Product Description
This is the only book all about recumbent bicycles.

It covers the whole gamut: history, science, sports, touring, city-use, innovations, design and home-building.

It is unbiased as regards makes and models of bikes. Instead, it explains the effects of all the kinds of features found on recumbents, offering pro's and con's and leaving it to the reader to judge based on their needs. Recumbents are the most varied bikes on earth in terms of intended design goals, so radically different models are all great bikes for certain riders. All types get plenty of respect in this book! With this info and insight, plus plenty of test-riding, anyone can find the right bike for them!

The first edition sold thousands, with rave reviews. This fully-revised 2nd edition offers hundreds of new B&W and color photos, manufacturer listings and current news items. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

THE RECUMBENT BICYCLE review
This book is the only one that I could find on recumbents. It is a very good, comprehensive, primer through advanced forms of recumbent bicycles. Jasmine Fischer did an excellent job of translating from the original German. I recommend this book for anyone just interested in the history and stories of recumbents to someone, like myself, that is diving into yet another avenue of bicycling recreation and wants a lot of technical information. This old body desires a more comfortable position on the bike after more than forty years of riding a "wedgie"(conventional bikes), and succumbing to neck, back, and wrist problems brought on by same. The recumbent bicycle is the answer to my prayers.

Jim Seemann

Well written, interesting book.
I recently purchased a recumbent bike, and was interested in learning more about them.There are not many books about recumbents, but this book was just what I was looking for.It gives the history of the bikes, some of the design issues, and a review of the industry.Many people trying to set bicycle speed records are using recumbents, and the book covers a lot of these topics in depth.Worthwhile reading.

Recumbant Bikes
I ordered this book for my husband and he enjoyed it very much. He keeps it out for reference and there are many irems he can refer to. Very good, informative book. Very rapid shipping .

A good introduction
The land speed record for a recumbent bicycle under special conditions is 136 mph!Most speed records are more in the area of 65 mph."Benders" can ride many miles in a day and claim not to feel tired.Those things alone should make any cyclist want to know more about the pros and cons of recumbents.The best advice in the book is to rent different styles of recumbents for personal trial before buying or building.

Many design parameters are discussed for the person who wants to build his own "bent."No actual plans are given, but there are plenty of pictures of different designs others have used.A large number of additional sources are listed.

Much of the book deals with the advantages of a "bent" over a conventional bike.I wish the book had included actual plans for both a short wheel base model and a long wheel base model.

If you have any interest in a "bent," get this book and read it.

Excellent book for new recumbenteers
I bought Gunnar Fehlau's book, "The Recumbent Bicycle," while shopping for my first recumbent bike.There's a lot of recumbent bicycle information available on the web, but most of it is disjointed.

This book covers the topic of recumbent bicycles in an organized and cohesive way. It introduced me to the different types of recumbents and their merits. The chapter "Basics of Recumbent Design" was particular helpful in contrasting the advantages and disadvantages of short vs. long wheelbase geometries.

The history of recumbents provided interesting background information.The author has a sense of humor. The treatment is technical where required, but at a layman's level. The section on aerodynamics is the only one containing mathematics.

I read the book over the course of several weeks, both before and after buying my bike.The index is comprehensive and that made it easy to lookup various topics when I wanted to refer back to specific points.

The photos and illustrations are good and clear.

If you want to compare specific brands and models, subscribe to the various recumbent bicycle email lists. Read specific product reviews and owner comments at the recumbent and other bicycle web sites.Models change each year so a book detailing specific models would become out of date quickly.

I highly recommend "The Recumbent Bicycle."This is the only book I could find devoted to recumbents, and luckily it's a good one. ... Read more

Product Description
Thorough explanations of the way the many types of modern bicycles and their various components work, complete with references to way the various items have historically developed and how their operation and efficiency are optimized. Illustrated with 800 photographs, line drawings, and diagrams. Includes bibliography, appendix, and index. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The bicycle continues to be one of the most useful, efficient, and 'planet friendly' means of transportation available
The bicycle continues to be one of the most useful, efficient, and 'planet friendly' means of transportation available. The collaborative work of bicycle experts and enthusiasts Rob van der Plas and Stuart Baird, "Bicycle Technology: Understanding the Modern Bicycle and its Components" is a superbly and profusely illustrated, 320-page compendium detailing all of the parts that comprise the modern bicycle and covers the complete range of bicycle types including road bikes and mountain bikes. Beginning with informative chapters on the history and anatomy of the bicycle, "Bicycle Technology" goes on to cover the materials used in the creation of bicycles, the basics of bicycle design, and then devotes specific chapters to all of the bicycle parts and systems from the frame and the wheels, to the steering and gearing, to brakes, seats, suspension, and so much more. Of special note are the chapters dedicated to power assisted bicycles and the future of bicycles. Enhanced with an appendix, a bibliography, and an index, "Bicycle Technology" is an especially recommended instructional resource and reference for personal, academic, and community library collections.

If you love bikes, you'll love this book
Bicycle Technology is a great book. I should know, because I wrote it myself, together with coauthor Stuart Baird. Seriously, we put our heart and soul into writing and illustrating this book. I like to say it took me 70 years to write it (well, that was my age when I finished writing it, anyway). We've tried to put in everything that is left out of most other bicycle books, including some we've written ourselves.

The object wasn't to write a book that would appeal to every cyclist, but to produce a work that would reveal all we've learned about the subject, both as cyclists and as engineers. And we didn't restrict ourselves to any particular type of bike, so you'll learn as much about folding bikes, tandems, "fixies," recumbents, and even E-bikes, as about the usual road and mountain bikes. We've shown (with the help of some 800 file illustrations) how bikes and their various components work and why they are designed and built the way they are.

Even though we've probably found enough satisfaction completing the project (after 70 years), we'd also be very happy if a good number of copies of the book get sold. That's not just because of our royalties, but mainly because we hope it will make the reader happier and wiser about bikes and riding them. Enjoy the book, and give us your feedback (including any corrections). Thanks! ... Read more

Product Description
Twenty years old and possessed by a burning desire to challenge themselves in an extraordinary way, Tim Cope and Chris Hatherly plan an epic journey across the vast expanse of Russia, Siberia and Mongolia's Gobi Desert, to end in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. However, they also decide to undertake it by recumbent bicycle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Amazing adventure through Russia
If you're into cycle touring, as I am, or just love a real life adventure story, this is the book for you. These two guys set out to cross Russia in the dead of winter and did it. Unbelievable hardships, funny encounters, innovative trials and errors, arguments, ups and downs. This story has it all.

A testiment to the human spirit, and a warning: Don't try to cycle across Russia in the winter. Hard enough in the summer.

An inspiring journey
Thank you to Chris and Tim for sharing with us this exceptional journey. Through every word they wrote transpired their love of life, of nature and of other cultures. Their story is an inspiration for all of us. A story abour dreaming, about believing in your dreams and about trusting yourself to see it through. Congratulation guys! ... Read more

Product Description
This story has two of the most unlikely characters you could ever think of in the same breath with the words bicycle adventure. The Van Fleets had really no experience at all as cyclists, when they hatched a quixotic scheme to cross the continent of America by bicycle. To make matters worse they were retirement bound and had collectively picked up the troublesome add-ons of injured backs and knees, high blood pressure and gout, and were overweight and under-exercised to boot! But sequences got the better of them: they discovered recumbent bikes (allowing Sheryl to ride), stumbled upon riding Bike New York (which hooked them on cycling), and then somehow managed to ride across the state of Oregon (which conned them into thinking they might survive trying to cross the entire country).

They never once were convinced they would complete the journey, which adds to the Everyman’s Adventure quality of this tale The Recumbent and the Upright. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Ride Book
Wow, I sure liked this book. It's a great touring book of 2 who got off the beaten bike track and did things their own unique way. I sure enjoyed it. Nice story of a recumbent.

To hot, to cold, to hilly, bad food, bad motels.
Sorry I did not like this book. Try it, you may like it.
213 pages and only about 15 pictures. The pictures were long distant shots. Most were tiny 2"x3" in size. All were black and white. The entire book seemed to be about complaints. To hot, to cold, to hilly, bad food, bad motels. Not much about the title of the book "The Recumbent and the Upright". ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Palaestra, published by Challenge Publications Limited on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 3022 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Cranking the bent--observations, mysteries, and exercise.(three-wheel recumbent bicycling)(Cover Story)
Author: Arno Horwerth
Publication: Palaestra (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Challenge Publications Limited
Volume: 21Issue: 1Page: 20(6)

Article Type: Cover Story

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more