I had my third session at the Harley dealer on the same bike. This time it was good, but not so good.
Speedy: You’re right, it is a bit too heavy to learn on from scratch. I learned a few more things today and it’s starting to come together, but I still struggled with the weight. I think I’ve pretty much eliminated the 883 Sportster from my list of choices as a first bike.
Elwood: Thanks for the advice on the head turns, that really helped me out today. You’re also right about the bike needing momentum to turn. I dropped the bike four or five times trying to make the u-turn, but eventually managed to put a series of them together and it was all flowing smoothly. But the weight was still a factor. In my original post, I noted that it seemed like the bars took some muscle to move at low speeds, and I have confirmed that today. In fact, I made one u-turn and couldn’t get the bars straightened up again. That had me heading for a kerb, and target fixation set in. I managed to pull in the clutch, but I couldn’t reach the front brakes in time, so the bike ended going over the kerb. That’s how my session ended. No major damage to me, except I think I sparined my left knee. That bike was pretty scratched up, though, from all the drops. The Sportster is a beautiful bike, but I don’t think it’s the right bike for me.
Owlie: Aside from the various drops, falling off several times, and getting the bike onto the kerb at the end, it was a good time. This time I felt even less afraid of the bike. However, the training venue – the street behind the dealership – isn’t an ideal place. Sure, there’s about 26 feet between the kerbs, but it’s never going to be like an open parking space. And there was a little bit of traffic today, which was really distracting, not to mention potentially very dangerous. It’s the best training I could find here, which isn’t saying much. Even though I am managing to pick things up and I’m sure I could do it, I’m starting to wonder about the wisdom of attempting to ride given the limitations that I have here. I just wish I had a resource like the MSF training available to me so that the training could be done in a safer environment.