Cyclopedia: It's All About the Bike

by William Fotheringham

The world of cycling is a veritable treasure trove ready to be plundered and in "Cyclopedia," renowned two-wheeled aficionado, William Fotheringham, delves deep to unearth some 24-carat bike booty. This essential book is a miscellany of facts, figures, interesting snippets and quirky characters from the world of cycling. It tells you everything you could ever want to know about the bicycle from the history of the Tour de France to Chris Hoy's dominance of the Beijing Velodrome via the origins of the ubiquitous quick release system and the diet that powered Graeme Obree to the world hour record - marmalade and cornflakes. "Cyclopedia" has all the gear, the equipment, the races, the chases, the faces, the places, the drugs, the sex and the scandals to convert any amateur cyclist into a fully-fledged BMX bandit.

Genres: Cycling, Sports, Nonfiction, Reference, Recreation

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[pattrice]

If you're into bicycle racing in any or all of its mad permutations, this is the book for you, as it is jam-packed with histories, maps, fun facts, and colorful anecdotes from the variegated world of bike racing.

If you're into bicycles themselves, this encyclopedia will be modestly interesting, as it also includes multiple entries related to the evolution of the design of bicycles and their components. But you may find yourself frustrated by how much race-related material you'll need to wade through to find those gems.

Speaking of gems, if you're geeked on the cultural and political aspects of bicycles, you will find the few entries on those topics (such as bikes in fiction and bikes in film) fascinating yet frustrating in their brevity. Ditto if you are into bikes as transportation.

If you're interested in bicycling anywhere outside of the U.S. and Europe, you will find yourself throwing this book across the room. Even small European countries like Ireland get their own multi-page entries while the whole continent of Africa gets two pages and Asia might as well not exist, despite the fact that China and India are, respectively, the first- and second-largest producers of bicycles in the world.

So, in summary: If you love bicycle racing, buy this book. If you're interested in bikes themselves or the practical, environmental, or cultural uses to which they have been put, check this book out from the library. If extreme Eurocentrism bugs you, you may want to skip it.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting tour through the A to Z of all things bike

[Joe Vess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book in the way that it ties the history of cycling together with the modern era and shows many of the connections. I think its only challenge (not the book's fault) is that with all the doping revelations of the last five years a few parts of the book already seem dated, such as about Lance Armstrong. But a really, really interesting and enjoyable read.

[Sara Goldenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a wonderful books - so informative- and well written!

The author is very famous in the cycling world but here in America, in NYC, this is the only of his books that I could get.

He lists a bunch of cycling moves that I'm excited to watch, and even cites music to listen to! I have homework !!!

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alot of history!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining even for a cyclist.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read. Time has passed and, since the book's publication, Lance Armstrong has been discredited. (Africa never was a country.)
Note to the author and publisher: well worth updating.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fotheringham is a British author who has written books about British and and Italian cycling plus several books of "sporting trivia." This one-volume cycling "encyclopedia" (in name, anyway) was first published in the U.K. but has (it says) been "substantially revised" for this U.S. version. The preface makes clear that notwithstanding the title and the alphabetized article arrangement that it is intended more as an introduction to cycling with the encyclopedic arrangement as a means, not an end.

While the apparent intent is to provide a fairly global introduction to all aspects of cycling, the focus is more heavily on racing and on the U.K. and Europe that other cycling topics. Articles range from 4-5 pages (for "gears") to short paragraph entries for a few topics - most are at least a page or more. There are occasional sidebars with amusing facts, timelines, and maps. One major weakness (that presumably kept the production cost down) is that there are no photos at all. There are some silhouette drawings but that's it.

Some of the people and subjects not given entries are surprising. No entry for Andy Hampsten, for example, but he is mentioned in an article. Yet there is an entry for Jonathan Boyer - they seem of equal interest to me. No entry for "randoneering" but it is mentioned in the article about the Paris-Brest-Paris race. Apparently rather than having more entries, most of the entries are longer - but then this isn't really intended as a reference work, so that's probably OK.

One of the most useful (for me) sections is a seven page annotated list of books about cycling, including fiction, memoirs, and travel books. Very good!

This can be had for about $17 on Amazon.com, so despite the lack of photos and notwithstanding the somewhat Euro/Anglo-centric coverage, it seems worth having.

[Shayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-titled; this is just like a little encyclopedia on cycling. Is road-race-focused, so lots in here on Mercx, Armstrong (this is a 2009 book), and Coppi. Contains articles on other cycling-related sporting events, too, and the technology, but mostly racing.

[Tomoko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect accompaniment for tour de France. Easy to read with fantastic facts and figures.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exhaustive

[Michael Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to bicycle sports.