books on the history of the bicycle?

[Elegant Degenerate]

any good books on the history of the bicycle -- not necessarily racing, but not at its total exclusion either?

 

[lilac harry quinn]

Rob Penn's, 'It's All About the Bike' while not a history, gives plenty of historical detail and is an excellent book.

 

[coinneach]

Bicycle history

Bella Bathurst has a book out:"the bicycle book"
It's got about 20 pages or so about the history of bicycle development.
It's not as good as her book on the "lighthouse Stevensons" though
(And if you would cover postage, you could have my hardback copy!)

 

[Elegant Degenerate]

Thanks for the interesting suggestions. I might give them a look after I get through 'bicycle' by David Herlihy which I found through a little online searching. It's full of diagrams, historical drawings and photos, with discussion on the social effects of the bike and so on. Exactly the sort of thing I was after!

...was the "mechanical horse" truly destined to usher in a new era of road travel or would it remain merely a plaything for dandies and schoolboys?

-- from the sleeve.

Ha! Still a good question!

 

[avanti]

The History of Cycling in 50 Bikes by Tom Ambrose
I read this recently - not a great book in my view but available for a good price for used on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...sprefix=the+history+of+cycling,stripbooks,299