Smith, James. Classic Motorcycle Electrics Manual. Ramsbury: Crowood Press, 2015.
Ostensibly about the electrical systems of bikes made before the mid-1960s, Smith effectively covers modern bikes as well, in part to address issues, including pretty recent issues (e.g. LED lights) about updating classic bikes.
He writes extremely well, and his passages on the development of electric systems, and the reasons, really help explain how and why we got "from there to here".
He's also really good on multimeters and other test equipment and their practical use on motorcycles.
I also have Tracy Martin's book on motorcycle electrical systems (2014 edition, same publisher), and it's a good overview, but Smith's book is in a different league.
Available in both paper and Kindle, I have the latter and am completely happy with the electronic version.
Smith has a web site (not very active in the last couple of years) at matchlessclueless.com.
Ostensibly about the electrical systems of bikes made before the mid-1960s, Smith effectively covers modern bikes as well, in part to address issues, including pretty recent issues (e.g. LED lights) about updating classic bikes.
He writes extremely well, and his passages on the development of electric systems, and the reasons, really help explain how and why we got "from there to here".
He's also really good on multimeters and other test equipment and their practical use on motorcycles.
I also have Tracy Martin's book on motorcycle electrical systems (2014 edition, same publisher), and it's a good overview, but Smith's book is in a different league.
Available in both paper and Kindle, I have the latter and am completely happy with the electronic version.
Smith has a web site (not very active in the last couple of years) at matchlessclueless.com.
Last edited: