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Let’s talk about books. I’ve read a few bike related books, and have a few more on my shelf. I thought this would be a good place to discuss them and maybe we all find something new to add to our backlog. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - This really isn’t a motorcycle book, but it’s going to come up anyway. It didn’t live up to the hype to me. Maybe I just didn’t “get” it. Stealing Speed - The story of Ernst Degner, and his defection from East Germany with the secrets of 2-Stroke engines. This had a great mix of action and technical info, but without being overwhelming to someone who’s not mechanically inclined. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Cold War or GP racing. Jupiter’s Travels - Ted Simon’s journey around the world on his Triumph. I’m only about a third of the way through this so far, but loving it. He does a great job describing the people he meets throughout his journey. It’s also fun to see his riding skills develop since he barely has his license when he picks up the bike in the beginning. The Perfect Vehicle I picked this up at a library book sale and was pretty impressed. It was nice to read from the perspective of someone who wasn’t a total gearhead to begin with. Give it to someone who’s on the fence about riding. One Man Caravan - I haven’t gotten to read this yet, but the author has quite a resume to add to being one of the first to circumnavigate the world on a bike. Long Way Round - The book of the TV series that launched a thousand dentists on BMWs. Maybe this is a good book, or maybe we all just hate Charlie and Ewan. So what are you reading, goons?
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Aug 29, 2017 02:52
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| # ? May 1, 2024 00:09 |
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Peter Egan's "Leanings" volumes 1, 2, and 3. Editor of "Cycle World" magazine and he knows how to turn a phrase. The books are a collection of stories and memories of his years of riding. There are some good tips and tricks in there from time to time as well. "The Man Who Would Stop at Nothing: Long-Distance Motorcycling's Endless Road" <-- Side note, Written by Melissa Holbrook, same writer of "The Perfect Vehicle" Small introduction the world of Iron Butt and also a biography of John Ryan, a long distance motorcyclist with diabetes. He's set records with travel times between coasts, and from Alaska to the Florida keys. I read it to get an inspirational story, and came away with thinking this guy is dangerous as hell. He had basically forsaken everything else, including his health, to be on the road and riding. It's still a very good read, and does go into the trials and tribulations of distance riding very well. For random short stories I used to like the Brit rags, TWO (Two Wheels Only), Fast Riders, and BIKE. They are getting difficult to get off the newsstand though. Skreemer fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Aug 29, 2017 |
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Aug 29, 2017 17:18
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The very best free offroad/dual sport motorcycle magazine is Traction E-Rag. http://tractionerag.com/ It's very, very funny. Likely a good read for anyone, even if they don't offroad.
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Aug 29, 2017 17:34
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shacked up with Brenda posted:The very best motorcycle magazine is Traction E-Rag. This is true.
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Aug 29, 2017 17:54
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Skreemer posted:Peter Egan's "Leanings" volumes 1, 2, and 3. Peter Egan has some fantastic stuff. I only have one of the Leanings (2, I think), but it's a great collection. I grab it when I want a quick read. And after a couple pages, I'm adding Traction to my list
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Aug 30, 2017 00:44
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Has anyone here read Lois on the Loose?
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Aug 30, 2017 18:23
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does tron count
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Aug 30, 2017 19:30
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Would recommend - proficient motorcycling. More about how to ride than about riding, but still excellent and well worth reading. Would not recommend - motorcycle diaries by che guevara (just didn't do anything for me), hell's angels by hunter s thompson (some folks will love this though so may be worth including). It's a tough genre without a lot of great books, which is too bad because bikes are great and people should write about them.
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Aug 30, 2017 20:32
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The Perfect Vehicle: What is it About Motorcycles - total shitshow. I made it through a few chapters of self-involved nonsense and quit. The only other book I've stopped reading before the end was A Song of Ice and Fire, so there. I did like Hell's Angels, which had about as much to do with motorcycling as Zen did. A Twist of the Wrist was OK, but I think that the MSF course drills it into you better. The pro-read is Tony Foale's chassis book. I'm gonna go make up a frame with this sick HF stick welder now. Something something ...put the Bi in Bimota...
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Aug 30, 2017 20:35
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Dielectric posted:The Perfect Vehicle: What is it About Motorcycles - total shitshow. I made it through a few chapters of self-involved nonsense and quit. The only other book I've stopped reading before the end was A Song of Ice and Fire, so there. I didn't think Perfect Vehicle was complete trash, but my favorite part might have been getting introduced to Robert Edison Fulton. You can buy his farm, if you have some money. builds character posted:It's a tough genre without a lot of great books, which is too bad because bikes are great and people should write about them. Maybe the majority of writers who ride just end up going to magazines. Razzled posted:does tron count Only this version: 
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Aug 31, 2017 02:55
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I am a big fan of Bernt Spiegel's "The Upper Half of the Motorcycle", which was translated into English from the original German, though Amazon lists it only at ridiculous prices. More than a book on motorcycling, it's mostly an anthropology book, explaining and interpreting human tool use and how this applies to motorcycle riding. The author also wrote an accompanying book with practical exercises which I found helpful in learning to ride (though I have a far way to go). If anybody has recommendations for practical riding advice, especially for beginners and intermediate riders, I'd be happy to get some.
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Aug 31, 2017 12:02
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Ridgewell posted:I am a big fan of Bernt Spiegel's "The Upper Half of the Motorcycle", which was translated into English from the original German, though Amazon lists it only at ridiculous prices. Proficient Motorcycling.
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Aug 31, 2017 12:21
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Ridgewell posted:If anybody has recommendations for practical riding advice, especially for beginners and intermediate riders, I'd be happy to get some. Total Control and Sport Riding Techniques are good choices as well.
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Aug 31, 2017 21:51
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https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Motorcycle-Race-Engines-Technical/dp/1844259943/ref=la_B001IQZB86_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1504303442&sr=1-6 Every time I look up this book I need to remind myself to be more gentle with my copy because it's loving $150. It's such a great book.
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Sep 1, 2017 23:05
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I learned everything I know about riding from Akira.
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Sep 3, 2017 17:52
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Skreemer posted:For random short stories I used to like the Brit rags, TWO (Two Wheels Only), Fast Riders, and BIKE. They are getting difficult to get off the newsstand though. Bike magazine (UK) has a nice digital edition that reads well on the iPad.
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Sep 27, 2017 22:32
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My recommendation to any n00b is always More Proficient Motorcycling. This book taught me so much about riding when I first started out.
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Sep 28, 2017 02:26
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Proficient Motorcycling is good, Total Control is good. I found the Twist of the Wrist books to be not worth it for touring and street riding in general but I'm a super cautious (read: slow) rider so  . Stayin' Safe by Grodsky isn't bad either. A food for thought book more than a collection of riding tips.HenryJLittlefinger posted:Has anyone here read Lois on the Loose? I have, it's a good read. Makes you want to take that big trip you've been putting off.
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Sep 30, 2017 05:25
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A great example of Traction: http://tractionerag.com/issue41/index.html?page=44
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Dec 15, 2017 19:55
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Man I love Traction. I get a little tired of the shilling for Beta, but I guess you gotta pay bills. I thought the latest issue's article on injuries was interesting.
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Dec 15, 2017 21:36
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Not motorcycle but close enough I guess https://www.amazon.com/Tschiffelys-Ride-Thousand-Saddle-Southern/dp/162087640X/ref=sr_1_1 One of the authors has really good taste in motorcycles https://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Touring-Pacific-Northwest-Regions-ebook/dp/B004A16KNG/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1
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Apr 9, 2018 20:35
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clutchpuck posted:Not motorcycle but close enough I guess https://www.amazon.com/Tschiffelys-Ride-Thousand-Saddle-Southern/dp/162087640X/ref=sr_1_1 In this vein I used to pick up the "Free Camping" guides. Most of em were 12$ and under or 10$ and under with a list of facilities and what not. The drat things go out of date so fast though with sites getting closed or bought out and jacking up the rates, they aren't worth really buying. Even using some of the online tools that get updated faster are still aren't "right" 3/4's of the time when you're planning a trip and call the site.
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Apr 9, 2018 22:37
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I just started reading my years-old copy of Twist of the Wrist 2 and wow, you can really tell the guy's a Scientologist. Good points, but the whole structure of the book is influenced by Code's religion. Be like if a Haynes manual was formatted like, 2 Suspension 35. And the mechanics did apply the 13mm wrench unto the bolts labeled B and C, and they did remove them, 36. Saying, "this will allow us to remove the control arm, in the glory of the LORD." 37. Installation is the reverse of removal.
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Apr 9, 2018 22:45
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Skreemer posted:In this vein I used to pick up the "Free Camping" guides. Most of em were 12$ and under or 10$ and under with a list of facilities and what not. The drat things go out of date so fast though with sites getting closed or bought out and jacking up the rates, they aren't worth really buying. Even using some of the online tools that get updated faster are still aren't "right" 3/4's of the time when you're planning a trip and call the site. Even their own websites are out of date.
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Apr 10, 2018 05:41
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I'm reading Shop Class as Soul Craft right now and it's pretty good, it the deeper philosophy stuff gets boring. Lois on the Loose was really good.
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Apr 10, 2018 05:54
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:I'm reading Shop Class as Soul Craft right now and it's pretty good, it the deeper philosophy stuff gets boring. The concept of that one sounded good, but I was worried that it would turn into "Millennials  ". Does it avoid that?
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Apr 10, 2018 13:07
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Deeters posted:The concept of that one sounded good, but I was worried that it would turn into "Millennials So far, it does. I'm about 2/3 of the way through. It's more a Mike Rowe approach. The author is a Ph.D. in philosophy, so he has enough years in academia to shred the inherent self-importance that comes with college degrees. He goes down a Pirsig-style path of essentialism a lot, but the basic premise is that we're doing ourselves a disservice both as individuals and as a society by devaluing manual work, trades, self-reliance, mechanical skills, etc. It gets kind of close to "men aren't manly enough any more," but not too bad. Overall, he places the blame on society as a whole devaluing trade work and falsely inflating the importance of college degrees and points out that it began during the industrial revolution, not recently. The individual is the victim, not the culprit.
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Apr 10, 2018 15:54
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Oh cool. I'll have to check it out then. For another non motorcycle adventure, I'll throw out Joshua Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World. The guy is funny even though over 100 years of changes in language.
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Apr 10, 2018 22:18
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+1 on Proficient Motorcycling, Total Control, Jupiter's Travels and anything by Egan. Here's one that's technical, it is fascinating to see all the variations (mostly in the '90s) that have been attempted in things like suspension and valvetrains that have come to naught because they weren't sufficiently better than the prevailing method. Plus, you'll probably learn a ton about the conventional stuff. My copy is pretty old so it doesn't get into a lot of the modren electronic gimcrackery, though, don't know if it's been updated. https://haynes.com/en-us/motorcycle-basics-haynes-techbook-haynes-repair-manual
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Apr 30, 2018 16:43
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The_Raven posted:+1 on Proficient Motorcycling, Total Control, Jupiter's Travels and anything by Egan. Similar vein, but not exactly the same - I really like the four stroke dirt bike engine building handbook. https://www.diymotofix.com/the-four-stroke-dirt-bike-engine-building-handbook.html Honestly, not very useful for the vast majority of folks but dirt bike engines are both pretty high performance and pretty simple so it's quite helpful if you're either (re)building one or if you're interested in how everything works and the practical realities of assembling everything. Also goes into useful tools and how they work and when I bought it I got both the e-book and the physical copy so that was a nice touch.
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Apr 30, 2018 20:48
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builds character posted:Similar vein, but not exactly the same - I really like the four stroke dirt bike engine building handbook. https://www.diymotofix.com/the-four-stroke-dirt-bike-engine-building-handbook.html Honestly, not very useful for the vast majority of folks but dirt bike engines are both pretty high performance and pretty simple so it's quite helpful if you're either (re)building one or if you're interested in how everything works and the practical realities of assembling everything. Also goes into useful tools and how they work and when I bought it I got both the e-book and the physical copy so that was a nice touch. I have no use for either of those books but I want to buy them. Help.
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Apr 30, 2018 22:13
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:I have no use for either of those books but I want to buy them. Help. I've already put the haynes one in my amazon cart, so you'll get no sympathy here.
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Apr 30, 2018 23:22
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