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Home > Effective Cycling: 6th Edition
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Effective Cycling: 6th Edition
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By John Forester
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 (24 Reviews)
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List Price: $40.00
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Publisher:
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The MIT Press
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Edition:
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6
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Date:
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December 29, 1992 |
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Binding:
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Paperback
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Pages:
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625
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The core of John Forester's concept of Effective Cycling is that bicyclists fare best when they act, and are treated in return, as drivers of vehicles, with the same rights and responsibilities that motorists have. In this new edition of his classic introductory work, Forester reasserts this idea in terms of practice and education as well as theory while also addressing--among much else--the two major forces that have shaped bicycling since the early 1980s: the proliferation of high-quality equipment and the seriously insufficient progress on the social, political, and psychological fronts. The book is filled with details, strategies, and tips that will be useful both to occasional cyclists and to those who enjoy cycling as a way of life--all drawn from the author's many years of experience as a cyclist, a Cycling Transportation Engineer, and the founder of the Effective Cycling Program.
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Customers' Reviews:
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Effective Cycling, February 1, 2010
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After taking the League of American Bicyclists' road riding course and qualifying as a League Cycling Instructor, I finally decided to buy the book that started it all: *Effective Cycling* by John Forrester. Talk about putting the cart before the horse! I wish I had read this book BEFORE undergoing instruction by the League. It's not that the League's safety instruction differs that much from Forrester's ground-breaking book, on which it's based. Rather, it would be interesting to have read the "real story" about bicycle safety before embarking on League certification. Forrester writes in a highly-opinionated, emotionally-charged, curmudgeonly style which can be highly entertaining if taken with a grain of salt. Throughout the book, I found myself thinking, "Don't sugarcoat it, John; tell us what you REALLY think." The man has an ax to grind, which is this: the bicycle-selling, highway-building, motorist-coddling establishment has conspired to make cyclists deathly afraid of riding in traffic. The cycling establishment (i.e., the current League) has gone astray by caving in to highway engineers who want to completely separate cyclists from motor traffic by forcing cyclists to ride on segregated, multi-use cycling paths, which are statistically the LEAST safe, MOST DANGEROUS place that cyclists can ride. The book goes on to teach proper riding techniques and traffic lane positioning skills, which, if adopted, will truly transform the way one rides a bicycle. The polemic nature of the book can be annoying; and a lot of the blow-by-blow narrative could have been edited out. Also, some of the recommended do-it-yourself safety modifications date the book to a time when bicycle lighting systems, for instance, were primitive and readers had to turn their own parts on a lathe. On the other hand, it's fun to read someone's strong opinions based on his thorough research and hard-won experience, especially when that someone is an iconoclast like Forrester. Forrester is to bike paths as Rivendell's Grant Petersen is to racing bicycles or Vanguard's John Bogle is to mutual funds. They all take a different approach to their subject that no one else follows at first. Later, their ideas start to catch on. If you're passionate about cycling, Forrester's book will make you think twice about widely-held assumptions while teaching you to be a safer cyclist.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
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 Good but not complete, November 27, 2009
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Mr. Forester has cycled many more miles than I ever will, and done much more for cyclists than I ever will -- not just through this book, but through his work as a traffic engineer and on traffic legislation. And I do enjoy this book and recommend it, and agree with most of the praise other reviewers here give it.
But still, I find something naive in his trust in vehicular-style cycling. Maybe that comes from his background as a traffic engineer, where a certain number of accidents per vehicle-miles driven is acceptable, and considered evidence that rules are working. But the trouble is, for you or I as individual cyclists, there is no acceptable level of accidents. The only acceptable number is 0 per lifetime, if we're talking about our bicycle colliding with someone else's car. So I think we might have to sometimes ride in un-vehicular ways, to keep ourselves safe from the unattentive or malevolent driver. We might have to jump a curb, ride on a sidewalk, refrain from signaling right turns, e.g....as I said, I am no expert on cycling, but other authors who are cycling experts (Dave Glowacz in Urban Bikers' Tricks & Tips: Low-Tech & No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, & Keep a Bicycle and Robert Hurst in The Art of Cycling: A Guide to Bicycling in 21st-Century America) give respect to Forester's approach but then mix in some of their own hard-earned tips for when to go un-vehic. To become a better cyclist you might want to read all three of these books (along with Portia Masterson's Bicycling Bliss: Riding To Improve Your Wellness, which focuses on using your body correctly).
I enjoy the opinion and politics Forester weaves through his book. But I am amused by his separation of pro-cyclists from anti-automobilists, whom he does not tolerate. Again, maybe that comes from being a traffic engineer, to whom cars are the environment as much as water is to a fish. But to me, part of the fun of being a cyclist is imagining, and talking about, and maybe helping create, a car-less world. If we can't hate cars, who can we hate? Well, Forester seems to save his invective for the pesky pedestrians, who behave unpredictably, not like vehicles, and can cause cyclists such problems when the cyclists venture off the orderly street and onto the pedestrian-laden sidewalk or multiuse path. Even more deadly, in Forester's book, are the dreaded dogs, who can kill you by running under your front wheel.
Still, let me finish this review by praising Forester for reminding us that we do have the full right to the use of the roads -- and not just the side streets, but the main arterials if we wish to get to our destination quicker. As he points out, being bigger or faster does not grant you more rights, or else 16-wheelers and Porsches would take precedence over the other motor vehicles. That is an empowering concept for us two-wheelers. And there is much more to be gained by the careful study of this book, and by practicing many of its suggestions.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
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pleasant reading, August 28, 2009
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This book reads well and it is factual. A great read for anyone new to cycling and it makes a good reference book to have in your library..
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
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Read it and learn, August 12, 2008
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Cancel your subscription to _Bicycling_ magazine. Read this instead. Ride and learn. Learn to ride with confidence. Sure, the equipment advice is hopelessly obsolte. Who cares? Five speed freewheels, drill holes in your hubs for oil ports? Forget about it. Doesn't talk about LED headlights or blinking taillights? You already know about those.
He invented the priciples that are described here, coined the term vehicular cycling, and pretty much wrote the bible for on-road cyclists. Take it out of your library if you are skeptical, but this really should be on the bookshelf on every cyclist.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
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Skip the politics, but learn how to ride in traffic safely and maintain your bike, August 7, 2008
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This is an excellent book, which used to be the basis for the League of American Wheelmen (now the League of American Bicyclist's) safe cycling class (at the time known as Effective cycling. Learn all the critical skills for riding safely in traffic, including such things as emergency stops and emergency turns (i.e. when a car "hooks" you by making a right turn in front of you).
This book has been around for a long time, restructured and revised in this 6th edition, it's a much better read -- I just wish John could give up on his political ranting (correct as much of it is) and spend some time on riding safely in the world of bike lanes, etc. rather than wishing they didn't exist -- sadly, given legislative ignorance such things are here to stay and every cyclist should know how to use them safely!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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