Bike Cult: The Ultimate Guide to Human-Powered Vehicles [Paperback]

David B. Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1995

A bike fanatic's ultimate trip, this comprehensive tour of bike culture is packed with information on every aspect of bikes and cycling--from bedrock to high-tech, from Leonardo to Schwinn, from rickshaws to rollerblades--spanning the "golden age" of bicycling (the 19th century) to the present. 800 illustrations. 100 photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

While there are many titles in print on the subject of bicycles, each of which focuses on specific aspects related to cycling, this is the first to combine every topic related to biking or human-powered vehicles, including technology, history, sociology, amusement, creativity, spirituality, and physiology. This impressive piece of work in both scope and detail provides a complete look at the activities surrounding bicycling and also promulgates an argument for a better way of life and a practical alternative to the American car culture. Sure to find high interest among the 100 million American bicyclists, this book is highly recommended for reference collections in public libraries. Academic and research institutions may also want to consider because of the sheer wealth of information presented.?Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

By bike and biker, Perry means a human-powered conveyance and its rider. Hog-humpin' Sonny Barger and friends are here only in freedom-lovin', road-hittin' spirit. Perry loads his book so full of information, curiosities, and insightful linkages it is hard even to list the contents and begin to do it justice. Suffice it to say that if it's related to biking, it's here; moreover, it's accessible, thanks to an index, a bibliography, notes, and six appendixes, all marvelous. From the very earliest development of human-powered transportation to a vast listing of contemporary cycling clubs, Perry's magnificent resource delivers. The text is engaging, even for those with a casual interest in biking, and the pithy quotations from historical figures constitute a recurring delight. To complete a bicycling library or to serve as a single resource on bikes, bikers, and biking, this is certainly the goods. Mike Tribby

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Product Details

• Paperback: 570 pages
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568580274
• ISBN-13: 978-1568580272
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #851,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Cult?"--Seems Normal To Me!, January 30, 2004

By 

Leslie Reissner "Sprocketboy" (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bike Cult: The Ultimate Guide to Human-Powered Vehicles (Paperback)

What a great book! At time of its release in 1995, "Bike Cult" was the first attempt at an encyclopaedia of cycling. This fat book (570 rather dense pages) covers the history of the bicycle its high-performance engine (that is, the human body), the bicycle as transportation and, lastly, the culture of the bicycle and the effect it has had on the human spirit.

There have been some changes in bicycle technology since 1995, and of course the tables of race winners is out of date, but "Bike Cult" remains a fascinating look into the origins and use of "the perfect machine." I enjoyed the lovingly described history, which not only went over the bicycle as a whole but devotes sections to individual parts of the bike, such as handlebars and seats, and the whole question of how a bicycle is steered. It is a mad compendium of information: there is a list of international names for bicycles and related items on page 99, and we learn that the Hawaiian word for bicycle is ka'a paikikala, while in Uruguay it is known as a chiba.

The benefits of cycling are described in detail but there is no attempt to shield us from descriptions of bicycle ailments discovered in the heyday of cycling in the 1890s. However, in these times of great concern about the rise of obesity in America and Europe it is clear that the bicycle offers a solution, particularly when we read that Tour de France riders burn 6,000-9,000 calories per day!

But where are we to ride, given the modern, car-centric world we live in? The section of the book entitled "Bikeable Planet" is beguiling. For a brief and glorious moment, bicycles were actually seen as the best transportation alternative for the West and in some countries they still are. Too often derided as a child's toy and treated by motorists as a menace, the bicycle can, with proper planning, be integrated into an urban transportation network. Low-cost in terms of acquisition, space requirements and maintenance, the bicycle in operation does not pollute, create noise or horrific traffic congestion. In the United States alone each year more than 40,000 people are killed in traffic accidents. Nonetheless, those who would propose bicycle-inclusive transportation systems are often derided as dreamers or utopian socialists or worse. This section of "Bike Cult" is provocative but perhaps only because our society has gone in an illogical direction.

Author David Perry, who operates a bicycle shop in New York City, then takes us on a tour of cycling as a sport, including not only the expected pro racing/Tour de France information, but also strange sports such as Indoor Cycling and Bicycle Polo. Then our long journey takes us into art and bicycles and fashion and bicycles and even sex and bicycles.

"Whoever invented the bicycle deserves the thanks of humanity," said Lord Charles Beresford. And we should thank David Perry for this enchanting and entertaining look at the bicycle in all its forms and seasons. This is the kind of book that gives pleasure every time one opens it, reading at random. Addictive!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For All Bike Lovers, December 22, 2003

By 

KELLY SIMMONS (Tallahassee, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bike Cult: The Ultimate Guide to Human-Powered Vehicles (Paperback)

This book definitely caters to bicyclists of all types, with an exhaustive array of passages concerning all aspects of the bicycle. Dave Perry covers pretty much covers all the bases with his highly enjoyable writing style, and scattered illustrations on almost every page. I particularly enjoyed the role of the bicycle as personal transportation AND as a working tool, not only in the States, but all over the world. The book makes the simple bike a cult symbol to the reader, and sets itself apart from all those other books out there by leaving out the "what gear do I need?" sections and fix-it-yourself stuff, and keeping the love for the bike foremost in your mind.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life is a bike, March 24, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Bike Cult: The Ultimate Guide to Human-Powered Vehicles (Paperback)

Everything you wanted to know about the bike, multiplied by ten thousand. A must read for anyone who thinks that life is a bike; a must present for anyone who doesn't!