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 The Social History of the Bicycle
A very interesting read, but not for those interested in the evolution of the mechanics. The book is mostly about how bicycles ("the poor man's horse") changed American and European society, to be later superseded by the internal combustion engine. What I found most interesting are the historic conflicts within the cycling community. Real men rode big wheels, free wheelers were lazy. Weirdly, these carry over to today's cyclists.
Major technological changes (such as penny racer, to safety bike, and fixed to free wheel) the book glosses over changes in brakes, gearing and such.
An excellent book, for social history, not much for hardware.
--Tom
 Give this one a miss
Most of the book is a very detailed, often repetitive, history of the bicycle from the foot-propelled "velocipede" days until the thirties. It is quite light on the many developments since the seventies, which have led to the bikes that we are riding today. The twentieth century section is especially repetitive, as it tells essentially the same story through "utilitarian", "recreational", and "competitive" cycling section. None of these three sections are satisfying, they merely hint and suggest at the most obvious bits of common knowledge. Some of the illustrations are quite good, but nothing like what I expected from some of the other reviews, and rarely are these illustrations satisfyingly integrated into the narrative. First, I tried to read this book through with no success, it was just too dry. I then tried just picking it up and dipping in, but there really was not much of substance. Quickly the book was banished from my bedside table. Koren's NY Times Book review blurb "immensely absorbing -- always entertaining" is astonishing -- couldn't be further from the mark, in my view.
 Falls short of its full potential...
This is a good book, but I am more concerned about what it does NOT say than what it does. Although richly illustrated and fact-filled, I expected a more thorough treatment of the bicycle's history (especially from a book published by Yale University Press). So much is left out. The bicycle's impact on women in the late nineteenth century receives hardly any treatment at all, which amazes me given the stir it caused at the time. The author makes no mention of cyclists' involvement in politics during the era of the bicycle boom, a subject for a book in its own right and one which we could draw lessons from today. Moreover, the religious aspects of cycling during the heyday of "muscular Christianity" (1880-1920) are completely neglected, another topic that should have received at least a few paragraphs.
This book is also geographically biased, concentrating, rather predictably, on Europe and New England. What about the South, West, and Midwest (Chicago, after all, was the nexus of the American cycling industry)? What about Canada, Australia, and India? Even China, the so-called Kingdom of the Bicycle, is mentioned only in passing. Did people ride bikes in Latin America in the nineteenth century? What impact did the bicycle have on rural areas? The links between bicycles and early automobiles also could have been treated in much greater detail.
Although a good introduction, this book falls short of its full potential. Herlihy's discussion of the technical history of the bicycle, while interesting, would have been more meaningful had he demonstrated its impact on social history at greater length than he does. And to me at least, his subtitle seems a little conceited -- perhaps "A History" (rather than "THE History") would have been more appropriate. While general readers will undoubtedly enjoy this book, I am afraid that those who might have been inclined to take a more critical look at the bicycle will walk away thinking they have heard the whole story, when in fact there is much more to be told.
 The Beautiful Invention
In the second half of the 19th Century several machines engaged and excited the world's finest inventive minds. Among them were the sewing machine, the locomotive and the gun. But the machine that drew the most attention was the bicycle. In January and February of 1869, as the first craze for the early primitive bicycles hit the United States, the American patent office received about one hundred applications for improvements to the crank-driven two-wheeler. By March, over 100 more were either sent or announced.
Why? The bicycle was that deeply yearned-for device that would satisfy the centuries-old desire for cheap personal transportation.
David Herlihy's wonderful book tells the story of the invention and development of the bicycle from the first dreams set down on paper centuries ago to the present high-tech carbon fiber lightweight. While he covers the entire history of the bicycle, his main emphasis is on the nineteenth century, from 1817 when Karl von Drais made a two-wheeled hobby horse that would facilitate walking, to the bust of the great 1890's bicycle boom.
Along the way Herlihy ponders a couple of interesting questions. What, exactly is a bicycle and who invented it? That inquiry led him to conclude that Pierre Lallement, a Frenchman, is our hero. For the forty years after Drais built his "Draisine", the greatest mechanical minds searched for an efficient way propel the machine, but to no avail. It was Lallement who had the brilliant insight to attach pedaled cranks to the front wheel and turn them with his legs. And thus, the bicycle was born.
This early bicycle, or "Velocipede", was a far cry from the chain-driven modern bicycle that appeared in the late 1880's. Numerous technical improvements were needed, such as ball bearings, a cheap, reliable roller chain, high-quality steel tubing, and the tensioned wire wheel (called "spider wheels" at the time of their invention) before the "horse that eats no oats" could be realized.
Without getting bogged down in the minutia of the technology, yet filled with detail, Herlihy follows the avid inventors, excited cyclists and greedy businessmen as they sought to make and own ever better bikes.
There is a surprising nugget of information on every page. The differential gear, which allows a drive shaft to distribute the automobile's force to the rear wheels so that in a turn the inside wheel can rotate more slowly than the faster moving outside wheel, was invented for the tricycle.
The bicycle wrought profound social consequences. At times, fully one-third of the bicycle buyers in the nineteenth century were women as they used the bicycle as a tool of freedom and emancipation. Roads were improved at the urging of cyclists and thus the way for automobiles was made easier.
Lavishly illustrated, Bicycle took Herlihy fifteen years to complete. He is contemplating a sequel, taking up the story where he left off at the turn of the century. He had better not make us wait another fifteen years.
-Bill McGann, Author of The Story of the Tour de France
A wonderful ride
This is a thorough encyclopedia of bicycle history with a stunning collection of photographs, drawings, catalog covers, and so much more giving the reader an informative tour of the early history of the bicycle forward to today.
The images alone in this beautiful book are reason enough to buy it, but the writing is also a joy to spend time with.
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