Great Books
Great Books
UP FRONT
MARK HOYER
I AM ALL ABOUT USING MY COMPANY'S Internet connection during working hours to read stuff about motorcycles. You?
But as much as I enjoy the flashbulb, quick-hit nature of the digital world, when I am searching for the kind of fundamental learning and insights that truly help me understand and foster my enthusiasm for motorcycles and other things internal combustion, nothing beats the classic texts. Offered here are a few books old and new that have brought me a lot of enduring joy in my mechanical life.
Admittedly, this first one is not a motorcycle book, per se. And yet it is one of the great works of all time: The High-Speed Internal-Combustion Engine, by Harry Ricardo. It was first published in 1923, but many updated editions have been produced; later edi tions will have information more rel evant to current technology.
Ricardo was a great pioneer of the in ternal-combustion engine in the modern era and conducted an incredible amount of research into its every element. From "Detonation" to "Influence of Form of Combustion Chamber" to "Valves and Valve Gear," his work plunges deep into the workings and fundamental princi ples. No, it's not going to give you the how-to on unplugging the pilot jets on your `86 GSX-R750, but for building your understanding of the real forces at play in engines, there is no single work that so clearly and thoroughly address es the core issues. And while there are parts that are hard to penetrate because of their highly technical nature, a huge amount of what is covered is delivered in plain, powerful language that is easy to understand even if you don't have an engineering degree.
This next one could be considered a shameless plug, but it's not: Sportbike Performance Handbook, by Kevin Cameron. You may have heard of him... The reason I don't consider this a shame less plug is that, back in 1998 when the first edition of this book was published, I did a very positive review. I'd been working at Cycle News for a few years, getting my footing on testing bikes and trying to achieve a more meaningful understanding of the specific issues that influenced how motorcycles behaved so I could do a better job in reviewing their performance. Kevin's book was like a gift from above, both in terms of its powerfiully practical topics and lean, precise prose. Now that the second edi tion is out (expanded information about fuel injection, traction control, etc.) I've spent time reading this one again.
The greatest strength of Kevin's book is that it gives you the foundation to start building your own expertise and reminds you to use your own natural curiosity and observation. There is power to be gained here, and not just from your sportbike's engine.
Somewhere between The HighSpeed Internal Combustion Engine and Sportbike Performance Handbook falls a work by a fellow named Phil Irving. He's another chap you may have heard of because of his time as the Chief Designer at Vincent, where he was the man responsible for the Series B Rapide, Black Lightning and Black Shadow. In addition to being an ac complished designer and engineer, he also was a successful racer and a powerful technical writer. Motorcycle Engineering was published in 1961, making some of its content dated, yet so much of the book is timeless that there is still much to be gained from reading it today. One of my favorite elements is the title of Chapter 1: "An Outline of the Problem." He takes off from there to give us great insights into frame design and construction, cylin der-head and valve layout, metallurgi cal considerations for various parts, effects of different types of lubrication and more. And while the age of the work sometimes makes it seem quaint, it also is one of the book's strengths, because it shows so clearly where we have been. Also, those elements that are not dated are the true fundamental issues at stake in motorcycle design.
About the time my brain starts to freeze up while contemplating Ricardo's "Experimental Results for Variable Compression Engine" in the "Volatile Liquid Fuel" chapter, or consideration of RR53, Y-alloy or Duralumin alloys in Irving's book, or the implications of valve-seat shape as it regards volu metric efficiency in Kevin's, I pick up something on the softer side.
Shop Class as Soulcrafi by Matthew B. Crawford falls into this category. While the above offerings are clearly technical works, this one delves deep into the philosophical implications of working with your hands, specifically as it relates to motorcycle mechanicing. It was fervently pitched to me by my friend Bill Getty, a man who once made his living working on British bikes and now is on the wholesale-parts-supplier side of that business. In other words, Bill is used to suffering on both a tech nical level as addressed in the above works, and also on the philosophical level that Crawford pursues. So I take his recommendations quite seriously! While I could complain that the tone
of Shop Class in many places is sort of overwrought, grad-student-intellectual in delivery, it is so well-tempered with real insights and superbly funny, plain writing of great power that I just take it as part of the show. He also exhibits excellent use of profanity, where nec essary. And anyone who's ever deeply contemplated the care and feeding of old motorcycles understands this ne cessity. Ask me about commuting on a 1954 Velocette MSS.
Here, in a small example, Crawford discusses the conflicts of trying to make a living-that is, charging enough for the work-without making the proposition of repair too distasteful for his customer-charging too much for the work: "The curious man is al ways a fornicator, according to Saint Augustine. In this case, it was the own er of the bike who would get fornicated, when I handed him the bill."
That snippet is only a tiny glimpse into Crawford's book. But it is hard to do any of these works justice in a few sentences. Best to pick up copies of your own to read between mouse clicks. Surely your boss won't mind...
