Krishna
A different kind of book. Initially, It is fascinating and the author BikesnobNYC (“Come on, really?) has a passion for bicycles that comes through loud and clear. He likes bikes how Lynne Truss does English Grammer in “Eats, Shoots and Leaves”: Makes you totally enthralled with their descriptions and kindles a passion (at least while you are reading) to the subject matter.
In the beginning of the book, not only the passion but also the humour is all there, and is funny. He talks about the very first bikes where you had to sit and move by pushing with your legs (He calls that ‘Fred Flintstone style’, bringing to mind vividly the Hannah- Barbara image of Fred “driving” his car). He goes on to describe other models, including the first model that became very popular: The Penny-Farthing bike with its mismatched wheels. The language keeps you glued to the pages. For instance, why was the Penny-Farthing bike such a success? In his words “because it was the first contraption that could move without the aid of wind, steam or hairy, flatulent things.” Then he says he looked it up in old newspapers. For the benefit of youngsters, he explains what a newspaper is : “It is where you went for news before the Internet was invented. They look like a giant tablecloth that you open and read”. Funny indeed.
Then the book slows down, lies low and decides to go to sleep for a while. It starts with the place where he reproduces pamphlets from that era in great detail including thanks to a million people, which could have been avoided to increase the narrative pace.
And then it all goes downhill with even more pamphlets described in great detail. The sense of disappointment is profound.
He goes through Queens hoping for a tranquil bike route he found in an ancient newspaper and seems to find only congestion and traffic.
The love of the bike comes through but the book is not very entertaining and only funny in patches if you are not fanatically in love with bikes or cycling. For instance the description pages after pages of the types of cyclists is tedious. So is his lame humour.
A blather about a Bike God walking with him in imagination and how Tom Hanks has gotten too big for his shoes are equally boring.
He rants about the drivers’ attitude to cyclists and why it is annoying. But does not seem to see the point of annoyance for the drivers. Well, this is a book for cyclists by a confirmed cyclist after all. And some of his points are valid, except sharing of the road with equal priority. I think that is valid too, as the cyclists have nowhere else to go when bike paths are not built alongside the road, but the modern roads are not built to accommodate bike riders. He seems completely oblivious to the fact that a cycle can never go as fast as a car even in a low speed zone. (A car in second gear, if you are old enough to remember stick shift)
The humour is juvenile. A twelve year old kid may enjoy this book for humour, and be interested enough in cycling to endure an entire book devoted to the rantings of a committed cyclist, but I am not sure it is for an average reader. A sample of the attempted humour – things that are real culture are Buddhist culture, Polynesian Culture and Throat Culture. (He helpfully explains the obvious in the next paragraph that the last one ‘you get from a doctor’ in case you missed the attempted humour. Get it, you ten year olds who are reading this book?)
And there is only so much you can say about cycling. So how does the author fill up the small number of pages for the book? First he counts the ‘types’ of cyclists the Contraption Captains, Lone Wolf and the Retro Grouch, to just name a few. After that topic goes on and on for a while and finally sputters to a stop, he starts counting cyclist subcultures. There are no cultures in bikes, that is stupid of course. But subcultures? Ah, that, my dear reader, is entirely different. They of course do exist. I am still scratching my head in puzzlement – not over the concept but over why the author does not see the contradictions in these statements.
Then comes some instruction manual type advice on bike maintenance.
Finally, some fun pictures and comments on the good and bad of those bikes that the author came across in his peregrinations around town.
It is all about bikes and so I should not be surprised that it goes into details of bike fashion fiascos, the right and wrong way to ride it, the accessories that make sense or that do not. Why else would you pick up a book purely on biking if not to read all about bikes? But the style is a bit juvenile as is the humour. I am not a loyal biker and many things bored me. I can only rate a book from my perspective and the basic quality. This does not get a high mark in my book.
Perhaps a 3/10
– – Krishna