Cycling Books and More

Cycling is amazing. It’s transport, it’s practical, it’s exercise, it’s wellbeing, it’s sport, it’s sustainability, it’s community, it’s egalitarian, it’s affordable and it’s FUN.

I have spent most of my life creating and running cycling social enterprises, but I have also promoted cycling through books and journalism, writing about the practicalities, wonders and cultures of cycling. Finally I decided to write one single book which covers it all. Cycle Magic contains everything which I have known and loved about the bicycle – a machine so modest in its majesty – and about the people who have made it part of their lives. The book’s also pretty radical.

Cycle Magic is, I can say, the biggest and most comprehensive book on cycling ever written – with 384 pages and 1050 colour images. It’s available through bookshops as well as through our online shop, where you will find more info and sample pages. You also find another book of mine I think will interest you.

I also have strong connections with two social enterprises which promote cycling nationally, partly through public events.

Cycle Magic is the unique. With over 1000 colour illustrations set in a handsome design this stimulating book is a pleasure to the eye and a constant source of fascination. With a light touch its 384 pages cover almost every cycling topic – giving insights, information, entertainment, and inspiration. It’s laced with surprising facts, delightful stories, radical new perspectives and some subversive humour.

Author Jim McGurn has spent decades involved in the promotion of cycling, through books, magazines, talks and social enterprise initiatives. Cycle Magic is the culmination of his life’s work and is based on deep personal knowledge and understanding of the potential of the bicycle, reflecting what he calls ‘the magic of the minimal’. Here’s a flavour of some of the contents, with sample pages below:

THE CYCLING STORY. How the bicycle changed our lives

A WORLD FULL OF CYCLISTS. People, places, cultures

TECHNOLOGY. How the wonder works

BIKE LOVE. Finding the perfect fit on the right bike and how to keep it happy

BIKES FOR EVERY PURPOSE. All kinds of bike for all kinds if people

BIKES GO BEYOND. Ingenious ideas and applications.

CYCLE SPORT. The urge to compete and issues explored

BOOKS AND BIKES. The best of the best writers

BICYCLE PEOPLE. Stories of the heroes and villains, of the famous and the forgotten

BICYCLES IN ART. The delights of cycle art and photography

RADICAL PERSPECTIVES. Cycling’s place and potential

PEDALS FOR PROGRESS. A manifesto for change

Cycle Magic makes an ideal gift for anyone becoming interested in cycling or as a good read for experienced cyclists looking to explore more and enjoy confirmation that cycling is, indeed, MAGIC.

ISBN 978-1-0682336-0-9

BUY CYCLE MAGIC AND ON YOUR BICYCLE TOGETHER FOR A £7.00 DISCOUNT.
QUOTE '777' AT CHECKOUT.

£26.95

‘Man's most perfect machine’, ‘the camel of the occident’, ‘the ghost of a departed spider’: the bicycle has been described in many ways. For Goldsworthy it was ‘responsible for more movement in manners and morals than anything else since Charles II’. In 1970s Chile, Allende's government declared that socialism can only be achieved on a bicycle. Historians have largely ignored its importance yet few themes offer such a rich variety of material and insights into social change.

Over 230 pages, with 220 mono and colour images, On Your Bicycle describes cycling’s vivid role in our lives over more than two centuries. The story takes us from the often wayward inventions of the amateur mechanics to the pedal-driven boneshakers of the 1860s. Then to the high-wheeled cycles now known as ‘penny farthings’ – associated with speed and daring, and a club culture complete with uniforms and bugles. Then to the upper-class cycling passions of the 1890s, thanks to chain-driven, smaller-wheeled, pneumatic-tyred ‘safety’ cycles. The bicycle enabled forms of liberation to women and eventually brought freedom and mobility to millions and inspired huge varieties of cycle sport.

Cycling's mixed fortunes in the motor age are also chronicled. Between the wars holidays-with-pay, combined with an extensive rail network, enabled excursions to the Great Outdoors. The last chapter shows how cycling’s post war decline was halted when new generations took to cycling as a healthy, practical and ecologically respectable activity, with some recognising cycling as a positive counter-cultural activity.

On your Bicycle, the Illustrated Story of Cycling, was first published by John Murray and this is the updated second edition. It is not available through bookshops or Amazon.

BUY CYCLE MAGIC AND ON YOUR BICYCLE TOGETHER FOR A £7.00 DISCOUNT.
QUOTE '777' AT CHECKOUT.

£16.95