Cyclecraft

Cyclecraft by John Franklin is the UK's closest equivalent to an "official" cycling manual for adults. It's published by The Stationery Office, the quaintly-named official publishing house of the British government, and a revised and extended edition has recently been published.

It's the official source book for Bikeability the UK's national standards for cycle training, which replaces and extends the Cycling Proficiency of old, and it contains much that is of surpassing value for the cyclist. More importantly, when the new edition was discussed on the newsgroup uk.rec.cycling, it was evident that none of the experienced cyclists took issue with the book; the occasional minor difference in emphasis was about the limit of it.

If you are an adult or young adult cyclist, if you are trying to help your kids to learn to ride safely on the road, or if you are a driver who wants to be more considerate to cyclists, this book is a must-read.

Ask your bike shop for it. They won't have it, but ask anyway. The more people ask for this book at bike shops, the greater the chances of bike shops getting smart and starting to stock it. It's the single most important safety add-on you'll ever get for your bike.

The more astute among you will note that the head of the cyclist is missing from the cover photo. It is probably no coincidence that John is a helmet sceptic, while the Department for Transport and others are widely considered helmet zealots. Through his work as an expert witness in cycling injury cases, John has become one of the best-informed contributors to the helmet debate. As with many helmet sceptics, he began as an instinctive supporter of helmet use, but was persuaded to a more sceptical position by his review of the evidence.

Links

 * John's Cyclecraft site
 * ISBN 978-0-11-703740-3