ThermionicScott 

First off, I'm not actually sure if the title is "Jobst Brandt Ride Bike!", "Ride Bike!", "Jobst Brandt!", or just "Jobst", since Isola Press uses many combinations of those words to refer to it: https://www.isolapress.com/shop/jobst-brandt

But the point is that it's a beautiful book that I was excited to support on Kickstarter, and it just arrived yesterday. We know a lot about his thoughts on bicycle wheels, but the book fleshes out his early life and career with new interviews and pictures I'd never seen before.



Wonderful stuff. You should buy a copy, too.

LV2TNDM

Thank you for sharing. Looks interesting...


Just shared Jobst's take on GREASING crank tapers with a parent at my kid's school.


I was thrilled to meet one of Jobst's nephews a few months ago. Pretty cool to make that connection. I was killing myself riding the Santa Cruz mountains in the late '70's and early '80's. So cool to see that pic of Brandt, Ritchey, Heiden and others among the Coast Redwoods. Too bad I never met up with them! Then again, it sounds like Brandt was a bit of a sadist and enjoyed riding people into the ground back in the day! Might have scared me away from road riding at the time!!!


Edit: "The Bicycle Wheel" has been in my library for 35 years now. I was psyched to learn of his Porsche connection as well. Didn't know he worked as an engineer for Porsche for a little while. I drive the family 911 all the time and have visited the Porsche factory three times now. ALMOST got a summer job at Porsche, but didn't qualify (had to be an engineering student), so I "settled" on working at Mercedes in Stuttgart instead. Oh the hardship! Beer machines at work Turns out I had the highest-paying job that the work exchange program offered in all of western Europe at the time! And thanks to Mercedes' excellent worker pay, benefits & paid vacation, I received a TOTALLY unexpected $1,400 check out of the blue that fall after I had returned to college. That $$$ allowed me to buy a Bianchi road bike, join the collegiate cycling team and pursue a very rewarding three year stint racing. Oh and I spent the summer in Germany with my bright yellow Crack-N-Fail mountain bike, which impressed the locals. Porsche, Mercedes and bikes are all connected in my past! And Jobst Brandt fits in there too!


Just ordered it. THANK YOU!

noglider 

I have the first printing of his book The Bicycle Wheel. When Jobst came to Usenet, I corresponded with him over email but never met him.

I’d love this book. I’m thinking of buying it.

RCMoeur 

Ah, memories of the mayhem of rec.bicycles.*

thumpism 

I was lucky enough to get a Praktikum at BMW in the summer of '79 through my school's German department where I got a minor. I was initially supposed to work at Opel near Frankfurt but that was withdrawn and I got the Munich post instead. Flew into Brussels and rode my Batavus to Munich, worked the summer and toured more afterward. The experience taught me I did not want to work in a factory, but it was quite a time otherwise.

Like you, I managed to find something that would pay the best for the longest time.

Bad Lag

Okay, so other than WHO the author is, WHAT is the book about? WHY would I want to buy or read it?

HTupolev

The book is about Jobst Brandt, written by distinguished author Ride Bike.

LV2TNDM

The person who purchases a book on Brandt is the same one who already has a copy of The Data Book. For obscure facts on the bicycle world that end up being more relevant to today's bikes & designs than one would ever think. "Those who fail to learn history's lessons are doomed to repeat the mistakes." or something like that.

repechage

the Wild West of the internet before it went political.

cinelliguy 

Mine arrived today, beautiful book. I will be reading through it on the flight to Paris tomorrow in order to ride in the Pyrenees by Friday.

Guy

cinelliguy 

Jobst was into gravel and touring/adventure riding decades before any of the mainstream caught on. Like, Stevio when it was gravel, then, heading for the Gavia which was also gravel...the same day.

Here is a short overview of the book. https://bikepacking.com/news/jobst-b...ride-bike-book



Guy

ThermionicScott 

You'll definitely dig the accounts of Jobst hanging out with Cino!

cyclic_eric

Mine arrived today. This isn't just some obscure book of data. Interviews and photos of riders and engineers who created modern bicycling are in this book.
People like Joe Breeze, Gary Fisher, Tom Ritchey, Eric Heiden, Peter Johnson. Mostly for Classic & Vintage aficionados I suppose.
But anyone who has an interest in cycling will find pretty cool photos. Here's a couple of photos of Jobst riding in the Alps. (Using my phone camera on the book.)

bibliobob

Mine arrived yesterday as well. Totally exceeded my expectations!

HTupolev

Due to this thread, I decided to finally grab The Bicycle Wheel. In addition to The Data Book and a copy of whatever the book the thread is about is called.

DiabloScott

RBT was where I used to hang out - it was an interesting experience verbally sparring with Jobst.

MilesMG

This is not my first time seeing good words about this books. Looks like it's time to get my own copies

LV2TNDM

The Trifecta! I'm SO jealous!

I received my JOBST book a while back and FINALLY opened it as a birthday present to myself. I've really enjoyed reading about his life and exploits.

I can't believe he was riding the Santa Cruz mountains basically right in my back yard! I, too, was venturing up there, but not nearly as far afield as Jobst! Then I was racing on Avocet tires, saddles and cyclometers as well. Oh and I even had a pair of Avocet cleated mountain bike shoes, before I embraced the M737 SPD pedals. He was pretty over the top. But man did he have drive and endurance!

As I mentioned earlier, I was happily surprised to learn of his Porsche connection a few years ago. Well, I've learned that he married his first wife in Stuttgart, Germany. Pretty nice coincidence for me, as I spent the summer of '87 in Stuttgart wrenching on Mercedes engines. Oh and then I went and met and married a woman whose mother hails from the region. I think my Schwäbisch-tinged German was a feather in my cap!

So to know he spent much of his live near where I grew up, then there's the Porsche, German and Stuttgart connections, made it a really enjoyable read for me.

The Stelvio is on my bucket list, and the Jobst book only further solidifies this for me!

PS I may have already mentioned this, but I'll risk repeating myself. I had the luck to meet one of Jobst's nephews last winter. We happened to delve into a bicycle discussion and he asked if I knew "The Bicycle Wheel." "You mean the BIBLE? OF COURSE I do!" I replied. I was appropriately impressed with his lineage!

PPS One more nice coincidence... Eric Heiden's pictured in the book, as he joined Jobst on a few of his death rides. Le Tour came through Stuttgart in '87 while I was there. Talk about dumb luck! Then to add to the dumb luck, another American working for Mercedes was raised speaking French. So when he and I approached one of the race organizers, he put on a fake bad American French accent and said something like, "Oh Monsier, I LOVE France! We love bicycle racing and Le Tour!" He gushed for a little while longer and then... The organizer was so impressed by his enthusiasm that he handed us two free Press Passes! OMG, we're BACK STAGE AT LE TOUR!!! I was walking around totally star-struck when I see some 7-11 rider talking to someone in his team car. "Oh look, that's ERIC HEIDEN!" So damn cool! I even got to wish Laurent Fignon "Bon Chance!" as he signed an autograph for me before being whisked away by his team car. Talk about a totally fantastic experience.

MooneyBloke

Sure Jobst could be testy, but that was nothing in comparison to Eric Naggum's all-too-frequent abusive conduct in comp.lang.lisp, another place where I hung my hat.

cyclic_eric

Well LV2TNDM, you've now just added to my bucket list. I looked up the epic Stelvio Pass, an iconic road - plus they shut down the road once a year - only bicyclists allowed.
I don't know how likely it is that I'll be able to do it, but it's fun to have as a goal.
Parco Nazionale Dello Stelvio

merziac

You need to hit the "Quote" button to alert the poster and so we know who you are to referring to.

I would also encourage you to exercise a little more decorum, being new here I understand the urge to call out perceived inaccuracies but you may not see the full scope or the poster may be off a bit on dating or other details while not being completely wrong.

We usually strive to be a bit more tolerant here and would hope you can do the same.

SurferRosa

Even an AI bot with a girl's name could look that up.