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THOUSANDS of American cyclists created the Good Roads Movement in the late 1800s to campaign for a better ride. The unexpected results of their efforts were the smoother roads that, quite literally, paved the way for cars.

In Bicycle, David Herlihy chronicles the ups and downs of two-wheelers, from the velocipede of 1817 to today鈥檚 high-tech racing and mountain bikes, and lavishly illustrates his story with period pictures and posters in full colour. Nothing can assuage the author鈥檚 disappointment that after the brief bike boom 鈥� beginning about 1890 thanks to the British 鈥淩over鈥�, and ending before 1900 鈥� the bicycle ceased to dominate personal transport in the UK, US and France.

The inescapable irony is that the cheap ball bearings, spoked wire wheels and pneumatic tyres that were developed for bicycles were put to use in automobiles. Bicycle is a worthy coffee-table history for cyclists, stuffed with countless anecdotes and statistics, and with a sad tale or two along the way.