WetLeather Motorcycle Rider Information

This is a list of rider safety books- or at least, books on riding skill, which is mostly the same thing- that I have floating around the house. If I'm waiting for a phone call, or otherwise have a few minutes to fill, I pick one up and flip it to a random page.

In no particular order:

• Proficient Motorcycling, David Hough
  
• More Proficient Motorcycling, David Hough
• The MSF's guide to Motorcycling Excellence
• Sport Riding Techniques, Nick Ienatsch
• Ride Hard, Ride Smart, Pat Hahn
• Total Control, Lee Parks
• Twist of the Wrist, Keith Code
• Twist of the Wrist II, Keith Code
• Soft Science of RoadRacing Motorcycles, Keith Code
• Motorcycle Roadcraft: The Police Rider's Handbook (UK)

The first three are basic and follow the safety "party line" in the US fairly closely.

"Sport Riding" is, not surprisingly, aimed at sportbike pilots- and is a departure from the MSF's standard answer to when braking should be done, etc.

Ride Hard, Ride Smart is a swing back toward the MSF standard, but in different terms.

Total Control is a bit of a swing back the other way, but really focuses more on making the bike do what you want, not discussing when the right time is.

All fo the Keith Code books are really about racing- but still worth reading. You just have to remember the environment they're written for (the track) and apply that to the street.

The one that's got my attention currently is "Motorcycle Roadcraft". The target audience here is UK motor officers. The language is a little higher than the MSF uses (Currently, I beleive the target language level for the MSF material is 6th grade vocabulary), and of course, it UK English, not American English. They use a system similar to SIPDE, but completely different. That, coupled with the fact that any diagrams or written directions have right vs. left swapped, is giving me a chance to think about my riding, which is what the whole genre is supposed to do, right?