Product Description

Former AMA racing champion Reg Pridmore, known worldwide for his popular CLASS Motorcycle Schools, brings his decades of experience on the track, street and classroom, to the readers of this new riding skills book. After reviewing the basics, Pridmore shows advance students how to focus on control in cornering, braking, and acceleration. A long-time proponent of the value of body-steering, Pridmore's insightful text explains how this controversial technique helped him win championships and how it can help everyday riders and budding racers become smoother, better riders. Sections on street strategies and riding gear make this a comprehensive how-to riding skills book for anyone looking to improve their skills.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37156 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781884313462
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"I have always respected Reg's contribution to ... rider training and development." -- Freddie Spencer, Three-time World Champion

"What Reggie teaches can save your life." -- Kevin Erion, Founder of Erion Racing and Two-time AMA Pro Twins Champion

About the Author
A three-time AMA Superbike champion in the 1970s, Pridmore started America's premier track school more than 20 years ago, visiting the nation's top racetracks to help motorcyclists of all skill levels become faster, smoother, and safer.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
I'm sure you've all seen racers "hanging off" their bikes in corners. This isn't theatrics. Even on the street, body movement will help you get around corners smoothly and safely. When your input comes from the whole body, you're reducing tension on your arms. Tension causes abrupt movements and overreaction. To be smooth, you need to move your body.

A lot of riders are cautious about moving around over the bike at speeds greater than 50 mph. I recommend starting by just moving the top half of the body, positioning your chin at an angle approximately lined up with the right wrist for a right turn, or the left wrist for a left turn. Keep your arms relaxed. When this becomes comfortable, take one more step and move the lower half of your body. Imagine a pivot point in the hollow of your crotch, right where the tank ends. Pivot slightly right or left around this point, weight the inside peg, and see if this doesnt help take the bike around the corner for "free." The bike will help you if you give it the chance!

If you have that little sequence together--and it may seem like a lot to some--you'll find that the bike will work for you rather than against you. I encourage you to add body movement a little at a time.

You should consciously relax your body. Tension usually starts at the shoulders and upper back, which induces stress all the way down the arms and to the hands. Drop your shoulders and relax. A lot of riders also get rigid and hold their breath as they enter corners. As you can imagine, this tenses every muscle in the body.

Be sure to breathe!

Customer Reviews

Definitive
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.

An original voice
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.

Smooth is as Smooth Does
If the main point of Pridmore's book is in proclaiming the mantra, "Be Smoooth" over all else, it is a success. I think there is a lot of credence to the concept, but I'm not sure how much stock real-world riders will put into this. And I'm not sure how well Pridmore sells the idea to his readers.

It is so easy for riders to have instant gratification. If you are an adult with the financial means, you can walk into a dealership and purchase a 160 hp motorcycle with no riding experience and drive off. This is the mentality that Pridmore is up against. To compound the problem, there are so many intricate pieces to riding the Pridmore way that most motorcyclists will not invest the time and effort. And where this books fails the most is how to put these ideas to practice. Pridmore addresses so many different things that this reader wonders where exactly is the best place to start?

Although he does not overtly say it, I think Pridmore intended for this book to be a complementary manual for his riding school. He cites it so often that one begins to wonder what he is selling; "Smooth Riding the Pridmore Way" or rather "Come to CLASS Where You Can Learn Smooth Riding the Pridmore Way."

My recommendation is to buy the book if you plan on attending his riding school. However, unless you are fastidious about your practice riding sessions, you will see only minimal gains if going it alone.