Eddy receives a mysterious gift from India, an old-fashioned bike that transports its rider through time.

Eddy receives a mysterious gift from India, an old-fashioned bike that transports its rider through time.

Bear likes to play in all kinds of weather.

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.

Questions and debunks over eighty myths to highlight bicycling's inherently enjoyable nature, addressing everything from clothing and accessories to health, fitness, and safety.

With the pace of bicycle development moving ever more quickly, this illustrated fifth edition introduces significant changes, including sections on hub gears and the various types of bottom bracket/chainset combinations now available. Easy-to-follow routine maintenance charts and safety checks are featured.

“The words and images in this snapshot story pulse with resourceful ingenuity, joyful exuberance, and layered meanings.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) When you live in a village at the edge of the no-go desert, you need to make your own fun. That's when you and your brothers get inventive and build a bike from scratch, using everyday items like an old milk pot (maybe Mum is still using it, maybe not) and a used flour sack. You can even make a license plate from bark if you want. The end result is a spectacular bike, perfect for whooping and laughing as you bumpetty bump over sand hills, past your fed-up mum and right through your mud-for-walls home. A Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner, this joyous story from Maxine Beneba Clarke, beautifully illustrated by street artist Van Thanh Rudd, is now available as an ebook.