Twist of the Wrist: The Motorcycle Roadracers Handbook (Vol 1)

• #26 in Best Motorcycles Books

35 Reviews

Sort by: Most Helpful ▲ Date Rating

This race-oriented book focuses on providing a methodology to analyse any racetrack allowing you to select and ride the lines that best suit you and your bike. Very little here for streetriders ... Flick of the Wrist II has much more on actual riding technique. If you're new to racing, buy it. If you don't plan on racing, don't buy it unless you're curious about racing strategies.

I was overall very disappointed with this book, allowing for some of the content to be for racers only I was surprised at seeing content most motorcyclists would be aware of from monthly bike magazines, i.e. counter steering, braking techniques etc. Keith Code is a very knowledgable man on this subject but his writing style is really dreadful, his use of BOLD text and regular underlining gets to be really annoying.I've now completed the book and as an average sports bike rider have learned absolutely nothing new. It may appeal to you but my advice would be to borrow a copy and read a few chapters before purchasing.

Can you improve yer motorcycle riding skills by reading a book? No doubt about it.

Keith Code is founder and director of California Superbike Cornering Schools and has published a number of books on the subject of racing motorcycles on speed tracks. Although most of this book's focus is on handling race bikes, only the last two of its sixteen chapters are exclusively dedicated to racing.

The book concentrates mostly on better controlling your speed while maneuvering your bike over varying racetrack conditions.

As you'd expect, there is a major emphasis on turning: getting through the turn with increased mph and decreased time spent in [the turn] and [maintaining] adequate control of the bike.
Code's overall approach to improving riding skills is to define the basics, and then to investigate the decisions you must make to ride well.

He uses a great analogy: Each person has a fixed amount of attention while riding a motorcycle. This is represented as a $10 bill worth of attention. If you spend five dollars of it on one aspect of riding, you have only five dollars left for all the other aspects. Spend nine and you have only one dollar left, and so on.

The aspects of riding he talks about are things like:
Road characteristics: Constant-, increasing-, and. decreasing-radius turns, crested turns, series turns, positive- and negative-camber turns, and road surfaces.

What you do: Riding is one thing; riding plus being aware of what you are doing is quite another. Making an effort to look at what you are doing while you are doing it.
Your own evaluation of what you just did and what just happened: Things that can be thought over and changed if necessary.

I like his teaching strategy. After isolating several specific principles, concepts, and techniques, each subsequent chapter effectively builds on what was previously presented to the point that if you didn't understand the concept and haven't yet experienced it,
you'll want to get back on the road and try it out, read the book some more, then evaluate what you understand.

The books's worth buying.

The book does a decent job of introducing the starting racetrack pilot to the basic concepts of corner types, throttle application, etc. Despite the fact that these topics are addressed, I felt there was a bit too much offbeat "Dianetics" style mentality references, and not enough specific "nuts and bolts" instruction on HOW to do the actual act of riding the motorcycle. Having read the Vol.I and II, I think a new racer would be best off saving their money on this book, and getting only the Vol. II version. This book is targeted primarily at the racetrack environment, and I've found that the book "Sportbiking: The Real World: The Advanced Riders Handbook", is better suited for true street going sportbikers.

Keith Code teaches you to read the road. He explains camber, radius, series of turns, elevation (uphill, downhill, crested track) and straight sections. Observe your products (measureable events) such as speed, lean angle, gear and RPM. Understand you controls: brakes, throttle, handle bar movement and where your body exerts force on the motorcycle. His explanation of Reference Points is invaluable, even if you are a car enthusiast. At speed, location is a moment in time. You have to use the correct control and the correct place. He explains counter steering (push right to go right) in straight forward and easy to understand detail. For the adventurous he explains sliding, hanging off and (you may need this) falling off. My riding improved considerable after reading this book.

As an experiance rider, I found the information contained in this book to be excellent. From braking, steering, handling curves, attention span...

I strongly recommend this book to all riders regardless of level.

Keith Code has a unique approach to instruction, which is reflected in this book (and also its sequel, A Twist of the Wrist 2).

Rather than providing a recipe for motorcycling success, Keith presents his experiences and provides them as food for the reader's thought. He frequently asks the reader to answer questions regarding the most recently covered topic and its applicability to the reader's riding.

This style can be a little frustrating if you're looking for a highly technical treatise on high-performance motorcycle riding, but it does make the material considerably more accessible.

The book itself covers many nuances of motorcycle riding (particularly on the race track, but with applicability to the street as well), ranging from topics such as cornering to braking to vision and body position.

I view this book as providing a nifty bag of tricks for riders who want to up their performance on the track or on the street.

If you're going to buy just one of Keith Code's books, I'd recommend buying the sequel (A Twist of the Wrist 2) because it covers some of the same ground and is updated to more modern riding styles.

This book contained alot of great information for the Track. A lot of the information can be direclty applied to going fast on the street. However, this primarily deals with track condtions. It doesn't go into poor road conditions, like ripples and how to deal with them. If you're looking for a Book that teaches you how to go fast on Daytona tarmac, then this is your book. If you wanna learn racing technique to apply to street riding, it's all here. But for information about Street situations, get another book.

I'm disappointed with this book. After hearing so many good things about this book I was expecting and hoping for the motorcycle world's equivalant of Carroll Smith but what I got seems more like a high school motivational speaker. He's shorter on the technical info and longer on his own little mental approaches. There is definitely some good information and experience in this book, but it's diluted with a lot of boring and sometimes childish fluff. And the "comments" by (I think) Eddie Lawson are downright retarded ("Will it work?" he writes).

An example: In one place he wrote that motorcycles and riding had changed over the decades with tire and chassis technology and that that's affected riders' techniques and lines through corners. I was hoping he'd then go into reasons why with explanations of the technology and specific examples of the effects on riding, but instead he went into some nonsense about "a product is something that is produced. It is something you can hold in your hand blah blah blah." Is he writing for first-graders?

And I can't believe that people are still writing articles and chapters about counter steering. Don't you have that figured out after being on a motorcycle for about nine seconds? That is, if you didn't already have it figured out from riding a bicycle since you were six years old?

This guy is no Carroll Smith and there are better, denser, and more sophisticated books to spend your time with.

For people who have no experience in riding, reading this book may be helpful since it shows the basic ideas of riding with pictures. However, once you started riding, almost all things mentioned in this book will be understood/felt via little experience. I will recommend saving your money and take your bike to the race track a couple times after you ride for 6 months. You will learn a lot on the race track in a safe manner; you also learn how well your bike can handle those turns you think it can never make.

This book is OK, but focuses almost entirely on road racing. The sequel "Twist of the wrist 2" is a much better book for most readers. Twist 2 is the standard and often-cited work in the field. It's a better book in every way, and is very good for advanced street riders as well as for racers.

This book was great at giving tips on how to improve my riding. I've been riding for years and never really thought much about it, I also didn't notice much improvement in my riding. This book gives real insight into how to improve your riding skills. The only part about the book I did not like were the extra comments. After a paragraph ended there would often be a short comment in a different font. The comment would be something like "Will you try it?" or "Will it work?"

The book is simply fantastic! It presents sensational tactics and with an absolutely amazing clarity. I really recommend the reading of this wonderful book!

It seems like some reviewers have missed the point. It's the simple, fundamental things that a lot of seasoned riders get wrong. I know-I was one. Take the information and think about what you are reading. Analyse your own riding- see how much better you can do. I had been riding for 20 years when I came to this book. It made me a better rider for the price of 3 tanks of gas. It's that simple.

i read this book when i was just street riding, and the more i rode the more i learned and the more i re-read the book. when i started roadracing, i bought the second version and it took my riding and racing to new heights.

if you ride a motorcycle, you should read this book, period.

If you ride any motorcycle this book is for you... anyone can go fast in a straight line.. this book reveals the essence of cornering...ever gone into a turn too quick ? ever wondered why you ended up off the road ?? really not feeling comfortable or stable in a turn?? having to make steering corrections through a corner and why your freinds seem to get on the throttle sooner ?? buy the book.....you won't be dissapointed .....

If there is one way to teach people through writing that works better than any other, it's getting them to confront ingrained, entrenched beliefs to allow your thinking to change. And that's exactly what Keith Code does in this excellent book.

No matter how long you have been riding, seriously questioning yourself through the questions and proposals that fill this book will allow you a fresh angle on something you thought you knew, and as like as not will allow you to move ahead in your riding skills, even if you were stuck at a plateau for some time.

I'd say that this book, combined with time at Code's California Superbike School, is the best money you can possibly spend on your motorcycle. What makes a rider fast? It's what's between his (or her) ears.

Keith Code's book A Twist Of The Wrist is the essential book for the motorcycle road racer, or a motocross racer. The indepth detail of the book is a big help. From counter steering to braking, the book is excellent. This book gets a 5 star! Recommended to any motorcycle road racer or motocrosser.

This book is probably one of the standards in professional motorcycle racing. It is intended for the track racing rider who wants to better understand the track and how to master it. It is not intended for the rider who wants to improve his road skills as most references are solely related to understanding the track and how to use continuous improvement strategies to increase your speed and lower track times. It is a very effective disciplined process that explains a variety of track geography, cambers and surfaces and how those will affect the mechanics and approach to every corner and elevation. If you are trying to improve your track racing skills or are considering going to a track day for motorcycling for the first time, there's a lot of good advice and illustrations for you to absorb here.

Not the best written book on motorcycle safety. The writting style is clunky and the author appears to "talk down" to the readers. Overall, while it is the first book on motorcycle safety, better books have been written.

This book demystifies motorcycle riding. This is an absolute must read for anyone thinking of throwing a leg over a bike. This book makes a great gift for loved ones and friends who ride.

This is the best money you could spend to be a better motorcycle rider. This book changed my whole idea of riding. If you want to be better than your friends buy this book and commit it to memory!

The simple fact is if you ride a motorcycle you need this information. If you think you know what your doing you probably don't. This is the essentials of riding. Not knowing this is like racing without a helmet. It changed my riding forever. It gets you to really think about your riding. Want to go faster don't waste your money on thounsands of dollars in motifications for a few hp to make your bike a little faster. Spend $20 and make you alot faster. Make the most of you and your bike read this book!

This books gives all the basics of riding a motorcycle. You can't help but think about your own riding and how to be a better rider when you read it. When anyone tells me that they want to take up riding motorcycles, I always say get and read A Twist of the Wrist. This book cuts through and dissolves all the bad advice and myths that circulate about riding a motorcycle.

This book started it all, back in '83. Concepts and terms in the book are now part of the motorcycling vocabulary--like "reference points" or Code's analogy on how much attention a person has ($10), and the things that cost attention to a rider. I still go back and review this book, and I've also got his 2 other books--and they are all different. On top of that, you get the comments by Eddie Lawson. $20 bucks well spent.

What can I say? I am probably the last to read this book. Highly recommended to anyone who currently rides or is considering riding sport bikes. Reading this allowed me to focus and note what I do while street riding. I don't go to the track but I ride street and this book gives good advice on both. I just started reading Vol. II and will say not a lot of repeated information, just more updated as Vol I is a must.

This is a must have read and is better if you study it before you start racing or going to your first track day.

This was by fare the worst motorcycle book I have ever read. From the start to the finish Mr. Code tried to explain the basics of how a motorcycle operates. But what he really did was take a hundred plus pages explaining that you should pay attention while riding a motorcycle. The tips that are given in the book are common sense tips that if you have ridden a bike once then you already know them. I would not recommend this book to any rider.

This book doesn't have anything groundbreaking and is a little dated as of 2007 but is a very helpful reminder of the important things that you learned and forget to apply when you are actually riding. Not at all technical. The sidebars don't really tie into the content very well, but overall, it has helped me improve my track days.

Great book for the weekend rider to the begining roadracer, easy reading, and easy to relate to. I enjoyed reading a chapter or subject topic, then going out and applying what I learned to my riding technique. This book covers things you should be thinking of while riding and makes you think about what you already do but, don't know why.

Got this book along with a couple other authors riding books. Goes into great detail about racing and riding techniques. Thumbs up

The two books and accompanying videos provide excellent training on how to ride safe----fast!
The best part for me was to combine the theory of physics (explaining why) with the practical word + picture impressions to show me how to do it in my own practice. Some of my favorite quotes:
Your line through a turn is determined by where you want to be coming out of the turn. You ride a turn from the beginning with a plan for coming out in the right place with the right speed
1. Plan to do something
2. Can it be done on this road no?
3. Sequence of actions
4. Implement
5. Evaluate and revise plan

You set up what you want to do, practice until you get the timing right, then add speed.
Plan, timing, speed. It is not what you do, but the timing of when you do it.


This is a great service to all riders.

This is a fantastic read for anyone who is new and experienced in biking. knowing the effect on suspention of various actions you perform on the bike is of incredible value.

I was blown away and thought it is the best technical book i had read on bikes(until I read the sequel)... should get both - the second elaborates on the first!!

This book puts many techniques familiar to experienced riders in a technical context such that it becomes easier to improve your riding and analyse and change bad habits. New riders will gain an enormity from reading it too. It is highly recommended to take the knowledge learned from these pages to a track and apply the techniques in a safe yet challenging environment.
If you have the patience to stay with Mr. Code's oblique approach to the subject you will learn not only a treasure trove of techniques but also the fundamental tools of analysis to be able to continue improving on your own.

Get this book (or Twist II) and revisit it again and again, you will probably never need another text on riding.

I am a new rider with only 600 miles of riding in me and on a 500cc sportbike. But several friends who have raced superbike told me this is the bible of racing and to read it soon so I learn the right things from the get go. I also bought the video. From a novice viewpoint the book reads well and the concepts make sense but only practice will make perfect. It is a pratice manual and I will no doubt read it several times before I ever upgrade to 600cc or 1000cc and go to the California Superbike School.