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Bike Snob: Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling
Cycling is exploding in a good way. Urbanites everywhere, from ironic hipsters to earth-conscious commuters, are taking to the bike like aquatic mammals to water. BikeSnobNYC cycling's most prolific, well-known, hilarious, and anonymous blogger brings a fresh and humorous perspective to the most important vehicle to hit personal transportation since the horse. Bike Snob treats readers to a laugh-out-loud rant and rave about the world of bikes and their riders, and offers a unique look at the ins and outs of cycling, from its history and hallmarks to its wide range of bizarre practitioners. Throughout, the author lampoons the missteps, pretensions, and absurdities of bike culture while maintaining a contagious enthusiasm for cycling itself. Bike Snob is an essential volume for anyone who knows, is, or wants to become a cyclist.
219 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
BikeSnobNYC
3 books22 followersBikeSnobNYC (a.k.a. Eben Weiss) is the blogger behind bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com, a massively popular cycling blog. He also writes a monthly column in Bicycling magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 326 reviews
October 14, 2010
I grew up in Berkeley, CA, where riding a bike meant you loved Critical Mass and describing your moral superiority to people who drove cars, often while in the backseat of my Camry as I drove you home from a show in the city. Since at that time I was already vegan and didn't watch TV, I worried about turning into a caricature of myself, and I always steered clear of the bicycle thing.
Later on I lived in Portland, OR, where riding a bike meant you loved racing drunkenly down hills in the pouring rain, and that you either worked as a bike messenger, looked like a bike messenger, or had inebriated sexual encounters with a bike messenger or someone who looked like one. There were a number of sartorial, philosophical, and lifestyle demands associated with all of this, and as I was already drinking my weight in Pabst Blue Ribbon and covering my skin with idiotic tattoos I'd regret for the rest of my life, I didn't want to become a caricature of myself and steered clear of the bike thing.
By the time I moved to New York, I'd reached that age at which one no longer cares much about becoming a walking (or riding) cliche, which is about the same time in life that mortality becomes real. At this point I steered clear of the whole bike thing mainly because I didn't want to die. The thought of riding a bike here, with the way people drive, filled me with terror.
What prompted me then, after seven years in this city, to buy my friend's rusty road bike and start riding to work? I wish I could say it was this book, because that would make a much better review, but really it was that my morning commute was making me want to kill myself. I'd arrive at work exhausted and enraged, having been anally violated on the seven train by obese sociopaths doused in cologne and screeching into their cellphones. When I got to the office I'd have already spent forty minutes crushed up against the hideous and appallingly inconsiderate face of humanity, and I'd be so brutalized by the experience that I'd want to go back home and cry at the start of my workday.
Another thing I think helped was the fixed-gear bicycle craze. Now, as of this writing I've never ridden one, and I have zero insight into their appeal (from where I sit the fixie seems like the botox of bicycles, in that sure one looks young/stylish but one cannot enjoy the most important function of one's face/bike, i.e., expressing emotion/effortlessly coasting down hills, the difference being that I can still make facial expressions if some smooth-browed person is in front of me on the bridge. But I digress. I'm sure they're really awesome or EVERYONE wouldn't be riding them.). However, everyone else riding them has been great for me, since being the only cyclist on the Williamsburg Bridge who has actual brakes and a helmet makes me feel my odds in the Bicycle Lottery of Death have gone down to nil. Obviously a certain number of cyclists are going to die in New York every five minutes, and I'm so much more secure knowing that everyone but me's asking for it.
The other great thing about fixies is that as the only person under thirty-five in this town with a derailleur, I'm free from any fear of caricaturing myself, since I'm obviously already a caricature of someone else's nerdy dad. The burden of cool always made riding a bike seem so fraught, and now I can swerve around all that and just enjoy the ride, while shaking my fist at fixie-riders and shouting, "You damn hipster kids keep off the lawn!"
And this is essentially the Bike Snob's message: that you shouldn't let everyone else and their scenester knowledge, tastes, or frippery get between you and the awesomeness of the bike. Instead, you should mock everyone who cares about things that don't personally interest you, then race around town with the wind in your hair.
If taking the packed rush-hour train to work was usually the worst part of my day, riding a bike is now often the best. I knew that riding a bike through insane Manhattan traffic would be scary, but what I didn't know is that it would also feel the way I'd always vainly hoped that dangerous drugs would. When I get to work now, I'm in a great mood! It takes about the same amount of time to get there, but the experience is almost opposite. Of course, the self-absorbed idiot sociopaths on cellphones who once crowded me on the subway are now armed with two-ton deadly weapons and doing shit like turning left on red (FYI you're not even allowed to turn right on red here! Definitely not left!). But snarling "Move your fat pokey ass" at an SUV is a lot less antisocial than muttering it about a schlubby mother of six on the platform at Grand Central. Riding a bike allows me to harness the impatience, aggression, and competitiveness that always made my subway commute so hellish for me (and the poor slow bastards around me). It's sort of like how Mike Tyson's boyhood trainer helped him channel his violent impulses into a prosocial sport. And look how well that turned out, right? A winning strategy!
So yeah (mom), it's true that I'm more likely to get killed riding my bike than to get blown up by terrorists on the train, but both things could happen, and the first one's vastly preferable. In terms of safety, at this point I think I'd rather die on my feet (or my seat) than live on my knees (clutching a germy pole, underground). The Snob nails the real allure of the cycling commute when he describes the "maddening impotence" of being on a stopped train. Riding public transit puts you at the mercy of some very cruel gods, and for a person with control issues, a bike's the only escape. I can ride as fast as I want, I don't get stopped long in traffic or unnecessarily at lights the way I would in a car, and parking's usually pretty easy. I'm still intimidated by bike shops and concerned that I don't know shit about how to fix it when things start to go wrong, but a bike -- even my crazy old-person's bike, with its archaic gears and brakes -- is pretty simple compared with a car, and it's not subject to fare hikes like the one the MTA just did from $89 to an incredible $104 a month. With that increase, I'm going to ride my bike to work (at least until winter: I cannot abide winter, and no bike adrenaline will change that) and ask them to pay for all the schlepping on the subway I have to do during the day. Or, I'll keep doing what I've tried a few times: visiting my clients at home on my bike! Now that bike messengers are becoming obsolete, maybe social-workers-on-wheels can rush in to fill the void. I can't wait to see what kind of hardcore tattoos and fashion trends we'll dream up....
Okay, you are saying (if you're still there, which would be pretty amazing): enough about YOU. What did YOU think of this book?
Here's the deal: I have never been able to get into a blog. I used to believe this was due to the name "blog," which is probably the least appealing word someone ever invented on purpose, but now I think it might be connected to my childhood lack of exposure to television shows. Something about the episodic format and the need for commitment....? I don't know, but I've never been able to get into them, even my friends' blogs that I in theory like. But my sister pointed me to http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/ a few weeks ago when I got into this whole bike thing, and now I'm helplessly obsessed and addicted. I look at it every day in our morning staff meeting, and tune out all the depressing talk about who's in jail or the hospital while giggling to myself. I highly, highly recommend this guy's blog to anyone who has even a casual relationship with bicycles, and all the more so to people who're really into them but somehow haven't come across it yet. He's a great writer and its appeal transcends bikiness: the Snob's one of those astute, blessed guides we need so desperately during these troubled times, while tiresome, self-congratulatory smugness threatens to overtake vast swaths of our country (or at least the few swaths I've condescended to inhabit). I love this guy's blog so much that I actually went into a bookstore and asked the clerk where I could find a book that was based on a blog. Yes, that happened. I did that. It's probably on YouTube. If I had a blog (and not just a book report website, which is sort of like a blog but with gears), I'd be over there blogging about it right now.
So no, short answer: the book is not nearly as great as the blog, which is no insult to the book since the blog is amazing. I'm giving it an extra star since I'm averaging in the blog's glory a bit, and also because I hope people buy the Bike Snob's book since he seems like a lovely guy and has a child to feed. Part of the reason the book isn't as good is that he tones down his edge too much and it gets a bit too nicey-nice. The joke with the Snob is that he isn't a snob, he's really quite sweet, but the book takes that way too far. On his blog he's really pissing on the dreams of earnest hipsters and self-satisfied tools, while here he mostly pokes gentle fun and focuses on encouraging fraidy cats like me to get over themselves and start riding bikes. He also is clearly straining to appeal to a broader audience beyond New York without sounding annoying, which is understandable but kind of slows things down and sacrifices a lot of the blog's appeal.
This is basically a hand-holding book for new cyclists, which was perfect for me, and I totally recommend this for anyone who'd like to ride a bike but feels apprehensive or intimidated. It's very handsome and nicely designed and illustrated and would make a thoughtful gift! Most of the chapters I enjoyed a lot, though the historical one with his effort to reenact an 1895 Queens bike ride for some reason fell flat for me and was so dull I had trouble getting through it. But a lot of his advice and insights are enormously helpful, and he does succeed in making bikes seem accessible and appealing. One thing this book could've used was a first-aid section: when I royally ate shit the other day falling into a pothole, I was at a complete loss about what to do: Bactine? Bandages? Should I kiss it? How best to get Greenpoint Avenue out of my knee? I haven't had scrapes like this since I was a child and someone else did this stuff for me, and I've probably never had so many of them, on all sides of my body. Maybe I am just way too big of a moron to ride a bicycle. It's unsettling that I managed to fall into a hole in the street a few blocks from my house, especially since I was paying attention, or thought I was anyway. I am definitely not the salmoning, cellphone-checking "Beautiful Godzilla," the only female of the illustrated bike cliches in this book. I am way too neurotic and type-A to do anything else while riding except try to go fast and avoid ways I'll die, though apparently I do not have a firm handle on either of these, as my humiliating unplanned dismount has made clear.
But I will pedal (and when I choose, coast) on! It's pretty amazing how quickly riding a bike starts to feel natural, and even when it hurts you it still feels worthwhile. I'd never ridden a road bike before and at first it was unnatural and torturous, but now I feel like one of those bike-people in The Third Policeman, a book I might idly say I'm planning to revisit, except that there has been one very serious casualty of my new bike commute: I did almost all of my reading on the subway. So until I'm defeated by the weather, don't bother watching this space.
Later on I lived in Portland, OR, where riding a bike meant you loved racing drunkenly down hills in the pouring rain, and that you either worked as a bike messenger, looked like a bike messenger, or had inebriated sexual encounters with a bike messenger or someone who looked like one. There were a number of sartorial, philosophical, and lifestyle demands associated with all of this, and as I was already drinking my weight in Pabst Blue Ribbon and covering my skin with idiotic tattoos I'd regret for the rest of my life, I didn't want to become a caricature of myself and steered clear of the bike thing.
By the time I moved to New York, I'd reached that age at which one no longer cares much about becoming a walking (or riding) cliche, which is about the same time in life that mortality becomes real. At this point I steered clear of the whole bike thing mainly because I didn't want to die. The thought of riding a bike here, with the way people drive, filled me with terror.
What prompted me then, after seven years in this city, to buy my friend's rusty road bike and start riding to work? I wish I could say it was this book, because that would make a much better review, but really it was that my morning commute was making me want to kill myself. I'd arrive at work exhausted and enraged, having been anally violated on the seven train by obese sociopaths doused in cologne and screeching into their cellphones. When I got to the office I'd have already spent forty minutes crushed up against the hideous and appallingly inconsiderate face of humanity, and I'd be so brutalized by the experience that I'd want to go back home and cry at the start of my workday.
Another thing I think helped was the fixed-gear bicycle craze. Now, as of this writing I've never ridden one, and I have zero insight into their appeal (from where I sit the fixie seems like the botox of bicycles, in that sure one looks young/stylish but one cannot enjoy the most important function of one's face/bike, i.e., expressing emotion/effortlessly coasting down hills, the difference being that I can still make facial expressions if some smooth-browed person is in front of me on the bridge. But I digress. I'm sure they're really awesome or EVERYONE wouldn't be riding them.). However, everyone else riding them has been great for me, since being the only cyclist on the Williamsburg Bridge who has actual brakes and a helmet makes me feel my odds in the Bicycle Lottery of Death have gone down to nil. Obviously a certain number of cyclists are going to die in New York every five minutes, and I'm so much more secure knowing that everyone but me's asking for it.
The other great thing about fixies is that as the only person under thirty-five in this town with a derailleur, I'm free from any fear of caricaturing myself, since I'm obviously already a caricature of someone else's nerdy dad. The burden of cool always made riding a bike seem so fraught, and now I can swerve around all that and just enjoy the ride, while shaking my fist at fixie-riders and shouting, "You damn hipster kids keep off the lawn!"
And this is essentially the Bike Snob's message: that you shouldn't let everyone else and their scenester knowledge, tastes, or frippery get between you and the awesomeness of the bike. Instead, you should mock everyone who cares about things that don't personally interest you, then race around town with the wind in your hair.
If taking the packed rush-hour train to work was usually the worst part of my day, riding a bike is now often the best. I knew that riding a bike through insane Manhattan traffic would be scary, but what I didn't know is that it would also feel the way I'd always vainly hoped that dangerous drugs would. When I get to work now, I'm in a great mood! It takes about the same amount of time to get there, but the experience is almost opposite. Of course, the self-absorbed idiot sociopaths on cellphones who once crowded me on the subway are now armed with two-ton deadly weapons and doing shit like turning left on red (FYI you're not even allowed to turn right on red here! Definitely not left!). But snarling "Move your fat pokey ass" at an SUV is a lot less antisocial than muttering it about a schlubby mother of six on the platform at Grand Central. Riding a bike allows me to harness the impatience, aggression, and competitiveness that always made my subway commute so hellish for me (and the poor slow bastards around me). It's sort of like how Mike Tyson's boyhood trainer helped him channel his violent impulses into a prosocial sport. And look how well that turned out, right? A winning strategy!
So yeah (mom), it's true that I'm more likely to get killed riding my bike than to get blown up by terrorists on the train, but both things could happen, and the first one's vastly preferable. In terms of safety, at this point I think I'd rather die on my feet (or my seat) than live on my knees (clutching a germy pole, underground). The Snob nails the real allure of the cycling commute when he describes the "maddening impotence" of being on a stopped train. Riding public transit puts you at the mercy of some very cruel gods, and for a person with control issues, a bike's the only escape. I can ride as fast as I want, I don't get stopped long in traffic or unnecessarily at lights the way I would in a car, and parking's usually pretty easy. I'm still intimidated by bike shops and concerned that I don't know shit about how to fix it when things start to go wrong, but a bike -- even my crazy old-person's bike, with its archaic gears and brakes -- is pretty simple compared with a car, and it's not subject to fare hikes like the one the MTA just did from $89 to an incredible $104 a month. With that increase, I'm going to ride my bike to work (at least until winter: I cannot abide winter, and no bike adrenaline will change that) and ask them to pay for all the schlepping on the subway I have to do during the day. Or, I'll keep doing what I've tried a few times: visiting my clients at home on my bike! Now that bike messengers are becoming obsolete, maybe social-workers-on-wheels can rush in to fill the void. I can't wait to see what kind of hardcore tattoos and fashion trends we'll dream up....
Okay, you are saying (if you're still there, which would be pretty amazing): enough about YOU. What did YOU think of this book?
Here's the deal: I have never been able to get into a blog. I used to believe this was due to the name "blog," which is probably the least appealing word someone ever invented on purpose, but now I think it might be connected to my childhood lack of exposure to television shows. Something about the episodic format and the need for commitment....? I don't know, but I've never been able to get into them, even my friends' blogs that I in theory like. But my sister pointed me to http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/ a few weeks ago when I got into this whole bike thing, and now I'm helplessly obsessed and addicted. I look at it every day in our morning staff meeting, and tune out all the depressing talk about who's in jail or the hospital while giggling to myself. I highly, highly recommend this guy's blog to anyone who has even a casual relationship with bicycles, and all the more so to people who're really into them but somehow haven't come across it yet. He's a great writer and its appeal transcends bikiness: the Snob's one of those astute, blessed guides we need so desperately during these troubled times, while tiresome, self-congratulatory smugness threatens to overtake vast swaths of our country (or at least the few swaths I've condescended to inhabit). I love this guy's blog so much that I actually went into a bookstore and asked the clerk where I could find a book that was based on a blog. Yes, that happened. I did that. It's probably on YouTube. If I had a blog (and not just a book report website, which is sort of like a blog but with gears), I'd be over there blogging about it right now.
So no, short answer: the book is not nearly as great as the blog, which is no insult to the book since the blog is amazing. I'm giving it an extra star since I'm averaging in the blog's glory a bit, and also because I hope people buy the Bike Snob's book since he seems like a lovely guy and has a child to feed. Part of the reason the book isn't as good is that he tones down his edge too much and it gets a bit too nicey-nice. The joke with the Snob is that he isn't a snob, he's really quite sweet, but the book takes that way too far. On his blog he's really pissing on the dreams of earnest hipsters and self-satisfied tools, while here he mostly pokes gentle fun and focuses on encouraging fraidy cats like me to get over themselves and start riding bikes. He also is clearly straining to appeal to a broader audience beyond New York without sounding annoying, which is understandable but kind of slows things down and sacrifices a lot of the blog's appeal.
This is basically a hand-holding book for new cyclists, which was perfect for me, and I totally recommend this for anyone who'd like to ride a bike but feels apprehensive or intimidated. It's very handsome and nicely designed and illustrated and would make a thoughtful gift! Most of the chapters I enjoyed a lot, though the historical one with his effort to reenact an 1895 Queens bike ride for some reason fell flat for me and was so dull I had trouble getting through it. But a lot of his advice and insights are enormously helpful, and he does succeed in making bikes seem accessible and appealing. One thing this book could've used was a first-aid section: when I royally ate shit the other day falling into a pothole, I was at a complete loss about what to do: Bactine? Bandages? Should I kiss it? How best to get Greenpoint Avenue out of my knee? I haven't had scrapes like this since I was a child and someone else did this stuff for me, and I've probably never had so many of them, on all sides of my body. Maybe I am just way too big of a moron to ride a bicycle. It's unsettling that I managed to fall into a hole in the street a few blocks from my house, especially since I was paying attention, or thought I was anyway. I am definitely not the salmoning, cellphone-checking "Beautiful Godzilla," the only female of the illustrated bike cliches in this book. I am way too neurotic and type-A to do anything else while riding except try to go fast and avoid ways I'll die, though apparently I do not have a firm handle on either of these, as my humiliating unplanned dismount has made clear.
But I will pedal (and when I choose, coast) on! It's pretty amazing how quickly riding a bike starts to feel natural, and even when it hurts you it still feels worthwhile. I'd never ridden a road bike before and at first it was unnatural and torturous, but now I feel like one of those bike-people in The Third Policeman, a book I might idly say I'm planning to revisit, except that there has been one very serious casualty of my new bike commute: I did almost all of my reading on the subway. So until I'm defeated by the weather, don't bother watching this space.
February 18, 2011
Look... As a person that wants to spend much more time on her bike, I found this book a fun read. It was an easy read too, finished in a matter of hours. But my goodness... Analogies, similes, and metaphors, oh my. This book was filled with so many pop culture refrences and comparisons, it made me uncomfortable at times. An attempt at humor gone to far? It just got to be too much, and I found myself skimming the last few sections to avoid it all. But I appreciate a good rant, which is what this seemed to be, mixed with some decent information.
February 21, 2011
This book had entertaining parts and alienating parts, which is why I think it's more for existing riders than for conversion (despite its claim to the contrary). Also, this guy seems to think the only women that ride bikes do it the wrong way down a one-way street while talking on the phone, which is a very unhelpful attitude.
June 20, 2011
Alright, in all fairness, if one happened to be an extremely avid (and long time) cyclist, this would probably be a fun read, as it casually name drops various brands, parts, and what the author deems types of cyclists. For someone who has average bicycle knowledge hoping to glean something extra (be it either about certain styles of bikes/parts or various items of bicycle culture- which the author denies exists), it was almost completely useless.
There was a lot of humor, and I will be the first to admit that I laughed out loud to myself on several occasions. After a while, however, it started to get borderline uncomfortable. I get it. You are able to drop all sorts of cultural references and show everyone how witty and well-rounded you are. Perhaps I was making inaccurate assumptions that a published book by the author of one of the cyclist's favorite blogs out there would, I don't know, provide me with some information on cycling.
Most of the book barely mentioned an aspect of cycling or a benefit of one type of part over another before the author quickly wrote it off by saying that he wasn't going to waste time explaining it here, and that you could google that information or look it up on youtube. I bought your book, asshole. You're really not gonna give me anything here? Anything?
Again, I'm not a cyclist. I'm trying to get my feet wet with cycling for transportation instead of pure leisure, and I was hoping to pick up a few things about dealing with traffic, which types of parts are better for which reasons, maintenance, or god forbid types of bicycles themselves. There was very little useful information (there was an excruciatingly long chapter minutely detailing a particular ride he took) and a whole lot of complaining about hipsters.
For someone who is said to be such an avid cyclist, this certainly read like he needed to go for a ride and relax a little.
There was a lot of humor, and I will be the first to admit that I laughed out loud to myself on several occasions. After a while, however, it started to get borderline uncomfortable. I get it. You are able to drop all sorts of cultural references and show everyone how witty and well-rounded you are. Perhaps I was making inaccurate assumptions that a published book by the author of one of the cyclist's favorite blogs out there would, I don't know, provide me with some information on cycling.
Most of the book barely mentioned an aspect of cycling or a benefit of one type of part over another before the author quickly wrote it off by saying that he wasn't going to waste time explaining it here, and that you could google that information or look it up on youtube. I bought your book, asshole. You're really not gonna give me anything here? Anything?
Again, I'm not a cyclist. I'm trying to get my feet wet with cycling for transportation instead of pure leisure, and I was hoping to pick up a few things about dealing with traffic, which types of parts are better for which reasons, maintenance, or god forbid types of bicycles themselves. There was very little useful information (there was an excruciatingly long chapter minutely detailing a particular ride he took) and a whole lot of complaining about hipsters.
For someone who is said to be such an avid cyclist, this certainly read like he needed to go for a ride and relax a little.
February 19, 2013
here's the thing, this was not a good "book." this would be a good blog, probably...and at the end it was revealed that this is a book based on a blog. that is just kind of weird.
i enjoyed the first part about bike history in new york, the newspaper articles were pretty good (i am just assuming that they are true and real) and it kind of devolved from there.
to be fair, there is probably a spot somewhere that explains what a book is supposed to be about so readers arent allowed to go in with false hopes. i dont really read that kind of stuff about a book. i judge by titles and covers. i steer clear of forewords and descriptions and allow the writing to be good or bad based purely on my interpretation.
so, i guess i really started disliking the book when the blogger was attempting to describe the various types of bicyclists that currently exist. i felt that it was really just a lame attempt at boxing people in (it was accurate and funny but still, lame).
i hated the end of the book with pictures of peoples bikes and a description of how that person with that bike fits into a prescribed box or how that person is just an idiot.
i really just think of my bike as a form of transportation. i dont really know how to fix it except for really basic things and am not really into the idea of learning the finer points of fixing a bike. i dont do it for fashion or as a fashion statement. i feel pretty strongly that i havent really ever thought of my bike as a fashion accessory.
anyway, the reason i dont like this book so strongly is because i was raised as a classical west coast cyclist. and this is decidedly an east coast only book. for real. eh, whatever.
i enjoyed the first part about bike history in new york, the newspaper articles were pretty good (i am just assuming that they are true and real) and it kind of devolved from there.
to be fair, there is probably a spot somewhere that explains what a book is supposed to be about so readers arent allowed to go in with false hopes. i dont really read that kind of stuff about a book. i judge by titles and covers. i steer clear of forewords and descriptions and allow the writing to be good or bad based purely on my interpretation.
so, i guess i really started disliking the book when the blogger was attempting to describe the various types of bicyclists that currently exist. i felt that it was really just a lame attempt at boxing people in (it was accurate and funny but still, lame).
i hated the end of the book with pictures of peoples bikes and a description of how that person with that bike fits into a prescribed box or how that person is just an idiot.
i really just think of my bike as a form of transportation. i dont really know how to fix it except for really basic things and am not really into the idea of learning the finer points of fixing a bike. i dont do it for fashion or as a fashion statement. i feel pretty strongly that i havent really ever thought of my bike as a fashion accessory.
anyway, the reason i dont like this book so strongly is because i was raised as a classical west coast cyclist. and this is decidedly an east coast only book. for real. eh, whatever.
October 22, 2014
My expectation was that this book would be anecdotal with the author essentially making fun of cyclists at a very shallow level. And yes, there is quite a bit of that (and why not, it's fun); but the book had much more depth both in content and execution. This book is witty, insightful and relevant; though I would speculate that with all the popular culture references, it may not age well. I found myself acknowledging and laughing at alot of his observations. This is a book about cycling by a man that clearly and obviously loves every aspect of it. It allows us cyclists to see ourselves and confirms (at least for me) a many of the thoughts I have had on a bike. It also gives the burgeoning cyclists and/or non cyclists a glimpse of the cycling universe. Here's one quote that articulates how I feel about cycling,
Edited to add: This was my favorite nonfiction read of 2013
But cycling is less a hobby than it is a discipline with the potential to transform you. It brings balance.No, not all cyclists are this esoteric or heady, and I admit this quote misrepresents the tone of the book; but for me, its sums it all up. This book was an unexpected pleasure.
Edited to add: This was my favorite nonfiction read of 2013
July 6, 2017
Прекрасная книжка - ехидна�� и ��мешная, первый в моей жизни селф-хелп, который помог по-настоящему проапгрейдить мозги по конкретной теме. Как человеку, у которого зазор между первым велосипедом и вторым составил полвека.
September 3, 2022
Much fun, albeit for a relatively limited audience (but, uh, gee, I am pretty much, in almost every conceivable way, that target audience/demographic/consumer/reader). LoL...
A quick and easy read, which speaks well both for the author's efficient (and biting) prose and his keen (and unforgiving) eye. As icing on the cake, the book is surprisingly (almost shockingly) nicely packaged and visually pleasing/appealing.
I can't remember why I didn't read this when it came out (long ago and far away). I'm sure that, in some way, for some inane reason, I was boycotting it, which, in retrospect, is even more comical than if I simply hadn't been aware of it (which was simply not the case).
All of which simply reinforces the author's dominant thesis. When in doubt, just go ride your bike is, indeed, the answer to many (OK, far more than you'd think) questions.
A quick and easy read, which speaks well both for the author's efficient (and biting) prose and his keen (and unforgiving) eye. As icing on the cake, the book is surprisingly (almost shockingly) nicely packaged and visually pleasing/appealing.
I can't remember why I didn't read this when it came out (long ago and far away). I'm sure that, in some way, for some inane reason, I was boycotting it, which, in retrospect, is even more comical than if I simply hadn't been aware of it (which was simply not the case).
All of which simply reinforces the author's dominant thesis. When in doubt, just go ride your bike is, indeed, the answer to many (OK, far more than you'd think) questions.
November 13, 2010
I first saw this book while visiting with my daughter in NYC. She took me to a weird "bicycle bar". I mean weird as in unusual but really cool. I didn't know there was such a thing. Anyway, at the bicycle bar, which was in Manhattan, they serve strong coffee (alcohol and bikes don't mix) and displayed fascinating vintage, road, and hipster bikes. They have a little "bike library" where this one was featured. So I added it to my to-read list.
The Bike Snob was an entertaining read. Eben Weiss kept it that way through most of the book, after an introduction featuring the Amish, that off-puttingly mentioned the word ‘pornography’ at least one too many times. He then started up a little fun history, then defines a cyclist—and how cool it is that bicycles give superpowers to ordinary looking humans--- sort of like a vampire. The best part of the book is his categorization of all the many types of cyclists--- the roadie, the mountain biker, the cyclocrosser, the triathlete, the hipster, the messenger, the beautiful Godzilla, the retro grouch, the righteous cyclist, the lone wolf and the contraption captains. Hillarious, and I’ve seen many of these. They all have their different interests and prejudices against other cycling groups. Still, I’d have added a few like the long distance trekker, and the commuter. But I understand his perspective was mostly urban. He is, afterall the "BikeSnobNYC". And I finally have some idea of what the strange "hipster" culture is all about, though I can't say I actually appreciate it any more. It was interesting to see how many different types of people are still moved by the freedom of the bicycle. One important, and serious point that Weiss makes as he describes our relationship with the ubiquitious automobile is that the most important way to make the world a better place for cycling is not so much by lobbying the government but by just getting on the bike and riding. It’s like the auto--- the auto came before the road improvements. Likewise the bicycles have to be out there before roads and drivers become more bicycle friendly. I liked his final chapter where he gives etiquette advise for non-cyclists. He pegs the typical comments you hear, like the question about when you are going to ride in the Tour De France. A fun, quick a painless read. One that will get you excited about cycling all over. In fact, after I put the book down, I took a 20 mile ride.
The Bike Snob was an entertaining read. Eben Weiss kept it that way through most of the book, after an introduction featuring the Amish, that off-puttingly mentioned the word ‘pornography’ at least one too many times. He then started up a little fun history, then defines a cyclist—and how cool it is that bicycles give superpowers to ordinary looking humans--- sort of like a vampire. The best part of the book is his categorization of all the many types of cyclists--- the roadie, the mountain biker, the cyclocrosser, the triathlete, the hipster, the messenger, the beautiful Godzilla, the retro grouch, the righteous cyclist, the lone wolf and the contraption captains. Hillarious, and I’ve seen many of these. They all have their different interests and prejudices against other cycling groups. Still, I’d have added a few like the long distance trekker, and the commuter. But I understand his perspective was mostly urban. He is, afterall the "BikeSnobNYC". And I finally have some idea of what the strange "hipster" culture is all about, though I can't say I actually appreciate it any more. It was interesting to see how many different types of people are still moved by the freedom of the bicycle. One important, and serious point that Weiss makes as he describes our relationship with the ubiquitious automobile is that the most important way to make the world a better place for cycling is not so much by lobbying the government but by just getting on the bike and riding. It’s like the auto--- the auto came before the road improvements. Likewise the bicycles have to be out there before roads and drivers become more bicycle friendly. I liked his final chapter where he gives etiquette advise for non-cyclists. He pegs the typical comments you hear, like the question about when you are going to ride in the Tour De France. A fun, quick a painless read. One that will get you excited about cycling all over. In fact, after I put the book down, I took a 20 mile ride.
September 3, 2010
Cyclists aren't just hobbyists or lifestyle athletes; in many ways we're actually a different type of being. We're people with wheels. Really in a lot of ways being a cyclist is like being a vampire. First of all, both cyclists and vampires are cultural outcasts with cult followings who clumsily walk the lines between cool and dorky. Secondly, both cyclists and vampires resemble normal humans, but they also lead secret double lives, have supernatural powers, and aren't governed by the same rules as the rest of humnanity—though cycling doesn't come with the drawbacks of vampirism. Cyclists can ride day or night, we can consume all the garlic we want, and very few of us are afflicted with bloodlust or driven by a relentless urge to kill.
--Bike Snob
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The book has a little something for everyone. The Snob covers nutrition ("Crap makes very bad cycling fuel. There's a reason you don't see cyclists hanging out at White Castle"), maintenance ("If bicycle maintenance is like housecleaning, then then chain is like that part of the floor behind the toilet, in that it gets all dirty and cruddy, yet the dirtier and cruddier it gets the less you want to touch it."), and bike fit ("Figuring out your saddle position it a little like figuring out which hole to use on your belt; it might take a little trial and error, but once you figure it out you can pretty much leave it where it is and that's that..Now you wouldn't go to the tailor to have your belt put on or you, and similarly you should not have to go to a bike shop to make a simple saddle adjustment."), amongst other things.
The book is minimalist in terms of stature, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for it with witty observations and nuggets of wisdom (by nuggets, I mean small but very high quality insights and not processed deep-fried chicken guaranteed to harden your arteries).
It's a quick read. Even the slowest readers out there should be able polish it off in a few hours.
--Bike Snob
--------------------------------------------------------------
The book has a little something for everyone. The Snob covers nutrition ("Crap makes very bad cycling fuel. There's a reason you don't see cyclists hanging out at White Castle"), maintenance ("If bicycle maintenance is like housecleaning, then then chain is like that part of the floor behind the toilet, in that it gets all dirty and cruddy, yet the dirtier and cruddier it gets the less you want to touch it."), and bike fit ("Figuring out your saddle position it a little like figuring out which hole to use on your belt; it might take a little trial and error, but once you figure it out you can pretty much leave it where it is and that's that..Now you wouldn't go to the tailor to have your belt put on or you, and similarly you should not have to go to a bike shop to make a simple saddle adjustment."), amongst other things.
The book is minimalist in terms of stature, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for it with witty observations and nuggets of wisdom (by nuggets, I mean small but very high quality insights and not processed deep-fried chicken guaranteed to harden your arteries).
It's a quick read. Even the slowest readers out there should be able polish it off in a few hours.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2012
Bike Snob is a book mainly about bikes, bike riding, bike maintenance, and overall all things bikes. However, it is even more about being entertained by a snarky hipster blogger's relatable experiences through being a cyclist in a generally cycling-unfriendly world. A lot of people who have reviewed this book on Goodreads seem to be completely missing the point of this book, because it's not at all a book to be taken seriously. If you are looking for how to lube your chain, how to share the road with cars, or any other bike-centric information, you will find only small portions of this book helpful. While the author clearly knows a ton of stuff about biking, this book is more to be read as humor, and not as informative.
Although to some this may be a little too inside-jokey, I feel this is a book worth checking out if you have a sense of humor and 2-5 hours of spare time in your life. He gets sort of deep inside bike culture at times, but most of the book is very accessible, even if you don't consider yourself a biker, or have ever biked really ever in your life. The illustrations have an underground comic-style look to them, and are very humorously done. I tend to get some of my best reading done during lunch at work, and in 30-40 minute increments, this book really shines. It's a perfect book to pick up and drop without much thought. I would highly recommend this book to bikers and non-bikers alike. Unless you don't have a sense of humor.
Although to some this may be a little too inside-jokey, I feel this is a book worth checking out if you have a sense of humor and 2-5 hours of spare time in your life. He gets sort of deep inside bike culture at times, but most of the book is very accessible, even if you don't consider yourself a biker, or have ever biked really ever in your life. The illustrations have an underground comic-style look to them, and are very humorously done. I tend to get some of my best reading done during lunch at work, and in 30-40 minute increments, this book really shines. It's a perfect book to pick up and drop without much thought. I would highly recommend this book to bikers and non-bikers alike. Unless you don't have a sense of humor.
January 28, 2014
I'm one of those people who judge a book by its cover. I saw this book at the bookstore and picked it up because I liked the cover. I browsed through the first few pages and started laughing out loud, and I just couldn't put it down. It is hilarious. It's also very very interesting, it talks about the history of the bicycle, the types of bicycle, the rules of cycling, annoying things that car drivers do to us...
I'm definitely going to read it again; I'm not up to it at the moment because my bicycle was stolen and I still feel too frustrated to read anything bike-related. :( But I will read it again soon; it's worth it.
I'm definitely going to read it again; I'm not up to it at the moment because my bicycle was stolen and I still feel too frustrated to read anything bike-related. :( But I will read it again soon; it's worth it.
February 12, 2020
The author's frequently snide tone is off-putting and does little to help those of trying to get more people to accept bicycling as a practical mode of transportation.
January 4, 2023
Fun read that's especially amenable to being uploaded to a speech-to-text app and listened to while doing chores.
September 11, 2011
While the book is more geared towards encouraging novices who may be afraid to ride in traffic, it does have enough cycling related jokes to make the seasoned daily bike rider chuckle often.
Just because it's written for novices, don't assume that it's going to tell you how to fix a flat, or do routine (or any) maintenance - it does tell you you need to know how to do such things, then directs you to use the ever so handy Internet to look it up. If you want a how-to book or tips and tricks, look elsewhere.
But if you want witty observations on cycling, you've come to the right place. It pokes fun at the man I saw this morning with a huge trash bag full of something balanced precariously on his handlebars. It makes fun of the teenager I saw riding her bike the wrong way down the opposite side of the street (and IN the street, no less!). It makes fun of the guy who honked his horn to let me know he was there despite the fact that I heard his engine and his stereo from half a block away (yes sir, I was enjoying the sound of my tires on the road, the birds chirping and the wind in the trees but thank you ever so much for rendering me deaf). It makes fun of the driver who nearly ran me over so he could get out of his expensive luxury car a whole 20 seconds faster. It makes fun of the guy on the road bike who blew past me like I was standing still. It makes fun of my co-workers who continually are amazed that I'm willing to bike a mere 10 miles to work once a week. It even made fun of me! No one is spared and he makes fun of every type of cyclist.
However, the book does have it's weaknesses. The major one is that it's very NYC centric - understandable given it's a NYC blogger. But not every town is like NYC. A chapter on the historical bike meccas of NYC and its former suburbs doesn't do all that much for me, given that I've never heard of the streets he's naming. Also, he keeps emphasizing the "freedom" a bike has over public transportation and cars. Yet, most people live in towns where a car is faster and more versatile than a bike. Bikes almost always have public transportation beat hands down though.
Next, why does he even have a chapter on bike repair/maintenance at all? Instead of just saying "you need to know how to do this -- go look it up!" or "Carry basic tools and and a spare tube or you'll eventually be stranded," why not tell a story of a time when he was caught without them? Or saw someone without them? It would be more in line with the rest of the book if he'd approached it from that angle.
It could have used a chapter on maintaining your dignity under extreme circumstances - such as how to recover from an embarrassing accident like grazing a pole and ending up sprawled across the ground right in front of a bus stop full of gawkers who are snickering at you.
Regardless of the flaws, I enjoyed the book a lot. He's a self-proclaimed curmudgeon and I can't think of a single person that he didn't insult, but it's done in such a lighthearted way that I was snickering as he did so.
Just because it's written for novices, don't assume that it's going to tell you how to fix a flat, or do routine (or any) maintenance - it does tell you you need to know how to do such things, then directs you to use the ever so handy Internet to look it up. If you want a how-to book or tips and tricks, look elsewhere.
But if you want witty observations on cycling, you've come to the right place. It pokes fun at the man I saw this morning with a huge trash bag full of something balanced precariously on his handlebars. It makes fun of the teenager I saw riding her bike the wrong way down the opposite side of the street (and IN the street, no less!). It makes fun of the guy who honked his horn to let me know he was there despite the fact that I heard his engine and his stereo from half a block away (yes sir, I was enjoying the sound of my tires on the road, the birds chirping and the wind in the trees but thank you ever so much for rendering me deaf). It makes fun of the driver who nearly ran me over so he could get out of his expensive luxury car a whole 20 seconds faster. It makes fun of the guy on the road bike who blew past me like I was standing still. It makes fun of my co-workers who continually are amazed that I'm willing to bike a mere 10 miles to work once a week. It even made fun of me! No one is spared and he makes fun of every type of cyclist.
However, the book does have it's weaknesses. The major one is that it's very NYC centric - understandable given it's a NYC blogger. But not every town is like NYC. A chapter on the historical bike meccas of NYC and its former suburbs doesn't do all that much for me, given that I've never heard of the streets he's naming. Also, he keeps emphasizing the "freedom" a bike has over public transportation and cars. Yet, most people live in towns where a car is faster and more versatile than a bike. Bikes almost always have public transportation beat hands down though.
Next, why does he even have a chapter on bike repair/maintenance at all? Instead of just saying "you need to know how to do this -- go look it up!" or "Carry basic tools and and a spare tube or you'll eventually be stranded," why not tell a story of a time when he was caught without them? Or saw someone without them? It would be more in line with the rest of the book if he'd approached it from that angle.
It could have used a chapter on maintaining your dignity under extreme circumstances - such as how to recover from an embarrassing accident like grazing a pole and ending up sprawled across the ground right in front of a bus stop full of gawkers who are snickering at you.
Regardless of the flaws, I enjoyed the book a lot. He's a self-proclaimed curmudgeon and I can't think of a single person that he didn't insult, but it's done in such a lighthearted way that I was snickering as he did so.
October 20, 2013
I am not one to follow blogs, but I've been aware of BikeSnobNYC's presence for about 5 years. I've been a cyclist and enthusiast/advocate of safe, smart, practical, and pleasant bicycling lifestyles for close to 7 years. I started off with Mister Snob's second book, The Enlightened Cyclist: Commuter Angst, Dangerous Drivers, and Other Obstacles on the Path to Two-Wheeled Trancendence, expecting to identify most with the issues raised and ranted about on those topics. Instead I found it to be a pathetic excuse for a book.
When I started reading this one, which was successful enough that he quickly wrote and published two more books of similar form and length, I started thinking it would be much better. Instead, I can barely even say that it has enough "pearls of wisdom" throughout to warrant reading it. The things that bothered me most were the self-pitying analogies made between cultural prejudice against cyclists and racism, which Eben Weiss, aka Bike Snob NYC, seems to think is a thing of the past. Throughout both of his first two books, Weiss shows how unaware he is of his own privilege as an affluent, straight, white, cis male.
Besides all that, he thrives on being the hater who claims to hate haters. I happen to be a rider of both geared and fixed-gear bikes, but I like my fixed gear with both front and rear brakes, a rear mudguard, and converted from an older steel road bike frame. So maybe my preferred setup would merit an approval from the Snob, or maybe not. But his contempt for brakeless track bike riding in the city comes off as excessive. Sure, it's a trend often worn by incompetent riders, but nearly every rider I've seen on a brakeless track bike is capable of stopping quickly and safely, as long as their pedals, cleats, cages, or cranks don't break suddenly.
In conclusion, there were a few things in this book I wholeheartedly agreed with, but BikeSnobNYC's humour, philosophy, and language aren't nearly as funny, valid, or sophisticated as he and his followers seem to think.
When I started reading this one, which was successful enough that he quickly wrote and published two more books of similar form and length, I started thinking it would be much better. Instead, I can barely even say that it has enough "pearls of wisdom" throughout to warrant reading it. The things that bothered me most were the self-pitying analogies made between cultural prejudice against cyclists and racism, which Eben Weiss, aka Bike Snob NYC, seems to think is a thing of the past. Throughout both of his first two books, Weiss shows how unaware he is of his own privilege as an affluent, straight, white, cis male.
Besides all that, he thrives on being the hater who claims to hate haters. I happen to be a rider of both geared and fixed-gear bikes, but I like my fixed gear with both front and rear brakes, a rear mudguard, and converted from an older steel road bike frame. So maybe my preferred setup would merit an approval from the Snob, or maybe not. But his contempt for brakeless track bike riding in the city comes off as excessive. Sure, it's a trend often worn by incompetent riders, but nearly every rider I've seen on a brakeless track bike is capable of stopping quickly and safely, as long as their pedals, cleats, cages, or cranks don't break suddenly.
In conclusion, there were a few things in this book I wholeheartedly agreed with, but BikeSnobNYC's humour, philosophy, and language aren't nearly as funny, valid, or sophisticated as he and his followers seem to think.
March 13, 2018
Leitura rápida e bem humorada sobre o mundo das bicicletas. O bike snob não perdoa ninguém, nem os ciclistas de estrada, nem os de montanha e muito menos os hipsters.
June 6, 2011
Perhaps because I didn't go into this book already a fan of the Bike Snob blog, I wasn't able to fully appreciate it. I'm somewhat new to the adult cycling world, and thought this book would be a fun way to learn about different areas of cycling I was never aware of, and be a fun commentary. This book generally had no useful information, the area near the end of the book that referenced maintenance and repair was only there to say "I'm not going to go into details because you can find this information online, but it's something everyone should know". I read through this book in two days, and that wasn't because it was enthralling. It there are three real sections of this book. The first a short history on cycling, the second section, the vast majority of the books felt like at was all about how "Hipsters are douchebags". The final third of the book was about the information you "needed to know" as a cyclist, but he never details what they are, or how to do them.
December 26, 2011
This may have been more of a 3.5. But, my love and sodade for biking allowed for me to round up. It put a lot of things I think into words for biking that I didn't quite know how to say. It made my laugh a few times and it had some interesting bits of info.
I don't see it as being something to stand the test of time as far as cycling goes. The author uses a ton of pop culture references that pretty much act as carbon dating for his age/era he grew up in. And he talks about hipsters a lot. But, those things aside, I really liked the heart of this book.
It also had some great quotes about cycling by famous people. And one about toast by Paris Hilton. I liked it as a slightly experienced, though relatively outsider cyclist. If I had been cycling for years and years and years, I might not have enjoyed it as much.
But, for right now, in this time in my life, it is greatly appreciated.
I don't see it as being something to stand the test of time as far as cycling goes. The author uses a ton of pop culture references that pretty much act as carbon dating for his age/era he grew up in. And he talks about hipsters a lot. But, those things aside, I really liked the heart of this book.
It also had some great quotes about cycling by famous people. And one about toast by Paris Hilton. I liked it as a slightly experienced, though relatively outsider cyclist. If I had been cycling for years and years and years, I might not have enjoyed it as much.
But, for right now, in this time in my life, it is greatly appreciated.
December 21, 2010
not too bad of a book and generally a pretty quick read. while i didn't particularly agree with all of his points, the author does a pretty good job of giving the reader a crash course in the history of cycling, where it stands today and some solid starting points for being a more responsible cyclist.
parts were pretentious. parts decimated hipsters and what they've done by commandeering so many parts of cycling subcultures into their own little quasi-culture.
as i said, i don't agree w/ many of his points (e.g.: helmets aren't always necessary, pick and choose which laws regarding road use you should obey, triathletes are not real cyclists b/c we'd abandon cycling if tris replaced the bike portion w/ another event and so on...)
it was semi-interesting, but a lot of rehash that i've heard countless times from people who are "single issue" people focused on bicycling advocacy.
parts were pretentious. parts decimated hipsters and what they've done by commandeering so many parts of cycling subcultures into their own little quasi-culture.
as i said, i don't agree w/ many of his points (e.g.: helmets aren't always necessary, pick and choose which laws regarding road use you should obey, triathletes are not real cyclists b/c we'd abandon cycling if tris replaced the bike portion w/ another event and so on...)
it was semi-interesting, but a lot of rehash that i've heard countless times from people who are "single issue" people focused on bicycling advocacy.
March 29, 2011
A happy-go-lucky little "blog to book" primer on the wonderful world of bicycles. Includes a brief history of the sport, hilarious composites of the different types of characters that populate the bicycle universe, the different bicycle subcultures (Messengers, Roadies, Urbanites, etc), and the bikes we all ride. Despite allusions to snobbery in the title, the author doesn't take himself or any of the other "bike snobs" too seriously and sets out to demystify biking. He re-iterates often that what makes one a "cyclist" is first and foremost the love of riding (ANY kind of bike ANYWHERE you ride it) and the fact that a "cyclist" will ride their bike places because they want to (not because they HAVE to). Also, anyone who wants to become a "cyclist" absolutely should - don't be intimidated by cliquey "bike snobs," just get out there and ride!
September 19, 2016
If you want to read an interesting and witty biking book, don’t read this one. Instead read “Over the hills” by David Lamb.
Nonetheless, Bike Snob does make a few excellent points:
“The most important thing for the advancement of cycling is for people to be seen on bikes. And that’s definitely happening.”
“Once you start riding you’re no longer one of the sedentary masses. Also, you won’t need to eat less. Actually, you’ll need to eat more. Food will no longer be an indulgence. It will become what it was always supposed to be, which is fuel. Your meals will be sources of energy, not guilt.”
“The absolute truth about cycling -- and the very best thing about it, better even than the speed and mobility -- is the fact that it can be a key to fulfillment as powerful as any religion, psychoactive drug, or therapist.”
Nonetheless, Bike Snob does make a few excellent points:
“The most important thing for the advancement of cycling is for people to be seen on bikes. And that’s definitely happening.”
“Once you start riding you’re no longer one of the sedentary masses. Also, you won’t need to eat less. Actually, you’ll need to eat more. Food will no longer be an indulgence. It will become what it was always supposed to be, which is fuel. Your meals will be sources of energy, not guilt.”
“The absolute truth about cycling -- and the very best thing about it, better even than the speed and mobility -- is the fact that it can be a key to fulfillment as powerful as any religion, psychoactive drug, or therapist.”
May 16, 2013
This book has a lot of good advice and information. When the author recommends two goals for commuting - 1. get there alive and 2. don't get angry - you can appreciate his point of view and learn something from it. However, I took off 1 stat because this book needs serious editing. The authors trademark tangents, while entertaining in small doses on his blog, are incredibly distracting and annoying if you try to read an entire chapter in one sitting.
I would recommend this to anyone who rides a bike or is thinking about starting. I would just include a recommendation to skim through it rather than read all of it.
I would recommend this to anyone who rides a bike or is thinking about starting. I would just include a recommendation to skim through it rather than read all of it.
October 3, 2010
Omy goodness people!!! This book is perfect. Spot-on! I read some reviews, for cyclist, not for cyclist, blahblahblah. It's an entertaining and informative history of a, the development of the bicycle and b, of the cyclist. And though every possible type of person that rides a bike could not possibly be describe he hits the nail on quite a few heads. And perhaps at times it might feel a little judgemental, snooty even, but he makes no lies about his disdain when he classifies himself in his own special category of snobbery.
LOVE IT! READ IT!
LOVE IT! READ IT!
May 16, 2012
A quick, informative read about all manner of cycling things. Good tips on how to be a better cyclist (mostly referring to being a commuter cyclist), as well as some good tips for non-cyclists on how to treat cyclists. I've been looking to start riding my bike places rather than driving, and this provided some good help to do so, and some encouragement to ride on the roads, which I have been nervous about because wear I live seems like it was purposefully stacked against any form of travel other than car.
March 12, 2014
This book, though reasonably well written and occasionally humorous, felt like blog posts. This makes sense given the authors background. I guess I just wanted something more from it. It was such a quick read that it just didn't feel like reading a book. It felt like reading a couple of articles. I agreed with the author on a number of topics, disagreed on others, and once or twice laughed out loud. It was enjoyable for what it was but I will probably not read another of his books in favor of just reading the blog.
February 6, 2020
BikeSnobNYC is apparently a real person and blogger and self professed bicycling curmudgeon. In Bike Snob he analyzes, deconstructs and destructs the culture, subcultures and genres of the bicycling community. This is mostly for the urban cyclist, and it is irreverent, ridiculously judgemental and most of the time pretty much right on target. The book does stall at times, but is still an enjoyably snarky and fun short read. 3 stars.
March 22, 2014
There is a hilarious amount of non-information here, and several times when there is about to be...the author tells you to “look it up”.
There’s also lots of pretension, because the author has somehow managed to feel superior to almost everyone.
Also, for the love of god, who allowed them to justify the type by letter-spacing?!
There’s also lots of pretension, because the author has somehow managed to feel superior to almost everyone.
Also, for the love of god, who allowed them to justify the type by letter-spacing?!
June 29, 2012
This first effort by 'Bike Snob NYC' had me grinning throughout and wondering why I don't meet him for a few beers, because he sees clearly from over his handlebars throughout his biking world. Then again, NYC is not a place I'd choose to ride in. Possibly should be recommended for reporters who are doing pieces on biking as reference.
December 24, 2012
I enjoyed the book. It was humorous and fun p read. If your looking for a how-to book on commuting then this book isn't for you. Rather it's got a bit of everything: history; scientific classification of cyclists; romance; religion, economics; crime; fashion; and some tips.
Read it if you don't like the entire book you'll at least like many parts of it.
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