Best of
Motorcycle

2008

Into Africa


Sam Manicom - 2008
    It’s completely upfront with the adventures, mishaps, dust, heat and the thrills of overlanding. You’ll find that Sam’s perceptions of people, places and the various predicaments have real depth and texture. Whether he’s being shot at, arrested, jailed, knocked unconscious in the depths of the Namibian desert or living in a remote Tanzanian village, you’ll find that he evokes the sights, sounds and smells with a natural ease that takes you right into each scene.

Lois Rides Again: Across Africa The Tricky, Sticky Way


Lois Pryce - 2008
    She put on her sparkly crash helmet, armed herself with maps and a baffling array of visas, and got on her bike. Destination: Cape Town - and the small matter of tackling the Sahara, war-torn Angola and the Congo Basin along the way - this feisty independent woman's grand trek through the Dark Continent of Africa is the definitive motorcycling adventure.Colourful and hilarious, Red Tape and White Knuckles is an action-packed tale about following your dreams that will have you packing your bags and jetting off into the sunset on your own adventure before you know it.

Stayin' Safe: The Art and Science of Riding Really Well


Lawrence Grodsky - 2008
    Through the riding courses he taught and his "Stayin' Safe" columns in Rider magazine (from 1988 until his untimely death in 2006), he helped thousands of motorcyclists improve their skills and their ability to ride really well. This collection of Grodsky's columns reveals his ability to illuminate complex and sometimes highly technical subjects with an entertaining and personal style, spiced with his trademark wry wit and keen observations of human behavior. A master teacher, Grodsky was constantly learning from his students, always striving to find the best way to lead riders towards the mastery of their two-wheeled vehicles. Many of his columns focus on helping riders develop specific skills (complete with practice exercises), while others deal with the riding environment and riders' mental processes. Although it is packed with information useful to both novice and experienced motorcyclists, this book is not structured as a how-to guide to motorcycle proficiency. Rather, it is a collection of thoughtful essays to be read and savored individually. Readers will be rewarded by the beautifully written stories of a great motorcycle riding instructor who has left his mark on a generation of grateful riders.

The Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Archive Collection


Darwin Holmstrom - 2008
    Who knew, one hundred years ago, that the freedom-loving, speed-hungry, cutting-edge motorcycle fanatics who founded Harley-Davidson were making history along with bikes?  The Harley-Davidson Collection, showcasing a century of bikes that shaped motorcycle history, brings that history to gleaming life in page after page of motorcycles beyond compare.  On the eve of the opening of the historic Harley-Davidson Museum, this book gives motorcycle enthusiasts an opportunity to pore over the bikes in the collection, and to linger over every detail that made Harley-Davidson such an icon of American open-road power and performance.  With exquisite, detailed photographs and histories of the hundred motorcycles in Harley’s collection, from serial number one built in 1903 to the latest low-slung Softail, high-revving VRSC, and touring models, the book captures the excitement of the best-known motorcycles in the world.  All that’s missing is the patented roar, which readers are invited to supply.

Overland To India: An 8400 Mile Adventure On A 55 Year Old Motorcycle


Gordon G. May - 2008
    A challenge for most vehicles, but on an antiquated 1953 Royal Enfield .... "Your bike belongs in a museum, not on the road," was how one doubter tried to discourage Gordon from undertaking this journey. Despite intense heat in excess of 40C, a crash in the Baluchistan desert and some of the worst roads and driving standards on the planet, Gordon's old Bullet did indeed make it triumphantly to Chennai. In his new book, Gordon describes in detail the restoration of his motorcycle and the build up to departure, the larger-than-life characters he met and the many challenges he faced. He also recounts the more personal highs and lows of life on the road. Above all, Overland To India is a heartwarming book that illustrates human kindness and hospitality and encourages other riders to take their own motorcycles on a long-distance journey.

These are the Days That Must Happen To You


Dan Walsh - 2008
    His book documents the travels and travails of a bikeworld rebel.

101 Road Tales


Clement Salvadori - 2008
    Salvadori loves to travel by motorcycle and loves to write. His combining the two has given him a thoroughly satisfactory life, and his contentment and joy of living shine through this collection of columns from the past two decades. Though he does admit to being destination-oriented at times, many of his columns focus on the little things that make the journey itself the most memorable -- the rhythm of the road, the music of the bike, the beauty of the ride, and the exhilaration of being at one with the bike and the road.  Meet some of the characters he has encountered, laugh with him at some of his blunders, and join him for bread, cheese, wine, and a stupendous vista somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of humanity.