Reviews for The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles

The average rating for The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-11-10 00:00:00 Bob Jones This book is a good introduction to motorcycling. I would characterize it as more of a "survey" than an instructional training book, though. The chapter flow is geared (ha!) toward those who have an initial interest in motorcycles, and it proceeds to lead you through some basic motorcycle education (history, terminology, styles, and mechanics) before dropping you off with some first time buyer's advice. The latter half of the book focuses on riding techniques, and I felt that this is where the real quality of the book is found. While this book is definitely not a riding manual, it does cover a large number of topics in good detail using simple, clear language. For example, there's a useful chapter that explains what to do in all sorts of bad situations, and another chapter that focuses entirely on bad weather riding situations. There are also complete chapters on dirt bike riding and track racing. There's enough information here for riders of all experience levels. For new riders, much of the information will be new, and for experienced riders, the presentation makes for a good refresher course in good riding techniques. That being said, however, I wouldn't directly recommend this book to an experienced rider, who would probably find the book a bit too shallow overall.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-06-18 00:00:00 Fred Fraroid I've actually read quite a few Idiot's Guide type things in my day, but I'm always way too embarrassed to post them on here. I'll admit that I read this, though, because it's been really helpful. If you really know fuck all about motorcycles but are planning to start riding one, this is a pretty decent basic introductory guide. I referred to information in here when I was in the market for a bike and again when I started riding, and it's been helpful. The writing's personable and clear and the book's pretty balanced and, unlike motorcycle experts in the real world, not aggressively biased towards or against certain kinds of bikes and not spouting a bunch of macho bullshit or technical jargon and complicated explanations that don't make sense to the uninitiated. The appeal of the Idiot Guide series is that they really assume you don't know a single thing about the topic in question, which was great for me in this situation because I pretty much did not. This book is a good starting point for the abjectly ignorant, and will make you more confident about riding and also about seeking out higher-level sources of advice.