Motorcycles Books

I was interested in purchasing a vintage Vespa scooter, and this book is helpful in knowing the history of the company, its representative Vespa models from 1940's to recent 2005 models. It is not an exhaustive listing of every model the company ever produced. Nevertheless it gives a pretty good background of what one is looking at. Every page of this book has color and/or black/white photogrpahs, and some are shot in closeup views. If you're considering buying a vintage Vespa, I would recommend this reference book.

This book is unbelievably well-written compared to the vast majority of "motor books" [whether automotive or motorcycle-specific.] While it does have some minor technical flaws - primarily, the association of captions with the picture they refer to - the quality of the illustration is absolutely top-notch, and the translation is generally excellent, altho' there are enough oddities to remind you that many sections of the book were clearly originally offered in another language [transcripts of radio shows & foreign-language ads being prime examples.]

The bottom line is that even if you never particularly cared for Vespas over any other brand of scooter, once you've read this book, you'll have a much greater appreciation for the marque and scooters in general. To put it another way: I borrowed this book from the library rather than buying it, but having read it & enjoyed it so thoroughly, I intend to add it to my personal library as soon as funds permit! Two thumbs up!

Nice book, excelent pictures and lots of info related to the history of the scooter, including all sorts of stories about the role of the scooter in its day, but... The book chooses a few models to portrait in detail and leaves out a couple of important ones, including the rally models and the fact that its an "official biography" tends to make it lack objectivity very often.

All in all it's like a big, beautiful ad for the Vespa and should be bought with that in mind!

The copy I received in late January '06 seems to be an update on the original Chronicle Books edition of 2004. The newer edition has last chapters that refer to the 250 GTS model. There are a few typo's and printing errors that I did not notice in the earlier book.

Overall - this is one of the very few scooter books I have actually paid money to own. [I have interlibrary borrowed many others.] The Italian-to-English translation is puzzling here and there, but the spirit of the work gave me a deeper understanding of the sociological impact of the machine on culture and Piaggio on Italy.

I rarely give 5 stars to a product, but this one is flawless. I bought this book to learn about the various vintages of Vespa so I could make an informed choice when buying one. Given the beauty of this scooter, I wanted a book of similar quality, and I was not disappointed.

This book has explained everything about the company and its products together with their long history of excellence in an easy to read, beautifully laid out volume. I now know which Vespa I want: ALL OF THEM!

Big fan of McSweeney's, and even bigger fan of Bikes, so when I saw an ad for this book I ordered it. I absolutely love it. The photographs are insightfull. The neighborhood and space the bikes exist in are as interesting as the bikes themselves. The legend on the inside cover is a great touch, and the Marvin Minsky quote is one I will keep for good.

Bicycles Locked to Poles is a wonderful book to give to a friend or family member. It is artistic and understated. The way in which Mr. Glassie has sequenced the photographs gives the book real heart and poignancy. Mr. Glassie's focus on the small block radius of the East Village reminds of how much transpires and how much is easily forgotten in a city like New York.

I was Really excited about this book- cool title, cool premise- until i got it & looked at it. the pictures are gritty, dark, and not in an artsy kind of way- and are all taken from the same height/angle. Instead of getting down & dirty & into his art, its as if the photographer didnt want to take a picture that would inconvience his walking. (i doubt new yorkers would look at you strange for squatting to take pics of a bike on the street?)
The coolest picture by far is on the cover, and its not really a wonder why they put it first. i bought it for a gift but after looking at it... maybe ill just frame the cover?

New York City is a chaotic place. It's unforgiving and indifferent but alive with humanity and creative energy. The front lines of this daily struggle between the hopeful and harsh happen right here on the streets and sidewalks. Through bicycles locked to poles, Mr. Glassie captures the casualties of this struggle, showing us the relics of forgotten bikes overwhelmed by New York, yet physically bound to it. He's somehow found a tiny piece of every New Yorker's story and painted a portrait of how defeat can be a thing of beauty. And plus, lots of neat pics of banged-up bikes!

The most poignant visual social commentary about the real struggle between evolution and intelligent design. Put another way: A humorous catalogue of the wear and tear of urban life...on bikes. The photos run the gamut: gritty, sad, cute, weird, witty, bare, depressing, poetic, and charming. Take it too seriously and you'll miss the point.

This is an excellent book for the BMW motorcycle enthusiast. It tells the whole story since the beginning until around 1994. It presents it chronologically as technical achivements so one can see how one model was improved upon to become the next. And it has a lot of excellent photos. There are a few gaps (like, what made the R60/6 to become the R60/7) but I guess that that is unavoidable. The authors are very knowledgeable but left out a lot of interesting information BY DESIGN. They don't give us their opinion about what is right or wrong with each machine, and I would like to know the opinion of experts! For example, I have learned somewhere else that the old R60 models from the 1970s are forgiving for not-too-expert riders, a bit involved in maintenance (like adjusting valves every month), but easy and cheap to repair whereas de K models are more difficult to ride, very easy to maintain, but difficult and expensive to repair. This is the kind of information I would have expected in this book. I would also like to see more technical specifications. I still think that this is a great book but I pray the authors: expand the book in its next edition and make it the dream of every BMW motorcycle enthusiast.

The book detailed the models, chronologically, showing how one cycle evolved into the the next model. It would detail the new models improvements. Numerous photo also aided in the descriptions of the improvements made year to year, model to model. Easy reading and a MUST read for all you BMW lovers.

This is a very complete and detailed book. I think that the authors give us a very good review of the BMW bikes. They write not only about technical specification, but history as well. They have good pictures, photos and technical data. What I miss is that they forgot to write about some types ( R-3, R-61 ) and they do not give the technical data of all types of BMW bikes. The advantage of this book - can be read as an interesting story - is also the disadvantage of it. What I would try, if I were the author, is that show the types one by one, not forgetting the stories, but more sistematically show us the BMW bikes, one or two page for each, including photos, pictures, data. Otherwise the best book I know about BMW bikes.

This is a great book and well written. However, it is more of a history book on the BMW motorcycles than it is a buyer's guide. There is very little information on pricing and the author is very generous to the BMW legacy without being especially helpful to prospective buyers. I put it down having learned alot about the BMW line but probably more confused about which BMW to buy than when I picked it up. If you want to learn about the bikes it is great, if you are a newcomer and you want basic buying info, I am not sure that this is the best book.

This book documents the production of all BMW motorcycles from the very beginning up until 1997. It has high quality pictures of most BMW models as well as rating the various models as to desirability of ownership from a collector's point of view.

The author is obviously an expert in this area and offers insightful comments. There are quite a few sidebars that detail his riding experiences on various older models

This book is a "must have" for any serious BMW motorcycle enthusiast or owner.

Wow, this book was great!! It really pulled me in! When i first sat down to read it i planned on only reading a few chapters. By the time that i set the book down i was done! 'm not one who really likes to read, but this book really did it for me! i have never ridden in my life, but by the way the Author, Carolee Tyson wrote it i begged my parents to get me a bike so i could learn and experience the thrills of riding dirt bikes!The first place i saw this was at a local event. The author had set up a booth, and was autographing and selling books. The coolest part about it was that she had a motorcycle their for show! That was really cool. I got me thinking and i asked my parents if they would buy it for me. When they realized i was talking about a book the bought themselves each a copy after reading the back. If your looking for a great, thrilling and amazing read, then go to the next place that you see it because you won't be sorry you did! Five stars and two thumbs way up. I hope this becomes a movie!

My mom wrote a review about this book and said I could too because she got the book for me and i didn't like it. I wanted to read about motorcycles and real stuff that real kids do not a bunch of junior high drama. it wasn't very good I have read a lot of books and they are better than this one.

When my friend told me about this book (he wrote the one below me), i just had to read it! I was quite surprised because like him, i don't like to read. This book was a great read. I even showed my teacher and now hes reading it and he said that his son wants to read it as well. This book is truly contagious! Better get your copy soon!

Wow this book was phenomenal! I really liked the way that the author titled the chapters. It was very clever! I strongly disagree with the other two reviews (Miracle kid and Miracle Mom). This book was very well done. I really like Brooke; she always knew what to do and I find that very admirable. She is a very responsible person and I want to be like her. I loved this book and recomended it to all of my friends, family and teachers. This is definatley a five star book! Because of the language it's probably better for middle schoolers and above. The ending was my favorite part of the book, it was a real jaw dropper!

I was really hoping for a better read. Even in the hands of a better
writer this story would fall flat - It is predictable and hum drum. If you need something to help you fall asleep quickly, buy a used copy. Very disappointing.

when you think turbocharging a bike is going to be easy,read this book,its not as easy as you might think,but clear step by step guide make it more a reality then a dream.

Hi. note that im from argentina and my english is not to good but im really happy whits this book, its tecnical but easy to understand, with a lot of practical examples. You could really start to enjoy what suprcharger, turbocharger and nitrous oxide works.. Thanks, Pablo Ibargoyen, Paraguay 555, 8000 Bahia Blanca, Argentina, ibargoyj@infovia.com.ar

I bought the book to do a paper on nitrous oxide racing in motorcycles. The nitrous chapter was very small and seemed to refer to one company too much. The other two chapters were much better. Why did the author not cover nitrous and turbos or superchargers?

Just echoing the other reviews. The subject coverage is great, the information is almost all applicable to more than just motorcycles, and the directory of contacts is invaluable.

I followed Joe Haile's advice but the vendors he recommended to me took my money and after many years of holding (and misusing) my motorcycle and money they did not deliver the goods and services they promised. I had to sue the listed vendors Luftmeister, RB Racing, Matt Capri, & Bob Behn for fraud and it cost me thousands of dollars and my motorcycle does not run right after many years of their supposed help. I bought this book and called Joe Haile many times and his advice cost me thousands of dollars of pain.

Has more than a few tidbits to help out with your older BMW. Has too many models to cover to make it a must have. You can read what is useful to your model in an afternoon. Hit your local library first.

Breat book with many tips and tricks you will not find anywhere else. If you are restoring one of these, it will pay for itself times over again. Only caveat: it was written by a british author and therefore refers to the GB models and therefore is somewhat overloaded with info about models that were never sold here. It also misses some US model info, e.g. 4:10 rear axle ratio that was used here for 325ia cars.

I live in Sri Lanka. I bought this book from Amazon. I learned many technical information from this book. This is very good referance book for E30 owners. It has explained good and bad things about E30 cars. I think all the BMW E30 owners should have this book.

I found this book very informative. I have an E30 M3 and often reference items in the book.

This book has proven to be an excellent resource for facts and information on the E30 3 series. The detail is exquisite. It has proven indespensible during the build up of my first BMW. If you are interested in the vintage three, you need this book. Although written by a Brit, the U.S. cars are represented well.

This is the illustrated version of the amazing story of two friends traveling around the world together. It is a demonstration of the will of individuals to make it to their goal. More importantly it is also an illustration of the generosity, the kindness, the sadness, the humor and the beauty they found along the way. You don't have to be interested in motorcycles, you don't even have to care who Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman are! Its just a great tale of two people and an adventure.

As wonderful as it is to read the story, you must also get the dvd. It is as close as most of us will ever get to these amazing locations, and you couldn't ask for better guides!

Long Way Round chronicles the around-the-world motorcycle adventure of Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor. It's unlikely I'll ever do anything like that in my life, but the book gave me an idea of what it's like. Both of them are entertaining writers and it was a really inspiring book. A great tale of taking an adventure and making it a dream come true; of friendship; and of overcoming obstacles. A great companion to the dvd set.

What an awesome book, recording an awesome experience. As a biker myself, I was attracted to the book just to read about a trip that is beyond my means and abilities, but the book ended up meaning much more than that to me. It showed me, yet again, that wherever you go in the world (And I've travelled a fair bit of it myself in my work as a seafarer !) people everywhere are just people like you and I, when you get past the religious, political and economic differences that can so often divide us. It also highlights the fact that people who make a living in the film industry are not necessarily unapproachable, self centred and addicted to adulation. They can be warm, human and prone to the same joys, fears and desires as the rest of us. In short, they are human beings who just happen to have a good job. This is not just a good read about a motor bike trip of a lifetime, it is a book that rekindles hope that the world, and its varied people, is a beautiful place after all, and not half as dangerous as some would have us believe. Whether you're a biker, an armchair traveller or just someone looking for an exciting and inspiring read, then this book is for you. I can't praise it highly enough.

I couldn't wait to get this book. It sounded like a great story of adventure across several continents. After the first chapter I deeply regreted my purchase. What had great potential turned out to be two guys boasting about their popularity and how it was going to be difficult being celebrities. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't know them at all, despite their numerous references to the movies they've been in. I thought I was getting a book about the challenges of travel abroad and pictures of these places. What I got was a book with too many pictures of the authors, weak stories of the places they stayed in and the food they ate.

This adventure pales beside the great round the world books on motorcyle like One Man Caravan by Robert Edison Fulton or Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon. There is little sense of real adventure with this banal travel chronology. A major support team follows closely on the tails of these guys who over packed, offer little insight to local cultures, and the worse challenge they face is eating food that they don't normally eat. Surely, the BCC could afford to have the book ghost written for them to improve the interest.

This is about as basic a book as you will find on motorcycle mechanics without being too trivial to be of use. Plenty of pictures and diagrams for the visually-inclined. The troubleshooting section ("what do I do if the bike does this...?") is excellent. The book also covers the wider aspect of motorcycling like what to wear, what kinds of equipment you should carry on your bike, etc

Chilton's Motorcycle Handbook is a very good resource. It is, however, very broad in range and narrow in scope. Which is to say that a wide variety of topics are covered, but none of them are incredibly detailed. If you are in the market for a book on general motorcycling, I'd recommend The Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Guide to Motorcycling Excellence. If, however, you want information on how and why your bike works as well as maintenance tips, there is no substitute for a shop manual or, if the shop manual is unavailable, a Clymer book for your model. This book would be of interest if you are interested in killing all those birds with one stone using a less adequate substitute.

This book combines step-by-step repair and maintenance and troubleshooting sections with chapters on choosing a motorcycle (mainly a series of pictures of different bikes with short comments), choosing riding clothing, accessorizing your bike, and other miscellaneous topics. It's written in an opinionated first-person style. I found it somewhat superficial.

For learning how a motorcycle works, I would recommend "Motorcycle Basics Manual" published by Haynes; for repair step-by-steps, get the manual for your make of bike; for souping up your bike, "Sportbike Performance Handbook" is more informed and explains the why and how behind the conclusions; for riding wear and technique, I'd recommend Hough's "Proficient Motorcycling." After reading these, if you just have to read something else, this book is not bad.

It's chock-full of information, with answers for all those "stupid" questions you're too embarassed to ask anybody else. Plus, great general info on basic repairs and maintenance.

Despite the different makes and models of scooters, there are many similarities between them. This book takes advantage of that, and instructs you on how to service the various components generally, and not specifically; service information specific to a particular make and model is not given. For example, in chapter 10 ("Electrical Systems") figure 7.1: "Wiring diagram for a typical turn signal system". Diagrams specific to each scooter model are not given. The idea here is after reading the manual, you should be sufficiently familiar with the components of a scooter that when you service yours you won't have too much difficulty, even if your scooter's engine and drivetrain isn't exactly like the one in the pictures. This does mean that there isn't a lot of hand-holding; if you want service details specific to your scooter model you'll have to buy the official service manual from the manufacturer (and pay the high prices).

The list of specific models covered by this book is derived from the "Data" section, where information (torque settings, bore and stroke, etc.) specific to each model is listed.

It would have been nice if time were taken to explain the operation of parts that are unique to scooters. For example, the variator (part of the CVT) is not something found on motorcycles and most cars. Chapter 6 (covering the transmission) explains how to remove and service the variator, but does not explain how it works. The addition of this information would strengthen the book considerably, as it would educate the reader as to the "why", and not just the 'how".

The content is a few years old, and more recent models are not included. This is something to keep in mind if you have a recent scooter with an unusual engine, such as a Yamaha C3, which is fuel-injected.

One thing to be aware of is this book is apparently written for a British audience (Haynes Publishing is a British company). This means that British English is used throughout, as opposed to American English. You'll see "spanner" instead of "wrench", "petrol" instead of "gasoline", "tyre" instead of "tire", "circlip" instead of "retaining ring", "renew" instead of "replace", etc. This isn't a big deal, but may take some getting used to. Reference section 18 is about the MOT Test, which is given in England and not the U.S.A.

In all this is a very handy and useful reference. Combine this with parts diagrams for your particular scooter (obtainable online), and you should be prepared to tackle most service tasks.

The Lovely Pearl ET4 on the front cover is not one of the models covered, a bit misleading. If you have one of the later L.E.A.D.E.R. engines, any engine work should be doable, since the ET4 and the LX share the same engine.

this book provides all the info you need to disassemble and rebuild most scooter motors as well as tips and methods to make it easier

Well written (just have to get used to some of the English terminology) and well illustrated covering many maintenance items,repairs and overhauls to 2 and 4 stroke, air and liquid cooled scooters. You will need your owners manual for specifications though, as only a few brands are listed. Manual also covers safety items,as well as tool and workshop tips.

this book almost was what i was looking for i still had a lot of good info tho the shipper sent it out super fast and it showed up faster then i thought it would i very surprised at how fast it got here

I look forward to using the advance techniques that this book provides.

First of all, this isn't really a book. It's more like a magazine.

Second, the airbrushing exmaples inside (while very well done) aren't what I expected.

If you're interested in airbrushing a flaming skull on a motorcycle then this book (er, magazine) is for you.

But if you're like me, and interested only in airbrushing illustrations, then this isn't for you.

Advanced Airbrush Art: How To Secrets From The Masters could also have been featured in our 'Transportation' section, for many of the techniques are demonstrated for auto art purposes - but it's reviewed here for its fine technical survey of airbrush techniques. Nearly 500 color photos provide step-by-step explanation to accompany projects from ten selected airbrush masters. The bikes being decorated serve as project examples for cutting masks, using graphics, mixing and more, making Advanced Airbrush Art a definitive guide for any entering into the airbrush art world.

This book has some good techniques for someone who has some knowledge, but does not have any step-by-step projects for beginners. The step-by-step projects it has are for someone who has some knowledge and experience of painting and airbrushing. It seems nice for this purpose though. I wanted a book for an absolute beginners such as myself. I will keep the book and probably will use it after I learn some about airbrushing. I know some about painting so I can see how this would benefit someone with some skill and knowledge. It shows procedures and tips for painting gas tanks for motorcycles.

Superb book for learning. I only wish this group of ten painters, will do it again, with different subjects...