The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles Paperback – Illustrated, 17 May 1998

Whether you ride or not, this is what motorcycling does for you, and no other writer has put it across so well. 100% recommended.

i bought and read this book after it came up in a marque search on amazon: i enjoy motorcycling and related writing, so i took a punt on it.i found this book to be an enjoyable and easy/quick read, where i had wanted something a bit deeper. melissa's anecdotes are interesting and well written, but fail to drill down far enough into why the author describe the motorcycle as 'perfect' - what it means to her (and others); what emotions it evokes; how it alters her view of her life and of society etc...on the other hand, maybe my expectations were too high? to put this in context, i have to say that pirsig's ZAMM is one of the best books i have ever read (and re-read several times over the last 30 years), so melissa had a lot to live up to.nevertheless, i would recommend this book - 4/5 stars. it has also prompted me to note down my own feelings about the motorcycles and motorcyclists that have punctuated (defined?) my life, although i doubt they will ever make it into print!.

I purchased this for my husband as it was recommended by Neil Peart from Rush. I would have never chosen this book as its by a lady, but my husband reckons its one of the best motorbike travel books he has read. In fact he could not put it down and read it in a few days

By no means a "perfect vehicle" as a book, but nicely written and engaging. She captures the irrational passion we have extremely well, and is not afraid to reveal her own fears and, perhaps, encourage others to be more honest about their own.

After reading positive reviews on motorcycle-related websites I'd been looking for this book for quite a while but as it was not available anymore at major highstreet bookstores I was happy to finally find a second-hand copy (in pristine condition!) on Amazon.uk. As a (middle-aged male) biker who's been spending most holidays travelling through Europe on a bike for the last fifteen years I was rather curious to find out about the interest a young American woman could have in riding bikes.I really liked the beginning of the book, as it described so well the thrill riding a motorbike will give you and how it will inevitably become a passion and an addiction if you persevere, despite the lack of comfort (the weather is usually too hot, cold or wet) and danger (mostly caused by the careless and incompetent dilettanti you have to share the roads with, but also -let's face it- the fact that it's all too easy to overestimate one's own riding abilities).After that the book began to be a bit lengthy, like (I imagine) a personal diary with stories of trips the author made, alone and with various boyfriends intertwined with historical motorbike trivia (I couldn't care less who won which race in 1921 or crossed which country first on a prehistoric motorbike, but maybe others might find this highly interesting?) right through to US accident statistics (yawn!).In the last part of the book the author describes a trip she makes in Europe from Belgium (of all places...) to the North of Italy, for a planned visit to the Moto Guzzi factory. Now this got my attention as I've made this trip myself many times (I live near Brussels and like riding in the Alps) and I expected the author to write about how the challenge of riding into and through the Alps added an extra dimension to the aforementioned thrill of riding... but she took the motorway and the tunnels instead. Clearly the destination was more important than the travel, it makes you wonder if she read her fellow American author Robert Pirsig's classic "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance", for me still THE book everyone interested in travelling by bike must read (although it's not only and not even in the first place about travelling by bike).So it's not really a novel or a travel book, nor is it a book about the history of (women and) motorbikes, it's a little bit of everything. If you're wondering why some people and women (in America this seems to be an issue!) ride bikes and love them so passionately or if you're a Moto Guzzi fanatic, this is a book you should read. If you're looking for a book to read on the beach or plane or if you already know why some people can't live without a bike, leave it and read Pirsig instead.By the way, I ride a Ducati and love it, but I've never felt the need to go and visit the factory even at times when I was within an hour's riding distance from it. I just want them to go on making good bikes and don't want to disturb them doing it, but then again I'm not interested either in visiting the kitchen of a three-star-restaurant when they're preparing my meal.

This is the best book about the love of motorcycles I've read. I've ridden for 42 years and so many things in The Perfect Vehicle made me smile. If you've spent any time riding or have dreamed about doing so, this is a beautiful recounting of affection and two-wheeled joy.

Interesting perspective, we enjoyed reading.

An excellent book, I first read it over 15 years ago ish... I knew someone getting into biking and thought that they would experience the same feelings and emotions as expressed in the book.Delivery was prompt.