2 comments about ATV Basics: Techbook Manual (Haynes Techbook).

1. This is a good manual for learning the basics of ATV maintance. That is it's only draw back it only covers the basics. As a new owner of a used ATV I did find information in the book that helped send me in the right direction. This book would also be good for someone looking to buy a used ATV. It has a section that tells you what to look for and how to check out a used ATV before buying.



2. This book is really targeted for someone who has NO knowledge of ATV/C operation or repair. It doesn't have model specfic information, so everything is 'most models are similar' and would help if you didn't know how to do an oil change. I'm sorry I spent the money, this is one of the drawbacks with buying on-line, you can't see if something is useful or not until you get it...in this case, not useful and a waste of money.

No comments about The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles: Craftsmanship, Elegance, and Function.

2 comments about Design of Racing and High Performance Engines [PT-53] (Progress in Technology).

1. This book teaches about high performance engines by presenting case studies which are actually taken from SAE papers. Due to the style of writing used, it is a little hard to absorb. I find myself having to reiterate many of the sections to understand the concepts completely. I prefer reading texts that get to the point more quickly. I know that many of the concepts presented are interrelated, but there is little attempt to relate them. Many of the illustrations and graphics are not printed clearly (some graphs are not readable). It does present a fair amount of information that is useful, its just a little hard to extract.



2. High technical level. A collection of papers from mechanical engineering on the design of internal combustion engines.

No comments about Suzuki Ltf500 Quadrunner, 1998-2000.

No comments about Aprilia RSV 1000 Mille (inc. RSV-R) '98 to '03 (Haynes Service & Repair Manual).

No comments about Moto Guzzi: The Racing Story (Motoclassics).

1 comments about Street Bikes.

1. Street Bikes provides a short and witty review of many bikes made in 1974. All major manufacturers are included. It also has very high quality color pictures of each bike. It is a very entertaining and informative book for the classic bike enthusiast.

1 comments about Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values.

1. This is one of the most fantastic books Ive ever read. Both journeys the spiritual and the physical on which author Robert Prisig takes is absolutely breathtaking. If you want to read one philosophical book read this anf yu will be blown away!

   The kind of dexterity with Mr. Prisig alternates the metaphysical and the physical journeys is a highly appreciable. After reading this book ine feels strongly to go on a motorcycle journey and be " in the scene" . Equally evocative and beautiful is the introspective journey.

   After all "the real cycle you are working on is yourself". I really hope Mr. Prisig takes out its sequel

2 comments about BMW Racing Motorcycles: The Mastery of Speed.

1. No manufacturer has a longer racing record than BMW, with factory involvement not just in motorcycles of many sizes and classes but also in the arcane (some say the most exciting) sidecar race category. BMW started winning German national championships in 1924 and took the sidecar world championship for 20 consecutive years--1954-1974. Their bikes also did brilliantly in the Isle of Man in the hands of greats such as Walter Zeller, Georg Meier and the Helmut Dahne, holder of the Nurburging motorcycle lap record (7'49.71")on an RC-30. BMW is still racing, in 2008.
   
   This excellent book starts with the company crashing to earth in 1919 after WWI, forbidden to continue making aero engines and denied its technological roots by the Treaty of Versailles. It proceeds through Europe's great road and off-road races to the era of the `kompressor' (supercharger), to the Munich factory's devastation by Allied bombing in WWII, shown in photos.
   
   Allen and Gardiner have created what is probably the most complete, definitive collection of data and photographs of BMW's racing endeavors, and done it with style and wit. Beautifully produced, in `horizontal' format, the book includes many great historical photos of the men and machines that have made the marque among the most respected in all of motorcycle racing. There is, however, only one diagram--a frontal drawing of the original R.32, BMW's epochal boxer twin of 1923--where the technically inclined reader thirsts for more.
   
   The Butler & Smith era in the U.S. is described in detail, including Udo Gietl's frame achievements that delivered Superbike success, extends to the off-road (e.g. Paris-Dakar) wins, even '07 Pike's Peak, with Gary Trachey on a `Megamoto,' and to the emerging era of the current HP2. Noted (without photo) is the 1997-1999 achievement of Dave Morris, three-time Singles winner in the Isle of Man on BMWs. No mention--a pity!--is made nor photo shown of BMW's rumored MotoGP bikes, seen in magazines in 2006 with Luca Cadalora in the saddle, nor of the evolutionary camshaft and valve work on the four-valve boxer oilhead engine (like its predecessors, notoriously wide and restrictive of lean angle, irrelevant in their brilliantly successful racing sidecars).
   
   This book arrives at a time when BMW is finally, after too long a hiatus, returning to serious national racing in the U.S. with its new HP2, already racing in MotoST and world endurance events in the hands of Brian Parriott and Nate Kern. Soon we will see its even newer World Superbike sibling, the transverse-four S 1000RR, reportedly due in the SBK series in 2009.
   
   For about 25 years, since Reg Pridmore won the U.S. Superbike Championship in 1976, BMW produced a series of increasingly detuned and boring `air-head' bikes that disappointed hard-core race and sport-bike enthusiasts. The shaft-drive K bikes were little better, despite half-hearted attempts via the bloated K-1 and too-late/too-heavy current K offerings. The book, dealing only with racing, tactfully avoids mentioning these machines. Only with the oil-head R1100S in 2000, a machine that evolved into the HP2, did BMW inch back slowly to its racing roots. Can they keep up the commitment, financially, technically, and by attracting great riders? Time will tell.



2. This definitely belongs in every BMW fan's book collection. Even if you are not a big racing fan you will enjoy the historical facts and the great pictures.

No comments about Speedway in Manchester 1927-1945.