Bicycling Science, 3rd Edition [Hardcover]

As of May 1, 2004 the other customer reviews posted for this title are somewhat misleading, because they refer only to the much older (second) edition. The third edition, published April 2004, is dramatically enlarged and updated -- a completely new book based on a tremendous amount of recent work. Dave Wilson and I have attempted to address all the issues to be seen in those reviews, plus many more, we hope successfully.

In this 5-year process every chapter was rewritten or even replaced outright. A great quantity of new material on history, physiology, speed calculations, aerodynamics, steering theory, human powered vehicles etc. is available nowhere else.

I encourage any scientifically curious cyclist, or bicycle industry engineer, to contribute a genuine review of the third edition, so potential readers can learn about this distinctly different book.

After skimming the book for a week, I loaned it to an engineer friend who does Ironman competitions. He returned it in short order, finding it too dry. Enough said...

Released this April, David Gordon Wilson's updated Bicycling Science fills the gap between, on the one hand, shop
manuals and training guides, and on the other the contemporary literature on human powered vehicles. Wilson, Professor
Emeritus at MIT, navigates physics and physiology to produce a hefty source of insight.

Wilson splits his book into three broad sections -- the biology of human power generation, the physics of turning
complicated muscle motions into linear velocity, and radical redesigns of the standard diamond bicycle frame.

The first section explains, among other things, the role of oxygen uptake and distribution, and gives empirical and
theoretical backing to some, but not all, of the conventional wisdom surrounding cycling. The curious will find a detailed
explanation of why high pedal cadence allows for long-term, low-intensity, high-efficiency power generation.
Modifications to the standard choices -- from elliptical chain-wheels to hand-powered cranks -- are analyzed
critically.

The second section might be jokingly termed "extreme high school physics." Wilson explains how people intuitively
balance and steer on two wheels, and the design of braking systems to avoid flip-over. He gets down-and-dirty in the
metallurgical literature to explain the role of metal fatigue in frame failure, and into fluid dynamics to discuss air drag in
laminar and turbulent air flows.

Wilson manages to give a sense of how the different demands physics makes on all aspects of bike design cohere into the
more-or-less efficient system that we recognize today as the road and mountain bike. Wilson is an innovator, but he has a
healthy respect for current designs along with a good deal of skepticism for passing fads such as that for ultralight
components.

The final section covers Wilson's love: the radical redesigns of human powered vehicles to enable people to not only
cover vast distances or reach high speeds, but also to swim, submarine, fly and even hover or flap on the power --
between 100 and 700 W -- the "NASA standard" man or woman can provide on timescales between hours and
seconds.

The text occasionally jumps into a wider historical and social context to provide lighter relief, such as the diagrams that
compare cycling's efficiency to other modes of of transportation (cyclists handily undercut a fully loaded diesel commuter
train for calories expended per rider.) Wilson is not amused by those who would compare cyclists to dolphins or hawks in
terms of efficiency, distance, or speed -- too bad. A brief rant against cars near the end is the exception to the rule of
Wilson's professional, honest style.

Bicycling Science can be used as a handbook for the armchair designer of human powered vehicles. Or, if you prefer, as a
way to answer the nagging science questions that arise after a thoughtful bike ride. Perhaps its most inspiring use,
however, is as a bed-table compendium of stand-alone investigations into what engineers have come up with on a device
that has been perfected, again and again, for decades longer than the internal combustion engine.