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Product Description
The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles is a celebration of the design history and craftsmanship behind this simple but efficient two-wheeled vehicle. Featuring fifty classic models built by hand, this book unveils the bicycle’s technical evolution within a historical context. Beautifully detailed are early-twentieth-century models with multi-gear systems, mid-century machines where war and postwar economy challenged craft and utility, as well as modern and contemporary bicycles. Featured artisans and brands include La Gauloise, Reyhand, Schulz, Barra, Alex Singer, and René Herse. With brilliant full-color images of each model and chronological text detailing the craftsmanship that went into producing these elegant machines, this book will appeal to bicycle enthusiasts and to anyone interested in design.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What you need to know is that this book is about the history of French hand built touring bicycles, developed from the "School of St Etienne". Nothing else. If that's what you want, this is the book for you. If you thought it was about bicycles from elsewhere, including some wonderful bicycle and frame builders in Britain or Italy, you will be disappointed. It isn't clear until you open the the book that it is so narrowly focused. Of course, because it is about French touring cycles, the "Golden Age" concerned is approximately 1910 to 2005. (Clearly a long Golden Age.) I think that each country or form of cycling might have a different "Golden Age". But, once over the initial realisation that this book is about the touring cycles of France, it's not for us to quibble: for French randonneurs, these years were the Golden Age.
Having said all of that, if you are genuinely interested in French cycle touring machines from 1910 to 1925, this is the book for you. It is beautifully produced, the detail is just right, the illustrations are wonderful, and it reads very well.
A final point: my overall impression looking at the wonderful machines so well photographed is how functional they were. I wouldn't say beautiful - have a look at the lug work on these machines and compare it with the lug work on Hitchens, E G Bates, Condor, Claud Butler, Raleigh or even Holdsworth cycles (just to name a small sample) during this period - and excluding some magnificent Italian machines and frames as well. What do you think? Having said that, all of the machines shown look absolutely solid, functional and (certainly during the mid to later part of this Golden Age) comfortable.
My marking does not reflect the quality of this book: rather the fact that it isn't clear until you open it that it is so narrow in its focus.
Having said all of that, if you are genuinely interested in French cycle touring machines from 1910 to 1925, this is the book for you. It is beautifully produced, the detail is just right, the illustrations are wonderful, and it reads very well.
A final point: my overall impression looking at the wonderful machines so well photographed is how functional they were. I wouldn't say beautiful - have a look at the lug work on these machines and compare it with the lug work on Hitchens, E G Bates, Condor, Claud Butler, Raleigh or even Holdsworth cycles (just to name a small sample) during this period - and excluding some magnificent Italian machines and frames as well. What do you think? Having said that, all of the machines shown look absolutely solid, functional and (certainly during the mid to later part of this Golden Age) comfortable.
My marking does not reflect the quality of this book: rather the fact that it isn't clear until you open it that it is so narrow in its focus.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I concur with Mr Lewis (Fixie) This book's title is VERY misleading and I really should have returned it. The contents are not at all what I'd expected. As others have pointed out the book is entirely French focussed and as such contains little of interest to me. I expected Italian, British and American bicycles and was very dissapointed with the actual content.
The only reason I didn't return the book was the prohibitive postage cost from Sweden.
The only reason I didn't return the book was the prohibitive postage cost from Sweden.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is book with pictures of pretty French bicycles, unfortunately that's about it. The author has such a strong French bias that he states that a bike from 1910 was one of the first with multiple gears, that there were multiple gears at least 20 years before this is of no consequence to his French tunnel vision (as a member of the Veteran Cycle Club, he knows this, it's no minor slip up). Very bad form!.
What would of been interesting, rather than page after page of similar looking bikes (though some are very worthy of the space) and the recurrent superlatives about each and every one, is interviews with old hands. Lyli Herse (Rene Herse's daughter) for instance was a source of pictures...why no interview with her, also Ernest Csuka of Alex Singer, why no interview with him?.
This could of been so much more, explaining why French touring cycles developed as they did, how they differed from the British style, who were the driving forces etc. There is almost no information of this type in the book.
To be honest, I'd be slightly embarrassed to publish such fluff in place of what could of been the first serious English language study of French bicycles.
What would of been interesting, rather than page after page of similar looking bikes (though some are very worthy of the space) and the recurrent superlatives about each and every one, is interviews with old hands. Lyli Herse (Rene Herse's daughter) for instance was a source of pictures...why no interview with her, also Ernest Csuka of Alex Singer, why no interview with him?.
This could of been so much more, explaining why French touring cycles developed as they did, how they differed from the British style, who were the driving forces etc. There is almost no information of this type in the book.
To be honest, I'd be slightly embarrassed to publish such fluff in place of what could of been the first serious English language study of French bicycles.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycle
I love to ride my touring bike.
Also love to read frame details from pictures or photos of touring bicycles both modern and vintage. Read more
Also love to read frame details from pictures or photos of touring bicycles both modern and vintage. Read more
Published 1 month ago by TonTon
The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles
Magnificent book! Wonderful photography of exquisite, rare bicycles. It has led me into areas that I did not know existed... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Nelson Miller
Superb !
That's a very nice book ! The pictures are really, really nice, and most of them are focusing on the interesting details of each bike. Read more
Published on 12 Nov 2009 by Mr. Cau Francois
Leisure and Pleasure
A very well presented and written book for the cycling enthusiast. Lots of good information and history.
Published on 28 July 2009 by J. R. Carroll
Craftsmanship, elegance and function indeed
This is a book about traditional touring bicycles. It's a lovely volume put together by the editor of 'Bicycle Quarterly' featuring delicious photographss of some of the great... Read more
Published on 22 July 2009 by C. Barnes
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