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Live to Ride: The Rumbling, Roaring World of Speed, Escape, and Adventure on Two Wheels
Live to Ride is pure adrenaline—a full-throttle exploration of motorcycles that pushes to the limit, with heart-pounding accounts of riding the greatest bikes of all time, all over the world.
“Live to ride, ride to live.” For many motorcycle riders, these words express life’s guiding principle. Just take a look at the patch emblazoned on the jackets of legions of riders. Whether they’re roaring down an empty highway on two wheels at an insane speed, hopping on for a few mind-boggling loops of motocross, joining in the “rolling thunder” of a veritable outlaw motorcycle club, or just cruising on a Harley on a Sunday afternoon, motorcyclists of all stripes share a common love of the freedom that is riding.
Wayne Johnson, a lifelong motorcycle-lover and acclaimed writer, takes us around the globe and onto the terrain where the most extreme, thrilling forms of riding happen. Johnson shows where it all began more than a hundred years ago when the first motorcycle evolved from the bicycle and lands us on the track today with some of the world’s highest-paid athletes— professional motorcycle road racers. From there we go inside radically different competitions like the vertigo-inspiring “Widowmaker Hillclimb” and the fastest land racing on the planet at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Johnson also offers an inside look at the legendarily secretive culture of biker clubs with firsthand accounts of his own wild rides with an outlaw club. In every one of these venues, you aren’t just passing through as an observer—you are on a bike, racing across new and undiscovered country, the horizon your only destination.
If you have ever wondered what it’s like to climb on a motorcycle and feel its engine roar to life, or have actually done it and felt the rush of flying off into the wild blue yonder, or have simply been intrigued by this iconic part of American culture and history, hold on tight for this irresistible, one-of-a-kind journey into motorcycling.
“Live to ride, ride to live.” For many motorcycle riders, these words express life’s guiding principle. Just take a look at the patch emblazoned on the jackets of legions of riders. Whether they’re roaring down an empty highway on two wheels at an insane speed, hopping on for a few mind-boggling loops of motocross, joining in the “rolling thunder” of a veritable outlaw motorcycle club, or just cruising on a Harley on a Sunday afternoon, motorcyclists of all stripes share a common love of the freedom that is riding.
Wayne Johnson, a lifelong motorcycle-lover and acclaimed writer, takes us around the globe and onto the terrain where the most extreme, thrilling forms of riding happen. Johnson shows where it all began more than a hundred years ago when the first motorcycle evolved from the bicycle and lands us on the track today with some of the world’s highest-paid athletes— professional motorcycle road racers. From there we go inside radically different competitions like the vertigo-inspiring “Widowmaker Hillclimb” and the fastest land racing on the planet at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Johnson also offers an inside look at the legendarily secretive culture of biker clubs with firsthand accounts of his own wild rides with an outlaw club. In every one of these venues, you aren’t just passing through as an observer—you are on a bike, racing across new and undiscovered country, the horizon your only destination.
If you have ever wondered what it’s like to climb on a motorcycle and feel its engine roar to life, or have actually done it and felt the rush of flying off into the wild blue yonder, or have simply been intrigued by this iconic part of American culture and history, hold on tight for this irresistible, one-of-a-kind journey into motorcycling.
- GenresNonfictionMotorcycle
288 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 31, 2012
“Live to Ride” by Wayne Johnsonn was an extremely interesting book. The story covers everything from designing engines, mufflers, frames, and speed. If someone is looking to find out about the beginning of motorcycles, this would be the book to read. The author does a superb job of making the readers feel like they can visualize what the first motorcycles looked like. It is amazing to think that a bicycle racer and a bicycle builder could become famous for starting the first motorcycle producing company. Learning about the history of motorcycles, how they were made, and who the first company was, makes "Live to Ride" a book worth reading.
It is very interesting to read how and why the first motorcycle was created. If it were not for the bicycle, then the motorcycle would not exist. The book starts by explaining how in 1816 there was a volcanic eruption of Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia. The volcano’s eruption spewed ash almost forty cubic miles. “Famine followed the eruption, and people all across Europe ate whatever they could find, including roots and rodents. Before that, they resorted to the widespread slaughtering of horses for meat.” People were used to coach and horseback for traveling, they now had to resort to traveling on foot. To replace the horse, a German inventor named Karl Drais invented the Laufmaschine. This machine had two wheels and a wooden bar which the operator sat on to connect the wheels. The front wheel was steerable so the operator could direct the machine. The laufmaschine was the start of what is known today as the bicycle. That was the start of a two wheel machine that continued to grow into what we call the motorcycle.
“Designing gasoline engines was not only a science, but an art,” this is how the author described the making of the motorcycle engine. Designers were trying to replace pedals with horsepower. Nicolaus Otto created a four-stroke engine called the Otto Cycle engine. The four strokes used to create the engine were the intake stroke, the compression stroke, the power stroke and the exhaust stroke. Gottlieb Daimler’s company started making the engine that would be used to make the first gasoline powered cycle. All through this section of the book, the author goes into great detail so that the reader can visualize exactly what the engine looks like and how it operates. The author explains how the pistons move down from the top of the cylinder, how it fires to ignite the air-fuel mixture, which causes a “catastrophic contained explosion”. He also goes into detail about the enormous pressure that the burning air-fuel created when it expands.
A Massachusetts entrepreneur and bicycle racer George Hendee and a racing bicycle builder Oscar Headstrom formed a company called Indian Motorcycle in 1901. There they built versions of Headstrom’s bicycles, but changed them to be motorcycles. This was the first major production of the American motorcycle. In 1905 two other gentleman started producing motorized bicycles. William Harley and Arthur Davidson started the company still known today as Harley-Davidson. The companies first signature model was called the “Silent Gray Fellow” because of its gray color and the quietness of the exhaust.
“Live to Ride” by Wayne Johnson is a great book for all the bike lovers. I would definitely recommend this book to all my friends. All sixteen year old boys who are starting to drive will enjoy learning about the motorcycle. Readers will find this book full of interesting facts about engine building that will help them in the future when fixing or purchasing a car or motorcycle of their own. The author makes this book enjoyable with his descriptive explanations of how things were made and run. Learning about the history,the making and the companies of the first motorcycles, makes this book one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time.
It is very interesting to read how and why the first motorcycle was created. If it were not for the bicycle, then the motorcycle would not exist. The book starts by explaining how in 1816 there was a volcanic eruption of Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia. The volcano’s eruption spewed ash almost forty cubic miles. “Famine followed the eruption, and people all across Europe ate whatever they could find, including roots and rodents. Before that, they resorted to the widespread slaughtering of horses for meat.” People were used to coach and horseback for traveling, they now had to resort to traveling on foot. To replace the horse, a German inventor named Karl Drais invented the Laufmaschine. This machine had two wheels and a wooden bar which the operator sat on to connect the wheels. The front wheel was steerable so the operator could direct the machine. The laufmaschine was the start of what is known today as the bicycle. That was the start of a two wheel machine that continued to grow into what we call the motorcycle.
“Designing gasoline engines was not only a science, but an art,” this is how the author described the making of the motorcycle engine. Designers were trying to replace pedals with horsepower. Nicolaus Otto created a four-stroke engine called the Otto Cycle engine. The four strokes used to create the engine were the intake stroke, the compression stroke, the power stroke and the exhaust stroke. Gottlieb Daimler’s company started making the engine that would be used to make the first gasoline powered cycle. All through this section of the book, the author goes into great detail so that the reader can visualize exactly what the engine looks like and how it operates. The author explains how the pistons move down from the top of the cylinder, how it fires to ignite the air-fuel mixture, which causes a “catastrophic contained explosion”. He also goes into detail about the enormous pressure that the burning air-fuel created when it expands.
A Massachusetts entrepreneur and bicycle racer George Hendee and a racing bicycle builder Oscar Headstrom formed a company called Indian Motorcycle in 1901. There they built versions of Headstrom’s bicycles, but changed them to be motorcycles. This was the first major production of the American motorcycle. In 1905 two other gentleman started producing motorized bicycles. William Harley and Arthur Davidson started the company still known today as Harley-Davidson. The companies first signature model was called the “Silent Gray Fellow” because of its gray color and the quietness of the exhaust.
“Live to Ride” by Wayne Johnson is a great book for all the bike lovers. I would definitely recommend this book to all my friends. All sixteen year old boys who are starting to drive will enjoy learning about the motorcycle. Readers will find this book full of interesting facts about engine building that will help them in the future when fixing or purchasing a car or motorcycle of their own. The author makes this book enjoyable with his descriptive explanations of how things were made and run. Learning about the history,the making and the companies of the first motorcycles, makes this book one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time.
December 21, 2021
Am attempt to capture the thrill of motorcycle
January 13, 2012
In Live to Ride, Wayne Johnson has given us a terrific historical look at various “categories” in the motorcycling world: dirt biking, track racing, outlaw bikers and riding clubs, adventure touring, hill climbing, speed trials on the Salt Flats in Utah, and others. It’s a fascinating look at the people, events, and technology that have been important at various points in the history of motorcycling. Johnson himself is a lifelong lover of all things motorcycling, and has participated (if occasionally at the periphery) in most of the different types of motorcycling of which he writes. His passion for it all comes through clearly in his writing.
At the end of his book, Johnson writes in a way that touches my heart, that resonates with me:
“There is something profoundly lonely in all this, but necessary. Years earlier, you avoided stopping on rides alone, because, always, your Self came crowding in then. Always insistent, wanting something. To be somewhere else, doing something different, being someone else.”
“Quietly despairing.”
“But now you’re not canyon racing, trying to navigate winding roads at speeds that were never designed to be negotiated. Nor are you blindly pushing on, as if you’ll find yourself up ahead. Some quiet joy has taken you here, and on this bike it could take you just about anywhere. Alone, like this, or with others…”
“But here, alongside this river…comes this moment of quiet, of – just this moment – satisfaction. So you don’t want to be anywhere else but here, right now, in this canyon…”
“Rarely is going also being, but it is so on a motorcycle.”
True that.
At the end of his book, Johnson writes in a way that touches my heart, that resonates with me:
“There is something profoundly lonely in all this, but necessary. Years earlier, you avoided stopping on rides alone, because, always, your Self came crowding in then. Always insistent, wanting something. To be somewhere else, doing something different, being someone else.”
“Quietly despairing.”
“But now you’re not canyon racing, trying to navigate winding roads at speeds that were never designed to be negotiated. Nor are you blindly pushing on, as if you’ll find yourself up ahead. Some quiet joy has taken you here, and on this bike it could take you just about anywhere. Alone, like this, or with others…”
“But here, alongside this river…comes this moment of quiet, of – just this moment – satisfaction. So you don’t want to be anywhere else but here, right now, in this canyon…”
“Rarely is going also being, but it is so on a motorcycle.”
True that.
May 18, 2010
Comments based on advanced copy. Best book on motorcycling history and associated topics in many years
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews