Bookshelf

Stymied for a Christmas gift for a BMW owner? A copy of the recently-released coffee table tome titled “BMW Motorcycles: 100 Years” might be the answer. Written by Alan Dowds and packed with archival pictures spanning a century, “BMW Motorcycles: 100 Years” is an elegant, comprehensive and celebratory book. Dowds …

It’s a motorcycle book with a somewhat long title; one sufficiently lengthy that a high-horsepower example of its showcased brand could be a mile away by the time the reader finishes saying it aloud – “The Complete Book of Ducati Motorcycles: Every Model Since 1946.” Written by Ian Falloon, “The …

Some riders may have vague knowledge that the original Indian “motocycle” company was founded in 1901 and that Harley-Davidson appeared in 1903. Together, they made motorcycling popular in the U.S. in the early 20th century. In-between the founding of those two companies, across the Atlantic Ocean in 1902, Frenchman George …

In one respect, all riders are the same. We may dress differently. We may ride different styles of motorcycles. We may use our motorcycles for different purposes; recreation being the primary reason here in the U.S. But we all have a sense of daring or adventure whether the ride is …

Moto Guzzi marks a milestone on Monday – exactly 100 years since the Italian marque launched in Mandello del Lario. Currently owned by Piaggio, Moto Guzzi was conceived during World War I by two Italian Air Force pilots and their gifted mechanic, Carlo Guzzi. It was Guzzi who supplied the …

ORDER NOW: “Recipes for a Good Ride – The Toymakers Cafe Cookery Book” is now on sale for $19.75 and may be ordered by emailing annbidou@yahoo.com. FALLS VILLAGE, CT – The long-planned, motorcycle-themed cookbook from Toymakers Cafe owners Annie and Greg Bidou is now at the printer and should be …

Introduced in 1946, it wasn’t until 1953 that the Vespa scooter became instantly recognized worldwide thanks to the intuition of a Hollywood movie director. William Wyler was “looking for a means of transportation that the entire world could identify as typically Italian” for his movie “Roman Holiday.”  Wyler made his …

A lot can happen in 4½ years. Or not very much. In the case of Triumph, the difference is 16 pages. That’s how many additional pages can be found in the newly-released, updated version of Ian Falloon’s “The Complete Book of Classic and Modern Triumph Motorcycles 1937 – Today.” The …

Like every longtime motorcyclist, Nigel M. Sainsbury has memories of the bikes that have come and gone and, in his particular case, the riding adventures around the world over the years.  Unlike others, though, he has written about his life on bikes in the recently released book “One Down, Four …

It was a Facebook post today on the “Vintage & Classic BMW Motorcycles USA” page by well-known BMW collector Peter Nettesheim on some wheel bearing technology developed by the German brand more than 50 years ago that sent me searching for a sidetracked copy of “The Art of BMW Motorcycles.”  …

As much as some riders might wish it were so, it wasn’t Harley-Davidson (or even Indian) that invented the V-twin engine that has been the staple power plant of motorcycles for well over a century. In fact, the V-twin wasn’t even invented in the United States. No, its origin can …

She lives in the Yorkshire Dales in northern England and has been riding motorcycles for 25 years. Colette Coleman has also been writing about them for a long time, too. Ten years ago, she authored “Great Motorcycle Journeys of the World,” which took riders to exotic and just plain gorgeous …

Celebrating the past and admiring vintage and new models are a part of the motorcycling experience, and two recent books on the iconic Triumph brand enable readers to do just that: “Triumph Motorcycles in America” is a coffee table-style book jammed with pictures and historical data. Written by Lindsay Brooks …

CLIFTON, NJ – It was the near the end of a 20-minute phone conversation last week about her new autobiography that Gloria Tramontin Struck paused for a moment to reflect on her life. “If my brother had taken ‘No’ for an answer, my life would have been so different. So sad, …

In hindsight, it probably wasn’t so hard to predict that rider and psychologist Mark Barnes would be successful writing about motorcycling. In his first column for “Motorcycle Consumer News” some 21 years ago, he wrote that “motorcyclists can be divided into two types.” There are those who are happy to …