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...)

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)

Customer Reviews

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.

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.

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.