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It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels
It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels
It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels
Audiobook5 hours

It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels

Written by Robert Penn

Narrated by Jonathan Cowley

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

Robert Penn has saddled up nearly every day of his adult life. In his
late twenties, he pedaled 25,000 miles around the world. Today he rides
to get to work, sometimes for work, to bathe in air and sunshine, to
travel, to go shopping, to stay sane, and to skip bath time with his
kids. He's no Sunday pedal pusher. So when the time came for a new bike,
he decided to pull out all the stops. He would build his dream bike,
the bike he would ride for the rest of his life; a customized machine
that reflects the joy of cycling.It's All About the Bike follows
Penn's journey, but this book is more than the story of his hunt for
two-wheel perfection. En route, Penn brilliantly explores the culture,
science, and history of the bicycle. From artisanal frame shops in the
United Kingdom to California, where he finds the perfect wheels, via
Portland, Milan, and points in between, his trek follows the serpentine
path of our love affair with cycling. It explains why we ride.It's All About the Bike
is, like Penn's dream bike, a tale greater than the sum of its parts.
An enthusiastic and charming tour guide, Penn uses each component of the
bike as a starting point for illuminating excursions into the rich
history of cycling. Just like a long ride on a lovely day, It's All About the Bike is pure joy-enriching, exhilarating, and unforgettable.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 13, 2012
ISBN9781452676395
Author

Robert Penn

Robert Penn has worked as a lawyer, waiter, contractor, DJ, photographer, and journalist-and has biked to every single job. He writes for the Financial Times, the Observer, and Condé Nast Traveller, as well as a host of cycling publications. Penn lives in Wales with his wife and three children.

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Reviews for It's All About the Bike

Rating: 4.1341462682926835 out of 5 stars
4/5

82 ratings15 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The quintessence of meticulous and well reasoned component choice for a thing of beauty, of elegance, an efficient responsive machine of transport to both near and distant places of discovery and the charm of the journey - it’s all about the bike. Our Sanctuary on 2 wheels. Amen.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very interesting stories about the history of the bicycle blended with Rob Penn’s descriptions of the places he went and the bicycle experts he met on his search for just the right components for his custom bike.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    All of it. Yup it’s good. Read it now okay
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a love story to the bicycle. It's the story of the author having his perfect custom bike made, and visiting each component manufacturer to see how they do what they do. It's also a history of the bicycle, mountain biking, bike culture and the resurgence of the bike in contemporary days. I absolutely loved it, and fell more in love with bicycles and bicycling as a result.

    I listened to the audiobook version, and it was excellent in that format.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in the history of the bicycle OR the current state of the bicycle (spoiler: it's not that different today)! I am a light-to-moderate cycling enthusiast and I found myself unable to put this book down. I also found myself more and more motivated to get out and ride my bike as I began to feel a sort of connectedness to the history of the machine. On the face of it this book sounds like a guy with money to spare and time on his hands designing his dream bike, and if that were all that it was I would have hated it. But Penn's breadth of knowledge on every aspect of the bicycle makes up the bulk of the book. Each chapter covers one cycle part (wheels, tires, frame, etc), and in this way the reader learns the history of the bicycle part by part. Plus you get to see the culmination of all that history as you meet people working in the industry today. The stasis of the bike, more or less unchanged since the 1890's, has meant that essentially the same knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation of bicycle designers, owners and mechanics. The more I understood this the prouder I felt to be a part of that unending bicycle chain of events. It really emphasizes the global community of cyclists. And it motivated me to finally get out there and learn how to tune up and adjust my own bike, which is something that most casual cyclists know nothing about, I've discovered. Finally, there is an hour long BBC documentary available on YouTube that follows Penn around as he collects his parts and assembles his perfect bike. I recommend watching this ONLY after reading the book. It cuts out a great deal of the information and focuses more on the people working at these companies and small workshops all around the world and on Penn's personal journey. Basically, without the book to reinforce the documentary it comes across more like the-book-that-could-have-been back at the beginning of this review. However, after reading the book it is a great way to put faces to many of the names that you've come to know over the course of five chapters.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Fun for bike nerds; maybe others, too.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It's All About the Bike is the author expressing his lifelong love affair with the bicycle, pulled together by the thread of having his dream bike custom-built for him. With each chapter he takes on a piece of the bicycle, talking about the history of the part and why he is choosing the specific brands he is. In several cases he visits the factories or workshops where the parts are made. Penn is a traditionalist, liking the solidity and tradition of builders and companies that have been in the business for a long time. There is nothing wrong with that, but to the cycling population there's also nothing particularly surprising or interesting about choosing a steel frame, a Campagnolo Record groupset, a Brooks saddle, and Continental tires. All are reliable and widely agreed to be good. But they are not unique or special in any way--heck, I'm a much less serious cyclist than Penn, and I have a steel bike with Campagnolo components and Continental tires, and tried a Brooks saddle before deciding it wasn't for me. Though there was one thing notably missing from the work, and I'm a bit curious why he didn't talk about pedals. So I'm not entirely sure who Penn is writing this book for. He talks about the parts without sufficient images for it to be clear to someone who isn't already quite familiar with bikes, so I don't think it would work so well for non-cyclists. I suppose it is probably written for fellow cycling enthusiasts, then. But most of things he says about his bike he is building -- about the importance of good fit, and the component choices he made -- are not exactly going to be surprising to people who love bikes. There are some interesting bits about the history of the bicycle, and one particularly good section when he visits California and talks about the beginnings of mountain biking, but I'm not sure that those alone are sufficiently interesting to make the book worth picking up for another cyclist. Perhaps it is intended to appeal to the cyclist's inner geek, who loves bikes so much they just love talking about them. I could see myself reading a book like this in the middle of the winter when I couldn't be out riding, to give me a little hope that warmer days are coming again. But I still don't think there is enough interesting content to make it worth buying.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What links the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, the Repack footpath in Marin County CA and Albert Einstein? To put it another way, just how much can a writer condense into 194 pages? This terrific volume is a jam-packed joy from beginning to end: social history; love letter for an obsession; geek handbook for the nuances of titanium hubs; a eulogy to one of Mankind's greatest inventions. If you ride a bike now, or have fond memories doing so from childhood, there's so much in here to enjoy. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Without a doubt, Robert Penn is a great writer. However, this book failed to catch my attention due to its highly technical nature. This is not a criticism – if you’re into learning about what every piece of the bicycle is called, what it does and its history, then this is the right book for you. Personally, I would have been more interested in reading a book with more of an emphasis on the author’s travels on his bicycle and less emphasis on the angle of the handlebars, but hey, that’s not what this book is about. I really did enjoy the beginning of the book, when the author delves into the history of the bicycle and its impact on human civilization – definitely fascinating and worth a read just to understand that although bicycles are routinely dismissed today by the average person, they were once a huge step forward in transportation and a BIG DEAL. One thing that is a criticism, though, is the lack of images in the book. The bulk of this book is devoted to talking about parts of the bike, but it’s hard to understand what the author is describing without images to accompany the words. There a few images scattered here and there, but it’s simply not enough, especially when the author gets nitpicky about the parts he’s discussing. I think I would have found the book more interesting had more things been illustrated for me, because after a while I found it tiring to have to imagine all the parts of the bike in my head, and I wasn’t even sure if I was getting it right.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is written by a guy who is building his dream bike. The author jets off to consult with various expert manufacturers, writes a lot about technical details of each piece of his bicycle, and relates more bicycle history than I ever knew existed.It turns out I am not of the target audience for this book, as I haven't ridden a bicycle since I was a teenager, and if I ever wanted to buy a bike I would probably be satisfied with an off-the-shelf model from Target or something. (The author is spending $5k and having each component made especially for him.) I picked the book up because my husband just got himself a bike for exercise, and because my sister and her new husband just love to ride, so I thought it might be fun to read about that kind of thing.That probably explains why I found this book exasperatingly presumptuous. I could not imagine spending this much time and money on a bike-riding hobby, heading off on numerous lengthy brag-worthy trips by myself, and leaving my spouse and kids at home (like the author must be doing, since he never mentions the family). Also found the book too full of name-dropping about places the author has pedaled through, but not enough human-interest story. But if you are custom-building a bike and looking for some advice, this book might be a good place to start... you can skip to the chapter about the specific component you need help with, skim over all the "history" stuff, and go right to the technical details.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was very excited when I opened the mailbox and found my new book, All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels by Robert Penn.I'm an avid Mountain Biker and sometimes hipster Single Speed rider, but no matter your bike of choice this is a fun read. It will increase your general knowledge of how a bike works and walk you through much of cycling history. Concise, witty and unapologetic in the minutiae of all things cycling I recommend this book whether you currently have the bike of your dreams, you dream about it at night or you only occasionally ride.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had no special expectations for the surprising and wonderful All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels by Robert Penn. Little did I know that, as an active cyclist, I would not resist its charms. If you are someone who has ever exulted in the joy that comes from a bicycle, and you can follow along as a first-rate bicycle lover goes in pursuit of his own bespoke bike, this book is for you. Penn mixes in the fascinating history of the bicycle, and offers a primer on the mechanical intricacies of this ingenious machine as part of the bargain. None of this reads as didactic instruction; it’s all woven into THE QUEST: Penn’s transcontinental search for the pieces and components of the bike he will ride for the rest of his life.If this doesn't sound appealing, then get a bike, ride it several thousand miles, and you'll have a different perspective! The danger in reading this is that, like I did, you will probably contract a terminal case of bike envy!I knew I was hooked at the end of the prologue:“The bicycle saves my life every day. If you’ve ever experienced a moment of awe or freedom on a bicycle; if you’ve ever taken flight from sadness to the rhythm of two spinning wheels, or felt the resurgence of hope pedalling to the top of a hill with the dew of effort on your forehead; if you’ve ever wondered, swooping bird-like down a long hill on a bicycle, if the world was standing still; if you have ever, just once, sat on a bicycle with a singing heart and felt like an ordinary human touching the gods, then we share something fundamental. We know it’s all about the bike.”I know.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It’s July, so that means there will be lots of cycling at the Cornelius estate. These days there is much less time spent on the saddle and much more time spent on the couch watching the Tour de France. To get ready for the race, I just finished reading It’s All About the Bike by Robert Penn.The title is a clear stab at Lance Armstrong’s It’s Not About the Bike. But the book is not making a counter-argument, it’s merely a story about Penn’s bike. He was looking to build a custom-made bicycle and, through that process, provide some insight about bicycles, their history, and how they’re made.Penn is not looking to have the lightest or the fastest bike. He calls those obsessed riders “weight weenies.” The lightest bike is important if your job is getting up a big mountain very fast. Penn is looking for an heirloom bike, custom for him, that will last for decades.The starting point is a custom frame, meticulously measured and fit to him by Brian Rourke Cycles. Add on a classic drivetrain, a Record groupset from Camagnolo. That powers the wheels hand-built by Gravy using a Royce hub and Continental Grand Prix 4000S tires. Penn will change directions using Cinelli Ram handlebar attached to the bike with a headseat by Chris King that feeds into a Columbus Carve fork. His backside will rest on the Team Pro Saddle from Brooks.Penn clearly ends up with a beautiful bike and tells a good story along the way. His affection for cycling overflows from the rather short story. I wish he wrote more in the book. It seems that there are lots of untold stories about how he chose the components he did and more ways he could integrate the history of cycling.If you like bikes, you’ll like this book. (The publisher provided me with a copy of this book.)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The author is passionate about bicycles and cycling. He has clearly thought a lot about cycling, bicycle construction, and has read a lot on bicycle history. I found that this book did an excellent job of weaving together the physics/construction of the bicycle, its history, its social history, and the author's personal life. This is all woven together to form an image of the author traveling to various parts of Europe and the US to buy the parts that will make up his "last bicycle ever." The way he speaks about the bike is the way any fanatic (especially a well-educated and articulate one) speaks about the object of his or her obsession, but anyone who has ever ridden a bike (especially one with a gear shift) will understand the parts he is describing (even if you have to stop and think about what a sprocket is) and understand the points he's making.We often learn more about the history than we do about the present of each of the manufacturers of his new bicycle's parts; this is fine with me.That said, I did not read this book cover to cover. I read the beginning, I read the end, I read the parts that interested me in each chapter, but at times I found that it was not holding my interest. I would only recommend this book for a bicycle enthusiast. The bibliography at the back would be a useful reference for someone who wanted to read more about bicycles and cycling.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A wonderful little book about the quest for the perfect bike. Robert Penn mixes bicycle history with anecdotes as he travels the world to find the best and most beautiful components. Throughout the book Penn's irresistible enthusiasm radiates and and as a reader you can't help to be pulled in. It's a must read for anyone interested in bicycles. The biggest problem is that now I also want to go out and spend a fortune on my bike!