Subjects:  1. Literature - Classics / Criticism    2. Motor Sports    3. Motorcycles - History    4. Motorcycles - Pictorial    5. Semiotics & Theory    6. Transportation    7. Literary Criticism & Collections / Theory   

Reviews (7)

The history of Harley-Davidson, from one of the family
William G. Davidson, or as he is affectionatly known, Willie G., gives an insiders view of the history and near demise of an American institution. I drank the Harley Kool-Aide years ago, but it was interesting to get another viewpoint on the Motor Company. The historical pictures are fantastic, especially the old hill climb photos. This is a must have for any Harley owner, and a gotta have for bikers in general. Be forwarned, you will also drink the Kool-Aide if you haven't already!
Great history recount
I would recommend this one to any cycle enthusiast; however I did miss: A century in the life of The Hog
Clearly a grand advertisement & a fine way to take a peek at the transformation of The Hog. Along the way you'll catch glimpses of both ten decades of advertising & dressage styles. Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Harley-Davidson Incorporated    3. Harley-Davidson Motor Company    4. Harley-Davidson motorcycle    5. History    6. Infrastructure    7. Motorcycles - History    8. Motorcycles - Pictorial    9. Popular Culture - General    10. Transportation    11. Art / Popular Culture    12. Motorcycles: general interest    13. USA   

Subjects:  1. Harley Davidson motorcycle    2. Motorcycles - General    3. Motorcycles - History    4. Motorcycles - Pictorial    5. Transportation    6. Motorcycles: general interest    7. Non-Classifiable   

Subjects:  1. Automotive    2. Motorcycles - History    3. Motorcycles - Pictorial    4. Transportation    5. Motorcycles: general interest    6. Transportation / Motorcycles / General   

Reviews (5)

A Fitting Tribute
This is without a doubt one of the most thorough and balanced biographies I've ever read.It covers everything, from Indian Larry's troubled past, to his path out of "Hell University," to his well-deserved rise to fame as one of the best original chopper builders ever.There's tons of tributes from his peers and friends, and plenty of pictures documenting it all.I highly recommend this book to everyone who liked the man, and especially to those who can appreciate the motorcycle as he did - as a true work of art.

My husband loves this book
I received thisbook very quickly after ordering it, and I gave it to my husband on Fathers day. The book is very detailed and had a lot of information in it that my husband didn't know. He loves it.

Indian Larry: Chopper Shaman
The book is very interesting. The price is onest and the ship very fast! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Automotive    2. Motorcycles - History    3. Motorcycles - Pictorial    4. Transportation    5. Motorcycles: general interest    6. Transportation / Motorcycles / General   

Reviews (1)

A penetrating look at Italian Motorcycles of the classic era
Before the Japanese decided to take over the motorcycle business, England and Italy ruled the roost, with the Italians leading the way in terms of race wins, style and innovation.
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Subjects:  1. Motor Sports    2. Motorcycles - General    3. Motorcycles - History    4. Transportation    5. Automotive technology    6. Motorcycles: general interest   

Subjects:  1. Automotive    2. Motorcycles - History    3. Transportation    4. Motorcycles: general interest    5. Transportation / Motorcycles / History   

Subjects:  1. Motorcycles - History    2. Motorcycles - Pictorial    3. Transportation    4. Transportation / Motorcycles / General   

Reviews (1)

Motorcycles by the Thousands!
I never knew how much I didn't know about motorcycles until I looked through this big, slick book. More than 2,300 motorcycle manufacturers are listed. It is great fun to look through this, checking out the more than 1,200 photos to see old favorite models,odd ducks, plus the hundreds of bikes from manufacturers I never knew existed. (Where in the world are the skeletons of all these old, strange bikes buried? You'd think they must decompose like bodies!) Spans more than 100 years of motorcylce history. I'm not giving this book five stars because there aren't photos of every bike mentioned, and many manufacturers don't get any photos and only a small write up. Even for the bigger name manufacturers, the write-ups are not comprehensive and overlook a lot of models, so don't expect this to be "definitive"or especially technical. But it is still a joy to behold. To have a more comprehensive encyclopedia of motorcycles would take many volumes. This is a nice "coffee-table" overview of motorcycle history with lots of interesting bikes to ponder and a fair amount of information. It is the kind of book that may inspire some people into collecting old bikes. It is hard to imagine any motorcycle afficionado who wouldn't get some kick out of this. A worthy gift. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. Motorcycles    3. Motorcycles - History    4. Motorcycles - Pictorial    5. Transportation    6. Sale Books   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (13)

FINE CONTENT MARRED BY FAINT, SMALL PRINT
This is a nice "coffee table" book about their recent exhibit. As a rider since '59, I couldn't wait to get into the text, which is divided by time periods. Essential reading for enthusiasts
Museums, exhibits and the books devolving from them only hint at the mysteries they purport to show but rarely reveal. This is particularly true of exhibits of things that move, whether airplanes, cars and motorcycles on one hand, or people on the other. Once mummified via restoration and encapsulated in historical review, these lively subjects lose their kinesthetic value and become dessicated. A Can't Go Wrong Gift
This book contains a good overview of motorcycling history, but its claims to fame are the wonderful photography and the high production values with which it was printed.It is a wonder to think that the photos are of bikes that actually exist today.Read more

Subjects:  1. Automotive    2. Automotive - History    3. Design - General    4. Exhibitions    5. History    6. Motorcycles    7. Motorcycles - History    8. Motorcycles - Pictorial    9. Transportation    10. Motorcycles: general interest    11. Transportation / Motorcycles / Pictorial   

Subjects:  1. Motorcycles - History    2. Motorcycles - Pictorial    3. Transportation    4. Car racing    5. Transportation / Motorcycles / General   

Reviews (1)

Every Ducati in a single book
Very well written; I have several books by Falloon and enjoy them all.Great pictures and interesting data.Some of the tables are a little hard to decipher, but with time and patience it can be done.I would recommend this book to any Ducatisti or Ducatista and any follower of Falloon. Great service from the Book Rack also. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antiques    2. Automotive    3. Motorcycles    4. Motorcycles - General    5. Motorcycles - History    6. Motorcycles - Pictorial    7. Transportation    8. Motorcycles: general interest    9. Reference works   

Subjects:  1. Motorcycles - History    2. Motorcycles - Pictorial    3. Transportation    4. Automotive technology    5. Motorcycles: general interest    6. Transportation / Motorcycles / General   

Reviews (4)

Best of Japanese classic bikes.
I thoroughly enjoyed Cornelius labour of love. His European perspective enlightens the North American reader on the global motorcycle marketplace. He reveals why models were more successful in certain markets. Read between the lines, and you will quickly see factories dumping inventories of unsuccessful products in other countries. 1970's Japanese Bike Riders need to read this book.
I highly recommend this book for those of us who would not by a Harley in the 1970's.Since buying and reading this book I have went out and purchased two Kawasaki KZ 1300's.The book was right on with what the Kawi can do.I plan on picking up more "classic collectable bikes" which are outlined in this book.Thanks Cornelius for all your hard work.Great book

Excelent!
A terrific history of the japanese motorcycle.The book focuses on the historically important bikes that made a major impact to the world of motorcycling.Explains not only technical specifics but the war that wasgoing on between manufacturers as the sport of motorcycling grew.The onlyfault is that offroad bikes are largely ignored.I highly recommend thisbook to anyone interested in the history of the motorcyle. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History    2. History: World    3. Japan    4. Motorcycles    5. Motorcycles - General    6. Motorcycles - History    7. Motorcycles - Pictorial    8. Pictorial works    9. Transportation    10. Motorcycles: general interest   

Reviews (6)

Rossi the Man of Sportbike
Definitely another good V. Rossi book which contains so much images within his life and two wheels.

A true motogenius
What a great book. I bought this book as a present for my husband and being a fan of motogp myself we both really loved this book. A must for all Valentino Rossi fans to add to the collection. A great insight into the man and what drives his talent.Great photos.An inexpensive purchase but worth it's weight in gold.Very colourful and detail is excellent.

ValentinoRossi; Motogenius
I just want to say that the book is great but dont make the mistake I made , Max Oxley got three books 1st edition ,2nd edition and the 3rd edition they are all the same book . Page to page just different covers I had the first one for two years I just got the other two and now I have to return them back. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Automotive    2. Automotive - General    3. General    4. Motorcycles - History    5. Motorcycles - Pictorial    6. Transportation    7. Biography: sport    8. Motorcycle racing    9. Transportation / Automotive / General   

Subjects:  1. Motorcycles - History    2. Motorcycles - Pictorial    3. Transportation    4. Biography: sport    5. Motorcycle racing    6. Transportation / Motorcycles / General   

Subjects:  1. Automotive    2. Exhibitions    3. History    4. Motocross    5. Motor Sports    6. Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum    7. Motorcycles - History    8. Motorcycles - Pictorial    9. Transportation    10. United States    11. Motorcycle racing    12. Transportation / Motorcycles / General    13. USA   

Reviews (3)

Great book
This book is a great collection with everything that you want to see and know about the "Big Daddy".
A real renaissance man of the 1960s
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth was a real renaissance man of the 1960s: creator of Rat Fink, builder of creative custom cars, and a Mormon beatnick who refused to fit in anyone's mold. Ed "Big Daddy" Roth: His Life, Time, Cars, and Art is an engaging and informative biography that charts his rise to fame in general and his skills building custom cars in particular, and comes from an author who met Ed in the mid-1970s and regularly covered his exploits. Nearly 300 photos - many new to this collection-charts his creations and his art, and will appeal to any who know his name.

Good story on Big Daddy and his creations
I was the primary audience for Roth's work back in the '60's -- my friends and I would have sleepover parties where we'd read car magazines and build model cars all night long.Roth's creations were just so outrageous at the time and they brought a lot of excitement to the hot rod scene.I remember first seeing the "Rat Fink" and thinking how over the top it was, and wondering what my mom would say if I brought home a Rat Fink model or T-shirt.Read more

Subjects:  1. Artists    2. Artists, Architects, Photographers    3. Automobile engineers    4. Automotive - General    5. Biography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Motorcycles - History    8. Roth, Ed    9. Transportation    10. United States    11. Biography: general    12. Motor cars: general interest    13. Transportation / Automotive / General   

Reviews (1)

Loved the book .....BUT
Awesome book. Great pictures.Great documentation of the history of the Harley's.But.....printed in China.Give me a break. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Motorcycles - History    2. Motorcycles - Pictorial    3. Transportation    4. Sale Books   

Reviews (4)

Standard Catalog of American Motorcycles 1898-1981
I just received this book as a Father's Day Gift and I spent a couple of hours going through it. If you are into older American bikes this is a treasure of info that any restoration guy would love. Lots of pictures, ads and old photos, sadly none in color, but that's my only snivel. This should be in every antique bike fans library as a excellant resource if only for the pictures alone.

Short-Changed
I was excited when I saw this book at my local book store and after flipping throught it made an immediate decision to purchase.I wish now I had looked at it a little longer before buying.There are parts of this book that I just loved and parts that I hated... because they were not there.While I feel that this has the potential to be a wonderful reference overall, I feel short-changed because of the sections missing which dealt with some important bikes.This is in spite of the advertising on the back cover which clearly states that it contains information on every American motorcycle made in the relevent time frame.For example, this book divides the Excelsior chapter into two parts.It covers Excelsior from 1907 to 1924 and states on the bottom of page 105 that "The Super-X is treated as a seperate marque later in the book."Well, it's not there.The 15 page section they did on the big Excelsior is wonderful, but Excelsior's Super-X is nowhere to be found.I felt cheated. If they had done half as good covering the "Super-X" as they had done with the earlier Excelsiors, I would have been very happy.Also missing is the section covering the Yale motorcyle.Page 25 says "Yale data are contained within the Yale section."Well, once again there is no Yale section.Overall, an important work.... fatally flawed by omissions.

Inaccurate research.
The book in general is full of inaccuracies.For example, the section on the Rokon Trail-breaker is mostly fiction.The author attributes the creation of the Trail-breaker to J.B. Nethercutt and his two sons.This is absolutely false.Charles Fehn of Thousand Oaks, California invented it not the Nethercutts.Nethercutt owned the company that was its first mass producer not its inventor. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Automotive    2. Motorcycles    3. Motorcycles - History    4. Transportation