Italian guide “Bicycles: Previous, Existing and Future” by Roberto Gurian, with graphic style by Maria Cucchi, has been translated by Robert Bethel into English, but wonderful bike pics communicate in all languages. PEZ literary editor, Leslie Reissner, offers us his thoughts on this amazing bike book, which is what it suggests on the cover, Bicycles: Earlier, Present and Potential.
It would appear to be that something as straightforward and self-evident as a bicycle would have occur to intelligent mechanical minds significantly before than it did. This 12 months marks the 200th anniversary of the to start with recorded bicycle journey as Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn propelled his two wheeler by the streets of Mannheim to a mentor prevent on the street to Schwetzingen and back again once more on June 12, 1817.
The highway journey was 14 km and took significantly less than an hour, an extraordinary sufficient speed for the time but it was not the highway to riches for the Baron as his major picket system was not very well-suited to the horrible roadways of the working day. It would be still left to some others to refine the machine in matches and begins about the subsequent seven many years. The evolution of the bicycle and the flowering of the mechanical imagination never ever fails to allure and this glorious variety is in whole exhibit in a gorgeous coffee desk e-book entitled: “Bicycles: Previous, Current and Future” with text by Roberto Gurian.
This exquisitely illustrated e-book used a graphic designer, Maria Cucchi, in its output and she is credited alongside with Mr. Gurian as perfectly as two “project editors.” We are handled to a shorter segment of textual content describing the bicycle in concern and, in fact, we are demonstrated devices of the previous, present and foreseeable future as promised. For some of us the previous features serious enchantment as we vacation from Baron Drais’ draisine to the very first pedal-pushed bicycles to the significant-wheeler and the breakthrough protection bicycle of 1885. But in addition to the well-acknowledged (Michaud’s Velocipede, the Starley Ariel, the Rover) we are treated to some picturesque oddities, this sort of as the Humber Cripper tricycle and Guilmet’s Chain Pushed Bicycle of 1868 in advance of we leap into the a bit a lot more recognizable era of racing bicycles from the early days of the Tour de France and equivalent gatherings.
There is a beautiful Bianchi keep track of bike from 1899 utilized to earn the Paris Grand Prix in 1899 and Petit-Breton’s 1908 Peugeot. Of system bicycles were being not just used for racing but had been noticed as obtaining more functional but in the end shorter-lived uses, like assistance with hearth departments and the armed service. Concluding the chapter, Alberto Binda’s 1932 Legnano is proven in the model’s trademark environmentally friendly colour. Binda was a few situations World Champion and a definitely fantastic rider who was really paid by the organizers to remain absent from the 1930 Giro d’Italia.
This area of bicycles of the earlier was incredibly satisfying but as a scholar of cycling heritage I was unhappy to see reference produced to the “celerifere” of a person Depend Mede de Sivrac, supposedly shown in Paris in 1792, as the initially bicycle but this assert has hardly ever been confirmed and seems to have only surfaced years right after the function as a nationalistic counterclaim to the German a single. An even before claim that a scribbled drawing of a bicycle with a chain travel was from the hand of Leonardo da Vinci in a single of his notebooks is deemed by most (apart from Italian nationalists, of training course) to be a later on fraud.
But we must not quibble above the aspects of record most likely when confronted with these a buffet of bicycle delights. Our next chapter handles “Modern Bikes,” and offers some unusual possibilities, from the BSA paratrooper bicycle to some attention-grabbing folding bicycles to a amount of existing bicycles that are distinguished by their glimpse backwards. The Rossignoli Garibaldi 71 appears related to the bikes still in use in China (but far more attractive, as befits an Italian marque), while the Peugeot Legend LC11 seems to be accurately like 1 of all those massive Dutch Gazelles. China’s Traveling Pigeon is indeed existing and so it the Legnano Vintage Gent, chaincases and all. I am not so specific of how consultant this choice is of fashionable bicycles but it is entertaining.
Of course PezCyclingNews readership would like to see racing bicycles and there is no disappointment right here. Chapter 3 is “Modern Racing Bicycle” and starts off with a bang as we can read through about Gino Bartali’s attractive Legnano with its uncomfortable Campagnolo Cambio Corso gear improve technique. Then there is Coppi’s winning Bianchi from the 1953 Globe’s, Anquetil’s stunning blue Gitane from 1963, Gimondi’s 1965 Magni and so forth by way of the iron (and carbon) steeds of champions all the way to Vincenzo Nibali’s 2014 Tour de France Specialized S-Functions Tarmac. There is clearly an emphasis on the Italian aspect of racing but, very well, why not?
“And why not?” is a fantastic characterization of the remainder of the guide. There is a chapter on “Handmade Bikes,” an additional on “Concept Bikes,” several of which are weirdly fascinating, just before we return to the additional prosaic earth of mountain bikes and a look into what is definitely turning into the long term of cycling, the pedal -help bikes, equally gasolene- and electric-driven.
I was extremely amazed to find this lovely hardbound e-book at a extremely sensible selling price at a substantial volume chain bookstore. Though it is not a function of historical scholarship, there are discoveries to be made and it is a wonderful factor to leaf by means of. Thinking about that the illustrations originate from a vast amount of resources, the graphic design and style is beautifully unified (kudos to Ms. Cucchi) “Bicycles: Past, Present, and Future” would make an outstanding gift to anybody fascinated in bicycles or good pictures.
“Bicycles: Previous, Present and Future” with text by Roberto Gurian, graphic style and design by Maria Cucchi
Translated from the Italian by Robert Bethel
272 pp., copiously illustrated
White Star Publishers, Novara, Italy
ISBN 978-88-544-0946-
“Bicycles: Earlier, Existing and Future” is offered from AMAZON.COM.
The submit PEZ Bookshelf: Bicycles: Previous, Existing and Foreseeable future appeared to start with on PezCycling Information.