A motorcyclist in America and Europe for the past ten years sorts out the myths, rituals, and attractions of motorbiking, tracing the history of the vehicle and its riders–especially women–and recounting her own riding life.

“This book, a polished, winding meditation on the theory and fractiousness of motorcycles, celebrates both their eccentric history and the wary pleasures of touring.”–The New Yorker In a book that is “a must for anyone who has loved a motorcycle” (Oliver Sacks), Melissa Pierson captures in vivid, writerly prose the mysterious attractions of motorcycling. She sifts through myth and hyperbole: misrepresentations about danger, about the type of people who ride and why they do so. The Perfect Vehicle is not a mere recitation of facts, nor is it a polemic or apologia. Its vivid historical accounts-the beginnings of the machine, the often hidden tradition of women who ride, the tale of the defiant ones who taunt death on the racetrack-are intertwined with Pierson’s own story, which, in itself, shows that although you may think you know what kind of person rides a motorcycle, you probably don’t.