Bicycles & Tricycles : A Classic Treatise on Their Design and Construction

Rating:
Summary: Still useful today
Review: One of Sharp's goals was to debunk the truly awful designs of his day, and hopefully bring about their demise. When the book was written, the "ordinary" had only recently given way to the "safety," and the proliferation of designs described here is truly mind-boggling. As a historical record of early bicycle design, no other book even comes remotely close. The technical section is thorough enough to qualify as an engineering textbook, and needs no updating. The section on the design of individual components is of course limited by what was available at the time, but nevertheless is still of interest. After the numerous references to this book in Mike Burrows' "Bicycle Design," I had searched unsuccessfully for years for a used copy. The reissuance of Sharp at a reasonable price shouldn't be passed up by anyone with even a passing interest in bicycle design and history. Be forewarned: this is a faithful facsimile of the original, and as such, the typeface isn't as clear as what we're used to nowadays. We're lucky that the book is available at all, and this edition is undoubtably superior in appearance to an original (assuming you can even find one).

Rating:
Summary: A classic.
Review: The greatest bicycle engineering book ever written, and it's from 1896. When resources and minds were focused on bicycles, Archibald Sharp was leading the pack. Soon after the focus turned to internal combustion engines and no other books like this one have ever been published. This new edition is economical and a must for any serious bike book collection.