Customer Reviews

Sportbiking: The Real World (The Advanced Riders Handbook)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The number of books on the market that address the riding skills needed for riding high performance bikes is fairly limited. When I got my first sportbike, I'd borrowed a copy of the second TWIST book from a friend but found it lacking for me in that I wanted something more related to the street riding skills that I'm trying to conquer. I found that this SPORTBIKING book supplied many of the answers that I was looking for and hadn't been able to get from the racetrack stuff in Code's book. It makes sense that to learn to ride better on the street reading a book that directly talks in those terms is a good resource. The book is written in an entertaining way that makes the reading fun while being educational. The actual personal riding experiences that the author combines with each individual riding technique in the book, helped me alot in being able to see the way that each form of bike handling technique could help me in my own riding. I also enjoyed the refreshing viewpoints that the author presents inside. I've already started applying some of the methods I've read in the book to my riding and been amazed at the instant improvements that I've seen. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for some fun reading and to step up their own riding skills. A definite five star effort!

I'd read a review of this book in the latest copy of Motorcycle Consumer News and from the good things they said about it, I decided to get a copy. The book is easy to read and offers a lot of ideas on street riding issues that I haven't seen discussed in any other books on motorcycling. The book is a good mixture of racer proven techniques that are directed in a way that applies to riding in the hills and ideas on how to improve the chances of survival while doing it. It rains a lot here in Seattle and the tips I've read (and plan on trying soon) in the special Rain Riding section will come in handy. The short stories that recount riding experiences in each skill segment area were helpful for me to see how applying them would work. The book is small and to the point which made it a quick read that left me with a lot of things to take out and begin trying on my new R6.

First, at 15 bucks for 100 pages of a book that looks like it was printed in your neighbor's garage, this book is overpriced. There are no photographs and only a few crude line drawings.

The actual riding advice here is really not advanced at all, and concentrates mostly on weight distribution and line selection--important stuff, but hardly for the advanced rider. A good section on wet weather riding.

Here's the real two-star kicker, though: this book is written with the most bizarre language possible. We need a Jaehne-to-English translation. Hardly a single sentence is written without using either BOLDFACED words, underlined, parenthesis, italics, or words in quotes. It appears more like an outline than it does a finished product. Very, very bizarre style and not at all appropriate for an instructional book.

He throws in a bit of philosophy on how to get around the highway patrol, which is amusing enough.

This should be a free phamplet they give you with a motorcycle safety class, rather than a $15 book. Buy a subscription to Cycle World instead.

While most books are written either for the racetrack or the utopian safety instruction classroom, this book candidly addresses advanced street riding from a truly realistic point of view. It covers everything from braking & line selection to safety gear to bike set-ups -- it even dedicates an entire section to riding in the rain. I find it to be a very practical guide for safely improving my on-street performance. It's also very personable -- the author elaborates on each technique with personal anecdotes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will reference/recommend it often!

I feel that you could get more out of the "Twist of the Wrist" series, where you learn to analyze your riding and think for yourself, than from this book. The author lets you know how bitchin' he is, and then flings some anecdotes and common sense at you. There's some good information, but nothing anyone with an average IQ couldn't figure out after a bit of riding and thinking about what she is doing. If you've got the money to spare, by all means buy the book and support the "how-to riding book" industry. There's always something you can learn from a book like this. I just don't think it's a "Five Star" book. I feel riders sometimes overrate books and videos of this sort because riding is dangerous, and we like to feel that by reading a book or watching a video we have an edge or talisman against disaster. I read/watch every one I find, and this is the least valuable one I own.

Mr. Jaehne would appear to be some kind of local semi-celebrity among San Francisco-area weekend canyon carvers. This book is his self-published manifesto. Depending on how starved you are for books on motorcycling, this could be of passing interest or just a waste of time.

The "real world" here consists of zipping through mountain twisties at 80 or 120 MPH. Among his tips are what kind of clothing to wear to avoid excessive injury from the inevitable crashes you will experience, and also how to avoid the police who will not appreciate your activities. His rain riding section describes how to continue your high speed canyon trips even in wet weather.

For the more sane among us who mostly use our bikes for commuting, I would recommend Hough's "Proficient Motorcycling" for overall technique and rain riding, and the MSF book for explanations of traction, braking effects, and the like.

Unlike others, I didn't find Jaehne's writing style all that incomprehensible. It is obviously not professionally edited, and he uses his share of all caps and underscores, but it is reasonably clear. The problem is the slim and questionable content of what he has to say.

You may notice that the publisher is "Brentwood Christian Press." A quick net search revealed that this is a vanity press specializing in self-published inspirational books, but if you pay them, they will publish anything.

If you have read a lot of books on riding, taken several riding courses, or gotton advice from your track day friends, this book will not provide a great deal of new material to your knowledge base. However, you should still read it. Why? It presents all that information in on place and deliver's it in a format pratical for actual canyon rides. This is kind of a driving manual you should read about once a month until it becomes second nature. If you pass the test at the beginning you like to ride fast and this book will help you do it safer, helping a little to spare your fellow riders and the public of any more carnage and increasing the fun factor.

I had purchased a new CBR 600 F4 (My first street bike) 2 days before I recieved my copy of this book in the mail. I already had questions from my first two days of rideing like: How to take a curve (On flat and downhill slopes) safely, what clothing should I wear, and when should I and shouldn't I use my brakes. The book answered these questions for me and a whole lot more (Lots of info on how to ride in the rain if I found myself in that situation also). I'd recommend this book for anybody who wants to learn better technique for rideing on the street. Would love to see a video by Gary S. Jaehne.

Incredibly over-priced! This book couldn't have taken him longer than a day to write (as the poor editing and horrible style suggests).

I was able to pick up about 5 new "tips" to help me with general safety, but just not enough content. Frankly, he should just stick to riding a bike and stay away from his word processor. Or hire a freakin' editor for crying out loud!

On a positive note, he did provide numerous "real-world" anecdotes where he described rides where certain "close calls" occurred and how he managed to avoid disaster. There was also a good section of the book dedicated to riding in the rain.

As some of the previous reviews point out, this is a pretty slim book. But that's ok, it's brief and to the point. A great read for novices, good summary for intermediates, but advanced squids might be a little disappointed. Good sections on braking and lines and, in my case, a very valuable wet weather section.