Best Books on Riding???

Now that I've got my new 06RR, I'm really REALLY enjoying getting back into riding. Everything is coming back to me from my motorcross racing days of old, and yet I want to always be learning. And clearly some of my experience is dirt based vs road based.

So, what are the best riding technique books or videos that are out there? I'm especially looking for advanced stuff, that will help me develop good understandings of cornering, braking, emergency avoidance manuevers, etc.

As a racing instructor in cars, I already know all the stuff on apexes, braking zones, trail braking, etc., I teach that stuff and clearly some of it transfers right to the bike (although the racing line is often different from bike to car). I'm wanting motorcycle specific information & teaching.

Thanks in advance!

twist of the wrist series.

Great! I'll start looking. Where online to buy?

also check out (click):

Sportbike Riding Techniques
Twist of the Wrist 1
Twist of the Wrist 2

Too add to the list:

Lee Park's, Total Control

I have all of the other books mentioned.

never read that one, added to the list though:

Sport Riding Techniques
Twist of the Wrist 1
Twist of the Wrist 2
Total Control

I've read Total Control and, so far, half of Twist of the Wrist 2. Much of the material overlaps, as you'd expect, but Total Control manages to get the point across in a detailed, yet concise, manner. I'd recommend it.

OK. This is terrific!! I've ordered both Twists books. Looking for the others. Thanks guys!!

Sport Riding Techniques by Nick Ienatsch. Views from a track rider geared towards a street rider. Careful though I read it then stuffem my bike on a corner while riding The Dragon!!! Okay so it could have been my own fault. Darn Y Chromosome.


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ORIGINAL: tfonner

Sport Riding Techniques by Nick Ienatsch. Views from a track rider geared towards a street rider. Careful though I read it then stuffem my bike on a corner while riding The Dragon!!! Okay so it could have been my own fault. Darn Y Chromosome.


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Thanks for the info!! Curious how the incident happened on The Dragon? If you don't mind sharing....I've driven that road many times in my Z06. Looking forward to riding it on my RR. Actually a Vette club from GA and a rival one from TN staged a non-sanctioned bragging rights "race" there a few years ago. We carefully planned it for an early AM run both ways on a day with little to no traffic. Then we had a sweep of the route to make sure no cars. Then stationed lookouts along the way with phones & radios to alert if any cars entered. We made the first run through going from east to west with no cars & no incidents. I was one of 2 selected from GA club to represent us. GA BEAT TN!!!!! And it was a BLAST!!!

Coming back the other way, a car entered so we shut down immediately. Then one of our GA contingent who was not "racing" lost his C4 on a turn & stuffed it into the inner wall. Day was over for everyone.

It's a wonderful but unforgiving stretch of road as you know.

+1 for Sport Riding Techniques. every time i pick that book up, it encourages me to practice something else until im better and safer than i was before

If you can get hold of a copy, here in England a popular book is the one that our police riders use whilst on there course. It's called 'Roadcraft'. Worth a look.

were is this "The Dragon" at?

Deals Gap, AKA tail of the dragon or whatever they call it:
http://www.dealsgap.com/

For some reason I am freakin out on my left hand turns. I was going into a curve at about 45-50mph. Leaned over and thought "oh by golly it's not lookin good" Okay maybe not those exact words. I barely tapped the front brake and next thing ya know I was off the bike and doing a summersault on the pavement. My bike landed five foot from a cliff. Luckily I was wearing a helmet!!! Leather jacket, riding boots, and gloves. The only thing that got hurt was my left Knee. I was only wearing Jeans. Okay, that really honked me off, they were brand new jeans!!! The moral of this story is "Ride within your means". This was my 6th time down the dragon and I thought I had er whipped. Oh well, gave me a good excuse to buy my new baby.

Sounds like the ole don't brake & turn at the same time deal. Gotta brake BEFORE the turn unless you want potential drama. Same thing I teach in cars. Of course, you CAN brake & turn together -- but it's quite advanced & requires real skill & experience to manage it. We call it "trail-braking" in the car world. Probably about the same in the bike world. You end up compromising your "contact patch" & take away remaining grip to the tires by either weight transfer, or overwhelming an already at limit tire.

Glad you weren't seriously hurt.

yeah seriously trail braking on the street is a bad idea. Even on the track it takes good suspension and a skilled rider to feel what the front end is doing in a turn while trail braking

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ORIGINAL: woodyracing

yeah seriously trail braking on the street is a bad idea. Even on the track it takes good suspension and a skilled rider to feel what the front end is doing in a turn while trail braking

MAN ... Woods!!! For a sec there I thought I saw a JOE ROCKET logo in your Avatar!!!!!! hehehehehe

really?
i would never...

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ORIGINAL: Jet Jockey Z06 Vette

quote:

ORIGINAL: woodyracing

yeah seriously trail braking on the street is a bad idea. Even on the track it takes good suspension and a skilled rider to feel what the front end is doing in a turn while trail braking

MAN ... Woods!!! For a sec there I thought I saw a JOE ROCKET logo in your Avatar!!!!!! hehehehehe

I trail break all the time. it can be dangerous but once you've done it a few times its better than letting off the gas, of course this is no substitute for breaking before the turn, but if you trail break it alows you to slow down without completly loading the front end, thus making the bike turn better. (I also have my rear brake set so that I can get on it and it dosn't lock up unless I get on it hard). I read a book not shure which it was but he gave a little lesson on trail braking. In short he said you have 100 points for traction but you loose some in a turn and when you break it takes a percentage away as well so for example if you are turning you have to share these points between braking and turning. A hard turn may take 75 points for your traction, so you only have 25 left for braking, you go 30 or 35 points for braking and off you go on your ass.I know this is probably not the exact thing he said but you get the point. Any way I trail brake in turns where the apex shows up faster than I expected. Works very well for me.

the 100 points probably came from sport riding techniques the problem with using that system on the street is that you run into the occasional problem of crap in the road like gravel, oil, etc stealing your points mid turn and you end up over the limit = crash. Personally I never go 100% on the street but a lot of riders do so this is something that should be mentioned