"Racing bikes are defined by the riding experience, not by a few millimeters in tire width," says Jan Heine. The German edition of our book 'The All-Road Bike Revolution' just launched, and there's been a lot of interest in the German media. Gravel bikes are a brand-new phenomenon in Germany, at...
Exciting news: The German edition of our book The All-Road Bike Revolution is set to appear in July. We've worked with Covadonga, a specialist publishing house for cycling books, who already published The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles (Meisterwerke des Fahrradbaus) and The Competition Bicycle (Die Räder der Sieger). Translated by...
When The Bike Sauce reviewed our book, it came as a surprise. We aren't really part of the book industry, and it's not like we've sent out hundreds of review copies. It's nice to hear that the book meets the target of summarizing all the research that has transformed the...
Chatting with Russ from Path Less Pedaled about our new book 'The All-Road Bike Revolution' was a fun way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon. Russ asked why we wrote a book, we talked about front-end geometry and the future of 650B. I especially enjoyed Russ' take on bike design,...
Creating original artwork is always fun – especially when we work with Miyoshi. His iconic drawings delight the readers of our book The All-Road Bike Revolution. We wanted to enjoy them at other times, too. So we put some of our favorites on two water bottles. (more…)
For me as an editor, seeing a new book come out is a very special moment, especially if it's a new and challenging project. Before I joined Bicycle Quarterly and Rene Herse Cycles, I edited more than 180 books and magazines, but our latest project, The All-Road Bike Revolution, has...
Bicycles – and how we ride them – have changed tremendously over the last decade. Many accepted facts have been turned on their heads. We've learned that narrow tires aren't faster. Higher pressures don't reduce resistance. More trail doesn't always make a bike more stable. Stiffer frames don't always perform...
During a recent trip to Japan, we saw a beautiful book about steel road bikes, published by our friends at Bicycle Club magazine. The cover bike may look familiar to Bicycle Quarterly readers – it's part of a famous Japanese collection that we featured a few years back. Many consider this...
After a remarkable run over 15 years, our first book, The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles, is now out of print. Published in 2005, The Golden Age was at the start of our fascination with the French constructeurs. It made Rene Herse and Alex Singer household names. If cyclists today admire beautiful fender...
In the history of derailleurs, Huret is an often-overlooked. The French company cannot lay claim to big innovations like Campagnolo (first parallelogram racing derailleur), Simplex (first spring-loaded upper pivot to compensate for front shifts) or SunTour (slant parallelogram). And yet Huret's derailleurs were innovative in their own ways. Hideki Sasaki has...
Lyli Herse would have turned 90 years old today (January 6) – and this post was written to celebrate her life that has inspired so many of us. But alas, I have to report instead that Lyli died on Thursday after a very short illness. Despite the great sadness of...
At Compass Cycles, we have taken much of our inspiration from René Herse and his legendary bikes. In the past, we've talked about the great performance and incredible reliability of Herse's bikes, but what is even more striking is their beauty. You notice it immediately when you look at one...
We recently decided not to reprint Bicycle Quarterly back issues any longer. In the past, we've reprinted issues as they sold out, because we wanted to keep the great content available: amazing bike builders like Alex Singer, Charlie Cunningham, Jack Taylor, Reyhand, Hetchins, Charrel; the incredible French technical trials; original technical...
Many Bicycle Quarterly readers wrote to tell us how much they enjoyed Takayuki Nishiyama's in-depth article about SunTour in the Summer 2016 Bicycle Quarterly (above). SunTour was one of the world's most innovative component makers, yet little has been written about this company. SunTour went out of business in the 1990s, but...
We recently received the French edition of our book The Competition Bicycle. It's exciting to see our work translated into languages beyond English – after the German edition, there now is a French one. Our French publisher, Éditions Vigot, did a great job with this book. It was printed by their favorite printer...
Books about bicycle history and classic bikes are easily misunderstood: Are they intended for bicycle collectors? Do you need to be an aficionado of René Herse to enjoy reading about him and his riders? Our books are written for readers who want to learn from and be inspired by cyclists passionate about...
This year's PBP saw a significant number of riders on Compass tires. Of course, we (Jan, Theo, Hahn) rode them, too, but it's always nice to hear from others how our products are doing. J. O. from Vancouver, B.C., and his wife rode a tandem. We gave them our samples of the...
Rizzoli USA recently re-released The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles as part of their "Classics" series. This series offers their most popular books in a slightly smaller, handy format at a very attractive price. Of course, I am excited that this book is considered a bestseller (at least among art and...
From time to time, we receive shipments of books that have been damaged. Usually they haven't been packed well and got damaged in shipping. Sometimes, they have minor flaws that happened during the binding of the book. Usually, we return these books to the publisher, but when they come from overseas,...
Last week, I called Lyli Herse to wish her a happy 87th birthday. You can see her 62 years earlier in the photo above (third from the left). I love this photo – a great group of young (and some not-so-young) people. They congregate around a beautiful bicycle, yet their...
To North Americans, it may seem odd that the most advanced classic bikes – the ones that have inspired our "real-world" randonneur bikes – came from France. When I was growing up, Italian bikes ruled. British bikes came second. A tier or two below these dream machines were French bikes. If...
We are excited to add two new books to the Bicycle Quarterly bookstore. One is a lovely little book with photos of racers from the 1920s and 1930s. Whether you are interested in racing or historic photos, Goggles & Dust is a treasure trove of interesting images. Take this image of...
Our first and best-selling book The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles is now available in a French edition. Published by Editions Vigot and printed by a quality printer in France, the new book turned out beautiful. I am excited that the story of the constructeurs and their amazing bicycles is now...
Bicycle Quarterly's Calendar of Classic Bicycles is now available, and we are thrilled to think of how many of you will use the calendar to plan great outings in the coming year. Let yourself be inspired by the great selection of bikes featured in the coming year: The focus is...
I recently thought about my favorite books. There are many, and they span a wide range of topics, from Saint Exupéry's The Little Prince to The Art of the Motorcycle. Here are six of my favorite cycling books, in no particular order. This is not a "recommended reading" list; it's...
Hideki Sasaki has released the second book in the "Derailleurs of the World" series. The new book covers Simplex, perhaps the most influential derailleur maker of all. From the earliest 1920s designs to the last slant parallelogram derailleurs of the 1990s, they are all documented in their many variations. Simplex is...
I am cleaning out the Bicycle Quarterly Press library. I am keeping all the great books or those that we may need for reference later. This even includes two editions of Eugene Sloane's Complete Book of Bicycling, which I bought mostly because they had some grainy images of René Herse...
On September 1, 1930, two French pilots were the first to fly from Paris to New York. This was a huge achievement for them, but also their aircraft, since they flew against the prevailing winds. Most people know about Charles Lindbergh, who had flown the other way just three years earlier....
Our charity drive for the Museo del Ghisallo was a great success. We sold 80 calendars and have donated the entire proceeds – more than $ 1200 (900 Euros) – to the Museo. Not only will the donations help re-open the museum, but they also show the interest and passion...
Recently, we came across three copies of the first edition of our very first book. We had kept them, years ago, in case we needed to replace a faulty book or one that got damaged in shipping. We didn't have to use them for that purpose, so now we can...
When I was researching our René Herse book, the most difficult part of the story were the war-time years. Herse started making bikes in 1940, while Paris was occupied by the Germans. Being conditioned by war movies and war-time memories from German relatives, I found it hard to imagine anybody...
Our René Herse book is a big book: 424 pages! That is 2.5 times as thick as The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles. We didn't plan it that way, but the René Herse story has so many fascinating parts, and the Herse family archives contained so many wonderful photos that...
Cyclocross has been on my mind lately – I've returned to the sport after a 16-year hiatus – and so it was with special interest that I watched some old newsreel footage of 'cross races in Paris during the 1940s. Sports were among the few pleasant distractions that Parisians had during...
I was sad when I read the news that the Museo del Ghisallo is closing this winter, and that the prospects of it reopening next spring are uncertain. I fondly remember my visit in January 2007 to Magreglio, where the museum is located. We were on a month-long work road...
The René Herse book has been in circulation for a few months, both in the English and the French editions. The best part of writing the book has been the great feedback from our readers. It's nice to see that the book appeals to so many different cyclists. The surviving riders...
Like in previous years, Bicycle Quarterly has teamed up with Rizzoli's Universe Publishing to create a Classic Bicycles calendar for 2014. On the cover is a wonderful René Herse Randonneuse built in 1950. Inside are studio photos of twelve classic bicycles. Fans of racing bikes will enjoy Greg LeMond’s Gitane, Guiseppe...
Today, it's raining in Seattle, which makes me want to settle into a comfy chair with a book. The Bicycle Quarterly bookstore sells a small selection of excellent books. If we sell a book, it's because we like it and think you will, too. Take the Yehuda Moon comic books. Rick...
The French edition of our René Herse book has arrived both in Seattle and Paris. The pre-ordered books have been mailed to our readers. With every new book, it's exciting to see what our readers think. A reader from Luxembourg wrote: "It is absolutely fantastic." Most of all, I am looking...
In the René Herse book, there is a chapter on the 1945 Omnium des Cyclotouristes, which included a climb up the steep cobblestone hill at Neauphle-le-Château near Paris. One of the riders, Paulette Porthault, remembered: "Oh it was awful, all those rough cobblestones which dated from the time of Louis...
Maybe if you are traveling abroad this summer, you'll find our books in the local language! The world-wide response to our books has been very rewarding. Recently, a German acquaintance sent me this photo from his local bookstore in Göttingen. In the center of a display on cycling books were...
When somebody says nice things about your work, it's always a good feeling. When that person is a mentor who has been a great influence, it's even more meaningful. So when Grant Petersen reviewed our new book so positively and insightfully, it really made my day. It is great that...
In the past few weeks, we have received many e-mails from readers of our new René Herse book. All messages were positive. Many readers wrote that the book greatly exceeded their expectations. I appreciate the feedback, and I am delighted that our readers are so happy. After all, few people take...
Our new book René Herse • The Bikes • The Builder • The Riders will be available with French text in addition to the English version. Therefore, this update is in French. Notre nouveau livre René Herse • Les Vélos • Le Constructeur • Les Pilotes probablement sera disponible en édition française....
While I was in Paris and presented the first copy of the René Herse book to Lyli Herse, the container with the bulk of the books continued its voyage to Seattle. We finally received the shipment last Monday! We immediately started packing and mailing books to readers who pre-ordered the book....
Last Friday, we met at Lyli Herse's house outside of Paris for cake and cider to celebrate two birthdays: René Herse was born on this day in 1908, and Gilbert Bulté, one of Herse's riders, celebrated his 92nd birthday! "Monsieur Gilbert" (on the right) remains in excellent health, and it was...
Our new book René Herse • The Bikes • The Builder • The Riders will be available with French text in addition to the English version. Therefore, this announcement is in French. Notre nouveau livre René Herse • Les Vélos • Le Constructeur • Les Pilotes sera disponible avec texte français. Le...
The good news is that the René Herse books are on the way to Seattle. We received a few advance copies, including the Limited Edition with its beautiful slipcase (above). The book turned out even nicer than we expected. The bad news is that the boat won't reach Seattle before the...
Printing a book is a long and exciting process. During the last few months, almost every week, we have received a courier package with yet another step in the process for approval. First the plotter printouts, then the digital color proofs, paper and cover samples, and finally, the actual pages...
Our new book! Instead of telling you about René Herse, I'd like to tell you how this book came about. While I was visiting René Herse's daughter Lyli many years ago, we talked about restoring the tandem that placed first in the 1956 Paris-Brest-Paris. Lyli thought that she might have...
