Motorcycles

Motorcycle riding, particularly on the street, can be a dangerous sport for the inexperienced. Every rider should continually try to advance their riding skills as far as possible with proper training and lots of practice. As many have said over the years; if you really want to learn how to ride & handle motorcycles, get a dirtbike. Part of the training, or knowledge, that a proficient rider should also have is a good understanding of suspension components & how to set 'em up.

Motorcycle Tips & Techniques by James Davis

Excerpts from Carl Shipman's excellent 1974 book, "The Boonie Book - How to Ride the Dirt, Take Care of your Bike, and Yourself."

Motorcycle Safety Foundation : Beginner & Intermediate

High-Performance Riding : by Nick Ienatsch

Spirited Group Riding on the Street : The Pace by Nick Ienatsch

DP Safety Schools : Intermediate & Advanced

Reg Pridmore's CLASS : Intermediate & Advanced

Jason Pridmore's Star Motorcycle School : Intermediate & Advanced

Keith Code's California SUPERBIKE Schools : Intermediate & Advanced
and his excellent A Twist of the Wrist II

American SUPERCAMP : Advanced sliding techniques on the dirt

Freddie Spencer's High Performance Riding School : Advanced

Gary Jaehne's book : SportBiking: The Real World (The Advanced Rider's Handbook)

Phil Douglas at Aftershocks Suspensions has a COOL shock dyno and does excellent suspension work!

Suspension Tuning Articles by Paul Thede of Race-Tech Suspension

I administer a mailing list (doc-ride@micapeak.com) for Doc Wong's FREE Riding Clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area. Doc (Harry) is putting on street and dirt riding clinics and has had several guest speakers; including Keith Code (California SUPERBIKE School), Nick Ienatsch, formerly of MOTORCYCLIST & SPORT RIDER Magazines, Don Greene, and Chuck Sorensen. All are active or former motorcycle roadracers. Recently, he has also started having suspension-tuning clinics with Gary Jaehne also.

My Addiction

Did I mention that I'm an obsessed motorcycle ADDICT & Hopeless Adrenaline Freak(tm)? I knew when I had my first bicycle that I was becoming a speed & danger junkie. Later, when the kid down the street got his Honda S65, I would bribe him to tow me on my bicycle up to 50 mph--then I'd lockup the coaster brake and make what must have been the longest skid marks in the world! I was soooooooo COOL! However, my mother was a registered nurse who had worked the emergency room of the local hospital. :-( Since I was not allowed to have one of those "kid-killing machines", I did the only thing any normal American teenager would resort to under the circumstances; Lies & Deception.

Bo, my friend with the S65 who lived down the street, was a nice guy. He let me ride that S65; even after I dropped it each of the first several attempts that I tried to ride it. Mom was starting to think I was getting a bit dangerous on my <nudge-nudge-wink-wink> bicycle with all of the nasty road-rash it was giving me. We use to ride out to Honda Hill and watch the daredevils jump & crash their big bikes.

More moto history to come ...