Dan Chase

OK, so winter/covid is keeping all of our heads down - so whats your favourite bike based book? The kind of thing you find yourself re-reading after a couple of years, maybe quoting to a buddy...

For me its a toss up between Crabbes "The Rider", Kimmages "Rough Ride" and then "8 Seconds" recounting the `89 TDF...

Hard to choose, The Rider really puts you in the mindset of a top amateur racer, Kimmage makes you realise why most pro riders turned to drugs to perform (imagine getting to a hotel at 9.30pm after a hard stage to find there`s no food and forced to dine on energy bars whilst washing your only pair of team shorts... grab me the rocket fuel...), just love the `89 tour for all its drama and the book drills down into each stage as well as the big picture, you can almost feel the sun as you read it.

mmm..... yep, * seconds.... no, wait, Rough Ride...

Let me know what you all love to read, might give me some new books to search out, Dan.

SJX426 

Not really favorits as I don't read much but here are some I enjoyed

Domestique: The Real-life Ups and Downs of a Tour Pro - Charly Wegelius

Team 7-Eleven: How an Unsung Band of American Cyclists Took on the World-and Won

he Loyal Lieutenant: Leading Out Lance and Pushing Through the Pain on the Rocky Road to Paris - Hincapie

Need to find a good one on Merckx

Germany_chris

Zinn and the art of road bike maintenance

tgot

The book "Ten Points" is both wonderful and horrible. Bill Strickland (a writer for Outside magazine, among others) tells about an amateur racing season. The backdrop is his family, and the abuse he suffered from his father. Sufficient that I never recommend the book without a clear warning.

squirtdad

still Tom Cutherberson's "Anybody's Bike Book"

polymorphself 

Hands down the Ruff Stuff Fellowship Archive (I sprang for the beautiful hardcover collectors edition in slip case but here is the regular edition: https://www.isolapress.com/shop/rsf-archives-2)

Followed by the Golden Age of Hand-built Bicycles (focuses on mid century french randonneurs and their constructeurs): https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop...uilt-bicycles/

And of course the Bicycle Quarterly magazine subscription: https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop...-subscription/

Japanese Steel is also a gorgeous book and photographed by Scott Ryder who posts here regularly: https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9780847861705/

The Renee Herse book would probably be in my list if I had it. Soon enough. https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop...er-the-riders/

bOsscO

I've really enjoyed 'In Search of Robert Millar' and 'A Dog in a Hat' and would recommend.

non-fixie 

1. We waren allemaal goden ("We were all gods") by Benjo Maso. About the 1948 Tour de France. Great story about the race, as well as about its political implications in post-war Europe, especially Italy.



2. The Dancing Chain, by Frank Berto. It embodies everything I love about the nerdy side of C&V bicycles.

bikingshearer 

"Eddy Merckx: The Greatest Cyclist of the 20th Century" by Rik Vanelleghem. Organization is more thematic than strictly chronological, and it's somewhat more anecdotal, but not hard to follow. Bonus: lots of photos.

"Half Man, Half Bike: The life of Eddy Merckx, Cycling's Greatest Champion" by William Fotheringham. More chronologically organized. Bonus: more info on Merckx's family background.

Both cover a lot of the same ground (to be expected) but each has some stuff the other one doesn't. Both worth the price. Both worth the read. I'm glad I have and have read both.

clubman 

This is a great read for track fans.

3speedslow

Japanese Steel.

tricky

Yup, came here to say A Dog in a Hat

nlerner

I don’t know about favorite or if I’d read these a second time but here’s a few I’ve enjoyed the last few years:

David Herlihy, The Lost Cyclist, about Frank Lenz’s cycling exploits in the late 19th century (and the mystery of his disappearance).
Tim Moore, Gironimo: Riding the Very Terrible 1914 Tour of Italy, in which the very funny Brit author retraces that crazy tour on a period correct bike
Tim Moore, The Cyclist Who Went Out Into the Cold, in which Moore rides the route of the Iron Curtain on an odd East German shopping bike
Peter Jordan, In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist. Fascinating cultural history of cycling in Amsterdam, particularly under Nazi occupation
Robert Penn, It’s All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels. Penn decides to put together the ultimate modern bike and visits artisans and mfgs involved in just about every component, including Campagnolo.

embankmentlb

Yellow Jersey Racer. A nice coffee table book about Lemond but it also has some excellent stories from the era.

Moe Zhoost

Around the World on a Bicycle by Thomas Stevens

francophile 

If you want to get a good laugh and want some cultural insight, I cannot recommend enough that you go out and get Bike Snob NYC's (first?) book riffing off his blog. Buy one used, you should be able to get it shipped for under $5 in hardback and if you're like me, you'll enjoy it so much you end up passing around to other cycling friends.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0811869989

It's seriously worth every minute of reading, I couldn't put it down the first time I read it at a an AirBnB owned by a cyclist in Asheville NC (had lots of great Coppi/Bartali photos everywhere). Bike Snob's writing style is fast-paced, quick, colorful and witty. And it covers a lot of topics you'll hear some of us make references to here at BF in C&V.

Anyway, seriously, go get it. We all need a smile on our face during Covid. This is a one-way ticket there.

northbend 

That's easy! my all time favorite: "Tomorrow we ride" by Jean Bobet

repechage

No Hands
the rise and fall of the schwinn bicycle company

P!N20

Whatever you think of the Velominati, their book 'The Hardmen' is a great read.

And don't be fooled by the title, there are plenty of hardwomen featured.

Now, if only I could remember who I lent it to...

73StellaSX76

Miles From Nowhere. a very fun read with a sad epilogue. https://www.amazon.com/Miles-Nowhere.../dp/0898861098

runner up : Bicycling Science. https://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Sci.../dp/0262538407

r0ckh0und

Miles From Nowhere
The Flying Scotsman
Metal Cowboy

kraftwerk 

Road to Valor: A True Story of WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation
this guy is about the coolest hard as nails dude that ever was, Gino Bartali.
He won races: T de F & Giro etc. etc.
He smuggled documents,
He fought Fascism / Hated Mussolini
He risked his own life for others,
He saved lives

One of the all time greats.
The book is a pretty gripping read. If his life story was a fiction-movie you would think it was a bit far fetched...

I also loved Crabbes "The Rider"

Lol's on : Tom Cutherberson's "Anybody's Bike Book"
my Dad bought that book, my brother and I were 10 and 13
He was happy he no longer had to explain everything to us we learned a lot with Mr. Cuthbersons humor and guidance.
You could say it was my childhood Bible.

Went on to read 'The Yellow Jersey" in 8th grade and do a book report on it.
pretty much the ONLY book in existence on bike racing at the time. I loved the book at the time, what I understood of it.
Decades later, I went back and tried to read it again, but despite the alluring sickness of
of the main character sleeping with his girlfriends 15 year old daughter (? ...do i remember it correctly.. ?)
Hey, it was Belgium in the 70's.. I found the book too boring to get through a second time, maybe I need to look at it a third time to see if it is really that terrible.
What I would really love to find is the book report I did on for my 8th grade English Class.

microcord

I have a favourite half dozen or so. Among these, three that I think haven't been mentioned above are:

• Tim Hilton, One more kilometre and we're in the showers
• Paul Fournel, Need for the bike
• Dave Barter, The year

Pcampeau

That book also comes with stickers!

randyjawa 

Not a bicycle book but I am the guy who wrote this book. In days long past, I used to restore vintage motorcycles...