motorcycle book Archives

RealClassic Reading: Ducati Monster

30th March 2021 RowenaH Features, Reviews

Nearly three decades ago, the first Ducati Monster was unveiled to an admiring public. Since then some 350,000 Monsters have been built. Over time, the Monster’s capacity and configuration has changed considerably. In a substantial new book, Alan Cathcart charts the first half of the Monster’s story… This first volume covers the model’s original conception and its development with the…

Honda Valkyrie

14th December 2017 RowenaH Reviews

Honda’s six-cylinder ‘power cruiser’ certainly turned heads when it arrived two decades ago. It turned out to be an inspired innovation, removing all the touring equipment from the gargantuan Gold Wing to create a mighty musclebike, and the Valkyrie (or Flat 6 Custom) has built itself a solid following. The first book to be published on the subject gets a…

Lone Rider

13th November 2017 RowenaH Reviews

35 years ago, Elspeth Beard became the first British woman to ride solo around the world, and she accomplished this feat aboard an aging BMW Boxer. The book Lone Rider tells her tale, and RC regular Ian Woolley has read it… I first met Elspeth Beard when I was on a tour of Europe organised by Nick Sanders. She was…

Joey Dunlop: a real racer’s life

17th March 2017 RowenaH Reviews

This softback biography of TT legend William Joseph Dunlop is one of the few publications on this subject to be given official approval by the TT Riders’ Association. Written by Ray Knight, himself a road racer of considerable accomplishment, it was published in the year of Dunlop’s death – but the author had already spent the previous decade researching…