Old Gammy Leg

I've seen this book mentioned a few times on this forum - is it worth getting?

I'm in the UK and so ride on the left, I could imagine it might get annoying as I guess everything is written from the US point of view.

I have been riding on the roads for about 10 years and would consider myself a reasonably experienced (though by no means perfect!) cyclist. So does this book have enough advanced, in-depth information to make it worth it for me?

operator

Some of it is outdated. That's all I can say. It's not the be all end all of cycling books.

RonH

I'm a certified cycling instructor and have used and quoted from his book many times. The material we use in our classes is based on the book. But the book is 600 pages!
I know you're in the Uk but you may want to try going to the League of American Bicyclists education page and read some of the information there. Or visit a few online bike commuting websites like...

https://bicyclesafe.com/
https://www.bikecommute.com/hometext.html
https://www.bicycledriver.com/

late

Do your libraries do interlibrary loans? If so, you should be able to get it that way.

John E

For our friends in the U.K., I strongly recommend John Franklin's "CycleCraft," published by The Stationery Office. John S. Allen's "Street Smarts" is very good, as well.

The safety- and traffic-related portions of Forester's tome are still very useful, but the equipment sections, particularly regarding lighting, are indeed badly outdated.

Helmet-Head

But the safety and traffic related portions of the book are so good that it's worth getting the book just for that, despite some of the outdated portions.
I didn't read it until after I had almost 30 years of experience, and I still learned some fundamental concepts about cycling in traffic that I never even considered before I read Effective Cycling.

sbhikes

Do what I do, go to a bookstore and read it there. If it's really worth it, you'll decide to buy it.

Allister

Probably not. 10 years experience is the best education you can get. There's probably not much in EC that you don't know already. If you think there may still be things you need to learn, search the archives here, and if that turns up blank, ask.

I read it after I'd been riding a few years, and all it really did was confirm what I'd figured out for myself, and frankly, the brow-beating and dogmatism gets pretty irritating after a while.

Save yer money.

genec

It can be hard to find in a book store... I did not see it at the local Barnes and Nobel nor at the Borders Books and Music or Crown Books. I ordered it at Amazon.

Of course I have found certain books for my other passion, Sailing, just as difficult to find.

Helmet-Head

I gotta say, after I first read it, I felt the same. It seemed to me like I alread did what Forester was saying. The differences between my riding and what he was advocating seemed subtle and insignificant. I was only half right. The differences were subtle, but very significant. The concept of speed positioning between intersection and destination positioning at intersections (and their approaches) is simple but very powerful. That, coupled with the discussion merge negotiation, is incredibly valuable. I'm still amazed at how much difference there can be in just moving over a foot or two within my lane. The difference is in how much awareness and respect you achieve with motorists.

Check out the reviews on Amazon.com for more opinions.

andygates

Gammy, in the UK John Franklin's Cyclecraft is better (it's arguably better all round, but it certainly addresses things from a left-side-of-the-road perspective!). It's also cheaper

Daily Commute

Forester is not the be-all-end-all of how to ride in traffic, but he is the source of much of the debate. I'd strongly recommend reading his book (although I just checked it out from the library), but don't stop there. I also like Robert Hurst's, "The Art of Urban Cycling."

My recommendation: Look up Forester's book in the library, and then browse around the shelf for other books.

lrzipris

An experienced cyclist may in fact intuitively ride in a manner consistent with Forester's theories but not realize it or appreciate the nuances. I found the book fascinating for its conceptual analysis of where cyclists fit in in the flow of traffic, and it said things that I had been doing without any real, in-depth understanding of why I rode the way I did. Hurst's book is an attempt to mediate between Forester and his critics, a position based on what Hurst depicts as the realities of urban traffic and cycling. Since I like to collect books about my hobbies and pleasure, I found both interesting additions to my library. As for the cost of Effective Cycling, I would imagine that used copies can be located over the Net.

Daily Commute

Good point. Forester intellectualizes what we do intuitively. It makes you think about the "why," which can only make you a better cyclist.

You can fairly dispute this or that part of Forester's work, but no one can write about cycling in traffic without referencing him. By itself, that makes him worth reading. Unfortunately, he has an acid tongue that detracts from the strength of his arguements.


I think Hurst is more of an EC'er than he thinks he is. He only rarely suggests departing from EC techniques. And when he does, he uses EC-type logic to justify his positions.

genec

Question for the EC riders out there... How fast do you typically ride? Forester does a whole section on rider health and achieving the maximum from your body and bike. His comments on spinning are quite humorous... and true... look at any exercise machine and see how it reacts at an over 60RPM.

So what if a long time cyclist later has health problems... and found they could no longer achieve optimal speeds? How might that effect the rider against everyday traffic speeds?

Consider does EC work as well at say 12MPH in typical 35MPH traffic? What might be the consequenses of slower cyclist speed.

This may be a question for the 50+ forum, but the EC riders are going to look here first.

A better example might be a fully loaded tourist. I know when I tour, I maintain about 13MPH on flat streets... And certainly I run into a wide varity of conditions from rural "farm" hiways to city traffic. Of course hills mean gearing way down and crawing while spinning like crazy.

Daily Commute

I know this problem first hand, because my winter tires studded 106's slow me down a lot. Yes, it is more difficult to follow "EC" principles when you can't go fast, but it's more difficult to follow any "style" of cycling. Going uphill, fully loaded, on fat studded tires on a 35 mph road in bad conditions is harder than going downhill, without a load, on narrow tires in perfect conditions.

But in some ways, the "EC" techniques of lane position are even more important when you're slow. You do have to be more careful about changing lanes, but you still need to position yourself not to be brushed or sideswiped.

But back to the subject of the thread, you can't intelligently discuss cycling safety without an understanding of Forester's theory. It's kind of like what Newtonian physics is to physics as a whole. Newton doesn't explain everything. He gets somethings wrong. But you can't understand any other part of physics until you understand Newton.

And no, I'm not saying Forester is a genius like Newton.

Old Gammy Leg

Interesting discussion, thanks for your responses.

I will try to get a look at JF's book... I consider myself a pretty safe, confident cyclist, but sometimes, like all of us, I am in situations where I really feel intimidated by traffic... usually deliberately aggressive/dickhead drivers. Only a couple of days ago, a car came within millimitres, and I really do mean a couple of millimetres, of hitting another car when overtaking me in a clearly unsafe situation. Both going at about 60, so combined impact speed of 120mph. They only would have clipped, but still... what a ****.

I don't know that much about JF's principles, but I do try to 'ride like a car', instead of cowering by the kerb. If I feel unsafe I will quite happily ride in the middle of the road and create a situation where it is physically impossible for a car to overtake me without killing me. I can certainly see the objections to cycle lanes, and why they encourage sloppy/dangerous driving.

Helmet-Head

Gene, speed is not nearly as relevant to VC/EC as many make it out to be. How fast I ride varies depending on what I'm doing. Riding alone on my road bike, I ride 15-25 mph. On the tandem we actually go slower. Towing our 5 year old in the trailer much slower. The point is I practice EC/VC towing a 60 lbs trailer (including child) with my mtn bike just as much as when I'm solo on my road bike. Now that I know about EC/VC, I would not dare take the unecessary risks to ride any other way on the road.

So if we're going 12mph (or 10 mph, or slower) along with 35mph (or 45 mph, or faster) traffic, between intersections, we follow the vehicular rule of slower traffic keeping to the right. That is effective/vehicular cycling.

When we are approaching an intersection, and as we ride through an intersection, we use destination positioning, which often involves merging and negotiating for the right-of-way, and works quite effectively even at large speed differentials. That too is effective/vehicular cycling.

alanbikehouston

Yes, "CycleCraft" is a terrific book on the techniques for riding on urban roads. The illustrations make examples easy to understand (although Americans have to "reverse" the diagram due to the odd tradition the British have of driving on the wrong side of the road.

"Effective Cycling" is a huge book, with detailed explanations of how to replace a wheel bearing, as well as how to make a left turn. The 1999 printing is almost 600 LARGE pages. It is more of a "reference" book than a book to sit and read cover to cover.

Lots of details on things as arcane as the best method for removing a crank cotter pin. And, absolutely NO information about protecting a bike from theft, or a rider from assault (both of which are concerns to urban riders). Maybe not the FIRST book about cycling that someone should buy, but well worth owning.

Daily Commute

Alanbikehouston is right, Forester's book contains a lot of useless (and sometimes downright wacky) bike maintenance stuff. Concentrate on the stuff about how to ride in traffic [edit: and the stuff about cycling history].

Feldman

For folks in bookstore-deprived areas, I have seen it at several Borders stores in the Northwest. Look on Powells.com for used copies--that way, you can get the heart of the book, the riding and traffic-navigating stuff, and feel like you didn't pay for the very dated maintainance and equipment information.

MassBiker

In my opinion, John Franklin's _Cyclecraft_ does a better job than does Forester at explaining vehicular cycling. And _Cyclecraft_ is published by The Stationary Office in the UK, so it has cyclists riding on the left.

The parts I've found most interesting from Forester are his history of bicycling in the USA, culminating with his experiences on the California Bicycle Committee and the early traffic crash studies -- Kenneth Cross in 1974, the 1975 League of American Wheelmen study, and the '77 Kenneth Cross - Gary Fischer studies -- that led to improved standards for US bicycle facilities and worked against required-use laws.

I don't give a whole lot of credit to some of the guy's mechanical ideas. For example, I'm not drilling out my hubs to put an oil duct in them, regardless of how wonderful he says that is.

Overall, I like the book. It's in my collection, and I bought it at the MIT Bookshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it's published. I met Forester, also, in 2001, so I have an autographed copy. But all that said, if you have _Cyclecraft_, you've got the business on vehicular cycling.

Helmet-Head

Ugh. I ordered Cyclecraft from Amazon on Dec 17. The shipment was just delayed again. Now they're estimating late March...

Daily Commute

I think this calls for an "I HATE AMAZON" thread.

lrzipris

You know, "LBS" stands for "local book store."