Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well

Essential reading for every motorcyclist! Learn all about:

• Riding city streets and country roads
• Dealing with common and uncommon hazards
• Avoiding manmade hazards and canine pursuers
• Surviving nature's challenges: rain, wind, heat, cold
• Safely riding in groups and carrying passengers
• Wearing the most protective clothing

Proficient Motorcycling is a must-have for all motorcyclists—regardless of experience!

Author David L. Hough, an author, columnist, and riding-safety consultant who began riding in the 1960s, lays out a clear course in this book to sharpen your handling skills for a safer, more enjoyable ride. This second edition, updated, expanded with more valuable tips, and now in full color, offers new riders and experienced bikers alike the advice you'll need to be prepared for anything on the road. Learn how to avoid accidents, handle the unexpected, and arrive safe.

288 pages tackle every imaginable topic: bike mechanics, selecting the right-sized bike, basic riding skills, night riding, group outings, advanced survival tactics, and more. The chapter "Motorcycle Dynamics" explores the equipment and skills required to control a bike, preserving your safety and avoiding injury or fatal crashes. The author is a nationally renowned motorcycling expert and is outspoken and direct when it comes to safety, emphasizing the importance of braking abilities, showing how to improve them, and providing 6 tried-and-true techniques for quick-stop tactics critical for every rider to master.

Explore vital skills to evaluate and improve, such as turning, maintaining balance and stability, and steering. The details of steering and control are defined and analyzed: direct steering, countersteering, push steering, out-tracking, coning, U-turns, and directional control. The chapter "Cornering Habits" is a virtual master class in acceleration, deceleration, use of weight, throttle, leaning, and handling challenging terrain.

The detail offered comes from decades on the road, and the author is the consummate instructor, assigning "homework" exercises to practice and improve specific techniques. Venturing onto the road without David Hough's voice in your head could be taking an unnecessary risk with your own life!

Proficient Motorcycling takes you from long, snaking country roads right into the traffic of the big city, offering the best advice for dealing with the most challenging conditions, like road construction, snap-jawed intersections, skateboarders, suddenly slippery road surfaces, aggressive car drivers, oblivious SUV drivers, and "blind" truck drivers. Over 300 photos, illustrations, and diagrams accompany the easy-to-understand instructions and concepts.

This crucial guide offers first-hand experience that can literally save riders' lives! "Booby Traps" and "Special Situations" offer evasive tactics to handle slick surfaces, curbs, construction plates, ferocious dogs, hazardous wildlife, and difficult weather conditions. "Sharing the Ride" is geared toward experienced riders who travel together in groups or with a passenger on the bike, covering formation, packing for trips, communication between riders, sidecars, trikes, and more. Explore resources for organizations, training schools, educational tools, and websites, a glossary of 80+ terms, and a complete index.

Do you want to blast around twisty mountain roads, ride through miles of desert, or go on a weekend-long group ride? Do you want to commute to work on your motorcycle, handling aggressive drivers and construction zones with ease? Whatever your motorcycling goals, whether you're a novice riding for the first time or a seasoned road warrior, this lively manual is a must-have resource to improve your skills and get safely to your destination!

David L. Hough is a longtime motorcyclist and journalist. He began motorcycling as a means of commuting to work. He is the author of numerous articles, columns, and books. In 2009 he was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.