Smooth Riding the Pridmore Way

Rating:
Summary: An original voice
Review: I started with Keith Code back in the late 80's and eventually read most of the major motorcycle training / safety books. Each book adds something to my archive of techniques. It might be just one paragraph that I didn't really digest on the first time through.

Reg talks about smooth in a way that connected with me. The information may have been found in other books I have, but Reg reached me and changed the way I ride for the better.

If you're interested in the history of our sport his side notes about racing and riding on the street in the 60's are worth the price of the book.

My wife and I have taken his class and this book added to the experience. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Definitive
Review: Reg Pridmore explains his title this way: "Being smooth isn't just an artful and elegant way to ride, though it is these things too. You must be smooth before you can go fast, and be smooth to be safe." He's talking about winning and survival.
Pridmore is a former AMA Superbike champion, known since 1986 for his CLASS track schools, which thousands of riders have attended. He brings 50 years of riding, racing and teaching experience to the task, in this book, of passing on his lessons in print, emphasizing safety. His style is very first person, totally sure of himself, utterly uncompromising.
Winners win and street riders survive, Pridmore explains, through lifelong learning, working constantly to improve their technique and eliminate their mistakes and bad habits.
This book is not a quick or particularly easy read and is best taken in bites. The interleaved anecdotes from the author's rich racing and riding experience are occasionally intrusive but always entertaining and informative. The photos, by some of the best in the business, are sensational (many from Reg's collection are sadly uncredited).
Reg's starts with the essential, basic element: attitude. He goes on to discuss the core need for smoothness, to avoid upsetting the subtle dynamics of a motorcycle at speed. He talks about 'control,' analyzing the correct approaches to throttle management and proper braking (as a racer he was known as a 'late braker' of formidable finesse). He candidly scathes the clumsy, brutal application of throttle or brakes.
Readers who liked Nick Ienatsch's SPORT RIDING TECHNIQUES, reviewed here by me, will not be disappointed by Pridmore's SMOOTH RIDING but will note many divergences in opinion, especially the endless controversy between body steering, which Pridmore espouses, and 'countersteering' at the bars. Capable riders use every bodily sensor and muscle group to achieve results. There are few 'perfect' answers. Readers know the difference between road and track, affecting every aspect of riding, and Pridmore includes substantial material on street, group, wet-weather and two-up riding.
Pridmore wants us to take in his book, understand it, make it work for us every time we ride, considering every aspect each time we throw a leg over a bike. Every gearshift, every brake application, every twist of the throttle, every line, every body position, must be optimized for smoothness, speed and safety. That's his message and it comes across clearly.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing than haven't been said before
Review: Reg Pridmore explains his title this way: "Being smooth isn't just an artful and elegant way to ride, though it is these things too. You must be smooth before you can go fast, and be smooth to be safe." He's talking about winning and survival.
Pridmore is a former AMA Superbike champion, known since 1986 for his CLASS track schools, which thousands of riders have attended. He brings 50 years of riding, racing and teaching experience to the task, in this book, of passing on his lessons in print, emphasizing safety. His style is very first person, totally sure of himself, utterly uncompromising.
Winners win and street riders survive, Pridmore explains, through lifelong learning, working constantly to improve their technique and eliminate their mistakes and bad habits.
This book is not a quick or particularly easy read and is best taken in bites. The interleaved anecdotes from the author's rich racing and riding experience are occasionally intrusive but always entertaining and informative. The photos, by some of the best in the business, are sensational (many from Reg's collection are sadly uncredited).
Reg's starts with the essential, basic element: attitude. He goes on to discuss the core need for smoothness, to avoid upsetting the subtle dynamics of a motorcycle at speed. He talks about 'control,' analyzing the correct approaches to throttle management and proper braking (as a racer he was known as a 'late braker' of formidable finesse). He candidly scathes the clumsy, brutal application of throttle or brakes.
Readers who liked Nick Ienatsch's SPORT RIDING TECHNIQUES, reviewed here by me, will not be disappointed by Pridmore's SMOOTH RIDING but will note many divergences in opinion, especially the endless controversy between body steering, which Pridmore espouses, and 'countersteering' at the bars. Capable riders use every bodily sensor and muscle group to achieve results. There are few 'perfect' answers. Readers know the difference between road and track, affecting every aspect of riding, and Pridmore includes substantial material on street, group, wet-weather and two-up riding.
Pridmore wants us to take in his book, understand it, make it work for us every time we ride, considering every aspect each time we throw a leg over a bike. Every gearshift, every brake application, every twist of the throttle, every line, every body position, must be optimized for smoothness, speed and safety. That's his message and it comes across clearly.