Customer Reviews

Biker's Handbook: Becoming Part of the Motorcycle Culture

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

This book is 90% waste of time, 10% reasonalbly sound advice and 100% exploitive of a yuppie upsurge in motorcycle (MC) interest. It would take a small book to address all the garbage in this lame attempt to supposedly instruct and equip a new MC rider to the "Culture" of the MC riding world. A few of the low points include the authors status as a self proclaimed "Biker" yet he dovotes a great deal of time explaining his personal preference to ship his bike to rallys so he can have more fun partying. Hey RUB,(yes you author) ever here that life is about the "journey". Of course not. He goes on to espouse that you should buy "American Made" equipment yet in the first chapter he makes excuses for buying small Japanese motorcycles to get started on. His stories of the road were boring and centered mostly around getting drunk and loaded and being stupid. Gee, I need to pay money for this? I can see it first hand at every bar I walk into. In short, if you are a Motorcycle Rider and if you have been doing so for ANY length of time, SAVE YOUR MONEY! If you are a first time Rider and you really want to know whats up and become truly involved in riding Motorcycles find a Mentor to ride with. A real live flesh and blood person in your own area. The REAL MC world/culture is about freedom. Freedom to be who you are. You dont' need a "how to" book to assimilate yourself into a culture that does not care one bit where you buy your chaps. What it does care about is that you RIDE. Ride whenever and where ever you go. Trailers are for hauling broken motorcycles. Flying to Sturgis and Daytona is for rich yuppies who wanna be motorcycle riders.

This book has everything you need to know to be a poser.
The first and most aggravating issue is the way the author
authoratively states that anyone who is not riding a Harley is not a real biker.
Let me tell you who a biker is, someone who knows the joy of the open road and the pain of road rash.
I can get both of those feelings on any bike.
Harley's rock, but they ain't the only good bike.
Another issue is the way that he continually spouts obscenities to seem more 'hardcore.'
What a poser.
The last issue I will state about this book for now is that it's a book... about how to be a "biker." Oh, wait, no it isn't. It ain't about how to ride, how to choose the proper bike for you, or anything about how to actually be a biker, no. Instead it's about how to fake your way into fitting an image.
An image that began with the film "The Wild One" where, by the way, Brando rode a British Triumph, not a Harley.

Picked this up at a local bookstore because it looked entertaining. The author spends the first chapter trashing Japanese bikes and saying that Harley is the end-all/be-all, and that anyone who rides a Japanese bike is a "wannabe." The book is loaded with F-bombs and anecdotes that center around being a drunken idiot on two wheels. Further, when people have posted poor reviews, the author has commented back like a screaming little girl, with atrocious spelling and grammar, to boot. I really pity his editor and proofreader... Color me unimpressed.

There was very little "handbook" about this book, and Mr. Barbieri is the kind of goofball that I do my best to avoid. I've ridden a number of different Harleys and they are fine bikes, but the metric cruisers (Yamaha Road Star, Suzuki Boulevard, Kawasaki Vulcan, etc.) compare very favorably and in many ways, surpass Harley, and for about half the price.

I ride a Yamaha Road Star 1600. The only "wannabe" I wanna' be, is on my bike, out on the road. (And if some Harley rider, or ANY rider, was pulled over and having trouble with his bike, I would pull over and give him a hand.)

To real bikers who are steeped in the "culture," it's not WHAT you ride. It's the fact that you ride. Period. A bunch of us get together and trash-talk each other's bikes because some of us ride metric and others ride American. What we are passionate about and what's really important, is riding and the brotherhood of the road and the wind.

If some ignoramus feels the need to look down their nose at another biker for the machine that they ride, perhaps that says more about that person, rather than the rider.

As for the rest of the anecdotes, they were entertaining, I guess. I can hear stories like that from just about any of my buddies, and I can tell a few, myself.

In short, I don't feel that this book was anything even close to what its title suggests. Pretty disappointed with it, all the way around.

I think the best part about the book (sadly) was reading all of the trash talk that the author lays down on the people reviewing this book on Amazon!

What a POSER!! (I'd have said "wannabe", but according to the 'author', that term is reserved for ANYONE not riding a Harley!) The picture on the back cover is PRICELESS!! Wow! He's an author AND he's in a Loverboy cover band?!? Man, it must be tough to find time to ride. . .

I picked this up at the recommendation of my mechanic. He'd been given a copy, but hadn't read it. He actually called me after looking through it to tell me NOT to read it if I hadn't already. That, of course, made me want to read it even more.

This book is, at best, insulting to anyone that doesn't fall in step with the author. I don't mean that he has opinions about stuff, I mean he will tell you straight out that if you disagree with him, you're wrong.

Don't waste your money. Pick it up at the library.

This is quite possibly the worst book ever. However, since I have not read every book I won't state that as fact. Based on the books I have read, this was by far the biggest waste of my time and money. If ZERO STARS were an option, I would rate it accordingly. It simply does not reflect the bikers I know or would even remotely want to be associated with. If the author's circle of friends is the "Motorcycle Culture" kindly count me out. However, since there is apparently a portion of the motorcycling community that actually thinks along the same lines as the author (as of 8/22/08 seven reviewers had given this book 5 stars!) I hope the author writes many more books so as to keep his like-minded readers at home thereby making the streets a safer place for the rest of us.

If you are interested in improving (or learning) cycling skills read the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's guide and read either or both of Peter Egan's 'Leanings' books if you want some amusing and interesting stories about motorcycles (and not just Harley's). Yes, all three books will cost roughly 3 times more than the Biker's Handbook, but you'll probably get 10 times the enjoyment.

This book is about partying and Harley Davidson. It appears the author isn't a biker, but a frat boy. It also offers unsound safety advice. In all, it's a highly biased, egotistical read.

If you're going to learn to ride, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles" is a much better guide, complete with a buying guide that will make choosing your bike a breeze. I bought the 2nd edition, which has served me well, but they're up to the 4th edition now. An up-to-date buying guide will be helpful, although you'll probably want to pick up a used bike that's a few years old to save yourself some cash.

This book makes the claim to be a beginner's guide to the "Biker Culture". Jay Barbieri suggests this book will help the reader to fit into the culture avoiding common newbie fo-paws. Being a 31 year veteran biker myself passionate to riding, I looked forward to receiving my copy of the "Biker's Handbook" in the mail. After reading Barbieri's' s reflections and insight, I hoped to pass it on to a couple of friends just joining the riding populace for some entertaining pearls of wisdom; especially on biker "etiquette", symbolism, history, etc,

Barbieri's book falls quite short of hitting the mark. His recounting of motorcycling history is often flawed (even details of the origin of the "1%er") and generally discounts the role of any other brand of motorcycle other than HD. While historical perspective may not be a big deal in many other `recreational' (as referred nowadays) pastimes - and some errors may seem "minor" - that history is deeply interwoven into at least what the "Harley-type" subculture of motorcycling is. This books' advice may seem `real' to casual riders in the Weekend Biker world, but is not insightful into the culture of riders who actually do "Live to Ride". Sadly, it fails to give much insight into the passion if not the soul of riding many new riders are often drawn to. (For example, Barbieri advises shipping the reader's bike to a rally or renting a bike there, apparently not understanding that the Ride is almost (if not more) important than being there.)

Not all of Barbieri's points are off target. Some of his tid-bits and advice merely reflect his independent and personal style which is central to the culture. However in other areas ... if some of the advice he gives is taken, a rider may find him/herself taking unnecessary or even dangerous risks. From the accurate-but-obvious (Outlaw Club members are not your buddies: treat them with caution and respect), to the misinformed (...don't wear fingerless gloves or vests), to absolute B.S. (...wear GLASS eye protection ... and his instructions on braking), a significant amount of the advice this `handbook' gives should be considered with caution at best. And what Barbieri omits is often just as important - like the many midlife newcomers that buy a Harley and immediately hit Sturgis (or other large Runs) without having the basic necessary skills to ride in the packs that they will inevitably find themselves swept up in.

Take a motorcycling course, learn braking (etc.) there, and give yourself a year before a large Meet. Please.

Finally, and perhaps most alarmingly, beyond the first few chapters on getting started Barbieri's book devolves into a disjointed collection of anecdotes recalling his fond memories of him and friends partying and riding drunk and/ or stoned. Peppered throughout those tales he cautions in effect. `Don't do what I do (did)' - but damn this was fun.

Suds and smoke has been and is definitely part of the subculture. However there is no place for it on 2 wheels. And there is so much more going on at Sturgis (et. al.) than just the drunken anecdotes he presents.

Thankfully this book is a short-read. "Important" one-liners from the text are frequently pulled out and retyped in large print ...full-page drawings often illustrate again the text the reader has just read ... and several chapters have a `review" in the margins or at the end ... again restating what the reader just read.

On balance, there isn't much there.

I can't recommend this book or even pass my copy on to others. Here's (sincerely) hoping for a second and more accurate edition - the time is ripe for a book like this. This may be a good book on becoming an uninformed RUB -Rich Urban Biker (he even gets that wrong - using the term "Rubes" throughout the book) that enjoys playing with expensive toys. But if one wants a mini course on what the "Biker Culture" is all about, sadly this isn't it.

It is hard to put into words how awful this book is, so I'll let the author do it with some excerpts from his book:
"Having been up to Laconia before with the same group, we all knew that there was a great strip club in Massachusetts so, of course, we took a break and found the club. We vowed that we'd have one beer and we'd hit the road. Of course, when you've been riding in circles for five hours and you finally get a break in a very fun strip club, one beer ain't gonna happen. Three hours later we left the club, too buzzed to ride, but with little choice. We had at least three hours to go."
"About an hour later, Mike and I pulled into a tollbooth to get our bearings and, wouldn't ya know it, a State Highway Patrol car pulled in right behind me. I could have never passed a breathalyzer test, especially in Massachusetts, so I went on the offensive. I got off my bike and walked over to the cop car and asked directions to Laconia. The cop was a giant black guy who could have played pro football, and when I asked him directions he just looked at me and laughed. My heart sank. I thought for sure I was toast. Instead he told me he was laughing at me because I was so far off course."
Had enough???
If you have an IQ over 90, this book will make you ashamed that you are a motorcyclist. I wish I could have given it NO stars.

Guys like the author of this book are the reason I'll never ride a Harley. Harley has made and continues to make some good bikes. Unfortunately there is a Harley only culture that seems to be all about dressing yourself in the brand and posing on your bike. I have some good friends and riding buddies that ride Harleys, but there are so many idiots on Harleys that if someone I don't know pulls up on one I tend to have to remind myself to give them the benefit of the doubt about not being a jerk. Guys like the author of this book are why other Harley riders may not get the warmest welcome in my riding group at first. Real bikers RIDE to Sturgis, trailers are for boats. And when I need new riding gear, I want tips on what keeps me warm and dry, not what brand or look is cool, I can and will decide that for myself.

This book is nothing but a trip down the authors glory days a a biker, It is only Harley friendly, calling all Japanese bike rider wannabe's. I have a Kawasaki Vulcan and many Harley riders cannot tell the difference. He was rude and condescending with such important info as buy gloves and a helmet. Wow. This book is an utter waste of time and money. Read a magazine instead.