Product Description

Every red-blooded motorcyclist dreams of making the Big Trip--the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook is the comprehensive manual to make that idea a reality. Timbuktu to Kathmandu or Patagonia to Mongolia--it's all here. This expanded and re-designed new edition is packed with essential advice and practical know-how on the vital preparation for undertaking a long journey off the beaten track, be it in a nearby wilderness area or on the other side of the globe. So whether motorcyclists are planning their own Big Trip across Africa, Alaska, or Asia, or just enjoy reading about other people's adventures, this handbook is guaranteed to illuminate, entertain, and above all, inspire.

This book covers:
>Documentation--what travelers need and how to get it
>Choosing a destination
>Preparing a bike for long-range touring
>Off-road riding techniques
>Shipping or airfreighting a bike
>Transcontinental route outlines across Africa, Asia, and Latin Americas, plus backcountry riding in Southwest USA, Northwest Canada, and the Australian Outback.
>Navigation and Survival--what to do when things go wrong
>A dozen first hand accounts of biking adventures from the Sahara, Central Asia, East Africa, Colombia and Bolivia, the Yukon, and even Idaho!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5830 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781873756805
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

From the Back Cover
Every red-blooded motorcyclist dreams of making the Big Trip; Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook is the comprehensive manual to make that dream a reality.

· Trans-continental route outlines - across Africa, Asia and Latin America, plus backcountry riding in South-West USA, Northwest Canada and the Australian Outback.

· Practical information - documentation, preparing your bike for touring off the beaten track, shipping and air-freighting, navigation and survival, off-road riding techniques in deserts, mountains and even rivers!

· Tales from the Saddle - a dozen first-hand accounts of spoke-bending biking adventures worldwide; battling against the elements on epic journeys: the Yukon, the Sahara, Afghanistan, Colombia and many more.

About the Author
Chris Scott's first motorcycle adventure got him halfway from London to Wales where he broke down. Since then he's visited the Sahara and West Africa several times on two wheels, describing these eventful trips in Desert Travels. He also travels regularly in north and western Australia and has visited southern Africa and the US, but most frequently returns with bikes or cars to the Sahara where he occasionally runs tours. His other books include Sahara Overland (also by Trailblazer) and the Rough Guide to Australia.

Customer Reviews

A must have
If you are even thinking about taking an extended trip by motorcycle, you MUST have this book. It will become your Bible. Great tips, details on bikes, equipment, trip planning, paperwork, do's and dont's, etc. + good travel stories.

This book is geared toward offroad travel and travel trough continents. If you are riding from LA to Chicago than forget about this book. If you are planning/dreaming of a trip to South America, Asia or other foreign place then buy it right now.

If you were not planning a trip before, you will after reading this.

Pretty good guidebook but ...
The author has wisely involved a number of other very experienced adventure travel riders in what has come to be regarded as perhaps the best of the very few books on the subject of international/adventure riding. There are some faults, though, to which many similar travel guides are heir. One is that circumstances change, and that what may have been correct or useful 3 or 4 years ago when the research or experience was current, are no longer valid. To address this, there is mention of websites which tend to stay more current than the once-written-now-obsolete paper books. In general there is a good technical comparison of the relative values and utility of certain features and brand models, but there is also a detactable bias against some models which ironically are among the most commonly and successfully employed in international adventure riding. If your interests lie in the territory covered by this book, then by all means obtain a copy, bearing in mind that a great deal of independent research and thought is also in order. Think of this guide, and many others like it, as simply a point of departure for further study. If I had relied upon it as my principal data source before departing the US for Argentina on a motorcycle, I would have been woefully underprepared and misinformed.

Great starter book
I have to say, I read this book cover to cover. I was surprised how up to date it was. I've been motorcycling for a few years for general transportation and fun. I started getting interested in adventure motorcycling this past year. I like to get off the normal tourist routes when I travel and adventure motorcycling looked like a great way to to see some parts of the world.

The book does a good job of covering all the major topics - picking a bike (it reviews 10-15 of them), what to wear, items to bring, how to pack, gear, typical mechanical issues to expect, safety, border crossings, etc. It also covers popular routes in different regions of the world. These sections are okay, but they really didn't have enough depth for me to decide where I might want to go. It only acts as a stating point. Then again, I'm sure there's TONs of routes to take per country, so I can't imagine it would be easy to add more detail to any level of comprehensivness. If the author reads this - a set of top 10 routes might be nice, especially if it included a rating system for different attributes. The second half of the book is made up of 2-5 pages short stories or diaries from riders. These stories were the best part of the whole book. I wish there were more because they're very interesting and you learn from those as well. They really leave you wanting to go out and hit the road.