[jsan08]

Just re read the section of this site that lists some good habits beginners should form. I am actually pretty proud of myself because I have been doing all of them with the exception of maybe keeping my heels in.

So lets see…

“loose on top tight on bottom”

This is one I actually check myself on all the time. When riding I have been reminding myself to stay loose and, I’ll do a little chicken wing flap with my arms to make sure. I also make sure to grip the tank firmly with my legs…perhaps this has been keeping my heels in all along I just haven’t noticed it.

“take turns outside inside outside” along with “look through turns”

The first thing that pops into my head when I even think about turning on a motorcycle is to come from outside, take it on the inside and roll on the throttle as I am leaned over and accelerate though..then of course I TURN MY HEAD and look through the turn to where I want to go. I can definitely see how target fixation is very dangerous

“keep visor closed”

hmm..forgot about that one as well. I do like to ride up until about 20 mph then put my visor down but I see why it is good to have it down at all times when moving…even at 10 mph I bet a bug or small piece of debris would really hurt…and if it got your eye that would be just horrible

“escape plans”
I always try and remind myself to check my mirrors as frequently as possible and keep my SA up at all times.

I just put a post it up of things that I can work on/remember…this way I will see it and remind myself before I ride.

[jsan08]

So I have been getting a ton of practice in these last couple of days, riding 2 times a day most days for 2+ hours. One good thing about a military base is there are certain times when there is minimal traffic around but it is still like a small city with stop signs and stop lights, residential places, etc. I am now fairly confident and familiar with the friction zone on my bike. Haven’t killed it at a stop sign or stop light since that first ride. I have even took it to a couple hilly areas on base and practiced starting from a stop on a hill, over and over and over. I was even able to find an incline much like the one Capt. Crash demonstrated in during one of his videos (one of those loading zone looking areas that trucks back up into). Now that was a pretty steep incline. I made sure and practiced that over and over as well. If I killed the bike I would practice it 5 times more until I could do five in a row without killing it…then I did 5 more haha. I’ve basically just been riding all over base, the speed limit on base is 30 but I took it to 50 (made sure it was safe first) so I could get a feel of how the bike accelerates and the feeling of speed..so far i love it I spent some more time on the big black top doing turns and trying to practice leaning. I have chalk but I keep forgetting to bring it to mark my tires. I can confidently get up and go from a stop sign and shift up smoothly as I accelerate.

I’m at that point now where I’m kind of bored just riding around on base…I really want to get a taste of the freeway (NO PUN INTENDED!)…what I mean is I want to ride on the freeway and see what it’s like. The bird has to leave his nest and fly sometime, right? lol. There is a place about 10 mins down the freeway called National Harbor that me and my buddy want to ride down to (he has been riding for a little over a year now). It’s down by the water and it’s a little harbor town, has a lot of restaurants, a big fancy schmancy hotel and a lot of nightlife. I figure it would be a good first freeway ride. I know I would be a little nervous before the ride, but it would be during a low traffic time and it’s a straight shot down the freeway. The way I’m thinking of it is, I now feel comfortable enough riding with other cars around me on base, I can operate the bike confidently, and I feel like I’m ready for the next step/challenge. I realize I sound like I’m just trying to convince myself lol but what do you guys think?

Also, some other question.

When approaching a stop light/sign, do you brake first and then down shift when you are going slow enough? Or is it ok to pull in the clutch, press the shift peg down, then use the brakes and smoothly release the clutch as you slow down and use the brakes/engine brake…then rinse and repeat as you shift down through the gears. Hopefully you guys know what I mean…

Is it bad/bad for the bike if you come to a stop and you arent in first, but shift down to first while you are stopped? There have been a few times where I kind of forgot which gear I was in or wasn’t able to downshift all the way and then came to a stop light/sign and I would be in 2nd, so before I accelerated again I would put the bike back in first while stopped.

[jsan08]

Alright, so I spent about 2 hours practicing in a parking lot this evening. They used to have msf courses here and the parking lot I use must be the one they used to use because there are markings and lines everywhere. I watched capt. crash’s videos and practiced a lot of slow speed stuff, braking, shifting, and getting real familiar/comfortable with the clutch on my ninja. I walked the bike all the way down the parking lot just using the clutch and friction zone. Another thing I did was practice down shifting and using engine brake instead of the regular brakes. I used some of the markings and just practiced on them, one was a real tight S turn and I did that until I could do it consistently, then there was another tighter S turn that I practiced on. I practiced riding in tight consistent circles while focusing on one spot. I am still a little shaky on those so I want to practice that more. One thing I didn’t get to that I will do tomorrow hopefully is the u-turn with in 2 parking spaces. I am feeling a lot better though with slow speed maneuvering and balance. I had been contemplating taking the bike out on the road, and all that practice had me feeling pretty good so I decided to take the bike out on the street for the first time, just to go get gas because I was almost on E anyway. Of course it was late and there was practically zero traffic on base (planned that one) but it felt good to get that first ride on the road in. During that ride I got practice stopping at stop signs, shifting, downshifting, using the clutch/friction zone, braking, turning, changing lanes, and even a few intersections where I had to communicate with the cages. Not to mention it was nice paying 15$ to fill up a tank rather than the $70 it takes for my truck!

Oh yeah and I was a lot more comfortable not covering the brake the whole time. I definitely felt like I had more control of the throttle and overall just felt better. I kept my right foot by the rear brake a lot like Jeff said he does and that felt good for me as well. I wasn’t in any situation where covering the brake was necessary so I kept my hands on the grips and just switched to the levers as necessary. I found that using my index finger to pull the front brake felt the best and still left me with control of the throttle. Like Jeff noted, I tried going from hand fully on the throttle to four fingers on the brake lever and that didn’t feel good at all. I lost control of the throttle a bit and the bike revved and jumped up on me, I got startled so I immediately pulled the clutch in and used the brake. Overall, even though I was instructor-less I felt like I learned and improved a lot today. I do have some questions though.

When you are down shifting while approaching a stop is it good practice to always down shift to 1st gear? Or is coming to a stop while the bike is in 2nd ok? 1st gear on a 250cc goes so quick that I would rather just leave it in 2nd, but is this bad for the bike/bad practice? I did this once at a stop sign and when I went to accelerate again I ended up killing the bike, not once, not twice…but three times lol. Luckily it was late and no one was behind me or I would have felt like a real dummy haha. Does being in 2nd gear affect the friction zone/amount of throttle you need to take off again? Thinking back on it I felt like it did but I was also a little nervous so that might have had something to do with it haha.

Well, that’s all for now. Thanks for readin’ guys

[jsan08]

I never realized how much motorcycle cops practice…funniest part for me about that video was when he said, “you can’t just expect to play the guitar because you own one”…and here I am watching that video with a guitar in my hands lol. I had just got done playing/practicing!

[jsan08]

Nice job on the triple post…lol

I totally forgot about Cpt. Crash’s videos…I think I will try and practice like you said. I do have a huge empty black top near by that I can utilize as well.

[jsan08]

Thanks for all of the info, so far I’ve learned a lot by reading. I had a question about covering the brakes. Are you supposed to do it ALL the time? I have been using 4 fingers to cover the brakes when riding in the parking lot and it’s very uncomfortable. Yeah I can stop on a dime but I feel like I don’t have very good control over the throttle with just my thumb wrapped around it…like I might accidently pin it. Not to mention it cramps my hand.Are there certain situations in traffic when you do and do not cover the brakes? And with how many fingers?

I signed up for the MSF course, it’s a month away though, it was the earliest one that was open. Until then I still want to ride, I just don’t want to develop any bad habits.

[jsan08]

I have been having the same problem with mozilla and the captcha thing…very annoying. Everytime I want to post I have to open up an IE browser. Sometimes (like right now) when I use IE it doesn’t even ask me to do a captcha, but it always requires it with firefox…

[jsan08]

Thanks everybody…just recently got the bike insured, registered and plated, registration stickers for base, and my permit from the dmv so I can legally ride as long as my buddy is with me. Next up is the rider course, kind of backwards I know but they are all filled up.

I was wondering if you guys had any common maintenance/preventative maintenance tips or recommended things that come in handy. For example, how often should I clean the chain? So far I have a motorcycle cover (it is kept in a parking lot outside), bel-ray chain lube, motul chain clean, and a grunge brush.

[jsan08]

Ha, that’s exactaly what he said what happened! Anyway I finally got my bike! Check out my thread in the general section if you want.

[jsan08]

The guy who was gonna sell me the bike ended up laying it down on the freeway at slow speed in stop and go traffic…this happened on the day he was going to sell it to me! The bike suffered scratched fairings, busted blinkers and a little glass piece where you can see the oil level cracked, so the bike lost almost all of its oil. The rider is ok, luckily. He has minor bruising on some of his ribs, good thing he was wearing full gear. The good news is I found a 2009 Ninja 250 and should be getting it this upcoming week. I love the updated look of the new Ninja 250’s

[jsan08]

Well, last summer when I posted this topic, I wanted a bike sooo badly but ended up not getting one. Now spring is here and summer is around the corner again and I am getting a motorcycle this weekend. I decided on getting an ’06 Ninja 250R (Yellow) it has 4,000 miles on it and I’m getting it for $2k. I’m super excited , now I’m just trying to find some good gear. The gear review section of this website has been very helpful for this. I will probably end up getting the gear featured on this site like the shift pants, etc.

[jsan08]

Ok, that’s good to know!

Well, with your guys help I think I have narrowed down my options for a first bike to the WR250X and the DRZ400SM. I’ve been reading reviews and watching youtube videos. They both seem like great bikes. I feel like I’m leaning more toward the DRZ though. I like how it has a little more power for the freeway.

TrialsRider, you better believe I love the wind! Nothin’ more windy than jumping out of an airplane at 13,000 feet!

[jsan08]

They aren’t so affected by the wind that if a heavy vehicle passes you, you will loose control, right? Please clarify.

After looking at supermotos, they might be the way to go for a first bike. D.C. is very urban and there is always a lot of traffic, even on the freeways. I like the look of the WR250X and how they fit taller riders well…

[jsan08]

I’ve been reading reviews on those supermoto bikes, I was still wondering though, will they be able to keep up/are they safe to ride at freeway speeds?

[jsan08]

Thanks Craig, that puts it in perspective for me. I want my first bike to be under 3k so I’m leaning toward just having liability to save myself money.

Besides the Ninja 250, are there any other bikes you guys can recommend that have the same ‘sport bike’ look to them?

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