- This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 10 months ago by kellymch.
I’m a new rider
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June 5, 2009 at 3:07 am #2953kellymchParticipant
Hey, my name is Kelly and I’m a 39 yo female. I bought a Kawasaki Vulcan 500 on Tuesday and my husband got a Vulcan 750. We rode on the road for our first time ever on Tuesday evening. WE love it.
Last July we took the MSF course at out local Harley shop and got our endorsements. We just now got bikes.
Yesterday we rode 73 miles. Just local back roads. Never more than 15 miles from our home.
What a wonderful experience. My big regret is that I didn’t do this sooner.
Positives:
1)MSF course–even a year later, I could hear my instructor’s voice in my head. LOL!2) Felt comfortable MUCH quicker than I thought I would. I expected to take a couple of weeks just riding around our neighborhood before I got on the road.
3) I love the solitude of riding. I would NEVER want a bike with a radio.
4) I love the independence of riding my own bike. I don’t EVER want to ride 2up again.
5) I can’t say enough about the Vulcan 500. I’m a big girl–5’10” and 180 lbs. This bike is perfect for me to learn to ride. I’m flat-footed on it. It’s heavy enough to feel safe and light enough to feel safe.
6) The smells. Of course, we do get up close and personal with some roadkill!!!
Issues:
1)turn signal–I either forgot to use it or forgot to turn it off.2) We had to go to the bank and when I went through the one stop light in our town, I was so excited that I overshot the bank. It took me forever to get turned around.
3) Of course, shifting. Do I count the number up and then the number back down so I’ll know what gear I’m in and where I need to be?? This is confusing to me. I end up just shifting up about ten times and downshifting the same way.
4) People tailgating me!! Grrrrr.
I’m looking forward to reading this forum!!!
Also, looking forward to riding. It had to rain today.
Kelly
June 5, 2009 at 5:15 am #19332zeppelinfromledParticipantI definitely had the same experience with feeling comfortable much quicker than I expected. I can’t say I agree about the radio thing. If it weren’t for some hesitations that I have (being a new rider is definitely one of them), I would regularly ride with headphones in. The smells can be great, but getting stuck behind a bus or passing near a skunk are never pleasant.
You’ll get used to turning your signal off, just keep reminding yourself.
With shifting, I think that once you can take your focus off of the little details of riding, keeping track of what gear you’re in will become very easy. I obviously shift up as needed while I accelerate, and I shift down 1 if I’m slowing down a bit. When I’m in a high gear, and I need to stop for a stop light or something, I shift down at approximately the right times. So if I’m in 5th going 50, I’ll clutch and brake. When I get to 40, I’ll shift to 4th, 30 I’ll shift to 3rd, etc (clutch in the whole time). I do this so that if I need to go again before I stop (for instance, the light changes to green while I’m still going 25), I don’t need to shift back up from 1st. I can just ease out the clutch and roll on the throttle and I’m good to go.
I’m not sure if that’s what you were asking about shifting or not, but I hope it helps.
June 5, 2009 at 3:34 pm #19344kellymchParticipantOK, thanks for the shifting information. I didn’t realize the gears were correlated to the speed that way. Duh.
June 5, 2009 at 4:02 pm #19345CandiceParticipantI do what zeppelin said and I also count up and down. I used to just shift a million times down to make sure I was in first at a stop light but now I just count down. Have fun!
June 5, 2009 at 4:58 pm #19354zeppelinfromledParticipantI usually tap it one extra time to make sure I’m in first. On my bike, if you’re in first the shifter doesn’t go down at all when you tap it down, so it’s very easy to tell.
June 5, 2009 at 5:40 pm #19356SantaCruzRiderParticipantCongrats on the new bike(s) Kelly. Sounds like you’re in for lots of fun.
In response to your “issues”:
Signals: just keep working at it. You’re probably a bit overloaded by all the new controls. Don’t lose control of braking for the sake of signalling, but keep working it in and before you know it, it will be automatic. Also, a bit of driveway practice cycling your hands through all the controls can help create musle memory and ensure you’re never looking down to hit that right-turn button.
Shifting: as others have said, you can count up/down, or use some type of reference to speed (though different bike models will be in different gears. I don’t typically do either, but rather match the engine revs to the speed I’m currently. If I’m slowing for a turn, I’m sliding down into lower gears, releasing the clutch with each gear (typically without high revs). This allows me to always have the bike in a gear that allows full control and also avoids ever being in a situation where the gearing is out of sync with the current speed. When shifting up, I shift when I went to reduce revs. I don’t really care what gear I’m in — if the revs are right, I’m in the right gear. If I’m accelerating, the revs eventually get higher than I want and so I shift.
Tailgating: sucks, but I don’t typically have it happen very often. One thing I’ve found that works is to make the driver pay attention to you and recognize that there is a human on the bike. This may be as simple as waving “hi” at a passing car (who cares if you know them), sitting up straighter and putting your left hand on your hip, standing up on the pegs and stretching for a few seconds, moving around a bit in the lane, etc… (Please keep in mind that these should only be executed if it can be done safely.) If that doesn’t work, it might be better to pull over and let the a—ole go by.
Overshooting the bank: That’s a scary one. Basically, you’re saying that you were out of control and unable to ride the bike in the intended direction. If you aren’t able to direct the bike to go where you know ahead of time that you want to go, how much worse will it be when you need to ride it in a direction dictated by unforeseen circumstance. This kind of thing has likely happened to all of us, but IMHO, it’s a sign that you are out of control and the bike is basically riding you. Think about what you’re missing (throttle control, proper lane position, ???) and practice to be safe.
June 5, 2009 at 6:32 pm #19360kellymchParticipantTHanks so much to everyones’ responses! Cool site!
Sorry, Santacruz, when I said I overshot the bank, what I meant is that I was so excited about navigating the stoplight that I forgot we were going to the bank until I saw Hubby turn in. But I do NOT feel 100% in control of the bike by any means.
I like the ideas for tailgating.
Shifting and turn signals are going to take some time…..
Thanks for the welcome to the board, y’all.
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