From the publisher: At their finest hours bikes exist on a level above mere machines, and there’s no reason why the joy should end when the ride is over.
Bicycle!, written by a working bicycle mechanic, covers everything you need to know to feed and care for your ride. This book cuts through the obtuse techno-speak and delivers maintenance clarity with a touch of humor and radicalism, while categorically denying mechanistry’s supposed dreariness. Bicycle! is about encouraging society to learn for themselves how to make their bikes work, not because they have to, but because they want to.
With detailed descriptions of all maintenance tasks and repair situations, clearly illustrated with photographs and drawings, this guide will serve the need for a serious rider’s manual. Professional bicycle workers—messengers, mechanics, pedi-cab drivers—as well as bicycle commuters have been waiting for this book.
Sam Tracy writes about bikes from a practiced Midwestern perspective. He began producing the zine Biker Pride at some point in the early nineties, after being fired from the college newspaper for violating its objectivity rules, and this project was later broadened just enough to become the urban cycling-focused Multiplier zine. Having biked through many snowy winters in Minneapolis, including five as a messenger, Sam is currently living on the east coast.