Author Topic: Off Road Giants..... book review  (Read 2954 times)

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Offline Marc.com

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Off Road Giants..... book review
« on: August 14, 2009, 01:51:42 am »
Is it just me or does OFFRoad Giants "heroes of 1960s motorcycle sport" fail to mention either of the Rickmans except as asides to photos of their bikes doing what they do and winning.

Geeez pages are devoted to toweling the sweat off Simons balls but Don and the brother who no one remembers are not about.

I maen it is a blody joy to own a Cheney as long as it is powered by a BSA engine, but a little time for the brothers would have been nice.

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clutchslip

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Re: Off Road Giants..... book review
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2009, 05:29:29 am »
I think its fair to say that the book is pretty limited in scope, and it held some disappointments for me too.

The back-cover blurb states that the book contains 'a stunning new set of over 100 new photographs' and '17 rider profiles..(which) originally appeared in Classic Motorcycle', while Jackson's foreword acknowledges that the author's 'concentration was on his local West Country talent'. Being both partial to good photography and a West-Country lad currently restoring a Greeves challenger to ISDT spec who grew up in the town where Triss and Bryan Sharp had their motorbike shop in the period, I was awaiting the book's arrival with some interest!

I was hoping that this book would be a rider-focused version of, for example, Don Morley's many bike-specific volumes, filled with well-researched details of hitherto generally neglected riders, iced with lots of bits of 'insider info' from works riders on the bikes themselves. Well, the author is certainly no Don Morley, and the articles themselves are not particularly satisfying. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that all the characters included deserve far more than this book offers, and the (shocking) omission of the Rickmans is symptomatic of a wider series of problems with the book. All of the profiles follow the same format, and focus on social and competition background mixed with a handful of 'fondly remembered' anecdotes, combined with MSN-frontpage style 'scramblers of the past....where are they now?' updates. Despite the author claiming that many of the subjects had personal scrapbooks 'that could fill another volume' almost none of this all important detail makes it onto the pages. The impression of shallow research, poorly expressed, is only compounded by the writer's incessant use of stock phrases.. 'the black art of two stroke tuning', 'lucrative continental meetings'..throughout multiple profiles, the repetition of at least one anecdote(!), and a generally poor standard of proof-reading, and dare I say it, spelling, as one used to Matchams Park being spelt without an e.

Having said all of that, the book certainly contains a swathe of stunning photographs, although a least a few are available on the net. But if you, like me, manage to find even one useful little nugget of information within the book, then that may well justify the purchase price. I paid the princely sum of 10 pounds and 35p plus postage via eBay for mine, which back here in pommieland won't even buy you a couple of gallons of petrol, and certainly won't stop me from passing it on to someone who lived through the period, and may feel a little more at home in its warm glow than me.

In the meantime Veloce publishing, where can I buy wall-sized blowup posters of the Greeves on page 111, and the Matchless on page...................

« Last Edit: August 14, 2009, 06:18:05 am by clutchslip »

firko

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Re: Off Road Giants..... book review
« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2009, 07:12:46 am »
I think you've said it all Clutchslip. I was reading the book and all the time thinking that I should have been enjoying it more than I actually was! I have to agree with you that the photos are fantastic but to me the information is more than a little lacking. However, to the writers defence, I suspect that he'd assumed that enough had already been written about the Rickman Brothers and had intended to feature riders less well known to the public. I only wish he'd have picked some more interesting subjects and had delved a little deeper into their lives and careers.

Thankfully I recieved Terry Goods superb 'Legendary Motocross Bikes' the same day and I was more than impressed by both the technical quality and wealth of beautiful photography and accurate and entertaining text.

Offline Marc.com

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Re: Off Road Giants..... book review
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2009, 07:47:55 am »
Thankfully I recieved Terry Goods superb 'Legendary Motocross Bikes' the same day and I was more than impressed by both the technical quality and wealth of beautiful photography and accurate and entertaining text.

Man I gotta stop doing book reviews at 2 in the morning after one of those Japanese drinking parties. 3 days to go and I am on holiday..... I have 3 weeks in the shed with a pile of HL parts coming up.

I have 'Legendary MX Bikes' and it is a great book. Off Road Giants was worth it for the reference photos just it will probably go to the bottom of the VMX library pretty fast.
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firko

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Re: Off Road Giants..... book review
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2009, 08:26:28 am »
That saki 'shneeks' up on you hey Marc? That's the most pissed post of the month!

Offline Marc.com

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Re: Off Road Giants..... book review
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2009, 11:23:25 am »
That saki 'shneeks' up on you hey Marc? That's the most pissed post of the month!

Yeah I was starting to lose it at the end.  ;D Feel rough as a harley gearbox today ::).

So have quite a list for the holidays, HL has to go together, JBR needs exhaust fitted, Rickman needs the parts redistributed round NZ, gonna be awesome/

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firko

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Re: Off Road Giants..... book review
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2009, 11:17:39 am »
A far better book on the sixties British motocross scene is 'Motocross Rich Mixture' by Ray Daniels http://www.themagazineman.co.uk/nostalgiac_publications.htm  There isn't much text but the photos are great and the captions accurate and reasonably informative. For an informative insight into Derek and Don Rickman you'd be hard pressed not to like 'The Rickman Story' by Dave Gittins. Lastly, for a truly evocative description of the changeover from the sixties 4 stroke era to the 2 stroke revolution try and find a copy of Frank Mellings 'The Big Leap' http://www.amazon.ca/Motocross-Big-Leap-Frank-Melling/dp/0600362892. It's out of print and has become a classic and goes for crazy money on eBay in the rare occasion a copy come up for auction. I paid $90 for mine a couple of years ago and it's still going up in price. Another brilliant read is Rolling Thunder, the history of CCM.