New Feature- Vintage Literature Review

I have written periodically about the classic motorcycle hobby and how to get started in it. Like many, my initial forays were filled with anxiety. I was an absolute novice with minimal mechanical experience. I knew that a great deal of satisfaction would come from the self-sufficiency of maintaining the motorcycle myself. The real question was where to find the technical know-how to be a true motorcyclist in the traditional sense. Certainly, there are plenty of internet sites, blogs, and forums where one can ask questions about how to fix discreet issues. What many of these sites can't do is impart the techniques and methods our forebears used in taking care of their motorcycles. Depending on where you live, you may be fortunate enough to have a mentor. In my case, vintage British motorcycles are rare enough much less someone with the knowledge to work on them. The solution was to develop my own knowledge base through period technical literature. I have for a while collected a combination of period books and articles with the aim at building a technical library and historical library that would allow me to repair my motorcycle and enjoy the context in which it existed.

Part of motivation of this blog is to share my knowledge with others. To that end, I have decided to start a new feature in which I review vintage literature to help guide others in building their own libraries. My desire is that readers will get involved and hopefully share their literature as well. Stay tuned for the first review.