Customer Reviews

Sloane's Complete Book of Bicycling: The Cyclist's Bible (25th Anniversary Edition)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I started my adventure to buy a bike, one enthusiast's first piece of advice was to get this book. Then, before doing business with a shop, he recommended I "ask one of the mechanics (not the person working the register) if they sell Sloane. Don't ask for it by title, just ask if they sell Sloane. If they don't know immediately what you're talking about, there's a good chance they don't do good work. Tell them you forgot to put change in the meter and walk out and don't come back." I found this to be good advice.

The other reviewer has pretty much said it, but I got more from my time spent reading this book than talking with any shop personnel (no question) or almost any bike owners. Considering the cost of investing in a bicycle, and the cost of this book, there's no excuse for any bicycle owner to not own this book.

This is the book that turned me from a casual commuter into a cycling NUTCASE. i've never looked back. In one book, sloan covers everything you need to know to buy a bike, fix a bike, tour on a bike, and race on a bike. Sloan's original book had the audacity to discuss brands and parts and who makes the best stuff any WHY. No other author at the time was willing to delve into these issues. He does it with so much ENTHUSIASM and INSIGHT that his love of the subject is INFECTIOUS. You should think of Eugene Sloane in the same terms as your favorite high school teachers. Sloan is from a suburb of Chicago, Illinois which is a BIKE MECCA because everywhere it's FLAT. One of the things that makes this a cyclist's cycling book is that in the illustrations he always depicts professional parts and also many of the most unusual parts of the 1970's and 1980's. The earlier editions had a racing bicycle on the front, and on the binding, switched to a touring bicycle on the back, if you happen to see it used. Very distinctive cover on those editions.

BUY IT AND CATCH THE FEVER.

Gene Sloane has wrote some great repair books and all of his books are packed with history, practical advice, and personal andecdotes.

This book is a good all around introduction to cycling that will last you for several years. It is NOT the Last or Only book you will ever need (or want) on Cycling, but it is better than most. I have a collection of Gene's books and they are easily superior to Rob VanDerPlas's series (RVP tends to miss a few things in his books and can be too general in his coverage). Having copies of Gene's books over the years is like having a private library of the history of modern (1960s-2000s) bikes and the evolution of their design.

He also tends to include gearing tables, sizing recommendations, metrics to english conversion charts, etc.

Thank you, Mr. Sloane, for another great text. As has been the case for twenty some years now, Sloane's dialogue is relevant, funny, highly knowledgeable and infinitely useful. After reading Sloane, I know what makes the best bikes the best and, more importantly, what makes the best bike for me. Mr. Sloane's books have always been THE reference source for me as I purchase and maintain my bikes.

If you ride vintage steel, you'll find this very informative. If not, not. And yes, he's pompous. Buy it as cheaply as possible. (I own an earlier edition.)

I found this book to be very useful, don't get me wrong, but I found that it was a little bit too general. For instance, when I was curious about what a "fixed gear" (single speed, no freewheel) bicycle was, I found nothing, not one word, about this type of bicycle. This may be a little bit extreme of a case, since fixed gear bicycles seem to be a bit of a cult thing, but the book is definitely a general reference. A good start, but not the last book I'll buy on bicycles.

Sloane's book is the most complete and authoritative book on cycling in print anywhere in the world today or any other day.

If you only buy two books on cycling, make this one your first.

This book deserves a star for containing some useful information, although it doesn't seem to be aimed at any particular audience (i.e. too technical for the casual rider, and too general for the expert). However, it is quite out of date and the many photos and illustrations are poorly reproduced. For all practical purposes, this book is completely useless. What annoyed me most about it, however, is the author's pompous and extraordinarily ignorant opinions about bicycle helmets and mandatory bicycle helmet laws. Sloane tells us that he is "as an expert witness on bicycle accidents" and that "had the bicyclist been wearing a helmet, many of the fatalities and serious head injuries in these accidents would not have occurred". How can this be, when study after study have shown that bicycle helmets have a statistically insignificant impact on injuries and are actually correlated with a slight increase in fatalities? [...]. In fact, in the US, an increase in bicycle helmet use is actually strongly correlated with an increase in head injuries [...]. Sloane sinks lowest, however, when he suggest that the Bicycle Federation of Oregon opposes mandatory helmet laws simply because it means they will sell fewer bikes. (It should be noted that the only statistically proven effect of mandatory helmet laws is that they discourage bicycling, a fact which Sloane tells us doesn't bother him in the slightest: "if it's a choice between having to wear a helmet and riding a bicycle, my vote goes to the helmet law"). In reality, it is Sloane who makes money promoting MHL's by working as an expert witness, likely against injured bicyclists (the idea being that injured bicyclists who were not wearing a helmet don't deserve to be compensated since it "was their fault" they were injured). Frederick Robertson commented that "there are three things in the world that deserve no mercy: hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny." Eugene A. Sloane exhibits all 3 of these traits in his support for MHL's. He informs us that "that's what laws are for, to protect people despite themselves". Mr. Sloane, how about I worry about my personal safety, and you worry about yours; particularly when the data suggests that I know what I'm talking about and you don't? In particular, how about you keep your laws off my body? To the reader looking for books on bicycling, if you're looking for a great book of bicycling advice, try "The Art of Urban Cycling" by Robert Hurst. If you want to understand more about the science, try "Bicycling Science" by David Wilson, and if you're interested in the technicalities, there are a number of good books on bicycle repair. Sloane's book is a waste of a tree, and he's a despicable scoundrel for taking money to appear in court to argue against bicyclist's seeking compensation when they have been injured.