Proficient Motorcycling, Revised and Expanded 3rd Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well (CompanionHouse Books) Must-Have Manual to Confronting Fear, Sharpening Handling Skills, and Riding Safely Paperback – April 1, 2025

The updated essential guide for every motorcyclist!The basics you need to know to get on a bike ASAPRiding city streets and country roadsNavigating common and uncommon hazardsAvoiding manmade dangers and canine pursuersSurviving nature's challenges: rain, wind, heat, coldSafely riding in groups and carrying passengersWearing the most protective clothingThis is the ultimate guide for all motorcyclists—regardless of experience!Author David L. Hough, a columnist and riding-safety consultant who has ridden since the '60s, lays out a clear course to sharpen your handling skills for a safer, more enjoyable ride. This third edition has been updated and expanded to include information on getting started riding, exercises to gain skill and confidence on the road, updated charts, graphs, and statistics, a description of motorcycle gears, types of motorcycles, equipment that can be added to your bike, general safety, and more throughout each chapter. New riders and experienced bikers alike will receive the sage advice needed to be prepared for anything on the road, avoid accidents, handle the unexpected, and arrive safe!This book tackles bike mechanics, selecting the right-sized bike, basic riding skills, night riding, group outings, advanced survival tactics, and more. Learn the equipment and skills required to control a bike, preserve your safety, and avoid injury or fatal crashes. The author is a nationally renowned motorcycling expert and is outspoken and direct when it comes to safety, emphasizing the importance of braking abilities, showing how to improve them, and providing tried-and-true techniques for quick-stop tactics critical for every rider to master.Explore vital skills to evaluate and improve, such as turning, balance, stability, and steering. The details of steering and control are defined and analyzed: direct steering, countersteering, push steering, out-tracking, coning, U-turns, and directional control. Get a virtual master class in acceleration, deceleration, use of weight, throttle, leaning, and handling challenging terrain. The detail offered comes from decades on the road, and the author is the consummate instructor, assigning practice exercises to help you improve specific techniques.These pages take you from long, snaking country roads right into the traffic of the big city, offering the best advice for dealing with the most challenging conditions, like road construction, snap-jawed intersections, skateboarders, suddenly slippery road surfaces, aggressive car drivers, oblivious SUV drivers, and "blind" truck drivers. Over 300 photos, illustrations, and diagrams accompany the easy-to-understand instructions and concepts.This crucial guide offers first-hand experience that can literally save your life! It offers evasive tactics to handle slick surfaces, curbs, construction plates, ferocious dogs, hazardous wildlife, and difficult weather conditions. Experienced riders who travel together in groups or with a passenger on the bike will find helpful information covering formation, packing for trips, communication between riders, sidecars, trikes, and more. Included are a helpful glossary of terms and a complete index.Do you want to blast around twisty mountain roads, ride through miles of desert, or go on a weekend-long group ride? Do you want to commute to work on your motorcycle, handling aggressive drivers and construction zones with ease? Whatever your motorcycling goals, whether you're a novice riding for the first time or a seasoned road warrior, this is the must-have resource to improving your skills and arriving safely! Read more