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More books on Advanced Riding
If you're looking for other reading material, you might like to try these books.
Survival Skills says:
"Twist of the Wrist (Vol 1) is much more track-oriented than vol 2 and as such may be a bit of a disappointment if you are looking for a book for road riding.
However, if you are interested in track days, you may find the advice in this book very useful. Covering such concepts as camber, radius, elevation and how to deal with a series of turns, you will
be able to see how to control your speed, lean angle, gear and RPM.
The main criticism levelled against Keith Code's books is their sometimes impenetrable "cosmic" writing style and it does detract from the readability at times. Worth a look, however.
Survival Skills says:
From the moment you flip over the book, Lee Parks' intended audience is obvious - the back cover gives it away:
"Parks demystifies the techniques used by top racers and
demonstrates how to apply them to high performance street riding"
If that didn't help, then the title of the first paragraph title:
"The Problem of Learning to go Fast"
The problem is that for a book supposedly aimed at the street rider, there are barely a couple of throwaway lines that provide any useful information for the genuine road rider rather than the
racer-wannabee. In the section dealing with lines we are told:
'Ideal lines are most commonly found on the track. On the street, reality rules, and it offers up a variety of distractions and hazards
that motorcyclists have to confront'.
Wow.
There are some good bits - throttle control and its relationship to cornering, for example - but overall it's full of sound-bites with no depth that we are expected to believe, rather than
a decent explanation that will teach us.
Though Parks has raced at AMA level, edited Motorcycle Consumer News and runs his own riding clinics, for some unexplained reason his publisher seems to think that gurning at the camera for every
new chapter is the unique selling point for his book. It might not affect the content, but it's rather off-putting.
So should you buy this book? If you're interested in trackdays, I'd give it a qualified yes. If you want to be a better road rider packing in the knowledge and skill, rather than just a faster one
trusting in faith, there's not much in it.
Survival Skills says:
"This is an illustrated version of the Institute of Advanced Motorists's riding manual.
Whilst it is a reasonable starting point for anyone wanting to pick up the basics of Advanced Riding skills, it's mainly aimed at those riders wanting to pass the IAM's own advanced riding test.
Take the information contained in the three "toolkit" books listed on the other page, and follow the the guidance and tips contained in "How to be an advanced motorcyclist" and you'll be well on the
way to acquiring the skills to pass the IAM test."
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