5 comments about Breaking the Limit: One Woman's Motorcycle Journey Through North America.

1. This book is about life on and off a motorcycle - a book for everyone.
   
   I just purchased by tenth copy to give to a friend. If you ride a bike you'll love it; if you dont't you'll still love it! I started the book about nine o'clock one evening and just kept on reading until I finished the story.
   
   Karen Larsen uses a ride from New Jersey to Alaska and back to review her life and project her future; you can join her and live your own adventure as you pour through the pages. You can laugh with her, cry with her and come away in awe of the world in which we live - if you liked Pirsig you'll love Larsen.



2. Breaking Limit was an awsome book to read. She describes her trip where you can feel your there. Having family that have gone to Alaska and being adopted myself, I was able to relate to what she was feeling on her trip. I myself ride a bike and Karen's bike from what my husband says would be a hard trip that long and that far.Karen gives an amazing travel journal with the roads she chose and gives someone the ideas of what to expect on a bike trip.My husband enjoyed the book aswell.Any bike rider would enjoy it and relate to it. Ladie riders it will give you the confidence and encouragement that us gals can travel and do it.



3. Don't waste your time reading this review ... man or woman, find and devour it as I did.



4. What an incredible read by an amazing woman. The book is intelligently written, including bits of history in her descriptions of areas traveled and her encounters with strangers. I also ride a "SPORTY" and men are amazed that I have ridden over 10,000 miles on it, much less a "short distance" trip of 450 miles in one day. I am in complete awe that this women did it on a model that was not rubber mounted as is mine. Have shared excerpts with my husband and he is interested in reading the book also. And being the man that he is, knowing I would enjoy a solo/soul searching journey of travel, encouraged me by stating he would "hold down the fort" so I could have a similar but shorter experience. Definitely recommend this to all women who ride.



5. This book was first brought to my attention as an amazon reccommendation. Just from reading the excerpts I thought this might be a good read. I will say, (again,) this was exactly what I had hoped for. Karen's journey from New Jersey into Alaska and back, using almost all back roads, was a detailed account of what it might be like as a woman traveling throughout the united states. She stayed at, for the most part, campsites or hostels, only rarely staying in a hotel, thats over 14000 miles. An incredible review of the journey, and not so much the destination.
   The first thing you might ask while reading this, as I did and do, is, how did she remember all these details? She must of taken notes every night before she camped. The roads she took, the people she met at gas stations or coffee houses, their names, what they were wearing, the expressions on their faces, all of it. She of course doesnt account everything, the book would be monsterous, but she gives you a good idea of the whole aspect of the journey. If your into adventure, motorcycles, and possibly getting an idea on your next summer road trip, I say read this book.

No comments about Adventure Motorcycling: Everything You Need to Plan and Complete the Journey of a Lifetime.

5 comments about How to Restore and Maintain Your Vespa Motorscooter (Motorbooks Workshop) (Motorbooks Workshop).

1. Great little book with lots of great info: from the history of Vespa scooters to tips about choosing the right model to (of course) information about restoring and maintaining the scooter, the book has it all!
   
   Pictures are all in b&w and the look is a little old-fashioned, but I don't think that is necessarily a big problem.
   
   If you really have to own ONE book about Vespa scooters, this should be it!



2. I have the Hanes manual which is good, but it slightly intimidating if you know nothing about engines or are not mechanically inclined. This book is more friendly and actually gives me hope that I can learn and work on my own Vespa. If you or not a grease monkey by trade, this is a good book for a weekend grease monkey. And I'm not throwing poo, this book is for real.



3. How to Restore and Maintain Your Vespa Motorscooter (Motorbooks Workshop) (Motorbooks Workshop)
   
   written mainly for american market but very informative and detailed,it should be noted that some models such as the T5 were not imported into the USA and are therefore not covered otherwise lots of tips and guides on restoration



4. Although unless you actually own a Vespa, or really like to learn all you can about them, you may find it a little boring.



5. This book was obviously written to teach the novice Vespa enthusiast the nitty-gritty details of scooter repair and restoration, through the eyes of someone who mastered the art! Bob Darnell's take on both simple and complicated tasks gives any reader invaluable insight into how to do it right! I would recommend this to anyone.

5 comments about Two Wheels Through Terror: Diary of a South American Motorcycle Odyssey.

1. While the title of the book and most of the comments focus on his stay with the Columbian terrorists, for me the most inspiring bits of the book were his descriptions of the parts of his journey through Mexico and Argentina. Now I want to visit Mexico and see if it is as wonderful a place as he described. Ditto Argentina, though it is not quite as close.
   
   A very well-written book by a talented and very versatile author. Much more than a tale of terror. You could skip the Columbian fiasco and still get your money's worth (and then some) from this book.



2. I bought this book for my boyfriend to read on the train after hearing the author speak on a radio program. My boyfriend loved the book, literally couldn't put it down.



3. Action packed true fact based chronicle of a motor cyclist's trip from Palm springs,CA down to the tip of South America and back. You will ride with him through splendid vistas, suffer with him during his capture by the ELN in Columbia and wonder how he would ever escape. You will learn from the psychologically trained mind how Greg Heggsted deceived his captures to eventually go on to complete journey. This is a must read.



4. I first came to know about Glen's journey through a tv documentary on the kidnapping, if you get a chance to see it, do so, it brings to life the book in real terms.
   Glen does an excellent job of describing the journey, his fears and feelings both before and after the kidnapping. It's not a "how to" book, it's an insight , in my opinion, to inner strength and positive thinking.
   Great read.



5. I bought this book because a friend and I intend to ride from North to South America in 2018 when all our kids have grown old enough not to miss us. I really hope that we don't have to live through what Glen did but who knows what the continent will be like in 10 years? This is a brilliantly written book with lots of good information and tips for travel. The section on Columbia is well done and doesn't overdominate the story. I wonder from Ted Simon's comments in 'Dreaming of Jupiter' after meeting Glen following his ordeal, if Glen has downplayed his emotional state a little. It must have been a totally awful experince and one I doubt I could have survived. It just goes to show that it helps to be strong when attempting a journey like this but like so many things at the end of the day its all about mental toughness. I take my hat off to Glen and he has inspired me yet again to start my own adventure.

5 comments about How to Master Airbrush Painting Techniques (Motorbooks Workshop).

1. I'll start off by saying I keep picking up this book over and over. The Troubleshooting chapter is so detailed. It covers nearly every problem I have ever had with an airbrush. I have other airbrush books and none of them have this much "fix it" info. That one chapter has saved me so much time and stress.
   The rest of the book is great also. One of the learning chapters has a really fun exercise that was so easy but gave me really cool results.
   The book is very easy to follow and the examples in the book can be applied to almost any airbrush project. She uses a common sense approach that takes away the complications that come up when I'm trying to learn a new technique.
   And unlike my other airbrush books, it has lots of photos. The example chapters have many photos that cover each little step.
   It also tells how to get great ideas to airbrush.
   And I really appricated the way she also tells how to deal with how to not get discouraged when things go wrong. How to deal with the stress that comes from trying to be be artistic.
   I have another of JoAnn's books and while I enjoyed that one, I like this one better.
   It is also a large book with nearly 200 pages. I feel this book was a great buy.



2. Very comprehensive. I felt the author was having a personal casual discussion with me about what I wanted to learn instead of just documenting technical information and techniques. Teaching painting techniques in writing must be a tough task, but I think the author did a good job.



3. This would have to be the best book I've read about custom painting and airbrushing on cars/bikes. The book is great for the beginner (like me) who wants to know about airbrushes, suitable paints, and the techniques to start creating a custom paint job.



4. just got my wife a used air brush. she thinks this book will help her get started on several projects she has planned. she is used to oil painting, and says this looks like fun.
   thanks!



5. I've been looking for an informative,complete and properly illustrated book that doesn't make the attempt to go over the heads of any novice, like me, and yet, covers all the neat little tricks that a good teacher of any skill and art combined, can put into a comprehensive book. I never lost interest at all. My attention span is a good way of telling me when a book that I'm reading is worth it's mud at all! I like this author,Ms. JoAnn Bortles puts it all out there in a way that makes it easy to apply to my own techniques as I go through each lesson. I like this book. I think it's the Bomb!! And I would recommend it as a fine gift for a friend or a personal purchase any time.

5 comments about A Wayward Angel: The Full-Story of the Hell's Angels by the Former Vice-President of the Oakland Chapter.

1. It is not a bad book, but if you have read into OMG's in any depth the peripheral information is old news. It is kind of interesting to see things from the author's perspective. If you are a first time reader on OMG's, then I would say buy it and read. Otherwise, look elsewhere.



2. I thought this book was great. My husband and myself read this book in days. We are motorcycle enthusists and are intriqued with outlaw groups. Would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in motorcycling.



3. I enjoyed reading this book, but at times it dragged a bit. This is very informative and riddled by many key historical events that made up the Hell's Angels which was great. It was not as good as Under and Alone, but I did enjoy this book very much and recommend it for readers interested in learning about the start of the Hell's Angels and their activities by a major insider.



4. I read this book with fairly high expectations, since I had already read Sonny Barger's account of the Hells Angels. Certainly I expected a very different perspective from Barger's, and that is exactly what you will find. Wethern gives an excellent account of his days with the Hells Angels, but this book is seriously flawed. How? The "co-writer" Vincent Colnett intrudes on the tale. He has taken Wethern's story and written it in the first person, as if George Wethern were telling the tale. That should have worked fine, but the problem is that Colnett tries so hard to show how clever and educated he is that he does Wethern's story a disservice through the intrusive nature of his language.
   
   Only occasionally does the monologue sound like the reader would imagine Wethern to sound. Throughout most of the book, the ideas are expressed in a way that a university English major would write. It grates on the nerves to read the first hundred pages of this book. Just when an anecdote gets interesting, Colnett's overly ornamental vocabulary intrudes. If a real Hells Angel ever spoke the way Colnett writes Wethern's monologue, he'd probably get cracked with a pool cue.
   
   I have to wonder what Wethern's publisher was thinking. Why wasn't this book re-edited before publication to make it ring more 'true' language-wise? After all the things Wethern and his family have gone through, they deserve more than this; at the very least the publisher could have assigned a writer who wouldn't have stepped all over the material with his hackneyed prose.
   
   Do read this book, but read Sonny Barger's book before or in conjunction with it. Through both of them, you'll be able to piece together something more complete. And Barger's book sounds the way you would imagine that a Hells Angel speaks.



5. Back in the late seventies or early eighties (can't remember which) when this originally came out, we all went down to Delaurer's bookstore on Broadway back home in Oakland.A number of ladies whose significant others were in the local chapters were there buying up every copy they could so the public wouldn't have any insight into the club and it's workings.Reason I mention it is that books on famous clubs are all over the place, Ralph has gone to Cave Creek and is now a best selling author etc..Bill Queen did two years with the Mongols and now gets his own movie..If you're biker history buff and want the real story on the Oakland chapter, then this in combination with "Hells Angel" would be the best choice. Leave the rest for the RUBS and Johnny come lately wannabes and their softtails.

5 comments about Motorcycle Touring: Everything You Need to Know.

1. I simply love this book. It's entertaining, and I learned a lot. His style just lets you read it like a novel, as another reviewer mentioned.
   
   I only disagreed with the author on two points having to do with safety: 1) I really like having a GPS with a compass as a necessary back-up to the GPS (although I know people like Dr. Frazier who have an uncanny knack for knowing where they are) and 2) I really dislike regular bungy cords. I find them laying all over the roads with the sharp ends ready to puncture my tires. I'm sure Dr. Frazier knows how to use them properly; but many riders don't realize that when a load bounces, the cords can stretch and come undone at that point. In addition, I, too, like someone he encountered, had one snap back and land between my eye and temple - couldn't see well out of that eye for about an hour. Instead, I like ratcheting-type tie-downs (they're fast if you pull them snug before actually ratcheting them) or the kind that have a loop at the ends and just clip in the middle (ROK). Whatever you choose, happy motoring and be sure to read Dr. Frazier's book!



2. I enjoyed reading the first half of this book but then found it very repititous. There were some good common sense tips that you would apply to travelling the world by any mode not just motorcycling. His stories and anecdotes were interesting at first but it soon became obvious that the book was well padded with fluff and photos.



3. I agree with A. Brannon "MLC Rider" to a lot of fluff and not enought subtance. The book is mostly Doc Frazier's travelog. I was looking for information on how to travel, with what and how to do it safely.
   
   This book is certainly not Everything You Need to Know.
   
   
   I think the better book is:
   The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Travel: Tips, Technology, Advanced Techniques
   by Dale Coyner



4. This book really only demonstrates common sense thing you should already know if you own and ride a motorcycle. If you don't know this stuff, you really should just walk wherever you go.
   
   Throughout the book, I was wondering what decade it was written.
   
   It was a waste of money.



5. This is a very informative and at times entertaining book. Though it was my second book on touring it could have been my first. I have owned four bikes but I have been out of motorcycling for 26 years. I wanted to tour back then but did not. I am doing it now so I wanted to get some expert advice. I feel very well informed as to equipment and what I might expect. Plan your trip, research the bikes/dealers, try them all on, they must fit (not too big, not too small), take a motocycle safty course, buy and have fun. Read Coyner's book also.

5 comments about How to Build a Cheap Chopper.

1. This book describes the technicalities of a chopper bike in laymen's terms such as angles, engines, etc. The difference between buying frames and making up your own frames, and what is good and bad as a rule of thumb. Book is great if you just want to know about choppers or actually thinking of building your own from parts or from scratch. I now understand what questions to ask about kit parts and handling/power considerations.



2. This book is great it has lots for full color photos on 5 builds. One thing that I didnt like is the fact that it is more of a basic how to do a basic chop. Dont think that you will get this book and have a $5000.00 chopper in a week. The guys in the book are all pros and get hooked up alot easier than I could ever do. I cant go in the shop and bang out a tank for the cost of the sheet metal. But it gives you a general idea of where to start. IF you have never done a project like this and just want to know where to get started, its is worth the money.



3. This book is filled with some good ideas, but rather limited on the space allowed (the flaw with all books). I would have liked to see a little more depth on the metrics with a little less of the kit bike ads, but section on the 'Redneck' choppers was worth the price. I was disappointed with the photos of the finished products (especially the metrics) but overall a good book for ideas.



4. Very good book, so much so I plan to use the advice to build a bike similar to one in the book.
   A good alternative to spending large sums on other types of bikes.



5. Not the best book on the subject. Lots of nice photos though.

5 comments about Motorcycle Journeys Through The Appalachians - 2nd Edition (Motorcycle Journeys).

1. For me there are three parts to a good trip - the preparation, the adventure itself, and then the memories. This book has helped me a long way in achieving all these pleasure points. The maps and text are wonderful; the crafty photo's with tasty captions peppered appropriately throughout this guide left my partner (who does not accompany me) recommending more sights than I could handle. A keeper, if not just for that.



2. I worked in the motorcycle industry for over 10 years as a service manager and still ride with all my old co-workers.
   
   We thought we knew all the best roads in our neck of the woods but we were wrong.
   
   We pick a route, get into the middle of nowhere and then get lost.
   
   This book has filled in the blanks for us.
   
   A must have if you're a real rider.



3. I just got back from a near-1000 mile trip through the Appalachians. I used this book to guide me through some thoroughly fascinating and beautiful areas -- the author, Dale Coyner, has create a terrific resource! I am not exaggerating when I say that VA Route 39 has changed my view of the eastern United States (I lived in the West -- Alaska, Utah, and Arizona -- until 2000). I'm sure I won't be the first, but I've set a goal to do all 36 rides in the book.
   
   I showed this to the clerk at the bookstore at the Peaks of Otter wayside on the Blue Ridge Parkway. She's a rider, so she took the name of the book down with considerable enthusiasm and pledged to talk to the manager about stocking the book in the store. It seems strange NOT to have your book on the shelves in such a rider's paradise!



4. I just finished a ride of a little over 1000 miles from my home in NJ to and through WV and VA. I used this book to guide me on some really terrific roads and through some truly beautiful areas. This was the first long, extended ride I've ever taken and it was in large measure due to the "encouragement" expressed through this well written resource. If you're thinking of traveling through the Appalachians then I would recommend that you purchase and pour through this well written book before you go.



5. great book detailing not just roads, but local custom and color for the mid-atlantic area from PA down to the Carolinas and eastern Tennessee.
   
   numerouse routes from a central point in each region are detailed and the local dining, lodging, and other points of interest are detailed in an interesting style of writing.
   
   useful for anyone who wants to tour the mid-atlantic region and take their time doing it...

5 comments about Motorcycle Basics Techbook (Haynes Manuals)(2nd Edition).

1. This book is not and does not try to be a shop manual. What it is, is a well-done primer on the theory behind the various systems in a motorcycle. The chapter on engines was fascinating to me. It explains, in rough historical/chronological order, the development of various engine designs, and how each was a reponse to weaknesses in previous designs and how each one introduced it own problems (while at the same time older designs were tweaked in various ways to minimize problems). The design variations include number of cyllinders, number of crankshafts, orientation of cyllinders with respect to each other, orientation of the crankshaft with respect to the motorcycle, ratio of bore diameter to stroke length, various arrangements of valve trains, etc. Two stroke engines are also covered. Illustrations are extensive, but tend to be pulled from other books or from manufacturers manuals, so sometimes include unnecessary detail, especially in the carburation chapter (which was very complex and a little over my head). Some chapters (e.g., exhaust systems) were not as detailed as the engine chapter and were slightly disappointing.

   I followed this book up with Keith Cameron's Sportbike Performance Hankbook, which explains some systems in more detail. Cameron's book is ostensibly a book for souping up your motorcycle, but in the end managed to convince me that I want to keep my bike stock unless I don't plan to use it on the street: the manufacturers generally know what they are doing.

   One caveat about Motorcycle Basics Manual: the book was authored in England and uses U.K. terminology. A glossary at the end gives U.S. equivalents, but a few things are left out.




2. 
   
   I'm a young(ish) woman who is absolutely new to the world of motorcycles. I bought this book from Amazon after reading through the posted reviews, and am pleased to say that it was an excellent purchase.
   
   
   I really don't have anything to compare this book to, but I can say that it has been a wonderful introduction to the nuts and bolts of motorcycles. I never really understood what constituted an engine before picking up this book, but now I can talk intelligently on many mechanical matters with my grease-monkey mates. It's also a great reference when you're struck by a killer question about the intricacies of gear shifting, or whatever.
   
   
   The book's only drawback, from my point of view, is that the text is rather dense, which makes it slightly daunting to sit down with. All in all though, my thanks and congratulations go out to the author.



3. Aside from the occasional spelling differences (tyre instead of tire, etc.) this serves as the perfect introduction to the inner workings of your bike. It's not too complicated, nor does it treat its readers as idiots; rather it's a great blend of information and photos that allow you to learn the core ideas behind the metal and plastic. What I really liked was the build up of old to new styles of all the various systems it covers. As the title plainly states this is a basics book, and it won't get you to the point of being a mechanic, but after reading this you should be able to begin a study of motorcycle repair without a problem. This is money worth spending if you aren't already educated about engine systems.



4. I found this book an extremely interesting read and a great introduction to the basics of motorcycles. A must read for motorcycle enthusiasts looking to get a grip of the basics!



5. For Begineers who want to understand the basiscs of their machine..
   
   I found it very easy to follow in the most part, not to use on a certain bike, but with a bike manual it will be great help.
   
   It covers a wide variety, but I sensed speceific hostility to my baby (Harley Davidson), but oh well, Loved by few, respected by many :).