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motorcycle literature — others

"Motorcycle takes you from the motorized bicycle to the life cycle of Bosozoku gangs; from the concept of ‘flow’ to leather and sexuality; from Broughs to toughs to white-gloved Motor Maids. Like a good motorcycle ride it leads you into new territory and gives you a fresh sense of familiar terrain. International in scope, informative and provocative, it opens up the field of motorcycle culture and design." —Ted Bishop, author of Riding with Rilke

Essential reading for the Harley-Davidson roadhog, the bike collector, or anyone who’s felt the power of the unmistakable king of the road.

Motorcycles were widely used by all sides in WW2 due to their agility, adaptability, and speed. Birch (Photo Archivist at the IWM) has unearthed images of all the major marques: famous British names (Triumph, Norton, Matchless, BSA, Velocette, James, and Rudge), the bigger American machines (Indian and Harley-Davidson), and German bikes (NSU, Zundapp, and BMW, plus the hybrid tracked motorcycles known as Kettengrad — with some shots taken by General Erwin Rommel himself). Also covered are rare experimental prototypes photographed during trials and later in combat, the oddballs of the wartime biking world such as the Airborne forces Excelsior Welbike (British) and the Cushman parascooter (US). A unique collection of two-wheeled images. "As they track Pirsig's narrator and his 11-year-old son, Chris, on their road odyssey from Minnesota to San Francisco, DiSanto and Steele (who teach at Regis College in Denver) unload the narrator's philosophical backpack of Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Hindu, and Western ideas. Frequent use of the second person singular ("How do you learn to let go?") lightens their academic discourse, which serves as a thoroughgoing introduction to Pirsig's bestseller. This primer includes reviews of the work and an entire chapter, cut from Pirsig's original manuscript, [that] puts the relationship between the narrator and his troubled son in a more positive light." —Publishers Weekly

This book is a useful accompaniment to Robert M. Pirsig's celebrated Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

"... paints an exuberant picture of women who thrill to the sound of heavy-metal thunder." —Entertainment Weekly

"A woman's symphony on the road." —The New York Times

Written by an award-winning journalist and motorcyclist, this book chronicles the world of women in motorcycling: the myths, history, and subcultures of free-spirited riders with a passion for two wheels and the road. It's packed with stories and photographs of pioneering women and their machines, from the first grande dames who hitched up their skirts to ride motorized bicycles at the turn of the century to the high-tech drag racers, stuntwomen, and exotic adventure riders of today.

Garripoli interprets the two worlds of motorcycling and Eastern spirituality, and the relationship between them. Using the motorcycle as a metaphor for the freedom that returns us to our natural selves, he illustrates principles of Eastern spirituality, including such timeless Chinese philosophies and concepts as Tao and Qi, to name but a few. Tao entails living in a natural way, accepting nature and following its rhythms — in short, Tao is balance and acceptance. Qi is the life force, the cosmic energy that flows through every human being. The metaphor of motorcycling, which requires balance, acceptance, and evenly flowing energy, illustrates these principles effectively and concisely. "Greenfeld ... has written about a little-known, seamy subculture in Japan that became more prominent with the collapse of the "bubble" economy of the 1980s. In 12 compelling chapters, Greenfeld covers the grimier aspects of Tokyo's urban society: organized crime, the nightclub scene, motorcycle gangs (the eponymous bosozoku), computer hackers, ultra-right-wing nationalists, and the porn industry. His focus on individuals brings a sense of immediacy as his high-speed narrative highlights the flaws in Japan's society without bashing it." —Library Journal

"... a must for anyone interested in the culture of motorcycling. True, maybe only a fourth of the book is about moto-culture, but it's all good reading. Greenfield's tight prose gives unequaled access to Japan's underground, which is a culture that should prove to be more and more influential internationally in years to come. And although it's not by any means a thorough dissertation on the underground biker scene in Japan, it's the closest anyone has come so far in English." —Motorcycle.com

A memoir of the restoration of a 1941 Indian Chief motorcycle. From a $5,000 heap of indeterminate old Indian parts in a cardboard box, the author slowly but surely resurrects one of the most beautiful machines ever built. With limited mechanical skills, a budget that relies heavily on a Visa Gold card, and a cast of local experts, Haefele takes us around every curve on his rocky road to restoration: the thrill of finding an original spare part; the joy of completing a repair that was previously beyond his ability; the nagging doubt that he's insane and the bike will never be finished; the suspicion that, once it looks finished, it won't run; and finally, the sheer headlong, heart-thrilling rush of riding the gleaming midnight-blue Millennium Flyer. Just when you thought you'd seen everything ... along comes a (delightfully inexpensive) motorcycle colouring book! Represented here are over 100 years of motorcycle history, with accurately detailed illustrations of 45 models, including a Gottlieb Daimler Motor Bicycle (1885), 1913 Royal Enfield, 1947 Indian "Chief", 1966 BSA A65 Lightning, and the Honda ES21 Future Motorcycle Concept Prototype. The accompanying captions are surprisingly informative. If you keep this book for yourself, you'll be hard-pressed to mess up the wonderful artwork by actually colouring in it! "This book is a Bible for the first-time Harley rider and anybody else who’s ever dreamed of a life in the wind." —Easy Rider Magazine

"This book ... [is] enlightening, funny, and infectious. Read this and you too will itch to be 'in the wind'." —Birmingham Post

"This book made me want to break out my leathers. I couldn't put it down." —Terence Stamp, actor

Pretty much a "must read" for the Harley-Davidson aficionado.

"... a subdued but genuine piece of bikerlit ... La Plante freewheels to the notorious annual motorcycle-related festivities in Sturgis, South Dakota. After persevering in wretched weather (the "floods of Iowa" figure prominently) and a trip made more arduous by age, an injured knee, and separation from his family, La Plante partakes of the soul-cleansing Sturgis experience, where "the stars spilled like a chest of rainbow-colored gems above" and "Willie Nelson's voice waft[ed] out from an open window." This is good stuff ... There probably aren't enough sex and drugs, though, for boomer Harley poseurs and adolescent thrill seekers." —Booklist

"Like many a fancier of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the "hog" of song and story, La Plante became hooked, then obsessed, then broke. He’s still hooked, obsessed, and broke." —Los Angeles Times

In 1968, just before Easy Rider roared its way into American consciousness, Danny Lyon published The Bikeriders. A seminal work of modern photojournalism, this landmark collection of photographs and interviews documents the abandon and risk implied in the name of the gang Lyon belonged to: the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club. It is also one of the very few non-sensationalized books having to do with outlaw motorcycle clubs.

With images and interviews that are as raw, alive, and dramatic today as they were almost four decades ago, this new edition includes startling new images: 15 additional black-and-white photographs and 14 color prints — long thought missing — of works originally published in black-and-white. With a new introduction by the author, The Bikeriders rides again, capturing like never before the dawn of the counterculture era.

Not everyone "gets" this hard-to-classify (not really a novel, yet not entirely non-fiction either) series of road trip narrations. Those who like to ponder the "Why do we ride?" (or, for that matter, "Why do we live?") question will likely find considerable enjoyment herein, and perhaps a few answers. If you enjoyed Meyer's first book, you'll want to read this follow-up, which continues his musings in the same vein. "... enter the unique, bold, mysterious, dangerous, and delirious world of women bikers. This is a book for everyone." —Dr. Barbara Joans, Thunder Press columnist

In this inspiring book, renowned motojournalist Sasha Mullins explores the unique sisterhood of bikerladies — old and young, mothers and daughters, sisters, wives, grandmothers, executives, celebrities, artists, teachers, and more who race on a track or ride endless highways on their own personal journeys. In richly detailed interviews and profiles, the women on these pages celebrate their passion for motorcycles and share the lessons learned on the open road, where every ride opens endless possibilities.

"This book, a polished, winding meditation on the theory and fractiousness of motorcycles, celebrates both their eccentric history and the wary pleasures of touring." —The New Yorker

"... an exceptionally sensitive and intelligent book" —Robert Pirsig

"... a must for anyone who has loved a motorcycle" —Oliver Sacks

The motorcycle memoir for those who are sick of memoirs (or motorcycles); a book for people who don't know what the big deal is about riding, or why the Guggenheim Museum in New York, in a swirl of controversy, would exhibit motorcycles as works of modern art.

The creator and long time editor of "Dirt Bike" magazine takes the reader down memory lane, and into both the glory years of the magazine and the sport of dirt biking in general. Full of stories, anecdotes, humor, and more, Monkey Butt! is more than a simple retrospective. Rick puts the reader in the saddle with some of the sport's all-time greats, visiting South America for racing action across the equator, then returning to the USA for the legendary "Blackwater 100" and the desert races of the southwestern states. Hilarious, outrageous, depressing, informative, and ultimately entertaining.

This book is most easily obtained directly from its author.

The Battle of Mons, The Battle of Le Cateau, The Great Retreat, Over the Marne to the Aisne, The Battle of the Aisne, The Move to the North, Round la Assée, The Beginning of Winter 1914, St Jans Cappel, Behind the Lines, etc. "Wooley and Price consider the canon of the chopper epic enthusiastically and thoroughly, mixing stills and promotional graphics with dead-on thumbnail plot summaries, not to mention pithily noting particular films' peculiar distinctions. Less revered and studied than blaxploitation and smut, biker movies appeared, often at drive-ins, throughout America in the 1960s and 1970s, inspiring one of the most iconic sixties-culture films, Easy Rider, many of whose actors and plot wrinkles figured earlier in the likes of Hell's Angels on Wheels, The Trip and Angels Hard as They Come, all of which Wooley and Price hail here. Besides production notes ... Wooley and Price include such things as the names of the biker gangs and their leaders in each movie. That Chino (Dennis Hopper) and his gang, the Black Souls, rumbled with Darryl (Jody McCrea) and the Stompers in The Glory Stompers is the kind of niche information American culture collections shouldn't be without. Now they don't have to be." —Booklist