Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well, Updated & Expanded 2nd Edition (CompanionHouse Books) The Must-Have Manual: Confront Fears, Sharpen Handling Skills, & Learn to Ride Safely

Proficient Motorcycling 2nd Edition Hough's Proficient Motorcycling is probably the best single book to read for beginners. Many reviewers have regarded Proficient Motorcycling as mandatory for all riders, and should be included with a motorcycle purchase. I agree completely, because Hough does an excellent job explaining the concepts. He doesn't just write, he includes basic physics diagrams, and lots of color photographs to drive the points home. He doesn't get lost in technical jargon, although you will notice some differences in his style compared to Keith Code simply because Code is writing to improve your road course racing skills more than traffic skills. That said, the physics apply in either case, and Hough's book is a excellent primer. Counter-steering, front braking, safety equipment, statistics, and road hazards are all covered in Proficient motorcycling. Hough doesn't focus on pivot steering or using just the front brakes as much as Code. Like I said before, Hough is more concerned about typical hazards one encounters on the road, and the skills needed to survive in that setting. However, pivot steering is hinted by Hough when he describes an exercise to improve U-turns or tight turns. Basically the outside peg is used as a pivot point during a turn, as described by Keith Code. Hough just mentions using the outside peg to position your body which is a similar idea. Hough does mention using the front brakes, but not to the extreme as Code. Many of the concepts covered in Proficient Motorcycling are covered in operator's manuals provided by the state when taking the written exam or road test. There are lots of good tips, and Hough doesn't skimp on covering typical road hazards. He talked about canines, soda cardboard boxes, crossing railroad tracks properly, rough roads, etc... Needless to say, it is a sobering look at riding. I came into motorcycles looking at the radical super sport and sport bikes (race replica stuff, such as the Suzuki GSX-R1000 or Yamaha YZR-F1) but the more I researched and read, the more dangerous it seemed. Hough doesn't let you forget that you only have 2 wheels with limited contact patch and traction compared to an automobile. Hough and Code both recommend using ear plugs for higher speed riding due to the wind noise that is known to cause hearing loss. Some states may have regulations against this, but it makes sense. I cannot stand the wind noise from driving a convertible on the highway, let alone riding a motorcycle with a limited windscreen and insulation! Overall: 5/5 stars

Proficient Motorcycling is a must have book for any motorcyclist. I know, you think you can read everything online and/or take an MSF course and you'll know it all. Unfortunately this simply isn't the case and this book fills in the gaps rather well. It gives you some great statistics upfront that help you understand the actual risks of motorcycling and how you can hopefully mitigate them. You can't be safer if you don't know what is risky. Then it goes on through various other scenarios and topics- generally starting with a short example of how someone who was otherwise a fairly competent and confident rider screwed up. It has a great section early on about turning and handling which really opened my eyes and made riding even more enjoyable and easy. For the low cost of just a book, you will have made yourself a much safer rider. Even if you just kept it around as a book that you page through occasionally, the one or two extra hints that you'll pick up could save your (or your passenger's) life easily. I should have bought this the day I got my bike.

I just bought a new motorcycle after about 18 years out of the saddle and decided I needed to brush up on some riding tactics. I bought "Proficient Motorcycle" by David Hough to give me the refresher I needed. The book itself is solid stock, with nice thick high quality gloss paper. The cover is even thicker paper that folds inward at the edges to prevent wear as you thumb through the pages. The binding is glued and threaded with fourteen strong stiches... high quality all around. But wait... do you like sticky gooey residue all over the back cover of your books? No, you say? Well, you may be a little disappointed then. The "Free 144 Bonus Pages" is actually a CD-ROM attached to a plastic holder on the back of the book. The CD has a huge yellow warning sticker on it, "If you break this seal you cannot return the book". Ok fine. The problems start when you go to "break the seal". You have to literally destroy the plastic sleeve to get the CD out, which requires you to pull it from the back paper cover. This will rip some of the back cover off with it. And now there is a sticky adhesive mess all over the back cover that will stick to the back page when you shut it. I had to put tape all over the back cover in order to "seal in" all the adhesive residue from the advertisement CD. And that's what the "144 bonus pages" are... advertisement for the Motorcycle Consumer News magazine. You get three old issues with plenty of oppurtunities to subscribe. They should have left this out, no one want this CD and it destroys the book cover. So, a little worse for the wear, I cracked open the book and read it from cover to cover. The information contained was useful and enjoyable to read. But the "enjoyable to read" part actually has an expense to it. The motorcyle lingo and the off-the-cuff casual nature will put you at ease, but when this style sours into heavy sarcasm, it can be confusing. For example, on page 38 shows a photograph of a couple on a motorcyle wearing the lid-style helmets. Perfectly legal and popular where I live. The caption says, "You don't really need a real helmet if you are clever enough to avoid crashes." Yes, pretty obvious sarcasm but possible misleading. There is other questionable language in the text also. Sometimes Hough will refer to crash victims as "road stains". That's always tacky, regardless of context. On more than one occasion he refers to scruffy bikers that like to wear black leather with metal studs as "terrorists" and at other times as "biker trash". This is type of language is not funny and not necessary. Those negatives aside, however, I really enjoyed the writing style. Hypothetical characters like "Interstate Al" and "Biker Bob" are not only enjoyable to read about, but made me think of their situations when I was out on the road. This is a very effective teaching tool that I found enjoyable and informative. Overall, I think this book is worth the money. The information is very valuable and it is presented in a enjoyable way. I am without a doubt a better rider after reading "Proficient Motorcycling". I am even thinking about buying Hough's next installment, "More Proficient Motorcycling". I may have pointed out a few negatives about the presentation here, but I am happy I bought and read this book, and my overall impressions are positive.

I haven't ridden a bike in over 10 years and am getting back into riding in the spring. I found this book perfect for my situation. It's not just for brand new riders, it's also good for experienced riders and riders like myself that have some experience but its been long lost in years of not riding. The book is mostly safety focused and that is a good thing in my opinion. You won't read in this book how to take a corner at max speed, if your looking for that, look elsewhere. However if you are looking for a book to increase your riding knowledge to help avoid getting killed or crash, this is a good place to start. I also picked up David Hough's 2nd book, "Mastering the Ride" and it's also pretty good, but a lot of the information is repeated yet I felt it was still worth my money to get both.

If your new to riding, getting back into it, or been riding for years this is a great resource. I ride because I like the freedom it offers and because it helps me clear my head and relax. It's my therapy if you will. f you ride you have probably accepted the fact that our choice places us at a higher risk of injury or death, it's a simple fact. We don't have a steel cage around us to protect us from others like those in cars or trucks. As riders, it's OUR RESPONSIBILITY to get where we are going safely and unscathed. We may have the right of way at times but if we crash, we ALWAYS lose. This book, as well as the second in the series, has tons of tips, strategies, and pointers to help us stay safe. Read it, learn it, and apply the information inside. It's well written and easy to understand with numerous diagrams and photo's. We owe it to ourselves, our families, and friends to be safe. ATGATT

Been riding since I was thirteen, and that was 4 decades ago and now I ride a Wing. I was given a copy of this book by a friend and now I just purchased a copy for another friend who just purchased a BMW Touring bike. At first I resisted reading the book but eventually picked it up and could not put it down. When the snow melted I found myself on the local fairgrounds practicing some of the concepts in the book. I also find myself going back and re-reading sections. I must admit I did ride away with some new found riding tips. I am in law enforcement and have seen my share of bike crashes both on and off duty. In many of those crashes I am reminded of sections of the book that addresses contributing factors to a crash. I have recommended this book to other riders new and old. For example, the book explains the physics of counter and direct steering. We all know about it but what is actually happening to rider and bike? This book explains in a light easy to read format that the curve you are about to enter actually started at home with bike preparation and maintenance and continued with a well planned weight transfer, angle of direction in the apex of the curve and safely arriving at your destination. The book should be included with all new bikes.

The bible of street bikes. If you're a new rider then you need this. And if you're an experience rider, you need this. It really helps you to understand the dynamics and hazards involved in motorbike riding. The more you know as a rider, the more likely it is that you can avoid stupid mistakes that can cost you limb and life. Hard to avoid being hit by someone from behind with all the texting and driving these days, but this book gives you practical tactics and strategies to avoid higher risk situations. For example - deer tend to come out at dusk and dawn....and this is very true...so just avoid those twilight hours and ride during the day. This book does not sufficiently cover high speed cornering the way Twist of the Wrist I and II do by Keith Code. That's for more advanced riders who want to learn about cornering (which, by the way, is what I love about motorbikes the most). So if you're never going to the track and you just want to understand more about motorbike safety, then you must read this book a few times.

Did you ever wonder where you could find firsthand information by an expert motorcyclist that would teach you most of the skills you would need to become a proficient rider? Well, search no longer and pick up or download a copy of David L. Hough's book, Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well. To keep your interest, Hough uses characters like Biker Bob and Cruiser Carla to populate the stories he tells of real incidents. These stories relate the details of motorcycle accidents or situations that went wrong because the participants failed to understand the underlying principles of motorcycle dynamics or how they should have ridden their machines. The book begins with a gory story of a canyon accident involving riders approaching the same turn from opposite directions. Because one rider crossed over the center line when he couldn't successfully negotiate a corner, a rider coming in the opposite direction was instantly killed and another rider died an hour later at a hospital. All this occurred because one rider did not know how to control his bike. Here's a quote from the book: "If you expect to have the right skills for an emergency, you must constantly practice the right skills every time you ride. If you expect to be able to handle the loose gravel or the wandering motorist you discover as you round a blind turn, you must practice control skills such as countersteering, smooth throttle-to-brake transitions, and aggressive braking while leaned over. To put this another way, there really aren't any emergency maneuvers you can pull out of your bag of tricks when something goes wrong. You can practice special maneuvers, but the only ones that count are the control skills you practice every day as you ride along. And if we assume there are physical habits to be practiced, then there must also be proficient mental skills that we must practice so that they become habits as well." Hough organizes the book so it can be read by topic but also recommends that the reader might best be served by reading straight through. That's exactly what I did and I recommend that you take a few afternoons or evenings to read through the book from cover to cover. If you've been riding for a long time, you'll undoubtedly see situations that you have been in before. See if you did the right thing then or what you should have done. If you're a new rider, read for vital lifesaving information so that you will know what to do the next time you encounter the same situation for real. Many of the situations in the book involve strategies to survive accidents. Often many options are possible but only one is preferred. After reading the complete book, I think the single most important thing that Hough has to say is that you need to learn how to stay out of accidents in the first place. The best way to do this is to learn how to use your front and rear brakes effectively. Much of what is currently taught in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) courses is the direct result of work published by Hough. So get a giant jump-start on becoming a proficient motorcyclist and checkout Proficient Motorcycling. I highly recommend this book.

Very clear and digestable guide. Already benefitted from emergency breaking, counter steering and trail breaking, Definitely builds confidence even before one starts riding for it's quite predictable what to expect from the motorcycle behaviour if certain technics are applied. The book is paying back every cent.

Only started the first few chapters but already a very informative read. The author has a brilliant mechanical knowledge and has been a motorcyclist all his life. Sharing his own observations and skills that can only be found through real life experience. Well worth a read no matter what level you have achieved. Many thanks.

muy buen libro para conocer los detalles finos de cómo andar en motocicleta... los ejercicios que propone son prácticos y efectivos para iniciar con buenas bases técnicas. El lenguaje es de un inglés fácil de seguir aunque en ocasiones hay que recurrir al traductor para palabras poco comunes para los que no somos nativos del idioma. Me gusta el tamaño de la letra y el papel. Buen producto si tienes la paciencia, tiempo y gusto por aprender mediante libros impresos o para complementar tu auto-aprendizaje.

Même si certains commentaires ou recommandations peuvent paraître parfois un peu enfantins, ce livre est bourré de très bons conseils auxquels on avait pas toujours pensés. Le contre-braquage systématique et le "Delayed Apex" sur routes ouvertes sont autant de techniques de conduite qui sont loin d'être naturelles, même chez les motards chevronnés et pourtant tellement utiles. Très interessant aussi la partie théorique sur comment tourne physiquement un deux-roues.

Creo que da ideas importantes a la hora de conducir una motocicleta por carreteras y calles. No se centra en cómo correr, sino en cómo conducir con seguridad y precaución