Motorcycle Touring and Travel: A Handbook of Travel by Motorcycle

By Bill Stermer

Book Overview

Learn the fine points of motorcycle touring with Bill Stermer as your guide. Bill is former Editorial Director of Rider magazine and a contributor to numerous other motorcycling publications. This is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 096218344X
• ISBN13: 9780962183447
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Whitehorse Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent investment

I bought this book before taking a 2,600 mile two week tour of seven western states on my SV650. I have owned 8 motorcycles, the first in 1973, so I thought I knew a lot. It was a very good book with lots of advice that saved me the purchase price many times over. It is a small investment that pays excellent dividends if you are planning a trip, unless you have a great deal of touring experience. I also reccomend it if you are considering a bike but don't know what you want.

Back to Basics

I found Motorcycle Touring & Travel to be a valuable how-to book for learning the basics of travel by motorcycle. It is packed with real world tips that have greatly enhanced my riding pleasure. I still refer to it from time to time when looking for advice on buying motorcycle products.The author covers everything from choosing the right mtorcycle to selecting the right riding apparel. He also shows how to set up a bike and rider for comfort and safety. Little things make a big difference when traveling hundreds of miles in a day. Just discovering the Aerostitch Wind Triangle, for example, was enough to make the book worthwhile for me. It's amazing how protecting my neck with this little scarf improves my riding comfort. Thanks, Bill Stermer.I found that I had to read the book slowly and carefully otherwise it was easy to overlook the significance of certain statements. If there is a weakness to the book, this might be it. I am not certain if he oversimplified a complex subject or made the profound seem simple. For example, on page 140 he briefly discusses "target fixation". Although he mentions how "...mental discipline has saved me a number of times" the small amount of space devoted to this subject belies it vital nature. In my own experience target fixation can lead to a life and death situation, so I would have preferred more content to emphasize its importance. The grand scope of his book, however, may have limited the amount of space that he could devote to this and other subjects, so perhaps his is a reasonable compromise afterall.I was taught that the answer to most problems in life is foung in the basics, and in this, I believe, Mr. Stermer has succeeded. His statements are succinct and to the point and he covers a great deal of territory. I recommend his book to two types of riders: beginners who desire an overview of motorcycle touring; and more experienced riders who want to be spared having to find out on a trial and error basis what Bill Stermer already knows.