Tips and advice for new or inexperienced motorcycle riders

[FalxZZR]

New rider tips and advice:

A short ride yesterday got me thinking. Just as I started everyone starts, not doing the right things, and without someone to tell them any different, some people never progress, or progress while devolping bad habits.

So, I thought I would start a kind of advice thread for new riders. Observations and tips to help them out, coming from experienced riders (and god knows I still have alot to learn) What I would like to do is get advice from members of the board, and as the advice comes in I will update this first post and try to keep it all neat and tidy.

Preparation for the ride:

1. Wear your gear! I dont care who you are or what you think. Gear could save your life! Helmet, gloves, jacket are a MUST! Other than getting to a full leather suit (which is another thing I would recommend) You also want to think about your choice of footwear and legwear. Jeans are an absolute minimum, but really arent much protection at all. Leather pants or even textile riding pants are a better choice. If you dont have riding boots try to wear 'over the heel' boots, that way if something happens your ankle doesnt snap like a twig, the more support for your ankle, the better. (FalxZZR)

2. Get your mind right. Be relaxed when you ride. Dont go out if you feel sick, if you just broke up with your girlfriend, or if your great grandma just died. Your state of mind is very important to your concentration levels out on the street. (FalxZZR)

3. Know your tires. This is something that people overlook, but the better you know your tires, the more you can trust them and make the bike do what you are intending. By knowing your tires I mean pay attention to things like; how long it takes them to heat up, how they are worn, how sticky they actually are, and how the tire is profiled. (FalxZZR)

4. Maintenance. Oil changes, chain lubrication, good tires, and other routine maintenance tasks ARE important! You can't save a dime by skipping these things. This is especially true with sport bikes, which offer insane performance in an ultra-lightweight package. Besides, bald tires and dry chains just scream "NEWBIE!", and you wouldn't want to be called that, would you?!? (Desmo2)

Riding:

1. Keep your eyes on the prize. What I mean by this is that one of the most important things you can do to be a better (and safer) rider, is to look where you want to go. I mean this quite literally. Have your eyes focused on where you want your bike to go. Keep your eyes and head up, if you are looking at the road right in front of your bike that is not going to help much. Look through your corner as much as possible. EYES UP! (FalxZZR)

2. Balls of your feet on the pegs. (this goes mostly for sport riders, but can help anyone) You want your weight in the corners to be on your foot pegs more than anything else. Not your arms, not your butt, but right on the balls of your feet, which should be firmly planted on your pegs. When cornering, you want your weight to be on the inside foot peg.

3. Ride your own pace! Dont try to be speed racer, your not, you are YOU. Most importantly DONT TRY TO SHOW HOW FAST YOU CAN RIDE by trying to catch up with someone who is faster than you. Other riders would rather wait for you than have to turn around and come get you becuase you wrecked. Alternatively, if you are riding behind someone who is considerably slower than you, get past them. (safely!) Running up on someone in a corner can be just as dangerous as anything when riding. (FalxZZR)

4. Figure out the correct riding position for yourself. Everyone will be a little different. Your correct position will becomfortable for you, but keep in mind a few things; Feet positioned correctly on your pegs. (remember?) Arms should be slightly bent, if they are straight they will act against the natural gyroscopic motion of the bike. Your arms arent there to hold you onto the bike, you dont have to have a death grip, and you want your arms to be almost slack, meaning the stiffer your arms the more you are working against yourself in a corner. (FalxZZR)

5. Figure out how to position your body correctly. I may start a section of this post for advanced riding techniques later, but for now I am not talking about leaning your body off of the bike. Just yesterday I had a gentleman tell me that he felt like if he stayed straight with the road that the bike turned in easier and better. This may feel like its true but is counterintuitive. At the minimum you want to be straight up and down with the bike (not the road) at all times. As you progress you will start to move your body weight into the corner. Remember, most of your weight should be on the pegs already but you will have some extra body weight to throw around. This goes right along with the keeping the weight out of your arms, body positioning, and feet on the pegs tips. (FalxZZR)

6. Ride like EVERYONE is trying to kill you. As far as just riding about town, the number one all time rule I follow (that has saved my ass countless times) is to ride like you're invisible. Cars are GOING to pull out in front of you. They're GOING to cut you off while changing lanes. They're GOING take a turn at a light before you. It's inevitable, whether they actually see you or whether they're just being a jackass. (Jarvicious)


I would like to see what some of our other members have to offer up. Please post in this thread for tips for new or inexperienced riders. AS the posts come in I will move everything into this post and give credit to whoever posted the tip. There are hundreds of things im missing and dont know so I would really like input for this!

[T-dawg]

a handy pdf for beginning riders http://www.msf-usa.org/downloads/Riding_Tips.pdf

[T-dawg]

feel free to remove this if it doesnt fit . Not relative to this time of year but more for cold weather riding

Here are some strategies for dealing with the worst winter has to offer:

Ice

Black ice — really just an ominous name for hard-to-see frozen water on the road — can occur any time the temperature has been near the freezing point, or where frost can form. Some touring bikes have an air-temperature thermometer, but adding one to any bike is a cheap fix.

Bridges are susceptible to icing because they are disconnected from the warmth of the Earth and cool faster when air temperatures drop. Watch for spots on the road that are shaded from the sun. Well-traveled roads are often better, because passing traffic melts and dries the moisture.

If you do feel like you're on an icy patch, don't make any sudden moves, and don't touch the brakes. Pull in the clutch and let the bike coast until you're clear.

Hypothermia

That cold shiver up your spine isn't just uncomfortable. It could also be a warning.

Hypothermia occurs when your core body temperature drops significantly, and it can be deadly.

Temperatures don't need to be below freezing to induce hypothermia. Wind chill gets worse as wind speeds increase, and the longer you're out, the worse it gets.

One early sign of potential hypothermia occurs when you start feeling cold and you can't decide if you should pull over or not. The answer is always yes, but your judgment may be clouded. Long before this point occurs, you should have pulled into that nice warm cafe and had some hot chocolate or soup.

Uncontrolled shivering and chattering teeth are signs of real danger. You may start to feel dizzy, or even drunk, as your muscles begin to stiffen. Continued exposure may cause the shivering to slow down or even stop, but by then you're in serious trouble.

The well-dressed rider

How do you mitigate the dangers of cold weather? First of all, cover up.

It all boils down to insulating your body. To do that, you need to layer.

Synthetics work better for your inner layer than cotton, which holds moisture against your skin. On top of that, wear fleece, wool, or other layers that provide insulation. The idea is to let your body create a warm pocket of air between you and the environment.

Finally, you need to stop the environment from stealing your warm air. Your outer layer needs to block the wind. Leather works; denim, for example, doesn't. These days, we also have a broad array of choices in nylon gear made specifically for motorcycling that provides versatile weather protection with vents, removable liners, waterproof membranes, adjustable fit, etc. If you choose outerwear that isn't waterproof, such as a leather jacket, be sure to carry a rainsuit that fits over it. Getting wet robs you of your insulation.

Whichever outer layer you choose, remember that it should provide crash protection, too. Buy gear made for motorcycling, not the fashion show.

Hands can be particularly vulnerable to the cold. Gauntlet-style gloves will help you seal the gap between gloves and jacket. Gloves with a breathable, waterproof liner will keep rain out while allowing moisture from perspiration to escape.

It may be obvious, but a full-face helmet will keep you warmer than no helmet, or an open-face helmet. Sealing the area around your neck with a bandanna, or better yet a fleece or wind- and waterproof neck warmer, can make a dramatic difference. A balaclava (right) under the helmet provides a lot of additional comfort for minimal bulk.

What about the bike?

No matter how well you're dressed, cold air has a way of sneaking in and robbing heat. The longer you're on the road, the worse it gets. Your front line in the defense against cold is to block the wind.

A windshield or fairing is a good front-line defense. Mounting a small windshield on your handlebars, if your bike doesn't have one, can be enough to divert the wind off your chest and help keep your upper-body vital organs warm.

Going electric

No matter how well you dress, if you're on the road long enough, you'll lose more heat than your body can generate. Long riders resort to electrical assistance.

Heated clothing, which uses your bike's electrical system to power heating elements, makes a huge difference by not just insulating you, but adding heat to the whole equation.

Gloves start around $100. Vests, depending on the style, can go from $100 to $200. Socks can range from simple D-cell powered items that sell for around $25, to $90 systems that hook into the rest of your electric riding gear.

Make sure your charging system can handle the load. Find out the output of your charging system, add up the draw from all your electrical gear, and make sure you're not draining your battery. Also, leave a margin of error, because your bike's output may be measured at cruising rpms and it may produce considerably less electrical power at idle.

For many riders, a vest alone is enough. If you keep your torso warm, your body will focus on pumping warm blood to your extremities. If you torso gets cold, you body will abandon the extremities to try to keep the vital organs warm, and that's when you can suffer from dangerously numb hands or, possibly, frostbitten toes.

Chemical options

Another option is a lightweight, disposable heat pack, which offers a different kind of protection.

Imagine you're out for a ride on a nice fall day. You're so consumed with the changing leaves that you don't notice how far you've ridden. It's getting dark and cold — fast. A bit of quick heat can make all the difference.

An outdoor gear store, or even one of the big-box retailers that sell recreational goods, will have chemical packs of the type hunters use. Be careful, because some can produce up to 150 degrees, so don't put them next to bare skin.

Keep hydrated

One last thing to think about — that you might not think about: Drink lots of liquids. Dehydration may be foremost in your mind in the hot months, but you still lose moisture in winter. Cold, dry winter air can suck moisture out of you and you may not notice that you're perspiring.

[desmo2]

Oil changes, chain lubrication, good tires, and other routine maintenance tasks ARE important! You can't save a dime by skipping these things. This is especially true with sport bikes, which offer insane performance in an ultra-lightweight package. Besides, bald tires and dry chains just scream "NEWBIE!", and you wouldn't want to be called that, would you?!?

[Camber]

go back and read the previous posts about hallett. thats my tip. cody already hit on it but going back and reading everything that dave, ron, troy, and devo talked about as far body positioning and looking thru your corners helped me alot once i got my bike and got on the street. you dont have to be going all out balls to the wall to use these tips to your advantage. and as far what cody said about going at your own pace. this is the greatest thing you can do. if there is a regular riding road near your house ride it by yourself at a slow pace and learn it and work your way up to speed. i did this with both route o and ww, and i feel it greatly improved my abilities.

[Jarvicious]

As far as just riding about town, the number one all time rule I follow (that has saved my ass countless times) is to ride like EVERYONE is trying to kill you. Ride like you're invisible.

Cars are GOING to pull out in front of you. They're GOING to cut you off while changing lanes. They're GOING take a turn at a light before you. It's inevitable, whether they actually see you or whether they're just being a jackass.

A lot of sport bike riders get pegged as being dangerous on the road, cutting off cars and generally being a danger to themselves and other traffic goers. I do have a tendency to ride a bit more aggressively when I'm on the Duc simply to make sure cars are are aware of my presence. I'm not talking about lane splitting and riding wheelies, but if there's a car in the lane beside me or in front of me that's driving erratically, I'm going to either zip ahead or slow way down (usually zip ) just so I know where that car is and what it's doing (and they know where I am). It's a fine line, but zooming past a couple of cars to get out of a hairy situation is better than ending up under some dumb schmuck's Suburban in the middle of 63.

[Jarvicious]

Here's a link also to a section of the Monster forum I'm on where people can post up about their accidents and what they did wrong or even a situation that was almost an accident that they pulled themselves out of. I've been in a couple of nasty "oh shit" moments where knowledge from these threads pulled me out. They're stickied at the top of the page.

Riding Techniques

[Geforce]

+1 ... one of the things I got in the habit of doing is "warming my tires up" just before a red light or stop sign if someone is behind me. Most people would take it as 'wow look at this jack ass' ... but it gets their attention and HOPEFULLY they stop in the right spot because they've seen me. ***Don't do this when in formation or group rides***

These two may have already been posted but here goes...

Before you ask your bike to do anything but cruise...warm your tires up. This is especially important when you have a great set of dual or multi compound tire. Please do not leave a parking lot and try to throw your bike down low into a corner without having that rubber properly warmed up. One of the biggest mistakes new riders make is trying to show off or get aggressive with cold tires.

What I do... I start rolling, make sure the bike is running good, I scan the road sruface and make sure there isn't any traffic/kids/debris around and then start to weave back and forth allowing the tires to start to heat up BEFORE I need to use that rubber.

Street sense...everytime you pull to a stop at an intersection scan the intersection and find an escape route. If you are the first to come to a stop. Keep it in 1st and watch your mirrors. Be prepared to move in a hurry. I always angle my bike so I don't have to do some crazy swerving and I can focus on the movement. If you've ever been hit from behind before...you will do this. All it takes is once. Don't trust anyone.

Part of being a great rider is being humble and absorbing every bit of knowledge you can and sharing it with those who are eager to learn.

[Geforce]

+1 ... one of the things I got in the habit of doing is "warming my tires up" just before a red light or stop sign if someone is behind me. Most people would take it as 'wow look at this jack ass' ... but it gets there attention and HOPEFULLY they stop in the right spot because they've seen me.

These two may have already been posted but here goes...

Before you ask your bike to do anything but cruise...warm your tires up. This is especially important when you have a great set of dual or multi compound tire. Please do not leave a parking lot and try to throw your bike down low into a corner without having that rubber properly warmed up. One of the biggest mistakes new riders make is trying to show off or get aggressive with cold tires.

What I do... I start rolling, make sure the bike is running good, I scan the road sruface and make sure there isn't any traffic/kids/debris around and then start to serpintine back and forth allowing the tires to start to heat up BEFORE I need to use that rubber.

Street sense...everytime you pull to a stop at an intersection scan the intersection and find an escape route. If you are the first to come to a stop. Keep it in 1st and watch your mirrors. Be prepared to move in a hurry. I always angle my bike so I don't have to do some crazy swerving and I can focus on the movement. If you've ever been hit from behind before...you will do this. All it takes is once. Don't trust anyone.

Part of being a great rider is being humble and absorbing every bit of knowledge you can and sharing it with those who are eager to learn.

[shorelord]

On bike night this last monday i watched a fellow rider go down if it wasnt for his gear it could have been much worse. And he was trying to ride a little fast for his experience level which has probaly happened to us all,the biggest thing i think is just like these guys said ride at your own pace, what ever your comfratable with and i dont think anyone has a problem waiting at the next turn off.