• It's All About the Bike

  • The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels
  • By: Robert Penn
  • Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
  • Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (150 ratings)

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It's All About the Bike  By  cover art

It's All About the Bike

By: Robert Penn
Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
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Publisher's summary

Robert Penn has saddled up nearly every day of his adult life. In his late 20s, he pedaled 25,000 miles around the world. Today he rides to get to work, sometimes for work, to bathe in air and sunshine, to travel, to go shopping, to stay sane, and to skip bath time with his kids. He's no Sunday pedal pusher. So when the time came for a new bike, he decided to pull out all the stops. He would build his dream bike, the bike he would ride for the rest of his life; a customized machine that reflects the joy of cycling.

It's All About the Bike follows Penn's journey, but this book is more than the story of his hunt for two-wheel perfection. En route, Penn brilliantly explores the culture, science, and history of the bicycle. From artisanal frame shops in the United Kingdom to California, where he finds the perfect wheels, via Portland, Milan, and points in between, his trek follows the serpentine path of our love affair with cycling. It explains why we ride.

It's All About the Bike is, like Penn's dream bike, a tale greater than the sum of its parts. An enthusiastic and charming tour guide, Penn uses each component of the bike as a starting point for illuminating excursions into the rich history of cycling. Just like a long ride on a lovely day, It's All About the Bike is pure joy - enriching, exhilarating, and unforgettable.

©2011 Robert Penn (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"If you don't long for your own bike at the end of this book, you will at least never look at one the same way again." ( Kirkus)

What listeners say about It's All About the Bike

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

terrific book about bikes & history

Robert Penn does a terrific job weaving together the history of bicycling, and specifically, the history of the bike components, with his own extensive biking experience and his own passion to supervise the building of a new bike. Anyone who has a passion for bicycling, even of the spinning variety, will enjoy, and be enlightened, by this book.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Consider yourself a cyclist? Required reading

The complaints about this book are that it spends too much time on tangents, minutea, and history. THAT'S arguably the entire point of this book. A good education in cycling history and some of the iconic characters who helped shape it into what it is today.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

File Enthusiastically under 'History'

An orgy of minutiae about cycling and the history of manufactury! I heard Robert Penn interviewed by Jack Thurston on The Bike Show, and I was excited to see the book listed here. History buffs of any stripe will enjoy it - Penn takes us from present to past, and across the globe, expertly weaving together technology, social movements, and vivid characters. For example, a visit to Chris King Headsets diverges seamlessly into a reverie about the nature of the child hood experience of learning to ride; Mark Twain's essay Taming the Bicycle; and 20 years of urban planning and tattoos in Portland, Oregon. I enjoyed hearing about the "glory days" of cycling, when cheap fast transportation changed lives in unpredictable ways. I loved Penn's take on the title - which he doesn't acknowledge until late in the book - as a reclamation of the elegance of the bicycle, a most enduring invention. This is one of the few books I have listened to twice. I recommend it heartily.

(The narrator is affable, but may make a listener cringe with his unfortunate mispronunciations of European names - the great cyclist Hinault does not rhyme with "salt," for example.)

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A delightful story and history of cycling

Would you listen to It's All About the Bike again? Why?

Yes, there is so much information in this book

Who was your favorite character and why?

The writer's experience finding the best parts was fantastic

What???s an idea from the book that you will remember?

So much history I never knew

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Bicycle History

An in depth and fascinating bridge between past and present bicycles by an experienced writer and rider.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Riding Spirit

Loved it! It's a unique take on the history of the bike and the parts that make up the bike. I now know what my dream bike is going to be.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a true look at appreciating bicycles

loved the story. of course he skipped over a bazillion companies, but the author does touch on the finer points of being a true cyclist. worth the listen.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Lots of interesting history

If you love bikes and obsess over configuring them/components, this book is for you. I am in the process of building up a bikepacking rig and this book really hit the spot.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Must read/listen if bicycle enthusiast

Really enjoyed listening - learned about bicycle history and the author’s passion for cycling .

Recommend to all, especially cycling enthusiasts

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • SJ
  • 07-11-18

Good for every cyclist, and bike rider alike

Enjoyed this story and history lesson. I thought the performance was easily understood and well done.

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