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If it really is your helmet, that blows! My only advice would be to check with your/a dermatologist.

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As Weapon says, full-gauntlet race gloves should be tight as hell and somewhat uncomfortable when new. After break-in they’ll be perfectly comfortable, at least by my standards.

The best thing to do is to get a hold of an AStars sizing chart. Take a measurement of your hand according to that which the sizing chart uses. Typically you’re supposed to measure around the balls of your fingers (top of your palm) with your fingers spread.

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A few things. First, did you mean park with your bike facing UPhill? If it’s facing up the hill you can always turn it on and use the motor to get up the hill. If it’s facing down and you need to go up, you need to, as you said, walk it backwards which blows. To be really crass and anal-retentive, if you do park on a hill, you should park with your bike slightly downhill-facing but mostly horizontal, kickstand side facing the downhill. If possible, you want your front wheel tucked into a curb to prevent roll.

Tip #7 is a FANTASTIC tip. Can’t tell you how many crashes I’ve seen as a result of the wrong approach to a false neutral (i.e. a “missed shift”). As you say, absolutely SHIFT UP!!! If you shift down, you run the risk of ending up several gears lower than you think, and if you let the clutch out you may end up blowing your engine (if your engine can’t spin fast enough to match your wheel speed in that low gear), locking the rear thanks to excessive engine braking, or both. Either way you’re probably going to be a sad panda.

One note about missed shifts: they’re actually entirely preventable on the street. If, rather than just nudging the shift lever up and letting go, you hold the lever up until the clutch is totally re-engaged, you won’t miss a shift. I assume the same is true for downshifts but I’ve never missed a downshift…I don’t think downshifting is usually a problem for people.

#10 is great too. People dis the track a lot, but I’m of the opinion that people would be MUCH better riders and drivers if they were all required to attend performance riding/driving schools on the track. One of the things you are forced to do on the track is to employ the one-time rule: for a given corner, you brake once, turn-in once, and get on the throttle once. No braking some, turning in, realizing you’re going to fast, braking more, then turning harder, then realizing you’re turned in too hard, so you turn out, then get on the gas, start to run wide, chop the throttle, adjust line, get back on gas, blah blah blah. The key is to, as you say, set your entry speed on the low side with one firm application of the brakes, turn in deliberately, and as SOON as you’re turned in, crack open the throttle just a bit. From that point on, your throttle use should be steadily and smoothly increasing all the way through the corner. Good tip!

Oh yeah, and #2 is annoying, isn’t it? My housemates thought there was a starving kitten in our garage until I corrected them. Freakin’ Kawasaki and their retarded gas cap vents.

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But I’m still very skeptical of the whole “loud pipes save lives” business. Here’s why:

1) I think the argument that loud pipes aggravate other drivers and make them more prone to aggression or inconsiderate driving is VERY valid.

2) Most “loud” pipes, at least those that I’ve heard, are such that you almost entirely lose any sense of where they originate. They’re just loud, indistinguishably so at 100ft as they are right next to you. If you’d been riding in traffic with loud pipes a few cars back from you, and throughout the course of a 10 minute highway drive that bike had snaked its way next to you you, you’d never know it from the sound. It would have just become a constant source of noise and irritation that would have melted into the background at that point.

3) I’m not convinced that, since most collisions (at least according to recorded statistics) result from oncoming traffic at intersections (i.e. b#$%tches turning left into a motorcyclist), the acoustics even work out. I’m no acoustical engineer, but with the combination of sound leaving your muffler predominantly towards the rear and the fact that you’re traveling in the opposite direction, sometimes fast, it seems that it might not be so noticeable to the cars that matter.

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In experience it’s always my hands that suffer. Layers and a jacket keep me warm on top, and the bike keeps me warm on bottom, but my hands don’t get protected by either of my bikes’ fairings, and full-gauntlet gloves tend to be race-oriented and therefore focused on ventilation and cooling rather than heat retention. When I was riding around in the unusually cool Seattle winter this last year (20-25 degrees F…not much for Alaska, but SUPER cold for Seattle), I’d have to stop at a couple grocery stores and coffee shops along the way to un-numb my fingers.

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…is when David recounts a conversation with a younger rider who, when confronted with a four-way stop intersection, assumed his right of way would keep him safe and broke his leg on the front of a truck. Put in “English,” he trundled across the intersection while a big truck ran its stop sign, t-boning him at low speed and breaking his leg.

So, it goes something like this:

Young guy: “…but he had a stop sign!”
David: “…but he didn’t stop!”
Young guy: “…but I had right of way!”
David: “And now you have a broken leg!”

Point being, this is definitely one of those situations where, from the sound of it, it may have been caused by irrational or abrupt braking on the part of the SUV. On the other hand, if these guys hadn’t been riding in a swarm with too small a following distance to the next car, most of them would still be alive, unbroken, and riding onwards. Having an appropriate following distance is one of the most important parts of safe riding or driving, yet nobody seems to do it.

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Not only do the riders not have anything to gain and everything to lose as eon said, but their sponsors wouldn’t have it. Even if Valentino, Hayden, Edwards, Pedrosa, etc. WANTED to compete, they’d get forced out by their management and sponsorship. This short blurb kind of alludes to that:

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news/valentino-rossi-exhibition-lap-2009-isle-man-tt/

Notice: not riding his GP YZF-M1, but rather a production YZF-R1 (saves $1+ million in potential damages), and riding with old geezer race hero of old behind a pace car.

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…I don’t want to give bad advice. The one thing I know for a fact about the former Virago 250 (now called the V-Star 250) is that, due to its very light weight and relatively low power output, it may not be ideal for highway riding. The downside of going with a larger bike is that they are generally less easily maneuvered, and harder to control for newer riders. If you’ve had fairly extensive experience on the 250 during your lessons, you may be up to the task.

I would probably point you towards the Vulcan 500 or S40 myself. I have heard very good things from Vulcan owners, though I haven’t heard anything bad about the S40 either. A bit more weight and more power will make for a much more pleasant ride on the highway, but neither bike is large enough or powerful enough to present too much of a problem to a new rider. Just be extra cautious for the first few months, and really practice the crap out of your new bike (e.g. clutch control, emergency stops, tight maneuvers, swerves, etc).

One more thing: how tall are you? I’ve heard of tall riders having issues on the 250. I sure did when I took my MSF course. I would definitely suggest going to a dealer and sitting on all of these bikes. Comfort is a large part of the equation.

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With motorcycling, that tends to be the answer (“more practice time,” that is). Thanks to, like I said, being mostly interested in the corners up to this point, the things that are really giving me trouble are pre-braking entry speed, braking start, post-braking entry speed, and turn-in. Everything else is going really well. I guess, like you said, more time in the saddle will probably save the day.

Thanks for your thoughts!

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Dude, you’re flying! Watching your vids is always a lot of fun, and a good way for me to learn a thing or two.

I want to get inside your head for a bit though. I have a question for you, something that I’ve been struggling with for a while. I’ve never gotten a satisfying answer from racers at the track. They seem so far removed from their initial learning process that they can’t put themselves in the place of a beginner.

I’ve never really cared much about lap times. I’ve been more interested in getting corner entry speed right, line right, and exit right. As such, I waste a TON of time on the straights either on neutral throttle or coasting down on engine braking. Now that I’m trying to pick up the pace a bit, I’m trying to set fixed braking points, turn in points, etc. and really tightening up my ride. The problem is, the change in speed created by one reference point screws up everything else. For instance, if get on the throttle earlier coming out of a turn –assuming it was the right choice– means you exit the corner faster, which means you get to the end of the straight at a higher speed, which means you need to start braking earlier or brake harder to get down to your entry speed. That means you need to move your braking marker forward.

My problem is that I’m both trying to “initialize” so-to-speak AND trying to optimize all these points at the same time: braking later when I can, getting on the gas earlier, turning in harder, leaning more. As a result, my reference points are in a constant state of flux, and they don’t seem to want to converge.

Any advice? How did you settle on your various reference points?

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Amazing how that incessant “you go where you look” mantra actually has some substance to it, isn’t it? Your mind-over-matter mental muscling in a…no, scratch that…in TWO tough situations shows you that you’re getting there. Now you’ve figured out the basics enough that you don’t waste your attention on them, freeing you up to make critical judgments like this. Next step? Being able to make that call on auto-pilot as well.

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Elwood covered the bases already, but I would just go further to say that, based on the use cases you describe, the V-Star 250 is the perfect bike for you. The only issue I’ve known people to have with it are a) trouble with speeds in excess of 80mph, and b) trouble for tall (well over 6′) riders. You seem to avoid both of those issues.

It’s a great beginner bike! I rode one during my MSF course and it’s very easy to learn on.

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Like Munch says, try each one for size. See which one feels more comfortable.

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I’d think that for the first street motorcycle you own, the fastest consumer vehicle you’d ever been in/on would suffice. I mean, you may have legitimate reasons, but I don’t know of them yet

In any case, I made this totally sweet spreadsheet a while back that has a bunch of information on a whole slew of motorcycles. Check it out for ideas, and if you have any questions, by all means, ask!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rU4QBnyJGHjHiCQAtii4KeQ&single=true&gid=0&output=html

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When adjusting mirrors, I want to get as much blind-spot visibility as I can. I therefore have my mirrors turned pretty far out, so far that I can just see the tips of my elbows on the inside edges. I do have to move my head to see behind me, but I personally find the sides to be more vulnerable areas.

I know what you mean though. Bike mirrors tend to be pretty crappy relative to those in cars in terms of total visibility.

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