Re: [CR] Dancing Chain 3rd Ed?

(Example: Framebuilding:Technology)

Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:38:10 -0500
To: Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
From: "John Betmanis" <johnb@oxford.net>
In-Reply-To: <d3e5e7b10902120903k2efbd131te4177dad0cd0525e@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [CR] Dancing Chain 3rd Ed?


At 12:03 PM 12/02/2009 -0500, Tim Fricker wrote:
>Hey gang!
>
>I just discovered there's a new, third edition of "The Dancing Chain". Has
>anyone seen it? Is it worth picking it up if I already have the first and
>second editions? Thoughts?
>From the website:

"ABOUT THIS BOOK (from the author)

SUMMARYS of the 3 EDITIONS of THE DANCING CHAIN

3rd Edition. The second Edition sold out in 2008, giving Rob and I the chance to add four more years ()2006 to 2009) to our derailleur history and to expand on much of the material in the 2nd Edition. In the interval I met Jan Heine, who had started Bicycle Quarterly in June 2000. Jan's main interests were classic French bicycles from the 1930's to the 1960's and he had ridden and tested many of them. My experience covered bicycles and gear trains from 1970 onward. I was able to use Jan's evaluations to provide test results for twenty of so derailleurs. I also included ten of the elegant pictures by Jean-Pierre Praderes from their book The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles.

With each revision, The Dancing Chain has grown, until it is now 400 pages long. In the process it has changed from a derailleur history to a genuine encyclopedia of the bicycle. I'm particularly proud of the first three chapters. Thee 45 pages cover the 19th century from Von Drais to the end of the first bicycle boom. These facts are the most accurate published to date."

John Betmanis
Woodstock, Ontario
Canada