Motorcycle Touring Resources

The resources on this page are recommended to help you get your start in the world of motorcycle travel.

The Essential Guide To Motorcycle Travel

This book is written to help motorcyclists prepare themselves and their motorcycles for traveling long distances over extended periods. Whether you are getting ready for a weekend trip beyond your home turf or for a transcontinental odyssey lasting several years, Coyner’s book details the fundamentals for riding in comfort, safety, and convenience. In three major sections, the book covers trip planning, rider preparation, and outfitting the motorcycle. An appropriate level of planning for a long motorcycle trip can help maximize enjoyment and minimize irritating annoyances on the road. Coyner lays out the steps for planning a worry-free, fun trip. Over 250 full-color photographs illustrate riding gear, accessories, and modifications that will make any motorcycle adventure the trip of a lifetime.

Motorcycle Touring: Everything You Need To Know

The popularity of motorcycle tour riding is increasing steadily, but riders taking off on extended trips must realize there are unique hazards they can face when riding without support far from home. This book is a comprehensive “how-to-tour” guide that includes information on how to plan, what to pack, how to make emergency roadside motorcycle repairs, how to develop a “personal safety net” for when things go wrong, and how best to avoid having things go wrong.

Author Dr. Gregory W. Frazier is the world’s best-known touring rider and is the rider best qualified to cover topics such as: where to go and why, whether to go alone or with someone, equipment preparation, where to sleep, physical hazards, motorcycle gadgets, stretching your dollars, and more. He also offers first-hand tips on “survival on the road.”

The Essential Guide To Motorcycle Maintenance

Popular motorcycle journalist and author Mark Zimmerman brings a comfortable, conversational tone to his easy-to-understand explanations of how motorcycles work and how to maintain them and fix them when they don’t. This practical tutorial covers all brands and styles of bikes, making it a perfect companion to the owner’s service manual whether you need to use the step-by-step instructions for basic maintenance techniques to wrench on your bike yourself or just want to learn enough to become an informed customer at your local motorcycle service department. This book includes more than 500 color photos and a thorough index to make it an especially user-friendly reference for home motorcycle mechanics of all skill levels.

How To Repair Your Motorcycle

This book puts the basics of motorcycle repair and upkeep within every bike owner’s grasp. With clear, easy-to-follow instructions and 50 do-it-yourself projects, How to Repair Your Motorcycle introduces readers to the rudiments of motorcycle maintenance. Illustrated sections on bike systems (from electrical and fuel to suspension and exhaust) cover straightforward procedures that could add years to your motorcycle’s life—and save you thousands of dollars in the process. The book also includes troubleshooting charts and helpful sidebars.

Motorcycling Excellence: Skills, Knowledge & Strategies For Riding Right

In a clear, engaging style with detailed diagrams and extensive full-color photographs and illustrations, the book covers rider attitude, protective riding gear, pre-ride inspection, maintenance, and troubleshooting, as well as basic and advanced street skills. Tips on how to create a “space cushion” to avoid traffic hazards; stop quickly; countersteer for better control; manage traction; position your body for smoother, more consistent riding; travel skillfully and safely in a group; maneuver effectively and efficiently in off-highway riding; and much more, are included. The new edition also features advice from legendary racers Kevin Schwantz, Nick Ienatsch, Freddie Spencer, Rich Oliver, and Reg Pridmore, as well as contributions from Erik Buell on motorcycle geometry, Keith Code on countersteering, and Paul Thede on suspension adjustment, among other experts.