Jay Barbieri is the producer of "American Thunder," a telelvision motorcycle show. He recently authored a new book, "Biker's Handbook: Becoming Part of the Motorcycle Culture" that teaches new motorcycle owners how to fit into the lifestyle without looking like they're trying.

Susan Carpenter, who covers most of the motorcycle news for the Los Angeles Times, interviewed Barbieri. When asked about who is this book targeted for, he responds...

The guy who buys the leather jacket with a huge logo on the back. The guy who buys the pseudo-Nazi helmet with a big spike. The guy who rides up next to the minivan that says "Baby on Board" and revs his bike looking all bad trying to scare everyone inside.

The original title was "Becoming Part of the American Motorcycle Culture." My publisher didn't want the word "American" in there because the books they put out with "American" in the title didn't do well, but this book is about becoming part of the American motorcycle culture. My point is simply this: In the '70s, there was a very clear line drawn in the sand. The Japanese said, "We do not want the negative stigma of being outlaw bikes." The American motorcycle never changed its philosophy.

About 10 to 15 years ago, Harleys got really popular again, and metric motorcycles came up with a V 45 motor and started styling themselves after Harley-Davidson with a lower price point. A lot of guys went out and said, "It looks like a Harley, sounds like a Harley, so I'm going to buy it." You don't have to buy a Harley to be part of the motorcycle culture, but this is where I get in all kinds of trouble. You're buying a motorcycle that wants to be like something else.

Labels: Biker Books

Released to the public last January is a new book about the history of Harley-Davidson intended for young readers.

"Harley and the Davidsons" is about Bill Harley and Arthur Davidson, along with Arthur's two brothers William and Walter, and how they created not just a motorcycle company, but a piece of American culture.

Written by Pete Barnes, a 5th Grade history teacher from Ohio, the book was commissioned by the Wisconsin Historial Society as a resource for state-sanctioned Wisconsin history curriculum in elementary schools.

Intended for readers aged 8-12 years old, the 100-page history book puts together a piece of American history that also teaches a lesson in pursuing dreams and persevering in the face of bad times.

Here is a synopsis from The Bee, the local newspaper from Phillips, WI...

The book opens with 10-year-old Arthur and Bill dreaming of building a motorized bicycle that will make their trips home from the local fishing hole easier and faster.

They tinker and study the remedial engines available in the late 1880s and recruit the older Davidson boys to help with the fabrication of parts. While both have to obtain jobs to fund their quest and help their families survive, all four young men keep at their dream until they have a bike worthy of the Harley-Davidson name.

Barnes discusses the social times surrounding Harley and the Davidsons, how World War I, the depression of the 1920s, the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II forced changes in marketing, manufacturing and how the emergence of Japanese business practices forced the second generation of Harleys and Davidsons to sell the company.

But like any good children's story, "Harley and the Davidsons: Motorcycle Legends" comes with a happy ending. The return of the company to family ownership under grandson Willie Davidson and the full glorious legend these spectacular bikes evoke.

One surprise in the book is the introduction of another childhood friend of Bill Harley's - Ole Evinrude. Yes, the very same Evinrude who created and founded Envinrude Outboard Motors.

Labels: Biker Books, Harley Davidson

If you were to ask a biker what the meaning of life is, you'd probably get a very short answer, or a very long one.

If you asked Craig Bourne, you'd get a whole book.

His new book, "Philosophical Ridings: Motorcycles and the Meaning of Life", will be released to the public a week from now on April 25th. He works as a professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and rides a Ducati when he's not professing.

You can reserve this book online at Amazon.com...
http://www.amazon.com/....&qid=1176692670&sr=1-1

Here's a quote from the book's publisher...

From Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to The Motorcycle Diaries, to be a biker is to be on the road to the meaning of life. What should our attitude be towards danger and death? Can your motorcycle be as much of a work of art as a Michelangelo painting? Should the biker's rebel image be celebrated? And where does the concern for the environment figure in all of this? Philosopher and motorcyclist Craig Bourne shows for the first time the thoughtful side of the biker, and takes us on a fun trip through the philosophy of motorcycles.

Labels: Biker Books, Biker Life

Fresh from the success of their first book, "The Road to Hell : How the Biker Gangs are Conquering Canada", authors Julian Sher and William Marsden go south of the border to offer an inside look at the Hells Angels with their latest title, "Angels of Death : Inside the Biker Gangs' Crime Empire".

It seems after Billy Queen published his widely popular book, "Under and Alone", where he went undercover with the Mongols, we're seeing a lot more books like them, and this one is perhaps no different.

According to the book's description...

A woman named Cynthia Garcia is stabbed to death and dumped in the Arizona desert after partying at a Hells Angels clubhouse in Arizona; three bullet-ridden bodies of bikers turn up in a river in Holland; a retired policeman is killed when his car is bombed in Australia. Meanwhile, the world's most famous Hells Angel, Sonny Barger, is feted by the media on his global book tour.

Labels: Biker Books

If your woman is having a hard time adjusting to the biker way of life, then perhaps a new book from Holly French will help.

"The Biker Babe's Bible: A Guide to Being a Good Ole Lady" provides advice to women who are new to the biker world.

Here's an excerpt from a section on night riding...

Remember, if you get uncomfortable, it's your own fault, so keep it to yourself. Just because you weren't prepared doesn't give you a license to bitch. It ruins everyone's good time if you are bitching, and it's an embarrassment.

So, grow up. Toughen up. You are a biker's Ole Lady.

Labels: Biker Books, Biker Life

A new book is coming out entitled, "Kick Start: Cosmic Biker Babe's Guide To Life And Changing the Planet", by Carol Setters. Setters, who also goes by the name, "CosmicBiker" is a spiritual feminist and Biker Babe, who operates a website where "a community of radical women" get together and discuss ways to change the world through authentic and compassionate living.

Kick Start is essentially a self-help guide for women suggesting that taking on the role and persona of a biker chick will help them find inner-strength:

"By playfully trying on the identity of women who ride motorcycles, snub their noses at conformity and are unafraid to go where the road leads them, women become SheBikers," says Setters, "It's a term I've created to describe powerful and adventurous women. Many women relate to being SheBikers, whether or not they currently ride motorcycles."

"Women are looking for a way to redefine themselves, to incorporate the new ways in which they are evolving as a gender" says Setters. "Our culture sees bikers as rebellious, or at least maverick, individuals. By "trying on" that nonconforming identity, women can push beyond limiting perspectives to a new understanding of what they can become. Of course, if they want to be encouraged to ride a motorcycle, they'll find that in my book, too."

Labels: Biker Books, Biker Stereotypes

Powder coating seems to be getting more popular after being highlighted on television shows like American Chopper. A guy named Dr. Ernest Lader has just released a book on the subject, and makes is available from his website, Powder Coat Secrets, as an electronic download.

Dr. Lader has been involved in the industry for 20 years and has personally designed numerous engineered powder application systems over the years. He is a trainer and consultant offering his services internationaly. His new book describes how this process can be done at home in your own workshop.

Labels: Biker Books, Powder Coating

A new book entitled, "Long Way Round : Chasing Shadows Across the World" is about a couple of movie actors, Ewan McGregor (The Phantom Menace, Moulin Rouge), and Charley Boorman (Deliverance, Hope and Glory), who ride their motorcycles around the world.

Leaving London in April of 2004, they headed east, going across Europe and Asia. Then they flew over the Pacific and continue on across North America, until they reached New York. The whole trip took four months.

The book is a journal of their travels documenting their adventures. According to the book:

It started as a daydream. Pouring over a map of the world at home one quiet Saturday afternoon, Ewan McGregor - actor and self-confessed bike nut - noticed that it was possible to ride all the way round the world, with just one short hop across the Bering Strait from Russia to Alaska. It was a revelation he couldn't get out of his head. So he picked up the phone and called Charley Boorman, his best friend, fellow actor and bike enthusiast. 'Charley,' he said. 'I think you ought to come over for dinner...'

From London to New York, Ewan and Charley chased their shadows through Europe, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, across the Pacific to Alaska, then down through Canada and America. But as the miles slipped beneath the tyres of their big BMWs, their troubles started. Exhaustion, injury and accidents tested their strength. Treacherous roads, unpredictable weather and turbulent politics challenged their stamina. They were chased by paparazzi in Kazakhstan, courted by men with very large guns in the Ukraine, hassled by the police, and given bulls' testicles for supper by Mongolian nomads.

And yet despite all these obstacles they managed to ride over 20,000 miles in four months, changing their lives forever in the process. As they travelled they documented their trip, taking photographs, and writing diaries by the campfire. Long Way Round is the result of their adventures - a fascinating, frank and highly entertaining travel book about two friends riding round the world together and, against all the odds, realising their dream.

Labels: Biker Books, Charlie Boorman, Ewan MacGregor, Long Distance Riding