The 10 Best Motorcycle Books

Riders who want one book to start with should pick Jupiter's Travels. In the 1970s, Ted Simon spent four years riding a Triumph around the world, through Africa, South America and Asia, and he writes as much about the people he met as about the road. Breakdowns, illness and a spell in police custody are all part of the story. It reads like a novel. It runs long, though, and some of its political asides feel dated.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is the famous one, and it's more philosophy than motorcycling. Robert Pirsig tells of a summer ride from Minnesota to California with his young son, woven with long talks about what makes work good. His case for caring about your own machine stays with many riders for years. It can be slow going, and it won't teach you to fix anything. Pirsig himself said it isn't very factual about motorcycles.

New and returning riders get the most from Proficient Motorcycling, David Hough's guide to staying alive in traffic. It covers reading the road, cornering lines, braking, traction and the drivers who don't see you, with clear diagrams and photos on every spread. Hough is in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, and the third edition was revised and expanded in 2025. The big pages make it awkward to carry, and no book can stand in for a real rider course.

Fans of the Itchy Boots videos will know the voice in Free Ride. After a breakup, Noraly Schoenmaker bought a small used motorcycle in India and rode it alone for about nine months, over high mountain passes and through some 25 countries. She is honest about fear and loneliness, funny about her own mistakes, and the kindness of strangers runs all through it. Long passages on breakdowns may test readers who came for the views.

Riders who have the basics down and want smoother corners should look at Total Control by Lee Parks. Parks raced for years and worked as a magazine test rider, and he breaks cornering, braking and throttle control into short lessons with photos and drills. He also covers fear and focus, the mental side of riding fast. It leans toward sport bikes, and some drills belong on a track or a closed lot, not a public road.

Track-day riders tend to pass around A Twist of the Wrist, Keith Code's handbook for road racers. Code founded the California Superbike School, and here he explains throttle control, steering and where a rider's attention goes in a turn, in short, plain chapters. It's a quick read at about 120 pages. The design looks dated, and its ideas come from the racetrack, so practice them in a safe place before trying them on the street.

The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Maintenance is a shop manual for any bike, written for owners who want to do their own routine work. Mark Zimmerman walks through tools, oil changes, chains, brakes, tires and electrical basics, with step-by-step photos. He explains why each job matters, not just how to do it. It can't give the settings or part numbers for your model, so keep the factory service manual close for brake work.

Melissa Holbrook Pierson wrote The Perfect Vehicle for readers who wonder why anyone rides at all. She weaves her own years on Moto Guzzi bikes with the early history of the motorcycle and its racing, in warm, careful prose that suits a reader more than a mechanic. It makes a thoughtful gift for a partner who doesn't ride. It offers little practical advice, and the scene it describes dates from the 1990s and earlier.

Anyone dreaming of a custom bike should read How to Build a Motorcycle before buying a single part. Gary Inman, a longtime motorcycle journalist, explains how a build comes together, from choosing a donor bike to the frame, engine, wheels, wiring and paint, with clean line drawings throughout. It helps you decide what kind of build suits your skills. It's an overview, not a workshop manual, so you'll still need guides for your machine.

Harley fans will spend hours with The Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Archive Collection, made with the company's museum in Milwaukee. It shows more than 200 machines in large photos, starting with serial number one from 1903, with notes on how each model came about. It makes a fine shelf book and an easy gift. It covers one brand only, and the big hardcover is too heavy to read comfortably in bed.