mounts are cycling’s longest-lived and never deviated from standard. 

It’s a Mercian I think, very covetable touring bikes back in the day. Although Richard was an American living in Britain I seem to remember him advocating 700c standardisation…you’re right about bottle cages, they were originally designed to fit the standard French wine bottle and haven’t changed size since – a fact I’ve verified more than once, as this picture from last year demonstrates!

[David9694]

Ian, that is a bike after my

Ian, that is a bike after my own heart and looks a lot like many of mine. Nice coachlining around the lugs. Band on downtube levers, I think. Those Cyclo top tube guides are pretty old school, though.  

Obviously, I run SPDs and I’d have sprung it at the back to run the gears and hubs of today.

Woods valves – come on. Front QR lever visble. 700c or 27″ I wonder?

I think I read somewhere that bottle cage mounts are cycling’s longest-lived and never deviated from standard. 

[IanMSpencer]

Looking at that bike, I am

Looking at that bike, I am wondering how many items on it are still designed the same way: looks to have a square taper BB, non-indexed gears, no disc brakes, quill headset, no integrated headset bearings, axles are bolted on, no clipless pedals, probably Woods valves too. I even wonder if the bottle cage would take a modern bottle?

[David9694]

It must have been very

It must have been very traumatic for you finding that – you shouldn’t have been poking around in their bedroom. 
 

PS you should see the cover for the 1975 edition (of Richards Bicycke Book) – coming to a letterbox near me soon.

[brooksby]

TBH on that photo he looks

TBH on that photo he looks like Hugo Drax having a relaxing day off from killing mankind…

[wtjs]

Thankfully boots, crampons

Thankfully boots, crampons/tools and ropes* have definitely improved since though

I still have the hawser laid nylon rope from those days hanging from the tree!

[chrisonabike]

wtjs wrote:

Just like Blackshaw’s Penguin ‘Mountaineering’ of the 60s, which I was reading with admiration only last week

Got it and still good!  Thankfully boots, crampons/tools and ropes* have definitely improved since though.

* Assuming you use them.

[chrisonabike]

You knew I was thinking of

You knew I was thinking of you!

[David9694]

I had heard the same. But, I

I had heard the same. But, I’ve already got the 1989 New Bicycle Book and the attacking dog section is in there. He’s put some more narrative around it. 

I think I had a later edition than the one pictured, which is from 1979.  I think I had this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Richards-Bicycle-Book-Richard-Ballantine/dp/0330267663

I’ve got it on order from Ebay – my local telephone box library is going to have some interesting reading in it soon. 

[IanMSpencer]

Bike maintenance in his

Bike maintenance in his bestest jumper, a man after my own heart.

[brooksby]

chrisonatrike wrote:

From when men were real men.  Much facial hair, like The Joy of Sex.

Back when men were real men, women were real women, and small blue creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small blue creatures from Alpha Centauri.

[brooksby]

Haven’t read ‘The Bicycle

Haven’t read ‘The Bicycle Book’, but bought a copy of ‘City Cycling’ when I bought my first bike and started cycling to work.

[Rendel Harris]

Actually (pedant alert) I

Actually (pedant alert) I believe that revised edition didn’t have the full dog attack section, which was removed after complaints from animal lovers (though as Richard pointed out, he too was an animal lover, just not to the extent of letting one attack him without defending himself). It was replaced with an explanation of why it was removed (for the curious, the excised bits were about how to throttle an attacking dog using your frame or a pump).

[Rendel Harris]

My absolute bible as a kid,

My absolute bible as a kid, really opened my eyes to the possibilities of bikes beyond riding to school and down the park. Still on my shelves and I still dip in from time to time. Marvellous.

[Author]

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