See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.

18 used & new from $3.53

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
Urban Bikers' Tricks & Tips: Low-Tech & No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, and Keep a Bicycle
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.
 
  

Urban Bikers' Tricks & Tips: Low-Tech & No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, and Keep a Bicycle [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Dave Glowacz (Author) "Buying a bike can be tough..." (more)
Key Phrases: getting through traffic, door zone, smallest gear, New York (more...)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


3 new from $7.09 15 used from $3.53
Also Available in: List Price: Our Price: Other Offers:
Paperback (Rev Sub) $14.95 $11.66 37 used & new from $6.05

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Art of Cycling: A Guide to Bicycling in 21st-Century America

The Art of Cycling: A Guide to Bicycling in 21st-Century America

by Robert Hurst
4.6 out of 5 stars (5)  $10.17
The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance and Repair: For Road and Mountain Bikes(Expanded and Revised 5th Edition)

The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance and Repair: For Road and Mountain Bikes(Expanded and Revised 5th Edition)

by Todd Downs
4.4 out of 5 stars (73)  $14.95
Bicycle!: A Repair & Maintenance Manifesto

Bicycle!: A Repair & Maintenance Manifesto

by Sam Tracy
3.4 out of 5 stars (9)  $16.15
The Chainbreaker Bike Book: A Rough Guide to Bicycle Maintenance

The Chainbreaker Bike Book: A Rough Guide to Bicycle Maintenance

by Ethan Clark
3.8 out of 5 stars (6)  $13.72
Effective Cycling: 6th Edition

Effective Cycling: 6th Edition

by John Forester
4.6 out of 5 stars (21)  $26.40
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Finally, there is help for bike riders who live in cities. Clowacz covers all the basics for keeping an urban biking life safely on two wheels, from choosing a bike to keeping it from getting stolen. He provides valuable advice on making a bike fit one's individual needs--for example, seat height adjustments to avoid backaches as well as perhaps the most basic concern, locking the bike, for which he offers several options. His safety tips on such things as what to do if someone attempts to steal the bike right out from under you and how to negotiate urban auto traffic (hint: there are many choices other than anger and violence) are wonderfully down-to-earth. Illustrated in step-by-step fashion on every page, this is a book to be read, studied, and put to practical use by all bike riders, but especially those living in the urban jungle. Raul Nino

Review
"For both the experienced and the novice, this is the best biker’s manual."  —New York Public Library


"If these tips work in New York City—and they do—they'll work almost anywhere."  —Ann Sullivan, director, League of American Bicyclists


"A really useful compendium of information that no one ever told you." —Bicycling Magazine
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 250 pages
  • Publisher: Wordspace Press; illustrated edition edition (December 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0965172805
  • ISBN-13: 978-0965172806
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,015,228 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.

Citations (learn more)
This book cites 4 books:


Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Urban Bikers' Tricks & Tips: Low-Tech & No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, and Keep a Bicycle
56% buy the item featured on this page:
Urban Bikers' Tricks & Tips: Low-Tech & No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, and Keep a Bicycle 3.5 out of 5 stars (20)
The Art of Cycling: A Guide to Bicycling in 21st-Century America
14% buy
The Art of Cycling: A Guide to Bicycling in 21st-Century America 4.6 out of 5 stars (5)
$10.17
Effective Cycling: 6th Edition
14% buy
Effective Cycling: 6th Edition 4.6 out of 5 stars (21)
$26.40
The Bike to Work Guide: What You Need to Know to Save Gas, Go Green, Get Fit
9% buy
The Bike to Work Guide: What You Need to Know to Save Gas, Go Green, Get Fit 4.0 out of 5 stars (1)
$7.95

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below.

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search
No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

 

Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
43 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Outrageous suicidal advice, January 26, 2004
By Serge Issakov (La Jolla, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I just got this book a week ago, and will probably send it back. That will be a first, for I have never returned a book before. But this one is that bad.

I agree with the other 1-star reviewers who noted the dangerous advice given in this book. I've been riding bikes with traffic for over 30 years, and I admit I've done most if not all of the dangerous "sly cyclist" "tips & tricks" recommended by this book - but I did them when I didn't know better. You'd think a book on biking would help one know better...

Riding safely and effectively with traffic means riding visibly and predictably according to standard vehicular laws and principles. Much of the advice in this book is contrary to this important notion, which has already been detailed in other reviews. I will add that the author does not appear to base his recommendations on any principles whatsoever. He just recommends doing certain things, many of which are contrary to riding visibly and predictably, that have apparently worked for him, so far. Just because he hasn't been killed by his own advice yet does not mean it's good advice, or that all of his readers will have the same dumb luck.

Almost all accidents require more than just one thing to go wrong, usually about three. By following the advice in this book, and not riding visibly and predictably ("vehicularly"), only two more things have to go wrong for an accident to occur. I stongly recommend NOT stacking the deck against your life and well-being like this.

Ignore this book. Instead, buy and read "Effective Cycling" by John Forester.

Comment Comments (5) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Of limited value to the conscientous cyclist, January 31, 2000
By Stewart C. Russell (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews
I can't really recommend this book. While it's filled with very good equipment and car-free lifestyle choices, the riding techniques advocated are highly dubious. In some cases, they're illegal and stupid -- like showing you how to run red traffic lights, or riding on the sidewalk -- and will do nothing for the image of cyclists. The book even shows (by a backhanded warning) the best place to crack a car windshield.

It is a shame that such moments of crassness spoil a book that is aimed at beginners. These would be bad habits to get into, and terrible things to learn from the outset.

Better books on assertive cycling are John Franklin's "Cyclecraft", and John Forester's "Effective Cycling". They show you how to gain your place in the traffic, and how to keep it without resorting to crazy stunts.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
30 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Dangerous advice that will get you killed, October 20, 2003
By A Customer
I have been a cycle commuter for three years. Granted, that's not the decades logged by some people, but then I'm in my early twenties and also the target market for this book -- which, with its splashy graphics and "hip" typography, wants to appeal to the "bad boy" market.

This book is incredible. It stocks some good advice at the beginning of the book -- pretty basic material that you will find in any reasonable intro to utility cycling book (or website.) But it rapidly degenerates into a mishmash of advice, some of which is incredibly dangerous -- including how to catch on to the back of a moving vehicle and how to "attack" a car that's annoyed you.

It also includes advice about riding up onto the sidewalk -- a seemingly innocous technique that actually leads to a significant percentage of cycling injuries and deaths.

When done right, cycling is nearly as safe as walking. When done wrong, cycling is a very dangerous activity. A cycling book is your guide to survival. It should be something that you can trust, it should always err on the safe side -- knowing that you'll break a rule or two in your time -- to give you a margin of error. This books violates that trust.

Glowacz wants his book to be a source of advice for the "practical" cyclist. Instead, he has produced another book that, in its advice, relegates bikes to the status of dangerous toys. The "street smarts" are anything but smart. The number of college kids -- and road racers, never a cautious bunch -- killed on bikes is a depressing statistic, and an entirely reducible one. This book will do little to help.

I recommend that readers interested in urban cycling situations get John Forrester's Effective Cycling instead. It contains everything a grown-up needs to know about cycling.

UPDATE: more potentially fatal errors in this book: "New Jersey jughandle" advice includes advice to run a red light in an unpredictable fashion. "Bike lane" advice advises cyclists to ride in the bike lane even if the lane is within the "door zone", and to swerve in and out of traffic to avoid bike lane obstacles. This is exactly the behaviour that killed a young graduate student in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was run over by a bus after swerving to avoid an open door in the bike lane.

UPDATE (again): more fatal advice, this time on how to "draft" a moving van, car or truck. Drafting is a way to increase your efficiency by riding in someone else's wake. People do it all the time when racing, you'll see Lance do it in the Tour. When done with other cyclists -- who know to be extra careful, and who know the risks, and who know you're there -- it is tricky, but fun. When doing it to an auto on the street, it can kill you. Two cyclists set out to bicycle the length of South America. One of them didn't make it: he drafted a bus, and was seriously injured; you can read about it on the website detailing their travels.

Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
Ad
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars disappointing
Skip this book. There is not much valuable information, and a few too many bad suggestions. Additionally, text/page layout is cluttered and irritating to look at and try to... Read more
Published 1 month ago by girl from TN

4.0 out of 5 stars Controversial but definitely worth it
Other reviewers have already touched on the more controversial tips, but on the whole this book is filled with practical and safe tips relating to clothing, bicycle security and... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Marcel Levy

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything You Need
How to choose, ride, protect, and enjoy your bike for any purpose. It covers all kinds of equipment to help you understand what your options are and how to use them all... Read more
Published on January 28, 2006 by Andy Jacobs

5.0 out of 5 stars 2nd Edition ''Urban Bikers'' Tricksier, Tipsier
Cape mysteriously fluttering in the still air of my living room, Mr. Bike sat down across from me to straighten out his tights and to talk about the second edition of his... Read more
Published on July 26, 2004 by S. BUCHTEL

1.0 out of 5 stars Great for thugs
If you are a thug or in a cycling gang, this book is for you!!!
The author provides great tips that you may not have thought of on
how to get back at "evil" drivers. Read more
Published on June 23, 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have for cyclists!
This is a fantastic resource for people who ride their bikes either recreationally or as a form of transportation. Mr. Read more
Published on August 30, 2002 by David C. Seglin

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Info for Cyclists by Cyclists
I really enjoyed this book, even tho' it is mostly information that I have learned the HARD way by bike messengering in the last nine years. Read more
Published on May 8, 2000 by Uyvsdi

1.0 out of 5 stars Spoiled by irresponsible advice
This book has some interesting and useful ideas (for example on P. 4 a very good explanation of the difference between basic bike types). Read more
Published on February 18, 2000 by Fred B Oswald

1.0 out of 5 stars Spoiled by irresponsible advise
This book has some interesting and useful ideas (for example on P. 4 a very good explanation of the difference between basic bike types). Read more
Published on February 18, 2000 by Fred B Oswald

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cycler's Survival Guide to Commuting
Everyone should read this book. If you live in rural America, or in a big city - or pondering the thought of commuting? - READ THIS BOOK. Read more
Published on February 1, 2000 by NW Shooter

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


   


Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)



Look for Similar Items by Category


Work and Roll with DEWALT

DEWALT Job Site Radio
While supplies last, enjoy special pricing on the DEWALT work site radio. Power it and you'll be rockin' and chargin' your way through a hard day of work.

Shop more chargers and radios

 

Big Savings in Books

Bargain Books
Find great titles at fantastic prices in our Bargain Books Store.
 

Buy Three Books, Get a Fourth Free

4-for-3 Books
Order any four eligible books under $10 and get the lowest-price book free in our 4-for-3 Books Store. See more details.
 

Best Books

Best of the Month
See our editors' picks and more of the best new books on our Best of the Month page.
 
Ad

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.



Where's My Stuff?

Shipping & Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue shopping: Top Sellers
Free
Free by Chris Anderson
Paranoia
Paranoia by Joseph Finder
My Soul to Lose
My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent
Glenn Beck's Common Sense

Conditions of Use | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates