Discover the best biking roads in Europe - in practical, accessible, tried-and-tested routes from the best-selling author of the Bikers' Britain series. From Portugal to the Czech Republic, Northern Germany to Southern Italy, this is the ultimate collection of motorcycle touring routes, drawing not only on more than 30 years of two-wheeled exploring but also the expertise and advice of local riders to make sure each ride is a sure-fire winner. As well as classic biking roads like Austria's Grossglockner High Alpine Road, the Black Forest's B500 and Italy's Stelvio Pass, there are dozens of hidden gems - the brilliant roads that aren't already famous (but should be). Europe's finest riding is packaged into easily managed routes with clear turn-by-turn directions and simple mapping, with trips to suit all kinds of riders (though they are all entirely on tarmac: no unpaved roads in this book). With trips from one to three days longs, the heart of your next great bike tour is within these pages. For more information and route downloads see www.simonweir.co.uk

Veteran biker and author Colette Coleman's guide lays out 50 of the most scenic and adventurous tours in Europe's most breathtaking locations. Whether you are an experienced biker or just discovering the joys of touring, this is the perfect introduction to the most inspiring motorcycle routes in Europe. Packed with breathtaking photography and practical information, Great Motorcycle Tours of Europe contains everything you need to plan an unforgettable trip. Motorcycle adventurer Colette Coleman takes you bend-by-bend along the narrowest passes and up the steepest climbs as you ride through some of the most impressive scenery in Europe. Experience the snowy peaks of Norway's Arctic Circle, head to the balmy French Riviera, ride through the valleys and peaks of the Italian Dolomites, tackle the twists and turns of Romania's Transfagarasan Highway and cruise down to the Aegean Sea. Over 200 stunning images are accompanied by insightful commentary from an author who has been exploring the world by motorcycle for over 25 years. Each tour features a locator map together with a fact file giving practical information on the route's length and terrain (from rocky tracks to snowy roads), highlighting local colour such as sites, events and the wildlife you might encounter, and including a wide range of valuable tips that will enhance your ride. This beautiful book is the definitive, all-purpose motorcycle reference, whether you are planning your own adventure or just enjoying some of the best views on the continent.

This book is the first to compare the shared cultural tenets of ancient warbands and outlaw biker gangs. It argues that the values of hyper-masculinity can be traced from the former into the contemporary environment of the latter: codes of honour, loyalty and bravery have prioritised small groups of males over women and other men, creating a history of hyper-masculinity that shows little sign of stopping. Indeed, Outlaw Bikers and Ancient Warbands: Hyper-Masculinity and Cultural Continuity argues that such hyper-masculine culture can be found in many male groups such as the police, military and sports, and that if we want to understand hyper-masculinity and face it as a society then we need to recognize that outlaw bikers are a reflection of behavior that has a very long tradition. This pioneering work explores these issues from ancient times and into the future.

Bikers' Britain--The Tours is all about the best touring routes in the UK, handpicked and written by the Deputy Editor of immensely popular RiDE magazine. The book includes more than 40 of the best touring routes for motorcyclists which have been pre-ridden by experts. It features advice on preparing for a long trip, sights to see, and things to do along the route, as well as an overview of touring from outside the UK. Each ride will have a clear route map and color photos and can be used as a top box essential or bedtime reading. The book is designed to be durable and fit snugly into a tank bag for use during a ride.

From The Wild Ones to Easy Rider, the motorcycle has inflamed the imaginations of the media and the general public alike. Marlon Brando, sporting leather jacket, jeans, and moody glare, became a cultural icon summing up 'the road' in all its maverick glory. But does the myth of the renegade cyclist, an outcast from mainstream society who takes to the road in pursuit of freedom, correlate with reality in any meaningful way? Who really rides motorcycles and why? What are the chief concerns of motorcyclists and how are these represented and contested in the political sphere? This book, based on extensive fieldwork amongst bikers and the bikers' rights movement, overturns the ingrained prejudice that equates bikers with deviancy and explodes the myths emphasizing the rebellious and dysfuntional aspects of biking. Instead, the author focuses on what biking means to those involved - the rewards, the risks, the addictiveness, but also the stigma and attacks on the biking lifestyle. In response to the negative imagery surrounding bikers and growing legislative threats from Europe, bikers' rights associations evolved between the 1960s and 1980s in the UK and Europe. The author discusses the aims and achievements of these lobbies, and the future of motorcycling more generally as it becomes fashionable as a middle-aged, middle-class pursuit.

In this book, David Walton explores European comic-book biker publications as a subgenre of popular culture. Using a multidisciplinary approach, he reveals an intricate amalgam of ingenuity, irony, and highly ambiguous humor. The creative resourcefulness of the comic-book biker authors is seen to dramatize and celebrate the material existence of motorcycles and lifestyles while laughing at the foibles, inconsistencies, manias, fantasies, and practices of those characterised as motorized flâneurs. At the core of Walton’s analysis is the exploration of identity formation, marked by tensions between individualism and collective affinities, undermined by egoism and competitiveness. At the same time, Walton argues that the storylines (despite much comic invention, caricature, and exaggeration) create resonances which hold up a distorted but highly revealing mirror to the multiple subgroups of people who ride motorcycles for pleasure. The author also demonstrates how the implied biker-readers of this subgenre confront comic representations of themselves which repeatedly undermine any positive self-image they may possess. Yet the comics are also seen to offer valuable insights into much broader cultural concerns ranging from subculture, consumption habits, (in)authenticity, taste, freedom, risk, and delinquency – without forgetting other key aspects of cultural studies like class, race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and ecocriticism.

In Biker Chicz: The Attraction of Women to Motorcycles and Outlaw Bikers, the authors provide the reader with an intriguing snapshot of the culture through women who have an intimate knowledge of the lifestyle. Although many people question their motivation to be involved with a lifestyle that most people find frightening and repulsive, to some women there is an attraction to the motorcycles and the outlaw bikers that permeate the culture. Publisher’s note: Biker Chicz: The Attraction of Women to Motorcycles and Outlaw Bikers is a condensed version of the previously published book entitled Biker Chicks: The Magnetic Attraction of Women to Bad Boys and Motorbikes (2009 Allen & Unwin), which is no longer in print and was available only in Australia and New Zealand.