The sleeve of this book reads like a who’s who of the UK cycling world: written by Mike Burrows, edited by Tony Hadland, first printed in 2000 by Jim McGurn (and now in the safe hands of Bicycling Books), photos by Jason Patient et al, cartoons by Jo Burt and Geoff Apps, foreword by Richard Ballantine, and so on.

Burrows spends 173 pages gleefully debunking the legends and long-held urban myths of the bicycling world, and the result is almost guaranteed to delight. Positioned somewhere between Richard’s Bicycle Book and Bicycling Science, Bicycle Design is technical in parts, but the complicated bits are generally deciphered (and/or debunked) in the most elegant fashion.We reviewed the first edition in A to B 21, but someone seems to have nicked that copy.We’re reliably informed that recumbents get more of a mention this time around and there are some new colour photos.

Bicycle Design 2nd Edition . 2004 . £16.95 . 173 pages . ISBN 0 9520603 2 9 . Pedal Press