Dave Preston has been fascinated by motorcycles since he was given a ride at the age of 15, 48 years ago. After a first career as an English teacher, he moved on to a position he created involving motorcycle dealership media, events management, advertising, customer relationships, rides, and trips, events announcing, and the creation of newsletters, e-mails, and technical papers.
Along the way he published Motorcycle 101, a common sense guide to motorcycling. Motorcycle 201 is an updated and improved version. He has hosted a call-in radio show known as The Motorsports Show, with Dave Preston, done announcing at several venues for both car and motorcycle races, and has emceed countless motorsports events and charity auctions.
He is currently the Media and Events Manager for Ride West BMW in Seattle. To date he has notes on 430 different motorcycles he has ridden, and his garage holds a Triumph Speed Triple and BMW sport tourer. 
This is a very beginner’s book for new riders. Very interesting and up to date. Wish this was around when I was starting to ride. A review of the basics is always good, and this really kept my interest
Easy reading with a great deal of information. Looking forward to long distance touring and camping on my Valkyrie. This was very informative in my dreams of touring. I’m approaching 50’000 miles on motorcycles, eight years and five bikes. This book made me realize many a mistake I have made but wouldn’t change a thing.
A fun and easy read, this book is full of information for the new rider as well as those that have been riding for a while. If you’ve never ridden and want to know what motorcycling is all about, this is a good place to start. And if you are a seasoned rider, there is still good information to be found here.
Dave Preston gives sage advice about shopping for a motorcycle and accessories, always with an eye towards safety. He then goes into planning for a ride (check out your bike, figure out what you need to take with your for the trip you are contemplating), and getting yourself mentally ready. My favorite takeaway is “When the helmet drops, the bulls**t stops.” In other words, tune out the distractions and concentrate on riding.
Motorcycle 201 continues on subjects such as giving a friend their first ride, commuting by motorcycle, and taking a longer trip. Throughout, you will find enjoyable anecdotes from Preston’s 40+ years of riding. At $4.95, everyone should have this book on their Kindle!
Dave has a writing style that’s not only easy to digest, but fun to read too! He’s an expert rider who’s spent as much time educating as he has exploring on his own and his words of wisdom reflect that.
Because this book covers all the basics, and is written for someone who is just getting into bikes, I advocate this as a must read for all enthusiasts. It’s $5 that’ll save you hours of anxiety, answer all those simple questions you’ve been afraid to ask the old-guys, and give you all the confidence you need to decide if motorcycles are for you or not.
In my case, I flew through the book in a couple of hours and bought my first bike the next day! Thanks for the great book Dave, I’ll grab one of your others as soon as I graduate from my parking-lot braking/weaving/shifting maneuvers!
This book is packed full of useful information and is an absolute delight to read. I found my self reading parts of it aloud, to my wife, because they were so clever I just had to share them. You can buy this book for the price of a magazine. I highly recommend it.
This book is a phenomenal resource for those entering the happy fray of motorcycling. Even we Aulde Phartes of the Rode (sic) stand to learn a few new tricks from Dave Preston’s sensible riffs on gear, bikes and safety.
With apparently nearly 186 years of riding experience under his belt (not a misprint!), Preston could easily have affected the holier-than-thou tone of so many arrogant moto-journalists, but instead he chose to bare his own brushes with the gritty pavement of reality. The result is a finely wrought and uninsulting primer that should be prerequisite reading for all new riders enrolling in Team Oregon, MSF or other basic rider courses — and absolutely mandatory for those who plan to skip this step and ride straight to Hayabusa heaven.
Did I mention it’s pretty funny? It’s pretty funny.
Newbies, read this book because you need to. The inverse of “live and learn” is important here.
For the rest of us, Motorcycle 201 just plain fun.
as advertised, but pretty basic. gear, bike types, etc. none the less, i read it deep into the night and was unhappy when it was over. kindle version.
I think this is a solid read for those that want to learn more and are beginner cyclists. Likely nothing ground breaking for those experienced riders, but more info is never bad
This was the book that I should have read before I bought my first bike. It could have saved me a lot of grief and expense. The authors style and humor keep it from getting boring as so many of these “how to” type books can be. Anyone just getting into cycling or considering the purchase of their first bike would be well advised to read this book.
The author does an admiral job at covering all things important and relevant to the novice rider. However in the chapter about biker vocabulary his definition of desmodromic valves is in correct. The SMALL springs he refers to do not control valve movement. Desmodromic valves operate by using two cams to open and close each valve. The SMALL springs only hold the cam surfaces tino the valve stem reducing free play. Desmodromic valves are the only purely mechanical system that can spin to 20,000 rpm . DUCATI has won 14 world championships within the last 20 years with this system.