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Beginner Rider Mistakes
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July 11, 2011 at 9:29 am #4403JoeSTLParticipant
Here are few things I’ve learned that hopefully will help another rider out there.
Buying your gear. Make sure to go to a store and try on everything you want to buy. Even if you chose to buy it online, make sure you properly size it, by wearing it first. Until I put on my first helmet, I had no idea helmets all fit differently depending on the brand. When you buy gloves, make sure you try on both hands. I tried on some cortech gloves and it fit perfectly on my left hand. I had no idea that my right hand was a little bit bigger, so now it’s extremely snug. After about 30 minutes of riding, I have to shake my right hand to get circulation back in it…lol. Snug is good, tight is not good.
Wearing your gear. After a week of riding I dropped my bike doing low speed maneuvers in a parking lot. I had on jeans, icon boots, firstgear mesh jacket, cortech gloves, and an hjc helmet. Every part of my body hit the ground at 5 mph and the only part of my body that hurt was my knee. My knee was covered with the jeans, but had no real protection. It was only a small scrape, but I could feel it for days. I can’t even imaging what it would feel like at 60 mph or faster. So I’m seriously considering some knee/shin protection. (BTW, don’t grab the front brake when turning! LOL)
Buying your first motorcycle. I knew that I needed to buy a beginner bike. I had no problem with starting on a beginner style bike and was anxious to get out there and start riding. I was so anxious that I made some poor choices when buying. Reading countless online forum posts and sitting on some bikes, I decided on the gs500f. I only had about 2k to spend, so I had to buy from someone off of craigslist. I found a 2005 gs500f online within my price range and went to check it out. It had some cosmetic damage and needed the carbs to be cleaned, which I was okay with, because most beginner bikes online had the same problems. I didn’t know anything about motorcycles and at the time didn’t know anyone that rode, so I was forced to trust him. To make a long story short, this guy screwed me over. It had a lot more damage to it, that I wasn’t aware of. It took a mechanic about 750 bucks to fix the major problems, and I still have some issues with the idle. So if you know a mechanic or someone that can check out the bike for you, then do it. Otherwise have the seller get a state inspection and don’t buy something that has a lot of damage.
So although I made some mistakes earlier on, I’ve learned from them. I know I will never make these same mistakes again. My bike still has some issues with it’s idle, but I’m able to work it out with the throttle at stop lights and such. Overall I’m having a blast on it. The more I drive it, the more confidence I’m getting. Even as I’m typing this at 4:30am, I want to get back out there and ride around my neighborhood! So have fun, be careful, buy your gear, wear your gear, and don’t buy a crappy bike as your first!
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