I read
The Dancing Chain cover to cover in 2000, when it came out. I was 12. Didn't know good writing from bad at that age. Didn't care either! For me, there can be no other favorite cycling book. Two years later, I was lucky enough to see the bicycle museum in Nijmegen - and I recognized all the derailleurs there by sight, like old friends!
It's provided a foundational knowledge that I am forever
stuck with grateful for. Caused me to get fired from my first job at a bike shop (I corrected my boss one too many times - think it made him insecure that he couldn't compete with the 16 year old lackey in recalling derailleur esoterica
). Same thing when I went to college. I found myself creepily perusing the racks of campus clunkers looking at old Simplex and bull moose bars, and slowly coming to the realization that
The Dancing Chain had left an indelible mark on me, that years would not erase.
If only I'd had the good sense to buy up Nivex derailleurs back then, when you could get them for $200...