Parks - Total control: high-performance street riding techniques

High performance street riding techniques

Lee Parks

Foreword by Erik Buell

First published in 2015 by Motorbooks, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc., 400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

2015 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.
Text 2015 Lee Parks
Photography 2015 Lee Parks

All photographs are by the author unless noted otherwise.

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Digital edition: 978-1-6278-8560-7
Softcover edition: 978-0-7603-4344-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Acquisitions Editor: Darwin Holmstrom

Art Director: Brad Springer

Cover Designer: Simon Larkin

Layout Designer: Alan Lapp

Illustrator: Alan Lapp

On the front cover: Photo by Lee Parks

On the title page: Photo by Kevin Wing

Most people who have heard of me in the motorcycling world know me as a motorcycle engineer/designer and motorcycle manufacturer/entrepreneur first with Harley-Davidson, then Buell and now EBR. While that is true, a smaller number of people know that I am an avid rider and ex-racer, which is what really led me down this trail of fun and madness.

I truly love motorcycle riding, and as I started riding, it aligned with my fascination with learning and stretching what I can accomplish and control. So first I started pushing myself on the street. Young and brave, and still ignorant that led to a few crashes. So some wiser older guys pointed me to the race track. Best thing that ever happened. There were no schools then for learning riding, but if you opened your eyes and listened, there was a lot to be learned.

Unlike the street where being bravest and stupidest might make you look fastest, the track was a true comparison. And it became one where I wanted to measure myself. And once measured, then I wanted to do better. So slowly I learned bike control by 1) watching what the fast guys did, 2) by listening to what they said, 3) by asking questions and, finally by trying the new things. First I learned about lines on the track and how to maximize speed with them. Next, I learned how to pass and not be passed. Once I could ride with the fast guys, smaller things became importantlike body position, weight transfer, and transitions in and out of corners. As I found these physical controls, it led to learning about technical controls that I could apply such as suspension settings, tire and brake compounds, and more. Next came even more esoteric subjects like chassis rigidity, CG and swingarm pivot location, wheelbase, etc. It was all incredibly interesting and incredibly personal. Everything I learned applied to getting me around a track better, and it could be measured and quantified.

My goal was road racing. As I learned I moved up the ranks until I was running in the Daytona 200 and finishing top 10 in AMA F1 and Superbike. It was incredible how dedication to learning had moved me from a street squid to a world class rider level. It wasnt talent and it wasnt bravery. And it surely wasnt about money. It was all about approaching riding as a learning experience and always making the best out of what I had available to me. All this also led me to going to engineering school for my degree, and all of a sudden math, graphs, and statistics had a reason for memy motorcycle racing.

Of course, every mile in life leads to more learning, and that is what makes life good. But the road I had taken took many years and a lot of dedication. When people would ask me how to become better riders I could really only say, Devote a whole lot of time to it. Put in enough hours and most people can ride well. Or I would try to explain quickly from my perspective, but most went over peoples heads. I was not a good teacher.

It wasnt a pleasant feeling, because it meant that learning to ride well might be out of the reach of many people. And what a shame that would be. How could people learn the skills it took me so long to develop and that were really worth having?

I think that is what intrigued me most about Lee Parks and his approach. Yes he had raced, but not at the same obsessive level as I had for years. What Lee had done was, as a writer, to start capturing what he was learning while racing, in a format that allowed him to learn faster. And lo and behold, this allowed him to put it into a format where he could share it. And in a really interesting way, he blended solid engineering data in with the riding skills part of what he was teaching. For me, that really counts. I need to understand from several levels what is happening with me on the bikenot only the direct connection between rider input and result, but what happens in between with the machine. Lee has created a riding technology that really helps explain a lot in one clean and easily understandable book.

In Total Control, Lee covers a very large range of knowledge about motorcycles and riding them well. You still need to go practice, but as you read this, you will know what to look for while you are practicing. It will give you a step-by-step practice portfolio, rather than just randomly trying things while riding. You will get better if you read and practice what he is teaching. How far you go will depend on many things. But without a doubt you will improve, and at a far faster pace than you would without the comprehensive lessons here. Lee has dedicated himself to making riding a motorcycle a safer and more satisfying experience in less time, and I thank him for it. Total control is waiting for you. Take the step.

Erik Buell

I originally figured that writing the original book would be a cakewalk given that it was simply supposed to be a written version of my Advanced Riding Clinics (ARC), which I knew like the back of my hand. I could not have been more wrong. With this edition, I likewise figured it would pretty easy given that I was just going to update the book with some newer references, photos, etc. Wrong again. In fact, it took as much time to update this book as it did to write the original. Fortunately, I am rich with amazing friends and family whose outstanding support helped make this book a reality.