Total Control: High Performance Street Riding Techniques, 2nd Edition Paperback – Illustrated, January 15, 2015

Excellent book on Motorcycle riding by an expert... I teach MSF rider course and I enjoy learning from the pros....

Helped a lot with understanding and setting up suspension on several bikes. Also Great Riding Techniques and Instructions

As a rider with under 40,000 miles ever ridden, I am still developing my technical skills. There are so many situations we encounter that can be challenging - I want to be in complete control in all of them. I bought this book to improve my cornering skills in tight-radius turns. Specifically, I occasionally go wide on 10-20 mile per hour, right-hand corners.The author has great insight and helpful suggestions based on his significant real world experience. He has found that many riders hold on too tight, causing hands to fight each other. He suggested using only one hand (the hand on the inside of a turn) to pull/push. I started consciously relaxing that left hand when in a sharp turn to the right. It works wonders! It is close to being a habit after a 2-week trip.I also started picking my lines through corners based on the author's descriptions. This has helped by providing a better line of sight, thus increasing my confidence and control.I highly recommend this book for novice and intermediate riders. Expert riders could also benefit as a refresher and may even pick up some new golden nuggets, like I did. We can always improve.

I have about a dozen books on riding technique which I got after returning to riding after decades of not riding. Of all the books I have, I consider Proficient Motorcycling (the first book, NOT More Proficient Motorcycling which is redundant) the best of all. I learned so much from it. But I consider Total Control to be the perfect companion book to Proficient Motorcycling. They do have overlap, of course, but Total Control deals more with the physics of riding, psychology, rider attitude, etc. The author has studied riding technique for decades and has clarified the most important things a rider should know. One of my grandsons (who is 25) mentioned that he's thinking of getting a motorcycle and, if he does, the first thing I'm going to do is order Proficient Motorcycling and Total Control for him. As I said, they make perfect companion books.I'm a street rider. My bike is a massive Triumph Rocket III Touring (2300 ccs) that makes a HD look small when they're parked side-by-side. (I've been thinking of getting an HD to keep in my saddle bag as a spare. They're nice little bikes! :-) Just kidding, of course but it does make HD's look tiny. I mention that because anyone considering this book should understand that it's primarly written for sportsbike riders and racers. I can't even count how many pictures there are of riders in full lean with their knee dragging on the ground. But, even so, the book has lots of good information for street riders so don't let the emphasis on high-performance sports bikes and professisonal racing discourage you from buying this excellent book. In fact, I may just give away all my other books except the two mentioned in this review. Some of them are downright silly like the one recommending that you practice at least an hour a day in a large parking lot with dozens of cones set up and stripping your bike down of tail lights, headlights, panniers, turn signals, etc. beefore you practice. Can you imagine removing all that stuff every single day and then reinstalling it? I'm not going to mention the name of that book but it's a popular one.If you are a new rider or returning to riding and don't have any books, just get the two mentioned in this review but don't bother with More Proficient Motorcycling. It's redundant and it's as if the author just wanted to squeeze out some more cash after the success of his first book.

Great book to review

Even if you’ve been riding motorcycles for decades, like I have, you’re probably doing it all wrong. I took the Total Control intermediate class. It was there that I realized my last statement. If there was a wrong way to do an exercise, I was doing it. Immediately after the class I bought this book and began page by page underlining the bad habits I had developed. I then began riding more frequently with a conscious effort to practice what I read. In two weeks time I was riding smoother, more effortlessly, and just plain enjoying the riding so much more. If you’re willing to admit you have room for improvement, this book is a game changer.

I bought this book at the recommendation of someone I trust who rides. They said it helped them get better at controlling their motorcycle. I’ve put some of the stuff mentioned in the book into use in my own riding and I like to think it makes me a safer rider.

I’ve been riding different bikes for many years and thought I was a good and safe rider, but after reading this fantastic book I had no idea of all the things I was doing wrong and unsafe. The information in this book is indispensable if want to know the mechanics of how turning, suspension and tires make such a difference depending on your riding style. It’s an easy and most informative read, and all the armed forces use these techniques for their safety rider courses, as im a vet myself, I was very interested in reading this book. I promise you that if you follow the principles and techniques outlined in this book you’ll be a much safer rider and you’ll build your confidence in every way. I’m 60 years old and I highly recommend this book to all motorcycle riders