Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well (Book & CD)

"Essential reading. Open any page and you will be richly rewarded. The best-in-class!" -- Roadgear, Inc. "If there is one book every motorcyclist should own, this is it!" -- WebBikeWorld "The ultimate biker's bible." -- Roadbike "[Proficient Motorcycling] contains all the information needed to become and remain a safe rider." -- BMW Owners News From the Publisher Author David L. Hough is known around the world as an expert in safe street riding techniques and is a reknown celebrity with U.S. and Canadian bikers for his contributions to life-saving techniques that help bikers be safe while maximizing their ride. From the Inside Flap Do you want to blast around those twisty mountain roads, ride through miles of desert, or go on a weekend-long group ride? Or do you want to commute to work on your motorcycle and learn how to handle the neighbor's dog, aggressive drivers, and construction zones? Whatever your goals, award-winning author and riding expert David L. Hough helps you hone your riding skills and avoid dangerous pitfalls in this new edition of his best-selling manual Proficient Motorcycling. The first edition of Proficient Motorcycling has been the top-selling motorcycling book since its publication in 2000, and it is heavily endorsed by motorcycling experts. Now a new generation of riders will be drawn to Dave's Hough's critically acclaimed book, and the legions of avid fans will be scrambling to replace their dog-eared reference copies with this beautiful new edition. This updated and expanded version of the world's best introduction to safe riding techniques combines color imagery and contemporary road scenes with Dave Hough's clear writing style. How do you corner on a mountain road? Should you jam on the brakes or accelerate when swerving to miss an obstacle? How to you angle your bike to cross a hard pavement edge? With step-by-step instructions, detailed diagrams and photographs, and humorous anecdotes, Hough answers these and other critical questions to help both new riders and old campaigners enjoy their rides. The top-selling motorcycling book of the decade, Proficient Motorcycling, zooms back into stores in this updated, expanded, and colorfully illustrated new edition. With easy-to-understand instructions and diagrams, nationally renowned motorcycling expert David L. Hough lays out a clear course for novice and seasoned bikers alike who want to sharpen their handling skills for a safer, more enjoyable ride. Inside this book you'll find invaluable information on: * How motorcycles really work * Riding city streets and country roads * Dealing with common (and uncommon) hazards * Avoiding manmade booby traps and canine pursuers * Surviving nature's challenges (rain, wind, heat, cold) * Safely riding in groups and carrying passengers * Clothing offering the best protection With this edition of Proficient Motorcycling, you'll also get a free CD with 144 bonus pages of instruction. Whether you're riding a bike for the first time or are a seasoned road warrior, this lively manual is a must-have book on how to improve your skills and get safely to your destination! David L. Hough is a longtime motorcyclist and journalist who has traveled extensively by motorcycle throughout North America and Europe. With 25 years of street bike riding under his belt, David has served as an author and training consultant on safe riding techniques for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation , the American Motorcyclist Foundation , the Motorcycle Riders Foundation , the State Motorcycle Safety Administrators Association, and many other groups here and abroad for which he has won numerous awards. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Canyon Bites It's a sunny Sunday morning in the Colorado mountains. Perfect weather. Light traffic. The pavement is clean and dry. Motoring eastbound through the scenic Boulder canyon, Norman and Christine are enjoying the ride and the view. Both riders are wearing protective gear, including high-quality full-coverage helmets. Norman is paying attention to the curves, planning good cornering lines, and keeping his Suzuki well in control. Westbound, four motorcyclists on fast sportbikes are dicing with each other, enjoying their race-bred machines, the excellent road conditions, and the rush of friendly competition at the spirited pace, albeit with little regard for speed limits or double yellow lines. At the moment, Mark is slightly more willing than the others to jack up the risks, and his Honda is pulling ahead of the pack. Just east of Hurricane Hill, Norman slows the Suzuki for the sharp blind turn through the rocks and leans the bike over into a nice curving arc that should kiss the centerline at his apex. At the same instant, Mark carves into the same turn westbound on his Honda. Mark realizes too late that the curve through the rocks is tighter than he had assumed. He tries to lean the Honda more, but he can't prevent the bike from drifting wide across the double yellow lines, right into the path of the approaching Suzuki. Frantically, Norman shoves the grips toward the right to swerve the Suzuki away from a 120-mph head-on collision. Mark frantically tries to get the Honda turned, but the tires lose traction, and the bike lowsides in a shower of sparks and plastic. The sliding Honda clips the Suzuki just hard enough to send it cartwheeling into the rocks. Mark tumbles to a stop, bleeding profusely but alive. A second later, Mark's buddies carve around the corner and spin through the mess of wadded-up bikes and bodies. Norman dies instantly, his helmeted head ripped from his body. Norman's wife, Christine, dies an hour later at the hospital. Mark and his buddies all survive. This is a true story, and I'm not relating it just to gross you out. Similar crashes occur over and over again on various twisty highways across America that are popular with weekend motorcyclists. The term canyon racing comes from California, where the twisty roads leading up the canyons are the playgrounds of aggressive motorcyclists. The east coast has its canyon roads, too, including the famously twisty road through Deals Gap between North Carolina and Tennessee, known by motorcyclists as The Dragon. The Taboo You won't hear much about motorcycle fatalities from your local motorcycle dealerships or in mainstream motorcycle magazines. Discussing fatalities has long been a motorcycling taboo. If a rider survives the crash, the experience might provide some bragging rights. But talking about the fatalities tends to take all the fun out of the sport for riders, and for those in the industry it has a chilling effect on sales. In general, motorcyclists and motorcycle dealerships don't understand how to manage the risks of riding, so it's more comfortable to avoid the topic. Since the motorcycle industry pays big bucks to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation to solve the problem, the industry attitude is just stay out of their way and let them do whatever it is they do. Yes, I understand the discomfort of bringing the risks out in the open and talking about them. After all, part of the thrill of motorcycling is challenging the odds. We ride motorcycles partly because they are more dangerous than other vehicles. Perhaps not talking about the risks will hold them at bay. Maybe talking about risks is inviting the odds to strike. Or maybe we just don't know enough about managing the risks to know how far we're hanging it out. For instance, all road racers understand the need for crash padding because they intend to ride at 99 percent of their limits, and they know how easy it is to punch through the envelope. But the street rider may also be riding at 99 percent of the risk envelope when entering a busy intersection. If that's the case, then why don't all street riders wear quality crash padding? I believe that if we're to manage the risks of riding, we need to take it personally. You and I need to understand what's happening and figure out what we can do to keep our risks in check. So let's agree to ignore the taboo and talk seriously about what's happening. Read more