Motorcycle Thread

I fucked up so hard today. Fell 6-7 times, fucked both my knees up and had my foot pinned under the motorcycle one time. Good thing I got riding boots and jacket to protect myself. Only thing I didn't get were knee pads =/.

Gonna go back for some remedial lessons later when my knees heal.

Lejina_sl said:

Damn dude, sounds like a bad day, was that the absolute first time you were riding a motorcycle?

I remember when I did my course, the instructor said those who had dirt bike experience often had learned bad habits and the new riders were at an advantage since they were a clean slate. I figured it was just to reassure the new guys. What I observed is those with dirt bike experience were a lot more comfortable on their machines and learned the techniques much faster since they already knew how to operate brakes independently, clutch, etc and while we didn't know about the mechanics of counter-steering we did it instinctively.

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I have never been on a motorcycle before until yesterday. It was a pretty bad day overall. I started off good for about 10 minutes, then wipe the first time. I kinda went to the other side and just did my thing (slalom without cones, tight u-turns, slow riding, etc) and then the instructor said I was doing fine now (which I was), so he taught me how to do figure 8. I did it a few times properly, and then wiped second time I think. My turn was too sharp and I fell. At this point I'm a little psyched out already. My next wipe was the worse. I fucked my right knee up and was pretty much done for the day. I couldn't even do tight turns/u-turns anymore. I kinda forced myself to keep doing them because I really wanted to get better at riding, but I wipe out another time and fucked up my left knee. That's also when I had my left ankle pinned under the bike. I'm gonna take a few days off and re-book with him for some private lessons to complete the program.

A few good things about it is I can now stop and go no problem and got better with my clutch control (I kept stalling yesterday).

Eomer_sl said:

Front or rear, though? If you're regularly having your front ABS kick in, you should probably reevaluate your driving habits.

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I've put almost 2K miles on my '15 Vulcan S and I can say I've felt my ABS once. I agree with Eomer, you must be riding pretty hard and reckless. With that being said I would recommend the Vulcan S as a cruiser/great beginners bike that won't have you wanting more power once you feel comfortable.

Dauntless,
That's a rough first day on a bike, sounds like it's all throttle/clutch control. Stop looking down at the ground and look through your turn. If for some reason you can't get those skills down then I wouldn't take a bike into traffic.

Eomer_sl said:

I don't agree with this at all. Up until I dropped my MS a couple weeks ago I hadn't dropped a bike in 10 years of riding, but that's the exception. Most people will drop their bikes at least once or twice when first learning, whether because they forgot to put the stand down, parked on an uneven surface, or were beside some other dumbass who dropped theirs. I don't know a single biker that has never dropped their bike at this point.

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I haven't dropped mine, I bought it brand new as my first bike ever. I've made newbie mistakes with the bike but I've always been able to correct myself, maybe I'm just lucky.

Lejina_sl said:

It takes a lot more coordination to ride a motorcycle than people realize. Every feet and hands are operating a different command and you often have to use multiple at the same time, plus your entire body is involved as you shift your body weight around. It's a lot to take in and not being comfortable with the clutch alone will reduce how much attention you have left for everything else. While the course is designed to go thru the techniques one tiny step at a time, I feel it still be a lot to take in for someone riding for the first time. To know what you should do is one thing, to have the coordination and muscle memory is another. Takes time.

There's definitely some truth to the saying the bike goes where you look. Unless you have extensive trial experience, staring at the ground is invariably a bad idea whenever you're moving.

Kudos for not giving up, it's a great hobby and it's worth it.

-edit-
I've dropped my trial probably a few thousand times (goes with the territory) but road bikes never. So I dunno how I rate on the dropped or never dropped scale.

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Thanks. It's a personal challenge for me. I have never been good with activities that requires high level of balance. I just want to break out of the mold, and do something I am invariably bad at.

The Dauntless One_sl said:

Thanks. It's a personal challenge for me. I have never been good with activities that requires high level of balance. I just want to break out of the mold, and do something I am invariably bad at.

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This is off-topic kind of but there's a lot of minor sports you could play (such as racquetball) which could help with the balance thing. Have you tried lifting weights before, this helps with muscle to mind connection. Falling 6-7 times in one day isn't exactly common, especially during low speeds doing u-turns, figure 8s, and basic maneuvering. How high was the bike, could you not just put your foot down?

Alpha_sl said:

This is off-topic kind of but there's a lot of minor sports you could play (such as racquetball) which could help with the balance thing. Have you tried lifting weights before, this helps with muscle to mind connection. Falling 6-7 times in one day isn't exactly common, especially during low speeds doing u-turns, figure 8s, and basic maneuvering. How high was the bike, could you not just put your foot down?

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It's a Honda Rebel so the bike is not high at all. Basically, I was frustrated about not keeping up yesterday, and lost confidence in myself today. It was a negative feedback loop, so I just got worse and worse. Like I said, it's a personal challenge. I have always thought of learning motorcycle but was afraid of getting seriously injured, AND I'm not particularly good at balance.

EDIT: Brekk, no I have never driven manual, and that's one of the reasons why it was so difficult for me. I didn't understand throttle control or how to use the clutch to control speed at the friction point until later today.

They make auto bikes now.

Borzak_sl said:

They make auto bikes now.

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I'm not gonna be a pussy.

Yikes, sorry to hear it's been such a challenge. Sounds like you're starting completely from scratch. When I taught myself how to ride my R6, I'd been driving manual cars for a decade. I didn't have much motorcycle experience, just a little 50CC Honda dirtbike when I was 6 years old, but I guess that came back pretty quickly too. Keep at it, you'll get there!

I have been riding for a bit over a year now, and like The Dauntless had never driven a motorcycle before I took the course last year. I was one of 3 people, the other 2 with YEARS of riding experience. The younger kid had been dirt bike riding/racing for a long time and you could tell he was comfortable on the training bikes. The other guy was a monster of a guy, force recon marine who had quit riding for a few years and was just brushing up on things. I felt pretty out of place lol.

I was going to ask about TDO about the stick shift thing too cause I was wondering if that was one of the things that helped me learn a little faster. It was odd to me to intentionally ride the clutch on a bike since its a not so good idea on a car (I now understand the differences in the mechanisms so that helped some.

After I passed the test and had my license I just spent several weeks riding around the neighborhoods in the area, practicing stops, go's, u turns etc. Now I ride everywhere I can. Stick with it bud, its a great feeling and looks to be an amazing hobby!

Don't feel too bad I low sided on my second day of the CA training course (not MSF) when I got too carried away with the countersteering/leaning. I spazed out when I thought I was gonna hit a light pole in the lot going too wide in a turn and braked hard. Broke a bone in my leg but managed to finish and get my certification either way (thanks adrenaline for being such a good pain killer).

If you got a bicycle ride that thing to get improve your balance. Also practice shifting even if you don't have a real bike. Hold your arms up like you are grapsing the handle bars and then go through the motions with your hands and feet. Trust me I was just like you, never ridden a MC other then a scooter briefly and for sure never driven a manual transmission either. I am convinced shifting practiced helped me a lot. I managed to ingrain it in my muscle memory practicing it the week before my class. There are countless youtube videos that show the motions.

You may also want to look into getting a cheap used pit bike. No shifting but its motorized and will help improve your skills.

You need to LOOK where you want to go, your body will follow.
If you look at that tree over there.... yup, you'll hit it!

You body movements make a huge difference when riding, if you sit dead still on the bike it'll be hard to turn.
Lean into the corner a bit and it helps pull the bike around.

Go find a large open area, car park or paddock, and cut laps like a race track with left and right turns of different radius. Slow and faster corners too, once you are feeling ok start moving on the bike a little and see the difference.
One easy thing to do it go through a say Right hand corner and do it a few times, then go and do it again and stick you right knee out.
You are not trying to get it on the ground, you are just shifting you weight.
When you get up to speed with how you body effects the way the bike turns start trying to push your head in the direction you are turning.
this pulls your shoulders and upper body into the corner and you will turn faster again.

I'm no racer and I'm one of the slowest in the group I ride with, these guys are fast though. Wheel stands and rolling burnouts are common.

If you ride a pushy, try standing on the peddles and not moving (track standing) this will improve your balance substantially.

Is it severely different from the mechanics of steering a bicycle?

Pretty much the same basic balancing and countersteering mechanics but most people never go as fast as on a bicycle so the speed on an MC will freak them out a bit initially. Also dealing with the friction zone, shifter, hand and foot break can be intimidating at first. On a bike you just pedal faster to go faster and shift the lever but on a MC you gotta do a lot more.