The Racing Bicycle: Design, Function, Speed

Paired with "The Competition Bicycle", this book is a coffee table gem for the road bike crowd, covering decades of bicycle manufacture and many of the signal brands of lore.

Finally, the book I have been waiting for. If you are into competition or an avid aficionado this book is perfect, the great innovators and their background which makes me realize how great cycling is. Information that I was curious about the different companies that have contributed to the winners and their Bicycles in the major tours in the world. Perfect pictures of coveted Bicycles just like a book on classic cars, thanks to Rizzoli and Amazon for the quick delivery.

This book is about racing technology: UCI-approved European-style upright road racing. There are many bicycle history books that focus on the "golden era" of cycle racing just after WWII. While having so much historical information about the "golden era" that it is an education to read, this book fills a gap and gives details about recent developments including the revolution indexed shifting caused and how recent advances in position allowed Greg LeMond to win The Tour de France in 1989 and Graeme Obree to twice set the Hour record. It covers recent advances in carbon fiber, aluminum & titanium usually not covered in books on racing. This 331p book is organized to describe 49 manufacturers, each listed in separate chapters. Each company gets a few pages. It includes power-house companies, smaller, boutique companies as well as a number of important companies I had never heard of. The companies included are:Atala, Batavus, BH, Bianchi, Billato, Bottecchia, Campagnolo, Cannondale, Cervelo, Cinelli, Colnago, Columbus, Concorde, Daccordi, De Rosa, Eddy Merckx, Flandria, Focus, Gazelle, Giant, Gios, Gitane, Guerciotti, LeMond, Litespeed, Look, Masi, Mavic, Mercian, Mercier, Olmo, Orbea, Pegoretti, Peugeot, Pinarello, Raleight, Reynolds, Schwinn, Scott, Serotta, Shimano, Specialized, SRAM, Time, Trek, TVT, Vitus, Wilier Trestina.The story of each company is told around the bicycle racers/races won on their equipment. Eddy Merckx is described in the section on Colnago and, after a falling out, De Rosa as well as his own line of bikes. Gios is described in his own line of bikes. Fausto Coppi is described in the section on Bianchi. Greg LeMond is described in the section on Scott as well as his own line of bikes. Lance Armstrong in the section on Trek. It integrates racing history with bicycle technology well. It does an especially good job covering recent racing history with recent advances. Recent events and advances are too often overlooked in the present fashion for retro-cycling. Retro is for Civil-War re-enactors with muskets. Winning races is about speeding like a bullet.This was written by a team of top bicycle racing magazine journalists and other bicycle book writers. It is a collection of company histories. The strengths of each company are mentioned without mentioning their weaknesses. The section on Cinelli talks about Cino's career as a racing champion but does not mention that Cino Cinelli's older brother actually founded Cinelli to make steel handlebars and later developed aluminum. Though the company continued development after Cino sold it to the Colombo family with Spinaci bars (later banned by the UCI). It does not mention how Cinelli missed out when Modolo developed their own dropped bars with a flattened section you could grip. Reynolds is described as a company without mentioning the criticism many frame-makers had that their frame tubing was thin and flexed from pedaling and the forks over-built and gave too stiff a ride.Instead of covering topics separately, such as wind resistance or the strength of materials they are instead discussed as design features that are company successes that helped to win races. This is the only book I have seen that described how Magic Motorcycle invented the hollow crank, a company bought by Cannondale & renamed Coda that Shimano marketed as "hollowtech".The book emphasizes complete bicycles, equipment and frames. The importance of wheel design is missing. Neither Shimano nor Campagnolo's considerable contributions to wheel design are mentioned in their chapters. Rolf, Zip, Easton and HED might have been included.This is a big book, packed with photos, history and information on manufacturers that is easily worth a good deal more. It is accessible and I enjoyed reading it. It goes into some detail and makes for lively reading. It is a reference book and modern encyclopedia of a time overlooked in most bicycle histories; recent racing events and how they were won. The strengths of each company and their contribution to racing bicycle design are briefly covered. Each company's outline make for quick overviews. This book is extremely valuable for any professional library on bicycle design or pro shop. Shop staff will get a quick overview to the products offered for sale by them or their competitors.

Bought this as a gift for a bicycling friend. He loves it, couldn't put it down. He's been relating stories from it, now I want to read it too.

A collection of engineering and design.

On my first casual scan of the book, I found multiple inaccurate statements, so many that I decided to discard the book. The publisher should have hired more knowledgeable editors and proofreaders. Very disappointing.

Not many of the bicycle company histories provide stirring or engaging commentary. Photo editing is not error free.

Well designed and illustrated book, great for dipping into.

The history of the racing bicycle presented in a beautifully made, picture rich book.

Very Good!

Bike porn for enthusiasts!