As expected, there were some great suggestions from all of you regarding books that were left off last week’s ‘Top 10 Motorcycle Books‘ post. I figured the best thing to do would be to consolidate your ideas for other readers that are looking for new material. The first list was mostly stories of racing or riding adventures. This list of your suggestions has a bit more variety:
Twist of the Wrist
Jim calls it the most important book for every motorcycle rider, and that’s an opinion shared by many others. Keith Code is of course also known for his California Superbike School, and some racers think this is the bible. It’s all about reading what the road has to offer in an easy-to-understand format. The sequel to this book may be a better bet for someone focused more on street riding than tearing up racetracks – A Twist of the Wrist Vol. 2
Riding the Edge
In Somer’s words, “It is about a man who rides around the world with two prosthetic legs. As though he wasn’t handicapped enough, he does it on a HD Shovelhead.” Dave’s story is incredible. Here’s a summary from his listing in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame:
Barr was born April 12, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, and was abandoned in the backseat of a car. After nine months in foster care, he was adopted by Guy Barr, a Navy veteran of World War II in the Pacific, and his wife, Lucille, who had worked in an aircraft assembly plant during the war. He bought his first motorcycle, a ‘61 Harley-Davidson Panhead, after he returned in 1971 from Vietnam, where he had earned 57 air medals, including a single-mission decoration for valor during his combat tour as a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter gunner.
He rode the Panhead coast-to-coast-to-coast and immediately bought his second bike, a 1,200cc 1972 Harley-Davidson FX Super Glide.
While serving in the South African army in Angola a decade later, Barr’s unarmored vehicle rolled over an anti-tank mine and exploded. He spent nine months in a Pretoria military hospital, undergoing 20 operations, including four to remove his legs in stages, skin grafts, and agonizing physical therapy to learn to walk again. When he was released from the hospital, Barr volunteered to go back to the combat zone where he’d nearly been killed to finish his enlistment on prosthetic legs.
The book details his six-continent, 83,000 mile, 3.5 year long journey around the world.
Motorcycle Handling and Chassis Design by Tony Foale – suggested by Gregor H.
I’ve featured Tony before in an interview – he’s an under-appreciated expert in motorcycle chassis design. This book takes complicated concepts and explains them so that even I can understand it, and it’s probably the best book out there to understand how your bike does what it does. On top of that, he also offers software that helps with all kinds of things – drum brake configuration, center of gravity calculation, steering geometry calculator, analyzing alternative front suspensions…there’s all kinds of fantastic options on his site, which is also the cheapest place to get his book.
Uneasy Rider: Travels Through a Mid-Life Crisis
The story of journalist Mike Carter, who takes a solo 6 month trip around Europe in which he covered 20,000 miles. It’s apparently full of self-deprecating humor, if you’re into that.
Three-Wheeling Through Africa
In Frank’s words, “…an outstanding adventure book. It is out of print but frequently shows up on eBay. Two young guys did the first transcontinental trip across Africa from West to East, in the early days of motorcycling. They had made sidecars for their Triumph singles. It was awe inspiring with photos of jungle and sand dunes they had to conquer. A must read if you like motorcycles, true adventure and a can’t put down book.”
Bonus Vintagent Suggestions: As you’d expect from the The Vintagent, Paul had several good suggestions from the thousands of titles in his current collection. Like the bikes he features and loves, the books are old, expensive, and not necessarily easy to find! They are:
Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga
Thompson’s account of his two years living with the Hell’s Angels is a classic. It started as a commissioned article for The Nation and evolved into the author’s first published book. Here’s an interesting period review of the book from the New York Times, which summarizes the novel as follows:
Hunter Thompson has presented us with a close view of a world most of us would never dare encounter, yet one with which we should be familiar. He has brought on stage men who have lost all options and are not reconciled to the loss. They have great resources for violence which doesn’t as yet have any effective focus. Thompson suggests that these few Angels are but the vanguard of a growing army of disappropriated, disaffiliated and desperate men. There’s always the risk that somehow they may force the wrong options into being.
Black Smoke
This is one of the collections of Irving’s columns. A Cycle World review from 1980 notes how “Irving dredges up all sorts of oddments from his encyclopedic store of practical knowledge…Phil Irving has impeccable credentials and is a bit cranky at times but who has a better right? His dissertation on the advantages of flatheads (or sidewhackers) gives rise to a lot of thought and is worth the price of admission.”
Vintage Years at Brooklands
In Paul’s words, this book is “all large format glass plate photos of the most romantic era of bike racing, when knee socks and heavy sweaters were considered safety equipment!” And if you’re into unique forms of photography, check out MotoTintype, a side project of Paul’s (along with Susan McLaughlin) focused on wet plate photography.
Lastly, Reminiscences of Motorcycling by Ixion of The Motor Cycle. In Paul’s words (again), “Ixion was a pioneer motorcyclist and magazine editor; his Motorcycle Reminiscence is a hilarious account of very early motorcycling.” I really struggled to find a purchasable copy of this available online for you to enjoy (I couldn’t). But then, I found a PDF of the book and its sequel available here so you can read while you’re pretending to do work at the office.
Keep on reading!