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Ride Hard, Ride Smart: Ultimate Street Strategies for Advanced Motorcyclists

Ride Hard, Ride Smart: Ultimate Street Strategies for Advanced Motorcyclists

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Author: Patrick Hahn
Publisher: Motorbooks
Category: Book

List Price: $21.95
Buy Used: $2.55
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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars 20 reviews
Sales Rank: 309780

Media: Paperback
Pages: 144
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 10.5 x 8.2 x 0.4

ISBN: 0760317607
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.284750289
UPC: 752748317604
EAN: 9780760317600
ASIN: 0760317607

Publication Date: May 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Similar Items:

  • Total Control: High Performance Street Riding Techniques
  • Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well
  • The Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Guide to Motorcycling Excellence: Skills, Knowledge, and Strategies for Riding Right (2nd Edition)
  • Street Strategies: A Survival Guide for Motorcyclists
  • How To Ride A Motorcycle: A Rider's Guide to Strategy, Safety and Skill Development

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Ride Hard, Ride Smart is a practical, hands-on survival guide for the average motorcyclist. This book provides advanced survival and safety strategies for the developing rider. The vast wealth of knowledge and information developed by the motorcycle safety industry is bound into one chapter and one simple concept-the "three degrees of separation"-that sets the stage for the rest of the book. The three degrees of separation are riding strategies, training and skills, and protective gear-the things that separate the rider from death and injury. Hahn rates motorcycle risk and riding on a scale of one to ten, ten being mere moments away from certain death, and one being home safe in bed. Every motorcycle ride falls somewhere in between. Using the three degrees of separation, a rider can get the risk level down to a controllable level, creating the safest possible situation on a moving motorcycle.



Customer Reviews:   Read 15 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars ride hard, ride smart, ultimate street strategies for advanced motorcyclists   October 16, 2008
C. Hollenbeak
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I enjoyed reading this book. Pat does a good job of mixing humor and writing style with good technical information.


4 out of 5 stars A decent follow up to proficient motorcycling   September 18, 2008
RJ (Bellevue, WA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This book is worth picking up as supplementary reading to Proficient Motorcycling. As another reviewer mentioned, I too found the book's discussion of the HURT report a long and unnecessarily involved. I also found the calculation of risk values a little too theoretical to be helpful. Nonetheless, I did get something out of each chapter (even the one that was one page long). Although I didn't agree with the author on all points, I found that he did impart some important ideas and mental models to help me ride with a greater awareness of what can go wrong, and how to avoid needless risk. It's worth picking up, and taking with a grain of salt.


1 out of 5 stars A Scary Book if you dont want to ride a motorcycle   April 25, 2008
Brian Mendenhall
I have read the entire book and have to say that 90% of it is about death and dismemberment. If you don't want your spouse to ride this is the book to give them. It will provide you with every reason not to ride a motorcycle. Lots of stats on injurys, deaths, dismemberment. Very little detail on the joys of riding a bike. I highly discourage buying or reading this book.


4 out of 5 stars Very Good, but wordy, and repetitive.   April 8, 2008
B. Laue (Minnesota, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The author goes into great depth on his subject, but his focus is rather narrow. He discusses accident types, and their causes, making references to the Hurt Study. There are numerous photograph's to illustrate points, and these really do help. His message is really quite simple, but he goes over it in a lengthy process, which can bore you, if you get the message in the first paragraph of each chapter. As has been said previously, his chapter on riding at night is succinct: Don't! He gives ample reasons for this, in all other chapters, but in this chapter, he is very short, directing the reader to read two previous chapters on why you should not ride at night. I was a little surprised at his frank statement that nearly all (and he does mean, very nearly, as in, abolutely all) accidents are the rider's fault. After I kept reading, I finally got over my pride (I've had two falls, with two ambulance rides as a result), and I had to admit, there were things I could have done differently, in both cases, to avoid the falls.

The quality of the book is superb, with heavy paper, and quality printing. The binding is good, but the layout and color choices are sometimes annoying, as he has color graphics in the background of many pages, in colors which sometimes clash with the text colors, but it is still readable. I would have preferred less artistic styling on the pages, to make the text easier to read.

If you are looking for technical techniques for use on the bike, such as counter-steering, or other fancy moves, this book is empty. The author's approach is more esoteric, as he describes, for the most part, how heightened awareness skills are most needed. He discusses the layers of protection for the rider, with awareness, and distance, being the primaries, and the riding suits, and other crash-useful items, like engine guard bars, riding jackets with armor, and over-the-ankle boots, as the last layer of defense. This may insult, or even anger, some readers, but his basic premise of the rider being at fault in around 98%+ of all accidents, is sobering truth, if you can drop your wall of pride, and look at his point of view, objectively, detached from your prideful emotions. I recommend it to all interested riders. Cheers!



1 out of 5 stars What a waste.....   February 24, 2008
Jack Roe (Tampa, FL.)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

Pure and simple: if you want to learn how to ride, any other book on the market is better than this one. It is a complete waste of time and money.