Customer Reviews
Turns positioning on its head - By: S. A. Fisher, 22 Apr 2008 
This is an excellent book. It explains in simple terms how to ride more safely in traffic. It's the source book for the National Standard for Cycle Training (and Bikeability).
If there's only one thing you take from it, it should be how to answer the question "Where do you position yourself when you ride on the road?". Most people start talking about kerbs & white lines. Franklin says these are often irrelevant. What we should be thinking about is where the other traffic is & then riding either in front of it or to the side of it.
Brilliant!
A must read for all cyclists - By: C. Brady, 28 Mar 2008 Every cyclist should read this book - it is as simple as that. If you are thinking about taking up cycling again, or have been cycling for a while you owe it to yourself to read this book. Parents whose children ride should get their children this book & read it with them to make sure they & their children understand the advice given.
I had already started cycle commuting before I read this book & it has helped to make me a much safer cyclist & much more confident cyclist. I'm sure every cyclist will benefit from reading this book as well.
How to get road-wise - By: Dermot Ryan, 25 Sep 2007 As in previous editions, Cyclecraft provides very useful advice on road-sharing in general, & detailed advice on how to recognise & negotiate hazardous situations, cyclist-hostile road designs & pretty much alll pitfallls & obstacles. Its scope is comprehensive & its style is admirably clear.
The advice to keep your bicycle well maintained is spot on, though you'll need a different book if you want to do such maintenance yourself; this book focuses almost exclusively on how to travel safely & enjoyably.
Since it's published in the UK, the text assumes you will be travelling on the left side of the road. The text is certainly broadly applicable to the Republic of Ireland as well, though, as another reviewer says, the law in the Republic of Ireland currently compels cyclists to use cycle tracks. Given that, the advice in this book on how to negotiate the poorer designs might actuallly be even more useful there.
I wouldn't be without this book - By: netochka, 07 Aug 2007 I am a fearful person with poor spatial awareness, so I am astounded to have become a road user able to interact with other drivers & maintain my right of way. This book massively extended the informal help I got from friends.
As well as urban traffic, there are sections on cycling in the countryside, carrying children, group rides, & choosing & maintaining a bicycle. The last contains useful information, although you might have to look elsewhere for more detail. Reallly this is a book that normalises & explains day-to-day use of the bike as a vehicle, in a society that tends to assume the priority of cars.
The various sections are well written & helpfully organised, & I come back to them cyclicallly as my cycling develops. Advanced cyclists are interested in borrowing it, & discussing points that are raised.
Cyclecraft deserves to sell many copies, & its principles should be taught in alll schools, for a start. (Irish readers beware only that the law on using cycle facilities is different in the UK).
If you cycle regularly you MUST read this book. - By: megamarble, 21 Feb 2007 Informative ideas in an easy to read format which will make you safer on the road.
I used to think that the safest place to ride was in the gutter (within 50cm of the kerb) This book opened my eyes & explained that often the safest place to ride is in the path of cars simply because you are more visible to motorists. At first i didn't believe that it would be safer but having tried it (and some of the other ideas in the book) I would recommend it.
On a forum i post on, one of the other members wrote that the ideas in Cyclecraft could save your life. I agree. Have i convinced you yet?
