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8 Great Beginner Motorcycle Riding Habits
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madjak30Participant
Class started with introductions…three guys, eight women…I expected the ratio to be the other way around. The class ranged from a 20ish woman to a guy who was in his mid to late 50s…broad range…really good mix. We were sitting in class filling out the waivers and going over ground rules…then one of the instructors said” this is getting kinda boring, lets go out to the bikes…we can do the videos later”…well we started slow…at first not starting the bikes, taking turns pushing each other to a jogging pace and practicing balance and controlled stops. Then started the bikes and practiced friction zones…then slow speed, to a controlled stop…
After everyone got the hang of that, we rode over to the practice track/area…and just rode around and got a feel for the bikes. They stopped us after a while and got us to ride back to the “barn” and we were past our end time…I couldn’t beleive how fast the three hours were over, and no videos…I would imagine, we will pay for that tomorrow…now I am kicking myself for not starting this 20 years ago…oh well, better late than never…and maybe the silly grin will be gone by tomorrow morning, but I wouldn’t hold my breath…lol
I will let you know how tomorrow goes…
madjak30ParticipantI would read the story about road rash on this site…I don’t know if I would say pants are essential, but definitely recommended. As for the rest, a good full face helmet, riding gloves with proper reinforcement, and I would say that a jacket is essential. Living in LA area, a mesh or a jacket with a removeable inner liner would work and I would also pick up some boots that atleast cover your ankles. The rebel is a good learner bike, but I don’t know if it would keep up to freeway traffic…I was down there a couple of weeks ago and freeway seems to move at 75-80 mph and you want to be albe to speed up a little if you need to, not be maxed out already. But if you are not planning on using the freeways, then the rebel will work great.
Good Luck, and remember…Safety First…ATGATT (all the gear, all the time)
madjak30ParticipantThey will fit the taller guys better than the ninjas. Suzuki DR400SM, is probably a good place to look. You could also check out the Kawasaki and Yamaha, they are 250cc bikes and would be good for a beginner. Honda also makes the CR230SM. There may also be some better selection on the smaller displacement bikes where you live, compared to North America…here it seems that bigger is better, or atleast that is what sells here.
I would go to a dealership and sit on all the bikes…your first concerne should be fitting the bike. If you are not comfortable on the bike, it will make learning harder.
Good Luck.
madjak30ParticipantI’m 5’11”, and I can’t quite flat foot with both feet at a stop, so it should be a good fit for you. It is quite a comfortable bike, with a 650cc parallel twin…the same engine that is on the Ninja 650R with different tuning, more low to mid torque…I ended up buying a GS500, and it is a little small (height wise) but I am comfortable on it with my feet on the pegs. My inseam is 32″, I would imagine yours is more like 34″…so your knees might sit higher than the releifs in the tank and that might make it uncomfortable.
The dual sports or adventure bikes will be the tallest of bikes, but most of the adventure bikes are 800cc or larger (thinking of BMW GS bikes). The new KLR650 is a pretty nice bike and has a good reputation for durability and go anywhere, just depends on whether you like the styling or not.
Good Luck!
May 5, 2010 at 3:34 am in reply to: How soon after getting your first bike did you go out on the freeway? #26181madjak30ParticipantI got the quote today…here in Canada there is a company that specializes in bike insurance, but they won’t insure non licensed riders. So one insurance price is excellent, then you have to go through other providers for the non licensed…it’s almost double…so, I only have 10 days before I have my road test and the training course here allows you to use one of their bikes for the test…so I can be a licensed rider next Friday and qualify with the specialty insurer, so I have pre-arranged the insurance and will get my registration and update my license on Saturday morning…if all goes well, next Saturday I will be riding my new toy…woo hoo…it’s driving my nuts seeing my bike, and only being able to start it and ride it around my back yard…city lots don’t give you much room, maybe a 60 foot loop…lol
madjak30ParticipantThey are trying to scare you for good reason…the bikes you will be riding in your course are in the neighborhood of 20-25Hp, the GSX-R is somewhere near 115-120Hp…that’s not just a step you are taking…anything over 75-80Hp is a pretty fast bike, so you can see where their caution comes from. If you cannot afford the Buell, or a similar powered bike, the rocket ship you bought really doesn’t “take off” until 7000ish RPM, so short shift…don’t allow yourself to rev it out…but that is only if you can’t find something else to build you skills on first. Of course this doesn’t take into account the very strong brakes, and responsive (read twitchy to a newbie) handling. Like someone said, these are basically racebikes that they put lights on…Just be very careful…my neighbor has a GSXR750, and that thing is a monster that really doesn’t like speeds under 50mph…
Good Luck.
madjak30ParticipantDon’t forget that if you lube your threads, there is usually a slightly different torque that you should use. The torque setting in your book is for dry threads, but it may list a torque for thread lube. I would recommend using something to act as an anti-seize, since most of your torque spec’d bolts on the bike will be into aluminum…dissimilar metals will seize from the chemical reaction, given enough time.
May 4, 2010 at 6:42 pm in reply to: How soon after getting your first bike did you go out on the freeway? #26166madjak30ParticipantI do plan on going on a divided hiway daily, but I live in a City/Town of 10,000 and commute to work in a city of 85,000…not really a lot of traffic compared to most others. The traffic flows freely, and only gets busy on the weekends in the summer. I live in a lake town, so people come from the bigger cities to spend the weekend at the lake. We have two cities within two hours with over 1,000,000. The townies head else where on the weekends…we call the city folks our “terrorists”, since they all come to town to try to pick up the local young girls…get drunk in the bars…get in fights…see what the inside of the drunk tank looks like…not necesarily in that order…lol
Anyway, I side tracked myself…damn terrorists…most of my riding will be an hour south on two lane, an hour east on two lane or two hours north on two lane. Maybe the odd road trip west on two lane to the mountains for the ride. The only time I have to go on divided hiway is from my town heading west for 15 mins…I don’t think it will be that bad. The divided hiway was added to accomodate the city slickers coming for the weekends and I will be heading the opposite direction and laughing at them. On weekends our town can swell to over 30,000…that’s a lot of campers and cabin dwellers…lol
madjak30ParticipantJust because we don’t live in the same country, doesn’t mean we can’t keep each other informed of the progress…you know, your own online moral support line…
I know I am pretty pumped, I called to confirm the class today. I also called to arrange for the dirving test right after the class is complete…hopefully I can get my bike insured and registered on Saturday…then I can practice around my neighborhood all weekend…
madjak30ParticipantI start my course next Wednesday, I had to take a couple of days off work…either that or wait until mid June, so I used a little of my vacation time…this will be a long week…next week will go faster, I will be out of town until my course, so I won’t have time to think about it…I’m in Alberta, Canada, but it sounds like the course layout is similar, except we do all the classroom stuff on the first evening (4hrs), then it is all practical for the other two days (6hrs per day)
May 3, 2010 at 5:50 am in reply to: How soon after getting your first bike did you go out on the freeway? #26132madjak30ParticipantI definately didn’t plan on riding to my buddies place on my first ride…I hope to just ride around the neighborhood, and some back roads for my first couple of days…then maybe ride to the office for the week, which would give me about 15 mins on a divided hiway each way…then if I hadn’t changed to my truck because of nerves, then maybe ride to my buddies on the second weekend…I’ll play it by ear…I take my course on May 12th, 13th and 14th…4hrs classroom, then two 6hr days riding in a closed course. I take my test after the course…I will be getting my registration and insurance ASAP after that. It will be the end of May before I am even thinking of that road trip…this week will be hell though, seeing the bike, having the gear, but no insurance so no riding…
As for following too close, I have a feeling I will have to worry more about people behind me than trying to go faster…I tend to be “that guy” that does the posted speed limit, but I do enjoy accelleration…
madjak30ParticipantA little poke in the eye about your Suzuki jab…
The truck gods got me yesterday, I usually give my Ford driving buddies a hard time…you know Fix Or Repair Daily…I parked my truck Wednesday after playing in the mud, and when I went out to my truck on Thursday morning, the shifter was a little stuck so I wiggled it and it seemed to loosen…pulled a little harder and –SNAP– shifter cable broke…oops…made for a bit of a long day, but I got home…still sucked!
madjak30ParticipantA couple of comments:
1. When I went to buy my truck (3/4 ton with diesel), I couldn’t find one with a manual trans. GM doesn’t even offer one in any of their trucks…I wanted one so that when I am towing I can select the proper gear for a hill that is coming up, either up or down, and also so that I can get into the higher gears sooner. The automatic doesn’t seem to know what to do when I try to accellerate quickly, it jumps around and hunts for the gear before settling…but I guess most people buy these inefficient trucks to pose in, not for work…
2. I would like to see the licenses have a class that approves people to drive a manual transmission vehicle. My wife has never driven one and doesn’t want to, but I don’t think that she should be albe to unless she has been tested in one. Your examples of hill starts with the parking brake applied wouldn’t even occur to a person who has not been properly trained to drive a manual vehicle. I accually had a woman roll back into my truck on a hill, and I had stopped atleast ten feet back from her…her tail lights and rear facia hit the steel bumper of my truck, she jumped out of her car and blamed me for hitting her??? Luckily a bystander saw the whole thing and struck around to give a statement to the police, or I would have been on the hook to replace the whole rear end of her car…I wonder how the conversation went with her husband that night?? lol
I agree with you that the majority of vehicles sold in North America have an automatic transmission (I think I read somewhere that it was 95%), but I wonder if that is because most vehicles don’t even offer them?
Just food for thought.
As for manual cars coming after learning to ride a bike…I had a bike when I was 9, but it was a 3spd with an auto clutch. I learned to drive in a manual trans car because it was more fun to drive dad’s four cyliner with manual than mom’s V8 automatic…
madjak30ParticipantI bought my first street bike last Friday, then had to take a road trip to pick up a car on Saturday (truck and trailer). Shopping with the wife on Sunday (truck and trailer again, furniture). Road trip to job sites all week this week, and heading home for Thursday night…they are calling for “flurries” on the weekend…this is going to kill me…lol
The only ride I had on my new toy was from the driveway in the front of my house, onto the lawn, through the gate down the side of my house, around the backyard once and park on the patio next to the house. We are going to have to clear some “crap” out of the two car garage so that we can atleast park my wife’s car and my bike in the garage…that will probably be this weekends project…although, if I clear out room, I will have an excuse to move it to the garage…lol
So, I am jealous that you were smart enough to start riding last year and have gotten a ride in this year…
madjak30ParticipantOn riding gear and other such stuff, I totally agree. I want an experienced review, but I was thinking of getting the newbie-ish review on the bikes…does it feel heavy to a newbie, power delivery…if you are experienced, you will have a different opinion…just a suggestion…
All reviews are biased, I mean really they are an opinion on an item, so it will be different for all people reviewing it…just thought a green person might have an interesting opinion. Most of us are new to this experience. I know my experience with my GS500 will probably be different from someone else…
I will post my opinion on my bike after a few legal street rides…so far I have only done a lap around my back yard…so I have ridden about 40 ft…lol
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