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I'd agree w/the consensus. Take an MSF course. Otherwise, it is really easy to pick up bad habits which are magnified later if you have bigger, heavier, more powerful equipment.
Stats show that most accidents happen with new riders, or experienced riders w/new to them motorcycles. By a HUGE margin. So know that you are an accident waiting to happen when you start off until you get some miles and experience on the bike you're riding. And be very careful when swapping, different bikes have MUCH more variation that different cars.
Try to find a GOOD rider to ride with who is willing to go slow and patiently w/you. Try to find places to ride with less traffic until you've got good skills and control. Ride your own ride and ride within your limits and stamina. You will learn a lot faster about picking lines and how / when to brake and accelerate thru turns, etc if you can find someone good to ride with.
MSF has an experienced rider course they offer that works on evasive manuevers. When I took it 15 years ago, the 2 best riders in the class were one guy on a gold wing and another w/a full dress harley. The harley had no clearance, and scraped on almost every manuever. They probably had 70 years of experience between them, and one of them was on a stunt team. Worst rider was a relatively new rider on a sport bike which was by far the most able bike in the group. He ended up dropping it w/lots of $$$$ bodywork necessary.
For years, my first ride of the season would be to a local high school parking lot (always a weekend getting the bike on the road), where I could go back and forth working on the balance, form and the evasive manuevers for a bit till I had it "clicking" again.
Practice the manuevers alone, before you even think about a passenger. Go easy when you first have one. A passenger on my bike never made a huge impact, but on some smaller bikes, I could barely get my svelte self out of the way if I was carrying another 6' 200+ soul, too! And I'm used to 3 big disc brakes. Some other bikes couldn't stop anywhere near the distance I'm used to, which is a HUGE scare factor if you end up in the middle of an intersection instead of at the stop sign. Not the bike's fault, MINE. I got lucky that time. (I have the same problem adjusting from my Saab 9.5 5 spd to the honey's Volvo 850 turbo automatic... hers has much more get up and go on the front side, but a MUCH longer coasting range which takes getting used to. I'm on the brakes MUCH harder in her car until I adjust back to it)
Wear safety gear. I'd DEFINATELY start with a used bike, you will probably drop it at some point.
I've done a lot of riding for typical US riders w/seasonal limitations(probably closing on 90-100K): most continental US states on a National Park loop (missed ND & TX), Canada, Mexico, Europe (love the alps....), and had a plenty of embarrassments along the way (dumbasses!). But I've had many close calls which I barely escaped because of other drivers inattention or stupidity. But it usually was proactive riding that got me out of the incident; sometimes I'd be hard pressed to figure exactly why the incident had become so close, or how exactly I had avoided it. I used to commute thru Boston in rush hour on a motorcycle; that seemed like a "close call of the day" period. I am not a conservative rider, but I try to be extremely attentive, and match my riding to conditions and locations.
Avoidance skills will save your life, but you have to have to have them as automatic responses, and you need to be aggressively assertive about using them and keeping them honed. Both riding accidents I've had in the last 20 years (which were relatively minor for me), I might have avoided both had I made better choices; In both, I could point the finger at the other guy. Remember that it doesn't matter who's fault it is if you are critically or permanently injured or killed. It will be you who takes the brunt of an "accident" so stack the odds in your favor the best you can.
I have several friends who are serious, long distance riders, of various abilities and experiences, and know many who are just above beginners, trying to gain skills.
Last year, I had 2 who were killed in accidents, which is the first time I've been faced with this in 2 decades. One was hit by an elderly driver who did a U turn or something (and had the DA considering criminal charges), and the other had a head on collision with a car on a narrow, sandy road with no markings. It doesn't matter to me who's fault either tragedy was.
Wear safety equipment, ride within your limits and experience, and have a blast!
posted by 68.160.3...
, Sat, 13 Dec 2003 10:17:52, Fri, 12 Dec 2003 15:21:35
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