Book Review - It's All About the Bike

I just finished reading this book while on vacation last week. Don't confuse it with the book "It's Not About the Bike" which was written by Lance Armstrong about his comeback after fighting cancer to win the Tour de France. This book is written by a man named Robert Penn, who apparently has ridden his bicycle almost all of the way around the world. (If I remember correctly, he made it to India but decided to stop for some reason) He often refers to his experiences on his ride throughout the pages.

It's All About the Bike follows Penn around the world as he seeks to build his dream bike. He buys a custom built frame in England, a headset in Portland, OR, a drive train in Italy, and custom wheels in California just to name a few. In doing so, he delves not only into what type of parts he wants and why, but the history of the bicycle itself. He has done a lot of research into how the bicycle has become the machine it is today, virtually unchanged in form for more than 100 years. These facts and his opinions are presented in a very entertaining manner, for the most part.

The book is very tailored to a reader who loves bicycles. I don't know who else would enjoy reading 36 pages about the history of the bicycle handlebar and steering developments. But if it's your thing, this book is well worth your while. Just as a note, Penn's completed custom dream bike ends up costing him only around 5500 dollars. This may seem like a lot at first thought, but take a trip to your local bike shop and I can almost guarantee that there are bikes in there that sell for around 8000 dollars. Anyway, I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the bike.