Maximum Control: Mastering Your Heavyweight Bike

by Pat Hahn

As anyone who’s been on one knows, big bikes--Harleys, dressers, tourers, cruisers--handle differently than smaller bikes.  They have different centers of gravity; they steer more slowly; they put you in a different riding positions; and riding one--especially riding it well--requires different skills.  This book is aimed at helping owners of such motorcycles--bikes with big engines, long wheelbases, and a lot of weight--get the best ride out of them.  Maximum Control addresses every aspect of riding--steering, positioning, braking, and carrying a passenger or heavy load.  With clear information on differences in equipment--brakes, engine, drive system, even tires--this expert, accessible guide provides everything you need to know to handle your bike like a pro.  The outcome will be, as promised, Maximum Control--and the ride of your life.

Genres: Bicycles

398 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Pat Hahn is, by trade, a motorcycle safety expert who works with US state programs to improve motorcyclist safety.
He began as a motorcycle safety instructor in the 1990s, then turned to writing. All Pat's books except his most recent (Classic Motorcycles) have a commitment to building knowledge, skill, and awareness -- read any of them and you'll be a better rider for it.
Classic Motorcycles/Art of Speed was an enjoyable deviation. Working with Darwin Holmstrom and Tom Loeser and featuring bikes from the Solvang vintage motorcycle museum in California, the book is an astonishing depiction of some of the world's most beautiful performance machines of the last 120 years.
In real life, Pat rides every day, commutes, and tours, mostly on Honda V-fours. His other passions include woodworking, golf, hiking, and finding remote, pristine spots for a cool swim after a hot ride -- his current favorites are the Quartzville and Santiam rivers in Oregon.

Reviews

[Sam de Damas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Information in that book is great, just the organization of the text and paragraphs in the book is crazy, sometimes a phrase starts and because of the photos and drills it completes after four pages. Something so simple for this extremely annoying mishaps in editing should have been done by putting a bit more thought in that. Also some text just goes on and on like an essay when it should clearly have breaks in the paragraphs and better even some bullet points to indicate the actual technique that is included in the drills as the text that accompany the photos is just general idea on the step. All in all great drills in the books bit fancy but the illustrations are very helpful. Just process of always having to look for the rest of the sentence in the next few pages is really incredibly frustrating.

[Michael Mesaros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just for heavyweight bikes!

This is an excellent book for learning motorcycle technique and road strategy. I particularly like the drills and practice schedule. The practice program is rigorous, and I can see how it would make me a better rider.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this was a much better read than Proficient Motorcycling while at the same time making me reconsider my negative review of that book.

In this book, it was all about techniques and skill development. Here are the tools you need to get out of many different situations. Here's the practice drills you should do to prepare. That simple. No politics, no fear mongering, no elitism. I'll be re-reading this at least once a year just before spring time rolls around.

Now, there are a few appendices. Appendix B is a crash course in riding strategy and discusses the three degrees of separation: 1) riding strategy, 2) physical skill, and 3) protective gear. There's just enough information here to provide food for thought and to encourage additional learning. Maybe there's some information within Proficient Motorcycling that explores strategy further.

[KennyO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book! My only gripe is that the large format and extremely high quality (read: heavy) paper rule out this book for taking out to the practice session. It's well written and clearly explains its key points. Whether you're new to heavy bikes or, like me, you've been riding for years, there's a lot of exceptionally good information presented here. Recommended!

[Sidney Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview

A good book featuring large bikes. the principles are the same as the other good books on motorcycling riding. Pat Hahn reinforces skills that are needed to be considered when owning or looking to buy a tourer.

[John F. Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, good instruction

I learned some new things and reinforced some knowledge in this book. I will be a better rider using the skills.