First Ride

I went for my first bike ride today. My dad handed me down an '06 Ninja 250 as a good introductory bike.

My first ride was... pretty eventful (mostly in good ways).

Start up, get a quarter mile down the road. Bike stalls. Will crank but won't start. Walk it home.

"Hey Dad, the bike stalled do you have any ide..."
"You need to turn the gas selector on."
"D'oh!"

Get it started again.

Gonna take a while to get used to this kind of clutch.

Okay, turning right onto a street and trying to get up to speed at the same time is harder than I anticipated. Thank goodness there was no traffic.

Shift to second and give it some throttle. HOLY E36 M3! I'M berkeleyING FLYING! THERE IS NOTHING AROUND ME!

Road is gorgeous. I'm out in a rural area with wooded curvy roads. Man, this bike handles near telepathically as long as I don't overly tense up.

Oh crap. There's a car behind me. He wants to go faster than I'm comfortable with right now. What do I do? Keep going strait. I'm doing a reasonable speed. He turned. Good.

Okay. Head home. Need to turn left onto my street. Umm... there's a car behind me... and a couple cars coming the other direction. If I were in my Miata, I could go between the two cars. If I try it on a motorcycle when I still suck with this clutch, I will probably get smeared. I am going to have to come to a stop in the middle of the road with a car behind me. He can just be patient.

Get home. Put the kickstand down in the gravel driveway. Get off. Turn off the key and shut off the fuel. Try to put the kickstand up... and knock the bike over... onto my foot. Fuuuuuuuuu... It's okay. I'm in workboots, but my foot is stuck. Try to pick up bike... Oh berkeley. That's the berkeleying exhaust and it's berkeleying hot. Ouch. Okay, grab something that is NOT hot. Get foot out. Tilt bike back up. Thank god this is only a 350# bike.

End of ride... and holy crap was that fun and I'm looking forward to doing that again. I'm going to need a lot more practice before riding into town and navigating things like traffic lights.

Good show! I've about decided a need a Ninja 250 of that ilk to throw knobbies on for my "dual sport".

Good for you on starting with a small bike. Too many people try their hand at something big and get the E36 M3 scared out of them.

Find yourself an empty parking lot. Practice brake, clutch, stops, slaloms, etc... You will gain confidence when you feel comfortable to hit the street.

Appleseed wrote: Good for you on starting with a small bike. Too many people try their hand at something big and get the E36 M3 scared out of them. Find yourself an empty parking lot. Practice brake, clutch, stops, slaloms, etc... You will gain confidence when you feel comfortable to hit the street.

Well, I didn't pick it out. It was a gift. My dad wanted to get back into motorcycles and got it to start himself with before jumping up to a nice BMW touring bike. It is pretty much the right thing for a learning bike for me. I wouldn't want anything larger. Especially not after dropping it on my foot.

So, just deal with streets for getting to said parking lot? (I'm honestly not all that worried since I'm in a tiny town now. The parking lot behind work would be just about perfect and getting there is... one left, one right at a round-about... three miles of 25-40 mph speed limits and a left into the parking lot.)

I should say I have done a bit of practicing clutch and brake just circling the block around my dad's house and a buddy's house a couple times. This was just the first time I ventured out onto a road with anything even remotely resembling traffic.

Read this. Taking my first ride was a few years ago, but I remember that book helping out quite a lot. There's an older edition available as well for about half the price. Just remember that reading doesn't do a whole lot without practice.

A few things that are really good to learn fast:
- Reading drivers - Threshold braking - Scanning for slippery & unstable surfaces and how to adjust riding style when they are unavoidable - How to stay comfortable in poor weather so your discomfort does not distract from the ride

Around here, we have to ride with another rider with an M class license until we get our own. Even if you don't, I would suggest riding with someone. You feel more comfortable having someone lead while you get used to the basics. Also, look into taking an MSF course. It'll quell much of your anxieties.

Don't let cagers crowd you. It's your lane. But you are also invisible.

Do you have safety gear? You WILL go down. I don't mean to scare you, but it's true. Buy the best you can. A HJC cl16 Snell2010 helmet is only $120. Search sites like Denis Kirk, Bike Bandit, etc... for close outs. You can find things on Craigslist for cheap as well.

Good luck and welcome to the club.

Yeah, it's pretty terrifying the first time. But you get used to it. There's nothing like cooly motoring along a nice gently curving road with the sun twinkling between the trees. And if you're into wildlife, you'll be amazed how much more you can see on the bike vs in a car.

Get a copy of Proficient Motorcycling as suggested. Excellent book.

Wear head-to-toe proper gear. I got almost all of mine either used or second hand never worn from the ADVrider classifieds and saved a ton. Even slightly ratty used is better than improper. Proper attire on a bike is actually more comfortable than normal clothes in most cases because it's designed for that posture.

While short bursts of speed are fun, remember that just like a car, hooliganism is for the track. Plenty of m/c track days out there to quell that need.

And never, ever trust someone will see you. I don't look at their faces; I watch the front wheel of their car to see if it starts to move or turn and react to that. Countless are the stories of riders who said later, "He looked right at me!".

Gear is good.

Full face helmet, Gloves past the wrists, boots over the ankle (ankles don't heal well), armored/leather jacket.

But, yeah....that first ride is amazing isn't it?

lemme know if ya ever wanna sell it

congrats on the first ride. Youre hooked now. no point fighting the addiction. start buying gear, and more bikes, and more stuff and ride ride ride

Congratulations! You really should ride with someone for the first season.

Find an empty parking lot and tool around a bit. Go straight and stop using only the rear brake. Then do it using only the front brake. Get used to what it's doing, what it wants and why it does the things it does. Much like changing the radio station or turning on the wipers in your Miata, you do it without looking right? Find the petcock that turns the gas on & off, flip it to Reserve without looking. Do it again. OK, one more time.

You've already dumped it so you got that out of the way, now you have to turn into the driveway with too much front brake and slap you foot on the ground so hard it tingles all day!

Dan

Practice, practice, practice. Every ride I take, I practice. I'll pick something, and work on it for that ride.

Coaching. Wonderful tool, use it. MSF or whomever.

Back yard. Grass is a wonderful tool, being slippery. Take your turnsignals and mirrors off, and go sliding in the back yard. Learn to slide and control the bike at low speeds, and you will become a far better rider. You will fall, that's why the signals and mirrors should be removed. Learn and improve.

Fun. Have fun when you ride.

A 250, you'll likely out grow it in time. Let it happen, when it happens. You'll know. Then, and only then, go looking for bigger/better/different bikes.

Already had a full face Snelll 2000 M helmet from autox. Plan to save up a month or two and buy something newer and keep this as a reserve. Got a solid jacket and gloves last weekend. I am wearing leather hiking boots that cover my ankles.

Plan to take a safety course when I find one that fits my schedule. I want to get brake clutch throttle and indicators in muscle memory first.

Get in the habit of flicking off the turn signal as you click second gear.

Beer Baron wrote: Plan to take a safety course when I find one that fits my schedule. I want to get brake clutch throttle and indicators in muscle memory first.

Mmm. Learn it wrong and you'll waste school time trying to unlearn what you mastered poorly on your own.

The folks that show up at a race school as an open sponge tend to fair better than those that bring personal "race" experience with them.

As a new rider, I'd suggest making a MSF fit your schedule as soon as possible, not when it's far more convenient.

foxtrapper wrote:

Beer Baron wrote: Plan to take a safety course when I find one that fits my schedule. I want to get brake clutch throttle and indicators in muscle memory first.

Mmm. Learn it wrong and you'll waste school time trying to unlearn what you mastered poorly on your own. The folks that show up at a race school as an open sponge tend to fair better than those that bring personal "race" experience with them. As a new rider, I'd suggest making a MSF fit your schedule as soon as possible, not when it's far more convenient.

QFT

I still have a ninja 250. And its still a blast to flog on it. I prefer it to my 1000 on certain days. I second the slide it around in the grass, I learned A LOT from that

You do not need turn signals and brake clutch throttle in muscle memory before going to the MSF class, you need the MSF class before getting those things into muscle memory. :-)

They teach you where to look when turning, when to be on and off the throttle and brake, etc. All important stuff and it's important to learn it right rather than learn what feels right. The person that had the most trouble in the MSF class I took back in the day was a cruiser rider that had been riding for years. he just went as moral support for his girlfriend/wife. He couldn't do many of the exercises that us new riders could. haha

Found a place doing classes on weekends. 60 miles from here. $250. Will call them after work and try to schedule for 2-4 weekends our.

Biggest thing i want to do is just be better at smoother clurch and throttle.

Beer Baron wrote: Found a place doing classes on weekends. 60 miles from here. $250. Will call them after work and try to schedule for 2-4 weekends our.

OUCH! It's $50 for the MSF class here in Ohio. I think it's supported by the state.

Yeah. Thats why I planned to wait. Nor for scheduling but for pay checks.

Congrats!

dculberson wrote:

Beer Baron wrote: Found a place doing classes on weekends. 60 miles from here. $250. Will call them after work and try to schedule for 2-4 weekends our.

OUCH! It's $50 for the MSF class here in Ohio. I think it's supported by the state.

$25 in Michigan -

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation is a national, not-for-profit organization sponsored by BMW, BRP, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Piaggio, Suzuki, Triumph, Victory and Yamaha.

MSF course is free in PA to residents. About the only thing in this state that is.

CA has its own special curriculum.