This is just an example of why buying a 250cc motorcycle for your first bike is a good idea. I have only ridden for a few hundred miles so I’m definitely a newby at the sport, but really haven’t had any issues. The other day I was at a stop light waiting for the light to turn green with a line of traffic behind me. I began to leave the light and make a left turn when my fingers must have slipped because I let the clutch out wayy to fast causing the bike to take off fast. This made me jerk the handlebars far to the left and I nearly dumped the bike right there in the middle of an intersection. Im glad I got the 250 ninja because if it was anything bigger I probably would have been taking off a lot faster and the bike would have been much heavier and probably would have ended up on its side in the road. I think the smaller bike made it easier to correct my mistake on the fly and upright the bike. I just thought I would post this as a warning to anyone that is thinking about starting off on a bigger bike, I too had thought about starting off on a 600, now I’m glad I didn’t. Its the stuff that you don’t think about that makes a difference, honestly the weight of the bike didn’t come into play when I was thinking about what to buy, just the engine size.
The wind gets me too, but you get used to it. Make sure your tires are properly inflated and get lower on the bike, this can be facilitated by scooting your butt back farther. I think wind gets most bikes though. I have a friend with one of those police Harleys (800lbs) and he says it still blows him around.
“I am the best I am at what I do, and what I do ain’t nice.”-Wolverine
I found this tip on a UK site the other day when I was facing my ride home in a thunderstorm (luckily I missed the worst of it) but what it said was to let your knee fall outwards on the side that the wind is coming from and the bike will steady. Sounds crazy, but it really works- I guess the knee sticking out breaks up the wind flow enough that it doesn’t affect you that much. Out here in the land of the 50mph gust it has been all kinds of helpful. Yeah, you look all kinds of silly too, but try it.
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