Bicycling Science, Third Edition

What can I say? This book is so packed with useful theoretical, historical and design-related information that I barely know where to begin. As one of the authors mentioned in his note below, the third edition of this book has been substantially revised and updated, and is hands-down THE best resource I have ever come across for the science behind bicycle design and operation. The chapter on human power is especially enlightening, but, honestly, every fact, formula and suggestion in this book is enlightening. The authors should be commended for bringing such a useful book into existence; it is a great gift any time someone accepts the burden to gather, distill and distribute the kind of valuable technical information that is contained between the covers of this book. Bravo.

... you should definitely read this book. I read the second and the third edition. Both have some very interesting information about bicycling. Sometimes the content is very technical and if you want to understand everything in detail it helps to have some kind of technical background. But even if you skip the "very" technical parts both, second and third edition, are great books.

Every ten years or so, I'll come across a nonfiction book that is not only highly informative and well written, but presented in an enjoyable manner. Bicycling Science, 3rd edition, is that book for this decade. I originally purchased the book for the physics, specifically the stability discussions, but I absolutely love the physiology section where it seems that a well rounded and up to date review of the research literature has been included. It has truly made me a better cyclist. Thanks to the authors for writing the book and taking the time to update it 20 years after the previous edition.

Reviewed by Dr. Andreas Fuchs, Berne, Switzerland, August 2004 Long-awaited for Bicycling Science 3 is finally here: 22 years after the second edition was originally published! A main question for the reviewer was therefore: Will the 3rd edition of Bicycling Science consider the key-developments that happened in this field during the full age of the desktop computer in a wisely weighted manner? This question is a fair one since Bicycling Science ranks among the most important books in the field of cycling! The new, third edition of Bicycling Science (BS) contains main chapters about: History, human power generation, thermal effects on power production, power and speed, bicycle aerodynamics, rolling (tires and bearings), braking, steering and balancing, mechanics and mechanisms (power transmission), materials and stresses, unusual human-powered machines, and human-powered vehicles in the future. Compared with BS2, BS3 has relatively more content in the chapters "human power generation" and "steering and balancing". BS3 discusses relevant results of work physiology in much more detail than BS2. Since bicycling science is a wide field it is a wise decision to involve co-authors; in the "steering and balancing"-chapter Jim Papadopolous vast experience with this main topic shines up and is, at least by the reviewer, very much appreciated! After reading BS3, the question put up by the reviewer at the beginning of this review receives an overall positive answer: D.G. Wilson lists many new references; as a very serious observer of the field of bicycling science Wilson identified the important developments and discusses them accordingly. The main omission detected by the reviewer is the absence of the topic "suspension" high up in the hierarchy of the chapters of the book. Also, the hydraulic actuation of brakes would have deserved a more prominent position. Apart from that, the book covers bicycling science as what it is today very well! BS, if it was an academic discipline, was defined by engineers and physicists; one focus that is therefore still missing too much is the one of human factors and ergonomics. By saying that the reviewer does not at all negatively criticize BS3... he just likes to point out a weakness in the bicycle research area for which neither D.G. Wilson nor J. Papadopoulous are responsible, of course! Conclusion: The 3rd edition of Bicycling Science is a noble successor of BS2 and assures that The MTI Press's Bicycling Science remains in the top ranks in cycle literature! The reviewer is physicist and is since many years actively involved in the study, development and promotion of modern forms of cycles. He could therefore be called "an expert" in the field of bicycling science. Main fields of interest are velomobiles, power-assist drives and human powered vehicles dynamics, especially aerodynamics.