Technical/Performance books for Mods or Riding

[sdlrodeo]

Ok, dont know if there is another thread on this. If there is, it isn't recent.

I do quite a bit of reading and I just purchased "SPORTBIKE Performance Handbook 2nd Edition" by Kevin Cameron. Of course it is only my opinion, but I really enjoy the way this is written. It seems to be just the right amount of technical info blended with some real world examples.

There are a few other great books I've read, but I don't have them handy as I'm in Japan right now. When I get home, I'll go over my collection and post others that I thought were decent and some not.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
Steve

[Cher]

I've got a few favorites;

Proficient Motorcycling, David Hough.  Excellent book on survival skills and the psychology of successful motorcyclists

Sport Riding Techniques, Nick Ienatsch.  Another great book for the more advanced rider that looks at balance and weight distribution of the rider for more aggressive riding.

A Twist of the Wrist, Keith Code.  Good discussion on the basics of staying out of trouble and understanding rider inputs of motorcycle maneuvers.  It's got a racing, track-heavy bias.

How to Ride a Motorcycle, Pat Hahn.  Fun little book on what's covered in the MSF course; basics of riding and understanding traffic situations, etc.


And just a nice all 'round tech book on motorcycle basics (engine, suspension, etc.)

Motorcycle Basics, Haynes Manual Techbook Series, 3515.  Some good stuff on motors, two-strokes in particular 

[Pinocchio]

For tech:

Snyder, Stephen ("LT"), Ducati Desmodue/ Desmotre Maintenance & Modification Guide, 2nd Ed. Snyder Publications, 2005. Available from DesmoTimes.com
Hand-down the best companion to your model's Workshop Manual. It lives on my workbench.

 LT is a certified Ducati Technician who started working on them exclusively 10 years ago because he couldn't get what he wanted from dealers; he knows all the tricks of routine maintenance and teaches readers how to avoid many of the pitfallls. He has a similar guide for the Desmoquattros. Buying a used Duc, prep for track days, modding your Duc: it's all in there, and he'll gladly sell you the tools and parts to do it with from his website.

Cocco, Gaetano, Motorcycle Design and Technology Motorbooks, 2004. Availalble from Amazon.com or Amazon.uk

Do you want to know how motorcycles work? This was written by an Aprilia engineer, and pretty much encapsulates historical and current motorcyle design. It's not too technical for the average rider/reader, either. I look at it often.

For riding:

Pridmore, Reg, with Geoff Drake. Smooth Riding the Pridmore Way: Advanced Motorcycle Skills Through Confidence and Control. Whitehorse Press, 2004.

Everyone should read Keith Code, Nick Ienatsch, Andy Ibbott, and even David L. Hough's books on riding technique. The book I like best is this one, maybe because I read it before the other ones. It's got a good description of the basics with an interesting mix of racing history and Reg's personal history and views on current tech and technique, and sidebars from CLASS instructors and other luminaries like Fast Freddie Spencer. Lots of good photographs of my favorite racers and diagrams with circles and arrows and numbers and stuff. The best description of cornering trail braking and throttle control that I've ever read....

Happy reading!

[sdlrodeo]

+1 on the LT books for sure. I keep his Desmoquatro book next to my Haynes and Official Duc service CD.
+1 on the Ienatch and Code books for sure. I like Ienatches everyday verbage a little better than Code's 'philosophy' (just semantics mostly). And Codes 'Twist of the wrist 2' book is a little less race oriented. Code's DVD is really marginal at best.
+1 on the "Motorcycle Design and Technology" book, but I left mine in an airplane seatback pocket. I think this current book I'm reading by Cameron is slightly less technically written so far.

Have not read Pridmore's book yet.

Still in Japan. home tomorrow! Yay!

[bryant8]

Total Control - Lee Parks

[Cher]

Cool thread.  I'm going to look into the Cocco technical book; sounds interesting    Good to know about the "LT" books as well.

[Pinocchio]

If you like this thread so far, but have already read all the books in it, here's the advanced course in moto tech:

Cossalter, Vittore. Motorcycle Dynamics, 2nd English Ed. Lulu, 2006 (copyright Vittore Cossalter)

Written by a full professor of applied mechanics who heads the motorcycle engineering course in the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica at the Università Studi di Padova ( http://www.dinamoto.it/ ). Dust off your thinking caps and get out your scientific calculators for this one. Unless you have had college trig fairly recently (and I haven't), this will be a challenging read. Still, for those who are observant natural scientists of the motorcycle (i.e, good riders), Cossalter's work could be extremely useful, if they are willing to do the math.

[Ronr]

Two cool books, mostly on performance technology:

The recently acquired and much appreciated -
Ducati Desmoquattro Performance Handbook, Ian Falloon.  Still reading it, but covers the performance evolution of the 4-valvers - pre 916 thru early 999, details of the entire bike, not just the engines.  Also includes some mods that can be made throughout the entire bike.  Falloon knows his Duc stuff.

and then -
MotoGP Technology, Neil Spalding.  OUTStanding book about GP tech covering the 5 years of the 990cc bikes.  Tons of great technical details of the different brands and engineering philosophies, great photos, inside poop.  Hope he does another on the 800cc bikes when they expire.