Cyclepedia: A Century of Iconic Bicycle Design

The traditional diamond design bicycle frame in alloy steel has dominated the bicycle market for a century-and-a-half, but other designs have been attempted with various levels of success. Michael Embacher covers a huge collection of eclectic forms, shapes, and materials. Clean studio photos, from many angles, show the iconic details and give real perspective to these beautiful machines.

I gave this as a holiday gift to my daughter and son in law and all through the week my son in law kept going through the book with great appreciation. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that my children live in Portland, Oregon. In any event it's a fabulous history of the bike, with great illustrations from all the various countries who developed different configurations.

I got this book for my brother. He is a big fan of his bicycle and he was very impressed by this book. Well, more to say, I was reading this book for a few hours non-stop as well :)

If you like to look at interesting & unusual bicycles this book is an outstanding value. The pictures are crisp studio portraits, several of which are poster-quality. This is an important record of bicycle innovation and an important addition to the library of any serious enthusiast. This book is a catalog of the author's personal collection of idiosyncratic 20th century bicycles. It is the only catalog of any bicycle collection currently available. The table of contents lists 97 bicycles. It is not a historic collection so much as a collection of 20th century bicycles; 71 of them are after 1976. The oldest bike is 1922, three are from the 1920s, five from the 1930s and five from the 1940s. The bike collection lists 38 racing (including 2 Cinellis, a Kestrel, and breath-taking Sabliere and Bianci C-4 pages) 26 "urban", 24 unusual folding, 19 touring (which includes 2 Herse bikes and a Baines), 5 mountain bikes, 4 tandems. 2 cargo and 35 what it describes as "curiosity" bicycles, which include bicycles with spring frames, shaft drives and a 1996 two-wheel drive, to name a few. The collection is a catalog of the variety of human ingenuity developing different braking, gearing and frame designs. The photographs are high quality close-ups. The book emphasis is on the collection. The sometimes awkwardly translated text is casual and unfootnoted, like a museum display pointing out interesting details about the bikes rather than details about history. This is the second catalog of the Embacher collection. The first one was Smart Move- Bicycles From the Embacher Collection was published in 2007 which had 48 bicycles. Cyclepedia has 97 bicycles, 41 of which are in Smart Move and is more affordable. This catalogue is one of few bicycle collection catalogues ever published and is the only one in print.

I saw Cyclepedia when it was at the Portland Art Museum. I've enjoyed the opportunity to revisit, in greater detail, the bikes featured at Cyclepedia. There seem to be lots of books of the "101 Bikes That Changed The World" genre. I've read a few, this is my current favorite.

We used this as a wedding guestbook and couldn't be happier! It now is prominently displayed in our living room as a coffee table book. It's a great size, the pictures are fantastic, and the descriptions are well written for cycling nerds like my wife and me.

It is a fine looking and interesting collection. My issue is not with the publication. I was disappointed that it arrived with a dent in the cover and there was no way I was going to waste the carbon shipping it back and forth another time. Amazon needs to look at the product before they throw it in a box.

Fun book about the evolution of the bicycle. Great pictures and many interesting facts about bicycle design and experimentation.

schöne Zusammenstellung

Has all sorts of unique bicycles! Fun to read through. Any bicycle lover would enjoy this book. It was shipped fast and in good condition.