Leanings 2: Great Stories by America's Favorite Motorcycle Writer

came to Peter Egan's writings in a roundabout way; roundabout, that is, from a motorcyclist's point of view, because I first became aware of Peter Egan in the pages of Road & Track magazine. Egan carries on the tradition of exquisite and eloquent writing in the nature of two of my other favorite motoring journalists: L.J.K. Setright, who wrote (if that simple word can be used to describe his craft) for the British Car magazine, and whose prose graced the pages of many other automotive magazines; and Denis Jenkinson, another Citizen of the Crown, whose work I became familiar with as a youth. I think - and I would hope - that Peter Egan would be proud to be considered as equals to Setright and Jenkinson, who are both legendary and whose works are still discovered and enjoyed to this day by many readers. Many motorcyclists have enjoyed Peter Egan's writings in Cycle World magazine since he first appeared in those pages back in 1977. He's been writing ever since as a sort of stream-of-consciousness raconteur (not many of these left in today's hyper-video sound bite society). I also enjoy his columns, but missed the first collection in the original Leanings, first published in 2002. That book has become one of the most popular motorcycle related books in print. Egan certainly has a unique gift; he can talk motorcycles both old and new; travel; nostalgia and just good ol' stories that seem to ring true with everyone who reads him. Leanings 2 contains four feature articles that first appeared in Cycle World from 2003 to 2005, including 'The Search for Robert Johnson', 'Where the Sidewalk Ends', 'A Thousand Miles From Nowhere' and 'In the Moon of the Falling Leaves'. The second part of the book includes a full 95 Cycle World columns that appeared in Cycle World from 1988 to 2004. You may wonder why you should buy a book that's basically a reprint of Cycle World columns, some of which you may have already read. But like classic films, Egan's writings can be enjoyed over and over, and each time you will discover something new. This is an absolutely perfect book to take on that next coast-to-coast plane trip; to the beach house in the summer; or just to keep on the nightstand so that you can read a chapter or two before bed, which will both calm you down and provide you with sweet dreams of a world full of motorcycles and good times. --Web Bike World, January, 2010

He's got a great sense of humor and the rare ability to inject just the right phrase/comment into a well told story to get one laughing or at least snickering. The man's dabbled in all kinds and makes of motorcycles: Ducatis, Vincents, Beemers, Hondas, Nortons, Triumphs and Harley-Davidsons amongst others that slip my mind as I type. He's got a weakness/bias for British Iron and Italian Reds but is not adverse to throwing his leg over other marques as well. His long motorcycling careers encompasses many motorcycles/racing cars and through it all he can recount to you specific events in his life that evoke similar thoughts in one's own experiences. His road trip tales are very detailed and amusing, his dirt rides through Baja even made me, briefly, want to get a dirt bike and follow the trails he rode. I really liked his trademark 'Should you buy a X bike' tests where X is replaced by the word British or Italian or German, you get the idea. The tongue-in-cheek questions always, at least to me, had obvious answers and amuse the test taker at the same time. His short stories of fixing/wrenching on his many bikes stirred an affinity with him what with my recent mechanical work on Brigitta, my 1987 R80 Beemer. He's of course way more knowledgeable and experienced than I'll ever be, but its good to see he also can sometimes not "bend" a bike to his will in terms of mechanical issues. Well worth the read, and you can do several of his articles in a short sitting, leaving you inspired to get some riding in; or perhaps "rescue" an old bike from storage and restore it to health, something he did quite often. He must have a very understanding wife, as I do, though I am sure mine would draw the line way before FIVE motorcycles were parked in my garage. Five being the perfect number of motorcycles according to Pete Egan! You'll have to read the books to find out why. --Examiner dot com, January, 2010