Motorcycles Books

I've never been a Rossi fan; although a very committed MotoGP fan. After reading this book, I've come to understand the sport and it clarified my unclear situations that I have come across in the current years of MotoGP. I think it is a must read for all the Sport fans.

I enjoyed reading this book tremendously. The writing style was surprisingly good, though I'm not entirely sure if it was more representative of the author or the translator. The reader is taken through his childhood, decision to commit to racing motorcycles, evolution through the European classes to MotoGP, many bad-boy exploits and finally some of the most challenging experiences Rossi has participated in as a MotoGP rider. It was fascinating to compare his perspective from inside the helmet with my perspective as an observer. It reads much like the script to Sundance film, starting in the present, digressing into history, and progressing back to present. I found it a bit difficult to follow at times but in the end was satisfied. If you follow MotoGP at all this book tells you what you already know, Rossi is a bad a-- on and off the track, yet warm, thoughtful, personable most of all simply human.

If you are a fan of Rossi or MotoGP this is a must read.

This is a neat book that dives into the life of one of the most accomplished racers to ever live. Lots of pictures, but haven't read entire book yet.

Definitely another good V. Rossi book which contains so much images within his life and two wheels.

What a great book. I bought this book as a present for my husband and being a fan of motogp myself we both really loved this book. A must for all Valentino Rossi fans to add to the collection. A great insight into the man and what drives his talent.Great photos.An inexpensive purchase but worth it's weight in gold.Very colourful and detail is excellent.

It is a good book full of excellent quality photographs that match the text making the review of the evolution of BMW motorcyles clear and enjoyable to read. Great book to have for those BMW motorad fans! Next edition should include the description of the newest models.

This is a fantastic book. The photography is some of the best I have seen, and the author takes what could be a stodgy story and makes it come alive. Very entertaining!

I bought this book after reading David Edward's "Cycle World" editorial column in which he called it "an excellent book." He was right--the writing is gripping. I read it from cover to cover twice. There's not as much nuts and bolts stuff in here as in some other BMW books, but that stuff bores me anyway. I really don't care what the valve timing was on a 1963 R50/2. What I do care about is the history of the bikes and of the company. I care about what it is like to ride these bikes. I care about the people who created them. That's what's in here. It makes those other books read like parts lists. And the photography is top notch.

I liked this book so much that this fall I traded my Harley Softail in on a R1200GS. I've been riding Harleys since 1978, so that's saying something.

I would recommend this book to any BMW motorcycle enthusiast. Good photography and an excellent read, full of interresting information.

I'm a big fan of these bikes, and there's no better history and no more entertaining of a book than this one. Holmstrom tells a "warts and all" story and Nelson glitzes it up with excellent photos. It's the kind of book you want to put out on the coffee table when you invite the fellas over for tea and monkey-wrenching in the garage...fun stuff.

I just finished a ride of a little over 1000 miles from my home in NJ to and through WV and VA. I used this book to guide me on some really terrific roads and through some truly beautiful areas. This was the first long, extended ride I've ever taken and it was in large measure due to the "encouragement" expressed through this well written resource. If you're thinking of traveling through the Appalachians then I would recommend that you purchase and pour through this well written book before you go.

I just got back from a near-1000 mile trip through the Appalachians. I used this book to guide me through some thoroughly fascinating and beautiful areas -- the author, Dale Coyner, has create a terrific resource! I am not exaggerating when I say that VA Route 39 has changed my view of the eastern United States (I lived in the West -- Alaska, Utah, and Arizona -- until 2000). I'm sure I won't be the first, but I've set a goal to do all 36 rides in the book.

I showed this to the clerk at the bookstore at the Peaks of Otter wayside on the Blue Ridge Parkway. She's a rider, so she took the name of the book down with considerable enthusiasm and pledged to talk to the manager about stocking the book in the store. It seems strange NOT to have your book on the shelves in such a rider's paradise!

great book detailing not just roads, but local custom and color for the mid-atlantic area from PA down to the Carolinas and eastern Tennessee.

numerouse routes from a central point in each region are detailed and the local dining, lodging, and other points of interest are detailed in an interesting style of writing.

useful for anyone who wants to tour the mid-atlantic region and take their time doing it...

I worked in the motorcycle industry for over 10 years as a service manager and still ride with all my old co-workers.

We thought we knew all the best roads in our neck of the woods but we were wrong.

We pick a route, get into the middle of nowhere and then get lost.

This book has filled in the blanks for us.

A must have if you're a real rider.

For me there are three parts to a good trip - the preparation, the adventure itself, and then the memories. This book has helped me a long way in achieving all these pleasure points. The maps and text are wonderful; the crafty photo's with tasty captions peppered appropriately throughout this guide left my partner (who does not accompany me) recommending more sights than I could handle. A keeper, if not just for that.

Even though there is a 455 HO Trans Am on the cover, there are good pics of late model LT1, LS1 Formulas & T/As. The gas guzzling 400/455 powered models are the ones I like the most, and are well covered. Finally got a copy after seeing it recommended in Car & Driver, good value on Amazon.

This is a fun book with some great lines like "Fast cars didn't die out in 1973, they just started wearing the 'Screamin Chicken' on their hoods!" I had a slight problem following the musclecar/GM terminology or shorthand in the detailed sections, and the author really favors domestic car design. Domestic V8 supporters will be pleased.

Many books offer so little information when dealing with the 3rd generation Firbird. What I like about this book is it not only covered the Firbird line, it pulled from other GM lines like Corvette, Fiero and Buick Gran National. When a reference was made about another car, he would share some good info about that car as well, taking up a couple of pages in some instances.

The Pictures of the cars are not the most "Stock" appearing models, however Cranswick uses the full range of the firebird line to make the book very entertaining.

A must have.

I will go with what the others have said and add that this Firebird book shows the kind of treatment normally given to the mighty Corvette super car. The quality of the binding, paper is higher than you would normally get in a Firebird/Trans Am book. IMO this is the closest you are going to get to the Firebird equivalent of the Corvette Fifty Years book.

I first heard about this book in Smoke Signals early last year. There was a small description saying it would be out later in the year. It had slipped my mind until I was checking through this site for Pontiac listings and came across it once again.
It's heartening to see such a fine book on the Firebird that really is new. It isn't a rehashed version of an earlier edition, and you get to see new pictures of these great cars. The factual detail in matters such as SLP/Firehawk and 20th Ann TT/A shows that great care has been taken.
Probably the best Firebird book since Michael Lamm's "The Fabulous Firebird" and certainly one of the better muscle car books around.

This is an excellent book for improving your skills and preventing the spills. The pictures and instructions are so well written that anybody can understand and apply the techniques. A huge variety of topics for both trail riders and motocross racers, this book has plenty to offer all riders at any experience level. The chapters and subjects are well organized and easy to read. You will not be disappointed..

My husband and I both ride... but he's the one who rides on the dirt as well as the road. He's been looking for a book like this for ages, and was elated when I presented it to him as a birthday gift. It's packed with information and pictures on off-road riding, which requires techinques that no-one seems to write about - but it's all here in this book. A must buy.

This proved to be a very useful book to me. The authors of this book broke down the various aspects that are required to ride a dirtbike efficiently and safely. After I read through this book, I could critique my riding technique and make corrections. I immediately noticed results the first weekend out in the woods. My speed was increase and my comfort levels went up. At the conclusion of that ride, I noticed that I was less tired than usual and could have went back out for more. I've become a better rider as result of reading this book. I would recommend it to anybody wanting to become a better rider.

This is just a gorgeous book, I had the old Gary Semics manual, it was black and white photocopy stuff, this new book has all the Gary Semics stuff with updates and many sections covering different terrains, bikes and setups. The pictures are outstanding, I showed it to my dirtbike buddies and everyone wanted to buy their own copy. They usually copy the stuff so that says a lot about the quality. The information is of the highest quality, Gary Semics is maybe the top motocross teacher in the world, and his "47 absolute techniques of motocross" WILL make you a better rider even if you just ride for fun with your friends. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

I'm having a hard time reading this book. I think the gems of information are in there, but I'm having work pretty hard to get them out. Why? Formatting: low contrast color choices. In some places, dark text on a dark background makes for difficult reading in low light. Clarity: the author(s) repeatedly fail to define terms precisely. I'm left to guess what they mean. A how-to book shouldn't leave the reader wondering. Ego: they seem to worship Jeremy McGrath. Call him infallible. It feels like a primary school clique to me. Bad science: For example, pg.41, tip #5: "Carry most of your weight on the footpegs to lower your center of gravity." Based on my understanding of basic physics, changing the position of where the rider's weight is supported has nothing to do with where the rider's center of gravity is. Sure it's good advice, carrying the rider's weight on the footpegs drastically improves the bike's handling, but the authors' explanation of the physics is complete nonsense. It leads me to question all other explanations. I imagine the authors know their stuff, but they've got a lot of room for improvement to communicate their ideas in print.

This book is well written and easy to read. It contains great information for the beginner motorcyclist and will be entertaining to read for more experienced riders who may want a refresher course as well. The book contains a helpful glossary and an exhaustive bibliography that will satisfy anyone's craving for more information.

Savy Guide to Motorcycles, is a very smartly writen and well composed book that any beginner and expert rider can relate to and gain knowledge from.The book is a nice compilation of Shirls' experience as well as her fellow riders. I especially liked the points of references that encourage you to do your own research. I have read many motorcycle books and a few were rather dry, but I found this book to be very refreshing. Good job.

This book is outstanding. It's blend of information, instruction and humor makes it valuable to both the beginning rider and experienced rider. I have recommended it to my motorcycling friends and consider it to be a very well written book.

The Savvy Guide to Motorcycles is a well-written narrative by an author that has real-life experience riding motorcycles. Shirley Kennedy relates much of her material to her own experiences, giving this book a personal touch as well as believability.
The book is broken into logical sections and well illustrated. The author includes a number of sidebars with data that supports her text. There is a useful glossary and an impressive bibliography included to enhance the reader's understanding of the subject. The layout is clean and well structured.
As a motorcyclist with several years experience I appreciated the way the book advances each theme. Ms. Kennedy avoids boring the experienced rider while structuring her material so a new motorcyclist can understand it easily.
I highly recommend "The Savvy Guide to Motorcycles" to anyone that rides (or wishes to ride) motorcycles!

In this "Savvy" guide the author has written a book which will increase the enjoyment, understanding and appreciation of motorcycling for anybody who reads it. She manages to convey her love of the sport and impart a large amount of valuable information using a writing style that is both easy to understand and pleasant to read. As befits a librarian, the book is full of references which will allow those who desire to study a particular subject in depth to do so easily. The book has an extensive bibliography in addition to the many links found within each chapter. This is a great read for not only the new rider, but the returning rider and the experienced rider as well. I highly recommend it.

Fantastic book by legend Frank Berto. Super detailed and fascinating history of all derailleur systems. Definitely worth the price!

Frank Berto's 'The Dancing Chain' is a fascinating, exhaustively-researched look at the evolution of the bicycle. Starting with the high- wheeled bikes of Victorian times, the author shows how the development of the multi-geared drivetrain made the bicycle more versatile & practical for everyday use. Most interesting to me is that many modern "innovations" (indexed shifting, epicyclic hubs, auto-shifting)were actually in use nearly 100 years ago! Lavishly illustrated (including many line drawings by the famed Daniel Rebour), the book also covers how these changes affected the evolution of bicycle racing & touring. Highly reccomended!

I am very glad I purchased this book. This book involves much more about the history of bicycles than the title may lead you to believe.

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, The Dancing Chain is the in-depth story of the history and development of the Derailleur Bicycle. The Dancing Chain offers the culmination of 10 years of research - 5 poured into the first edition, and now another 5 into the second, and focuses especially upon the past 100 years. Black-and-white photographs and illustrations reveal how bicycles adapted to the challenges of traveling faster on level ground and climbing better uphill. The Dancing Chain does not shy from technical detail, yet remains informatively accessible to the lay reader making it a fascinating resource for leisure reading, as well as hard research for academia. Highly recommended for bicycle enthusiasts and historians alike.

The Dancing Chain by Frank Berto dvanhook 06/18/01 01:48 pm EDT rating:

An invaluable reference document for vintage bicycle enthusiasts! It is well and thoroughly researched and fully illustrated with photographs and beautiful line drawings of bicycles and bicycle parts as they have developed over the past one hundred years. It also contains a many helpful and interesting graphs and charts. This beautiful book is as complete and authoritative as is possible, but is very readable even for those with no technical background. It is certain to become a collectors item and was published as a very limited edition.

It's been sometime since i purchased this "how to" book. And i must have repaired (and fabricated) over a hundred pieces by now with the knowledge gained from this very well written book. It should be titled,
"A-Z of Plastic Bodywork" as it is all one really needs to identify and repair plastic body work.

If you're a DIYer and/or in the business (collision repair, motorcycle fairing repair, etc.) than this is a must have book.

New book, easy to read and find certain areas in the book. Explains everything very well.

I bought this book just out of curiosity and I ended up really using it. You just have to get over the fear of trying it and go for it. At the moment I am busy restoring an old ZX-10 fairing.The book tells you a lot about different situations and how to get around them.

What makes it even better is that the last chapter or so shows you how to prepare the plastic for paint. It answers a lot of questions on what prep work is needed and what paint can be used.

This book has helped me learn more about plastics in general and all the items available out there for repairing. I have asked many people that have experience in repairing plastics and it's interesting to find out there is a lot of people that do not really know about the materials that they are working with. The book breaks down every type of plastic material that you will come across in the automotive industry, some history on them, how to identify the plastic, different repair methods, and different repair materials.

Everything is nicely organized and easy to follow. Thanks Kurt Lammon for taking the time out to create this book and helping a lot of people out there looking to learn.

I bought this book [and later the "how to" video].

As far as I know, this is the only layman's plastic repair book out there. [I'm sure there are engineering books on the subject, but I only want to know how to fix plastic, not formulate it].

A great balance of how-to text with corresponding how-to photos [photos are in full color and are high quality].

An excellent alternative to sending your simple repairs off to someone else to fix.

Depending on the plastic repair to be done, you can probably buy a basic "repair kit" along with this book; and do the job yourself.

I work on all sorts of computer peripherals [like printers].
The reason most every computer and peripheral is so lightweight today [as compared to just 5 years ago] is PLASTIC.

Folks tend to whine about parts being made from "cheap plastic", but just wait until a part breaks and you need to replace it. Those parts are never CHEAP.

The information I learned from this book has saved me having to buy several plastic parts for inkjet and laserjet printers.
If I have both halves of the broke part, I can fix it.

The author of the book is president of Urethane supply company.
[as per the closing page of this book].

I contacted the company after reading this book and the customer support at Urethane supply is excellent.
I asked some questions about a repair not specifically mentioned in the book and their support folks did an "on-the-spot" R&D of the problem and emailed me their results about how to fix the plastic parts involved.

If you want to fix your own plastics, I highly recommend this book.

With just a couple small repairs, I paid for the cost of:
1. this book,
2. their how-to video and
3. the small repair kits used to fix the problems

I wanted this book because I worked in this airplane from 1971 to 1975 at Lockheed in Palmdale CA., it brings very good memories back. Thank you.

A great book, lots of details and inside stories. Easy to read, I've really enjoyed.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit as a great general reference on the design of one of my favorite commercial airliners of all time! My only downside to any of the books in this series is that most of the pics are in Black and white. Anyway, if you love the L-1011, then this is a great reference.

This book covers this airliner in all its glory.Beautiful photographs,superb text,good quality paper and great value make this book a real gem.Lovers of this airliner can enjoy a superb look at this aircraft.This is the first book in the "airlinerTech" series I've bought and I'm impressed.If you love airliners you will love this book.

I am an unashamed L-1011 fan. I believe that the plane was decades ahead of it's time, and still has some features (Direct Lift Control, which accounted for it's superior Autoland system, and an enormously sophisticated Speed Command System for example) that are unrivaled today. I was fortunate enough to check out and get a type rating on the L-1011 near the end of her life at the major airlines, and in every respect I believe she was the best designed aircraft I have ever flown. I can't recall meeting an L-1011 pilot who would disagree with that.

Jim Upton has put together an excellent book on the 1011, and I highly endorse it. In this one volume he accurately summarizes the operations and features of this beautiful machine. The photographs are clear and plentiful, the systems descriptions are well done (and will be the best you can see unless you get a 2,000 page L-1011 operations manual), and the format is logical and accessible. Buy this book and learn about one of the greatest airliners to ever grace the sky.

Bought this as a gift and he loved it. A great collection of info and photos on the one and only Big Daddy. Great shots of him througout his life and career, up and down, (my favorite shot was of him sleeping on the side of the road beside his car on his way to a show). Lots of photos of his wild cars. Great book for all his fans.

This is a great book, a must have for Big Daddy fans and hot rodders alike. A great compainion to "Rat Fink: The Art of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. I love the hard cover because I hope to have this book to show my kids someday. Ed Roth lives forever through his fans.

For me, a guy, who lived and breathed the hot rod, surf and music scene of the 60's, this book brings back a necessary component of the time. Relive and remember the essence of the time through Ed Roth who's artwork and cars seemed to be on the tip of everyone's tongue. We all knew the "Rat Fink" and we all knew "Big Daddy". Now he lives forever in this definitive work.

This book is a great collection with everything that you want to see and know about the "Big Daddy".
I bought one for a friend and I'll buy for me too.

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth was a real renaissance man of the 1960s: creator of Rat Fink, builder of creative custom cars, and a Mormon beatnick who refused to fit in anyone's mold. Ed "Big Daddy" Roth: His Life, Time, Cars, and Art is an engaging and informative biography that charts his rise to fame in general and his skills building custom cars in particular, and comes from an author who met Ed in the mid-1970s and regularly covered his exploits. Nearly 300 photos - many new to this collection-charts his creations and his art, and will appeal to any who know his name.