How to Ride Off-Road Motorcycles: Key Skills and Advanced Training for All Off-Road, Motocross, and Dual-Sport Riders Kindle Edition

I was skeptical at first regarding how much you can learn from descriptions in a book as opposed to from Youtube videos. After going through 30% of the book I have to say buying this was worth the purchase and I love to use it in combination with well made instructional Youtube videos.

I bought this book to help my girlfriend understand the mechanics of riding a motorcycle. A few days later I asked if it was helpful. She replied that she was more confused than inspired by Gary LaPlante. So I started reading his book. I soon realized that any braggart can publish a book if they boast enough about their past accomplishments. And then fool enough people into believing that their stories are not only true, but provide a role model that all should aspire to.The author does spend a lot of time thumping his chest about how great he is was this sport. Mostly in the past tense. And mostly to make irrelevant or illogical points. He also goes on at length about how much fun it is to go out and tear up the dirt and cut fresh tracks. With no regard as to who the land belongs to and what damage he's inflicting to whatever ecosystem he's trampling over. I often find this attitude attached to people who are proud of their ignorance and who bully those who don't share their poorly thought through urges.What LaPlante does seem to do well, though, is fail to deliver the details and mechanics of actually riding a dirt bike. In short, the content of the book can be summed up as, "Do as I say because I know more than everyone else about dirt riding. Oh, and if I've forgotten anything important, it'sso obvious that you'll figure it out."If this guy was really one of the best in the business he wouldn't have to point it out. His work would speak for itself. And if he were that famous I'd have heard of him before I picked his book out of Amazon's hat. But his work doesn't speak for itself (at least not I a positive way). And I hadn't heard of him before, probably for good reason.One of the most disagreeable aspects of this book are the author's countless assumptions that readers will understand the reasoning behind, or relevance of, "insights" that the author starts thinks he is explaining when in fact he is muddying the waters. Any time I read "Obviously", "Of course", and similar constructs, I had to wonder if this guy actually believed the garbage be was spewing. If the truths he attempts to teach readers are so self-evident, no-one would need to read a book about the topic. The fact is, the book contains few and far between universal truths precariously connected to one another with a flood of narrow opinions used as filler.For example (and to paraphrase), "Only a fool wears boxer shorts while riding. The reason should be obvious".A good instructor would either explain why it's a bad idea to wear boxers, or focus on important things like technique and practice drills. Which I personally have found more useful than harping on about one's underwear preference.For the record, I've been riding for 40 years. While I have found that wearing a thin base layer of synthetics prevents chafing in hot weather and delays frozen nips and nads when it's cold, whether you want to wear whitey tighties or a tutu is less relevant than learning how to (mostly) keep your butt off the seat, stand on the pegs, lightly grip the bars with a relaxed and neutral stance, and steer the bike by gripping the gas tank between your knees and thighs.In truth there are many more skills and techniques to learn and practice endlessly until they become muscle memory. You can find great resources on how to master riding off road. Just not in this book.Although I have no affiliation, you might check out the free PDF by David Petersen at BestRestProducts .I don't know David and don't profit from anyone's products or publications. We all benefit, though, by fostering more knowledgeable, talented, experienced. courteous, and eco-friendly riders out there. Otherwise this sport will be outlawed on public lands by the time our great grand kids are born. And that would really suck.

If you're looking for a good fundamental off road skills handbook, this is it!

I was looking up how much front brake you should be using when riding on dirt so I could help my brother in the right direction and I stumbled across a sample of this book. I was excited and knew I found something good when I realized the book was written by the founder of Motoventures, which is an incredible motorcycle school I visited a few years ago.I read a little further and had to purchase it because I was learning so much and was going riding the next day. I am almost positive I would have fallen on one tricky wet rock crossing if I hadn’t just read a tip about maintaining your momentum the night before.There is a lot of bad instruction out there on how to ride. This book is well written and is a great resource to get the right answers or for anyone who wants a good plan for teaching friends and family in a relatively safe manner.

I'm an experienced road rider, toured 45 of the 48, several Canadian Provinces... ridden big BMW highway machines at high speeds for long distance and logged thousands and thousands of miles. So getting on a little dirt bike for some off road fun after 35 years of being away from riding the in the dirt should be a cake walk, right?? Sure.... three hours later it looked like I'd been dragged behind that motorcycle rather than having tried to ride it, Yeah... I provided endless amusement for the experienced riders I was with... lucky to get away with no dental damage just some minor flesh wounds....Nothing to do but buy a dirt bike and start over from scratch with forgotten skills. This book starts with the very basics, recommends riding exercises to build skill with obstacles, balance, and fundamentals. This old dog is learning new tricks and this is the guidebook for that. My guess is that someone with a good grip on skills might use this more as a refresher, but for someone like myself on the climbing up to the bottom rung, it is great!!!!

Good Stuff! Gary knows his stuff. I loved the book and then I went ahead and took the class on site in Anza, California. That was incredible! I've learned so much in 1 day (more than my entire life riding on my own). I have a 650 KLR and needed more confidence off-road. I'm a small guy (140 pounds) so that big KLR with 6 its gallons fuel tank can be challenging to keep up with. Now I feel like a champion. Up hill, down hill, softest sand you can think off. I go off-road almost every weekend now and I'm not afraid of anything anymore and I still haven't dropped that bike on the ground yet! This is the best investment any Rider should make (whether you go off-road or not). I sent all my friends to it and I will send my kids this summer.

Excellent book for ANY and ALL off-road riders, regardless of years of experience. Everybody in any sport has developed bad habits. The only way you're going to improve, is to fix your bad habits. In my opinion, the only person(s) who could not come away learning something from this book would have to be one of Gary LaPlantes teaching staff. The book is written like a manual for instructors, detailing every step of the technique with a series of pictures and sub text, so you can perform the drills as outlined in the lesson plans. Wayne Rainey had Keith Code; Jeremy McGrath had Gary Semics. Now you can have Gary LaPlante (or at least his book) for around $20. Any errors you correct now, are a platform to build future improvement on. I know as a lifelong dirt rider, I have developed better riding skills and techniques by following the methods outlined in this book.

This could possibly be the dullest book ever written about motorcycling. Very little information. Very little useful explanation. Some very basic advice, bulked out with "now go and practice by yourself so you can teach yourself how to do it..." "here's a story about how great my school is", and a few (very dull) anecdotes.The kindle version is very disjointed; pictures in the wrong places; dull stories in the middle of chapters; "words of wisdom" from (apparently) famous off-road riders and journalists - presumably the quotes from these people are supposed to impress the reader.The first couple of chapters appear to be aimed at someone who has never even seen a motorcycle before - and are written in the most patronising way imaginable. The later chapters appear to be aimed at people who already know how to do things such as wheelie - and if they can, what's the point of reading a book to find out how? Most annoying is the "try this - we'll tell you how to do it in a later chapter" lines. It wouldn't be so bad if it was actually interesting to read - but it is all just SO DULL !Here's everything you will find out from this book - Stand up when you ride off road. Lean forward when accelerating and when going up hill. Lean backwards when going down hill. Don't grip the tank with your knees. Stay upright, and lean the bike into the turn when turning at low speed. Lean the bike into the slope when traversing hills, and keep your weight on the footpeg on the downhill side. There... that's it. Save yourself the cost of this dull tome, and the wasted time reading it...

I got the Kindle edition to have on my phone - works very well in this format and you have it with you all the time.I was about to start teaching someone how to ride a dirtbike, and though I have years of experience riding I had never been taught properly myself. So this helped me check out how other people teach the techniques, and it was a real eye-opener.This confirmed that I had been doing things the right way mostly, though my technique was off in certain areas.Highly recommended for new riders, for someone about to try and teach a new rider, and just as a general refresher course.

very segmented and sequential with good photo sequences. the book is large-A4 sizish so the pics are easy to understand. altogether a bargain- a high quality resource a a good price. I recommend this book and the shane watts dvd above any other books or dvds

Some sections contain very odd advice. Luckily I have since taken proper tuiton and not relied upon this book.

A book for my husband who says he is enjoying reading.