Revised "Recumbent Bicycle" book coming! Need data!



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Jeff Potter

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I'm publishing a revision of "The Recumbent Bicycle" in a new deluxe print run. I'll be updating it
as well. Anyone who has corrections and helpful new info, please let me know.

I was amazingly underwhelmed by the zero response in terms of data and contact info from all of the
makers I listed. I suppose the data was correct for the ones listed and covered, but I'd think any
others would've wanted to make sure my data was up to date and that the book covered their bike
models. I mean, it's the only general book about recumbents. But I've had basically no contact from
bike makers. Oh well.

Thousands of regular readers sure seem to have appreciated it, though! And that's really
where it's at.

I've especially enjoyed providing libraries with copies. Go kids! : )

--

Jeff Potter [email protected] http://OutYourBackdoor.com -- a friendly ezine of modern
folkways and culture revival...offering a line of alternative books and a world of bikes, boats,
skis...plus shops for great sleeper books, videos and music ...plus nationwide "Off the Beaten Path"
travel forums for local fun, bumperstickers and a new social magnet stickers! ...Holy Smokes!!!
 
Jeff Potter <[email protected]> wrote:
: I was amazingly underwhelmed by the zero response in terms of data and contact info from all of
: the makers I listed. I suppose the data was correct for the ones listed and covered, but I'd think
: any others would've wanted to make sure my data was up to date and that the book covered their
: bike models.

Yeah, sounds odd.

: I mean, it's the only general book about recumbents.

Hmm is it the Dutch or German only general book about recumbents? Or were those just
translations? :-/

: I've especially enjoyed providing libraries with copies. Go kids! : )

Did that include my library? :p~

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/ varis at no spam please iki fi
 
"Jeff Potter" skrev...
> I'm publishing a revision of "The Recumbent Bicycle" in a new deluxe print run. I'll be updating
> it as well. Anyone who has corrections and helpful new info, please let me know.

I'm sure 500 people already told you this but the bent in the pic on page 56 is a Reynolds Nomad and
not a Wishbone.

M.
 
Thanks, Mikael. No one has told me anything about anything.

Mikael Seierup wrote:

> "Jeff Potter" skrev...
> > I'm publishing a revision of "The Recumbent Bicycle" in a new deluxe print run. I'll be updating
> > it as well. Anyone who has corrections and helpful new info, please let me know.
>
> I'm sure 500 people already told you this but the bent in the pic on page 56 is a Reynolds Nomad
> and not a Wishbone.

--

Jeff Potter [email protected] http://OutYourBackdoor.com -- a friendly ezine of modern
folkways and culture revival...offering a line of alternative books and a world of bikes, boats,
skis...plus shops for great sleeper books, videos and music ...plus nationwide "Off the Beaten Path"
travel forums for local fun, bumperstickers and a new social magnet stickers! ...Holy Smokes!!!
 
Jeff Potter wrote:
>
> I'm publishing a revision of "The Recumbent Bicycle" in a new deluxe print run. I'll be updating
> it as well. Anyone who has corrections and helpful new info, please let me know....

The errata I have noticed:

Spine: Author's name is spelled incorrectly as "Fehla" instead of the correct "Fehlau".

Page 29: "In 1979, the first year of sale, 750 of the Avatar 2000's were sold. In the following
years, about 1000 per year."

Pages 44, 45, and 102: RANS is incorrectly capitalized as "Rans".

However, **** Ryan has stated the total production of Avatar's was around 140 bikes.

Page 56: The bike pictured in the caption is a Reynolds Nomad, and not a Wishbone.

Page 67: "It is not a physical limit - more is just not possible unless you crash into a cement
flower box."

"cement" should be replaced with "concrete".

Sixth page of color photographs, picture on the lower right. "Tandem with front drive and rear
suspension" This is Prof. Bill Patterson and his "Queen" on the WYMS (With Your Main Squeeze) tandem
which is BOTH front and rear drive - the drivetrains are completely independent.

Eighth page of color photographs, picture on the bottom.

An Easy Racer fanatic acquaintance of mine strongly believes that the bike pictured is a Gold Rush
Replica and not a Tour Easy - the rear dropouts are the identifying factor.

Page 92: "However, if high speeds are your thing, with a small front wheel it has been found that a
steep headtube angle with a straight fork and negative trail…"

"trail" should be replaced with "rake"

Page 100: Heading reading, "Disadvantages of covered seats:"

"covered" should be replaced with "mesh"

Page 142, caption: "soldering" should be changed to "brazing".

Tom Sherman - Various HPV's Quad Cities USA (Illinois side)
 
Jeff Potter wrote:
>
> I'm publishing a revision of "The Recumbent Bicycle" in a new deluxe print run. I'll be updating
> it as well. Anyone who has corrections and helpful new info, please let me know....

The table of "HPV Speed Records" on page 60 needs to be updated, of course.

Tom Sherman - Various HPV's Quad Cities USA (Illinois side)
 
When cutting and pasting, I put a line in the wrong place - correction below:

Page 29: "In 1979, the first year of sale, 750 of the Avatar 2000's were sold. In the following
years, about 1000 per year."

However, **** Ryan has stated the total production of Avatar's was around 140 bikes.

Pages 44, 45, and 102: RANS is incorrectly capitalized as "Rans".

Tom Sherman - Various HPV's Quad Cities USA (Illinois side)
 
> Anyone who has corrections and helpful new info, please let me know.>>

Jeff,

I've loaned my copy to my brother, and it's been over a year since I read it, so my memory is a bit
hazy. However, there are two or three things in addition to all the stuff Tom Sherman mentioned that
need fixing.

1. Near the beginning of the book there was some sort of misuse/confusion about the terms,
"highwheeler", "ordinary", and "safety bicycle". The ordinary and the highwheeler were the same
design, with a giant front wheel and a small rear wheel. The safety bike, with two wheels of the
same size came later. The safety bicycle is not the same as the ordinary.

2. Stylistically, the book suffers a bit from "translationese". The woman who translated it from the
original German was clearly not familiar with common English language cycling terminolgy. The
common 'bent terms, SWB, LWB, etc. were not introduced until late in the book, and then were
quickly abandoned in favor of some awkward phrase which I can't remember.

The words, "single track" were used to define a bike with two wheels, one behind the other. At first
I thought it was a mountain biking reference, then realized it merely meant a bicycle! As I recall,
that was meant to differentiate a bike from a trike. But why not just use common terminology, and
get away from the "English as she is spoken" syndrome?

Having said all that, it's a fine book. And I'm sure the corrected and updated revision will be even
better. Keep up the good work!

Norm
 
Ha, that's a new one about the covers! I find that 80% prefer the Tour Easy cover and so I'm going
just with that one for my upcoming big printing. But I've always liked giving people a choice. The
racers and lowracer buffs go for the racy lowracer one, etc. It was a fun quirky way to do things.

Thanks Tom and Norm for the typo fixes!

Ken Kobayashi wrote:

> I just wanted to say that having two editions with different covers was confusing. And whichever
> one you buy, it feels like you're missing out on something.

--

Jeff Potter [email protected] http://OutYourBackdoor.com -- a friendly ezine of modern
folkways and culture revival...offering a line of alternative books and a world of bikes, boats,
skis...plus shops for great sleeper books, videos and music

...plus nationwide "Off the Beaten Path" travel forums for local fun, bumperstickers and a new
social magnet stickers! ...Holy Smokes!!!
 
One bit of "Translationese" which stood out for me was the translation of "rohr" as "pipe" rather
than "tube"...

Dave Larrington - http://legslarry.crosswinds.net/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================
 
Ouch. Yes, I'll have to do some purging of awkwardnesses. Some phrases I liked better than ours
actually. "Driving behavior" might've been one of them. Not sure. Bilingo bike terms can throw ya.

Dave Larrington wrote:

> One bit of "Translationese" which stood out for me was the translation of "rohr" as "pipe" rather
> than "tube"...

--

Jeff Potter [email protected] http://OutYourBackdoor.com -- a friendly ezine of modern
folkways and culture revival...offering a line of alternative books and a world of bikes, boats,
skis...plus shops for great sleeper books, videos and music ...plus nationwide "Off the Beaten Path"
travel forums for local fun, bumperstickers and a new social magnet stickers! ...Holy Smokes!!!
 
I didn't like having two additions with different covers either for similar reasons. I prefer the M5
cover. I ride a low racer from time to time and also an Easy Racer but am I am not a racer. I prefer
the M5 cover just because I find it more aesthetically pleasing.

Zach Kaplan

Jeff Potter <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Ha, that's a new one about the covers! I find that 80% prefer the Tour Easy cover and so I'm going
> just with that one for my upcoming big printing. But I've always liked giving people a choice. The
> racers and lowracer buffs go for the racy lowracer one, etc. It was a fun quirky way to do things.
>
> Thanks Tom and Norm for the typo fixes!
>
> Ken Kobayashi wrote:
>
> > I just wanted to say that having two editions with different covers was confusing. And whichever
> > one you buy, it feels like you're missing out on something.
>
> --
>
> Jeff Potter [email protected] http://OutYourBackdoor.com -- a friendly ezine of modern
> folkways and culture revival...offering a line of alternative books and a world of bikes, boats,
> skis...plus shops for great sleeper books, videos and music
>
> ...plus nationwide "Off the Beaten Path" travel forums for local fun, bumperstickers and a new
> social magnet stickers! ...Holy Smokes!!!
 
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