Bikes Reviews

not to bad. directions could be better. missing a lot trails. where is the nearest bike shop, store, lodging? maybe I should write a book? .... I am.

Larry Wolfe

This book covers most of the popular trails in my area (panhandle) with detailed information about each. I especially like the authors descpritions on his personal rides. I do have one complaint however. The author gives general info about rescue and local services, but leaves out specifics like local bike shops, hotels, maybe even restaraunts. It would be nice to have this type of info if you are planning on traveling some distance to one of the listed trails so that you could plan accordingly. Otherwise a great book and an interesting read for early evenings when you can't actually be out on a trail tearing across a single-track.

This book is a good beginners guide to mountain biking in Florida. The book is divided into sections of the state which make it easy if you are just looking for a place to ride close to home. Also included is a map of the state with ride location marked on it. There is also another helpful section which lists the trails according to type, for example, beginners, advanced, family, scenic, etc. Each trail has a sketched map layout of the trail along with information on the general location, elevation change, aerobic and technical difficulty, scenery, hazards, services along the way, rescue index, and how to find them.

If you live in Florida, it isn't difficult to find the trails. If you are not a resident, a regular map of Florida and the author's directions should point you in the right direction. To find the trails in the parks, most state parks and trails have maps of the park at the ranger stations. Since the book is about the trails themselves, you will not find information about hotels in the area or where the local bike shop is. However, if the trail is in a park and camping is allowed or, as in the case of the Pinellas Trail, the trail has places to eat, shop, and stay over night along it, the author has noted this.

The only thing we noticed was that the author didn't seem to be from Florida. For example, in a park in our area, he talked about how he biked late at night and regretted doing so. Every Floridian knows better than to brave the bugs & the wildlife at night in a state park on a bike so to us this information was more humorous than helpful:) Otherwise, a good book if you are looking for some ideas on where to ride.

This book was a disappointment. The illustrations are the only saving grace. The book was lauded as appropriate for children. I strongly disagree. Poor judgement was used in the introduction of Old Man Brown and a child who is wisked away in the night with promise of adventure, and continues from the first pages. I cannot imagion any parent reading this book to their child without a cold chill running through them after the first three pages. References to history, minimal at best, one / two sentences per page does not leave room for any reference of value or historic significance. The concept has many possibilities. The opportunity to enchant a young reader with an introduction to U.S. and World History would be an enjoyable and worthwhile endeavor for parents and children to explore. Unfortunately, this book misses mark. I would not recommend this book.

I must say I was skeptical after reading the review above, but I found this book very enjoyable. True the text in minimal, but then again, it is a children's picture book. I don't think its the author's job to give a historical lecture. The point of the book is to touch upon aspects of history just enough to peak a child's curiosity, getting them to ask their parents or teachers questions. I am a teacher of young children. While I was reading Old Man Brown to my students, we came to a glorious pull out illustration of a Civil War Battle. The students asked, "Why are they fighting in the picture?" The book gave me the perfect window of opportuniy to discuss the Civil War with my class. Also, if you look closely at the final illustration, many of the places in history the boy visited are represented in his room. The entire story is a trip through the boy's imagination. I strongly disagree poor judgement was used in the writing of this book.

I've been using "Old Man Brown" to teach my Fourth Grade some of concepts they'll be learning in American History. The story is about a hundred year old man who takes a child on a magic bike ride through American history. Its an excellent way to introduce children to subjects like The Civil War. The illustrations are mysterious and the writing is poetic.

I am an advanced biker, I found this book to be much more for begineers, and also, it does not give you very many tips, I have tried aalmost half the rides in this book and i found that only 25% of them were actually okay. If you are advanced, like me, i don't suggest you buy this book, if you are begineer-medium biker, i suggest you can get it.

This book has lots of interesting and easy-to-medium routes submitted by individual cyclists, including road and off-road trails. My wife and I have enjoyed the rides in this book much more than the ones in Grob's book, which are often too ambitious. We recently lost our copy on a tour, and ordered a replacement because we missed it so much! One pet peeve is that the distances are sometimes off by a few miles, making the directions a little hazy, but this only happened in a few of the rides we tried.

This book is lame. The author tells you that "even local people get lost" in some parts of this area, so he does not attempt to be specific. He says that even if a street/area says "do not enter", you are a bicyclist, and can do so. This is a good way to get a) a ticket, b) a rude awakening, or c) an accident. There are better books on this topic, which the author mentions. Buy them.

After buying this book and riding Blommer's recommended route from Chicago to Milwaukee I was surprised by the other negative review. In general this book was well organized and very helpful to a person unfamiliar with the trail systems or bike options in the area. It would be possible to get bike maps and layout your own route, but I found the book especially helpful with directions to the most scenic routes through Kenosha and Racine. The otherwise excellent Wisconsin Bike Maps have no city detail and the locals, unless they use the trail systems, are usually clueless about directions to the trailheads, which I found continuing on trails to Madison. The book isn't perfect but it was a big help to an out-of-towner like myself. Whether you use Blommer's book or not, the ride is an excellent way to experience two great American cities.

Hmmm. I'm just not sure about this one. The book itself is well laid out, full-color, and spiral-bound. So everything is easy to use and see when you are working in a dusty garage after a hard-core ride. But I just can't get past the fact that this book simply doesn't cover everything you need to know about basic mountain bike maintenance. I mean, its certainly a good enough book that covers the different parts of a bike and most of the different routine maintenance procedures. But, I find that, although the pictures are clear and pretty, they just don't adequately cover all of the steps. For example, one of the most common things you will need to do as a rider is adjust your spokes and true your wheel. The book just doesn't cover it in as much detail as it needs to. In the end, you can guess your way through the process based on the book's text, but you really can't follow it clearly. This is just one example of what this book lacks - DETAIL. And because of this, I just can't recommend it as the " only mountain bike maintenance manual you will ever need". It's nice, but it's not enough. I can, however, say that about the book "Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance". If you want to own only one book on the subject, give it a try.

What I like:
Concise description and outline of steps needed for repair.
List of tools needed and rating of difficulty.
Tips "block" on many pages.
Clear color pictures.
"Extra" chapters included such as: "Ten Top Tips" and "Silence Unwanted Noises".
Up-to-date, i.e. includes V-brakes and other current components.

What I don't like:
Some text refers to a picture and it is unclear which picture, or which part is being refered to.
There are a few procedures which should have more detail: if you are not used to working on bikes.

Other observations:
This book was written by a Brit, so you need to know what a spanner is (there are other terms as well, such as "washing-up liquid).

The best book I have worked with to date. Any information not included I can ask my local wrench. I can't give the book a 5 star rating due to the minor items under "What I don't like" above.

The Time Bike is the sixth book in Langton's loosely-connected Concord series for children. Although it does contain references to the prior novels, it can stand alone. Unfortunately, it can't stand too well, with or without its predecessors - The Time Bike is a disappointing entry in a series that contains wonderful books like The Astonishing Stereoscope and The Fledgling.

Edward's new bike is stolen, but he recieves another one from Prince Krishna, the deus ex machina of this series. To Eddy's dismay, the replacement bike is old-fashioned. At first he's embarrassed to be seen with it, but he feels better about it after he discovers it can travel through time. He and his associates have a few disjointed temporal adventures and defeat the nefarious Prawn and Preek.

The Time Bike lacks both the intelligence and the magic that made the first four books in this series so marvelous. The other books, too, benefitted from a sense of unforced depth and penetrating insights, while this book skims along the surface and very deliberately does not look too long or too hard at anything.

Over all, a rather depressing book, with flaws I hope will be corrected in future entries in the series. Jane Langton's children's fiction is well worth reading - but please, start with The Diamond in the Window. Starting with The Time Bike is a disservice both to the series and to the author.

While not as wonderful as Diamond in the Window and the novels that follow (Swing in the Summerhouse, Astonishing Stereoscope, Fledgling, Fragile Flag) this is nonetheless a lovely, funny, thoughtful book and a worthwhile continuation in the saga of the eccentric Hall family of Concord, MA. I'm not sure how well it stands alone. The entire series is best appreciated in relation to the other novels (why, why, why doesn't the publisher put out a boxed set of paperbacks for the current genenration? )However, my children and I enjoyed it immensely, and we all hope against hope that Mrs. Langton will write more books in the series. They even inspired us to go to Concord for our spring break vacation last year!

A more discriptive title would be, "Ride Guide Mountain Biking the Counties of Northern and Central New Jersey." For those of you living in the southern part of the state...look elsewhere. All of Southern New Jersey is ignored.

Wharton State Forest is the largest single tract of land within the New Jersey State Park System. It covers part of Atlantic, Burlinton, and Camden counties and has some great off road riding. Lebanon St. Forest is historic and includes a major section of the 50 mile Batona trail. A major mountain bike publication listed Lebanon St. Forest in an article called "Five Great Places to Ride Double Track." These areas' as well as the rest of Southern New Jersey are completely ignored in "New Jersey Mountain Biking"

Hey Josh, buddy. Come on...if you're going to write a book about riding in New Jersy, how about including the rest of us!

I gave this book a token 2 stars because I wasn't actually able to try any of the trails for myself...So, I don't know how good the trail maps or descriptions are. All I can report is that there isn't anything here for those of us in the soutern part of the state! For mountain bikers in S. Jersey, I recommend Bob Di'Antonio's "Mountain Bike America: Greater Philadelphia Area." This book covers some S. Jersy rides as well as nearby Philadelpha and Eastern Pennsylvania.

I took up mountain biking last summer (1999). It has been a great source of challenge and pleasure to me.

Finding this book has made such an adventure out of biking in NJ! It is well-written, has great maps with the mileage and turns and a good rating system so you know what you are getting into before you leave. Driving directions to the spots and explanations of where to park, whether or not there is a fee... it's got everything you need to know. He really did a good job of researching the book and a nice touch is the inclusion of other nearby sites (relevant to the place you pick).

One possible improvement: There's a map of NJ showing all the sites, it would be nice if the page numbers were listed there and the trail ratings were also included on the map. As it is now, you need to go to 3 different pages to find all of that info. Hardly worth mentioning, but if there was one thing to make it better, that would be it, in my opinion.

The Complete Bike Book falls short of the book's title. The book is lavishly illustrated with color photos on virtually every page. As an informal treatment on the subject of bicycling, it does an average job. While the book tries to cover everything from road biking to mountain biking, the information is scarce and only provides thumbnail glimpses of each topic that is covered. Most of the photographs seem rather dark and underexposed. This may be a result of the publisher not keeping an eye out on quality control. This book is rather expensive and thin. For the price of this book, you would probably do better to purchase "Richard's 21st Century Bike Book" which does a much better job of covering bicycling.

This book has lots and lots of pictures but is more of a coffee table book than a serious bicycle book. It tries to cover all sorts of topics about biking but in doing so, it dilutes each subject that it covers. The Complete Bike Book is well illustrated but low on indepth information. If you like nice picture books, this may be a good purchase, but considering the price and the rather skimpy content, I would seriously consider another book about bicycles.

This is one of those flashy books full of bright color photos on every page. The subject matter is divided into about 100 topics. Each is covered in a two-page spread, no more, no less. (All the news that fits, we print.) Surprisingly, the rigid structure works. The author has brief, quality content on each topic. He addresses selection among the different types of bicycles, basic techniques for off-road and on, health and fitness issues, racing skills, maintainance, et al. If you are looking for breadth, not depth, this is a good introductory/intermediate level book.

This information is old and out dated. The MX of today is not even compatable with the information provided in this book. Both the tracks and bikes of today can not be understood through the information contianed in this book. Unless you are riding a bike from the 70's on trails in the dirt, this book is obsolete.

The Boonie Book is a great classic dirt bike book. Explains the basics of riding-safety-and bike repair and upkeep. Written in a very entertaining and easy to understand fashion. Even goes into the basic physics of riding. 1970's pictures are cool to check out-and a lot of the bike repair info is still useful today. Most of the info out today is for Motocross racing- this book will be more useful for the folks who enjoy their bikes out on the trails-or making circles around their own property. Wonderful classic dirt bike book-highly recommended!

As a owner of an older Bultaco Matador SD Mark 5 in need of major repair, I purchased this book in hope of finding enough information to augment my knowledge of the workings and technical specifications of the two cycle engine of such great fame and repoir. Within this publication was found a great wealth of information that was unknown to me. I found that much of this information was invaluable, carburetor breakdowns, bore specifications, and overall model specfications. Unfortunately, as time would eventually expose, the information included in this "technical manual" is marred by typographical errors and one horrendous job of editing. In my experience with this manual, I found it very helpful...and it will force you to to understand what went wrong with what you just fixed. Although the book may not be the answer to every problem that an old Bull has, it will at least give one direction in what may be happening. Spend the bucks and get out of it what you may.

strictly on bultacos, ossa montesa, etc an in debth history of each bikes definative histories with many pics and descriptions, its been needed a long time now! definative {most complete} histories on each dirt bike, trials bikes and bultaco rider jim pomeroy and photos of him his bikes, etc to finally close bultacos much deserving great history. bultacos will never die! they deserve the credit and recognition; along with the other spanish dirt/tials bikes etc that go along with bultacos.