Book description
As seen on TV
The bicycle is one of mankind s greatest inventions and the most
popular form of transport in history. Robert Penn has ridden one most
days of his adult life. In his late 20s, he pedalled 40,000 kilometres
around the world. Yet, like cyclists everywhere, the utilitarian bikes
he currently owns don t even hint at this devotion. Robert needs a new
bike, a bespoke machine that reflects how he feels when he s riding it
like an ordinary man touching the gods.
It's All About the Bike is the story of a journey to design and
build a dream bike. En route, Robert explores the culture, science and
history of the bicycle. From Stoke-on-Trent, where an artisan hand
builds his frame, to California, home of the mountain bike, where
Robert tracks down the perfect wheels, via Portland, Milan and
Coventry, birthplace of the modern bicycle, this is the narrative of
our love affair with cycling. It s a tale of perfect components
parts that set the standard in reliability, craftsmanship and beauty.
It tells how the bicycle has changed the course of human history, from
the invention of the people s nag to its role in the emancipation of
women, and from the engineering marvel of the tangent-spoked wheel to
the enduring allure of the Tour de France. It s the story of why we
ride, and why this simple machine remains central to life today.
[Penn] writes with authority, humour and refreshing
candour ... A celebration of craftsmanship over technology and of a
bygone era when things were built to last ... If Penn is to be
believed, we are entering a golden age of cycling, when it really will
be all about the bike once more
Robert Penn rides a bicycle to get to work, sometimes for
work, to keep fit, to bathe in air and sunshine, to travel, to go
shopping, to stay sane, to savour the physical and emotional
fellowship of riding with friends, for fun, occasionally to impress
someone, to scare himself and to hear his boy laugh. He s ridden a
bicycle most days of his adult life, in over forty countries on five
continents. In his late-twenties, he pedalled around the world. A
journalist, Robert writes for the Financial Times, Observer and Cond
Nast Traveller, as well as a host of cycling publications. His last
book The Wrong Kind of Snow, was praised as jam packed with grand
themes intelligently done (Daily Mail) and endlessly fascinating
written with flair (Financial Times). Robert lives in the Black
Mountains, South Wales with his wife and three children and commutes
to work across a heather moor on a mountain bike.
