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Home > Bicycle Design: The Search for the Perfect Machine (Cyclebooks Series)
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Bicycle Design: The Search for the Perfect Machine (Cyclebooks Series)
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By Mike Burrows
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 (9 Reviews)
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List Price: $19.95
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Our Price: $15.56 Eligible for FREE shipping. Details
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Availability:
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Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your credit card will not be charged until we ship the item.
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Publisher:
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Snowbooks
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Date:
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November 1, 2008 |
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Binding:
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Paperback
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Pages:
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216
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We also have these Versions
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FormatEdition
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Date
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Price
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New from
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Used from
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Paperback
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December 1, 2000
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-
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$33.95
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| Product Description: |
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Mike Burrows is a legend, and this is the masterwork from the world's most famous and irreverent bicycle designer and inventor. Bicycle Design is the essential handbook if you want to know how to go faster, if you want the secrets of great bike design, or if you simply love cycle technology.
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Customers' Reviews:
Add Your Own Review |
 Eccentric Tinkerer, March 16, 2010
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The book is short and doesn't claim to be anything that it isn't. Burrows is an eccentric tinkerer and he covers nearly every topic that a commuter like myself could querry. The section on aerodynamics is terrific, the suspension section omitted Zipp bikes and Soft Ride suspensions, perhaps Burrows doesn't consider Zipp 3001 bicycle frames and Soft Ride seats suspension at all.
Burrows doesn't cover everything, but what he does cover is covered with the honesty of trial and error. There's no index, but the bibliography covers anything that Burrows might've forgotten.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
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Decent review of basic design concepts, November 13, 2008
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I just picked up brand new copy of "Bicycle Design" by Mike Burrows at used book store for $9 and I have to say that for that price it is very nice review of basic design ideas. Ir is true that that book is not technical at all and if I paid $70 for it I would be rather disappointed. I think that max price I would pay for it is about $18-20.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
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 Not very objective, December 21, 2006
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This is a fun read, but much is opinion, rather than fact...... OK for a laugh, see bicycle science for a more serious, and objective study.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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 Okay but not great, April 10, 2006
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Mike Burrows is or was a designer for the Chinese bike mfr, Giant. He's a Brit and the book is replete with his understated and self-deprecating British humor, which I think some reviewers misunderstood. Other reviewers also seem put off by the lack of quantitative data in the book, in spite of Mike's title as an "engineer." However, the title of "engineer" in Britain has the connotation of a mechanical tinker, not just the math whiz designers that we turn out in the States. Mike Burrows rose to his current position from experience as a mechanical tinker, not through mastering calculus, and there's nothing wrong with that.
I was disappointed with the book, however, because it had the potential to be so much more. Mike obviously knows a lot, gives us his opinions but fails to present the basis for them. It's not terribly helpful, for example, for Mike to show a picture of a bicycle, pronounce it bad, then fail to give his rationale. Perhaps he feels the flaws to be evident from a simple picture but they're not.
It feels more like a coffee-table book than a serious bike book--thick glossy paper stock, sixteen color pages in the middle, etc. Graphically, it's attractive, even if many of the illustrations are cartoonish.
About the only sections where I found new information was when he discussed hub gears and suspensions.
I think it would be fairer if the book were entitled "Mike Burrows' opinions about bike design" than "Bicycle Design." Readers interested in quant stuff should get "Bicycle Science" by Wilson. Readers interested in building their own machine should get "Atomic Zombie's Bicycle Builder's Bonanza" by Graham and McGowan.
I read the book cover to cover in two sittings over three hours. I'll probably donate it to my local library. I would have been pleased to read it there, probably would have been okay with paying about $12.00 for it, but was disappointed that I spent $27.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
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 Very Superficial, December 26, 2005
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I only read about 25% of the sections. I did not proceed because every section I read was astonishingly shallow. Either nothing at all would be stated on a subject or extreme statements would be made with no back up reasoning what-so-ever. For example Mr Burrows says that all types and alloys of steel have equal rigidity in bicycle frames and anyone that claims otherwise "is a liar." This contradicts all the data about different qualities of the variety of steels. Maybe Burrows is right but he gives no supporting evidence at all. In other instances he will be wordy on a subject, send the reader to another publication sometimes stating "if you can find it available" -- This about steering and trail in the chapter dedicated to handling. About handling he concludes "tyre size is not so important... Wheelbase is unimportant and neither are angles or fork rake ... there are no good bikes just good riders. And I should know, because I'm crap on all bikes." This is an exact quote from page 35.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
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