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Im planning to learn how to ride a motorcycle in the summer but I dont know anything about it. Just wanna know the basics, like how to go, changing gears, what to do with the gear when slowing down, braking and all the good stuff of being a motorcycle rider.

I have enough money to buy a used bike. I have 4k or less to spend.

Sit on it.

Hold handlebar.

Don't fall off.

( Seriously though, just take a motorbike course at the local college )

Locally here in Atlanta we have the Honda Motorcycle Safety Course which teaches anywhere from never been on a bicycle to people who have been riding motorcycles since their were kids. Taking this course also lowers your insurance rates and is a direct replacement for getting your M class license in Georgia. There are more of these same programs around the country. Where are you from? I'll help you find a safety class near you.

This post has been edited by eightsixdrifter9 on Jun 24 2007, 11:51 AM

Im live in LA California. Ive been wanting to ride a motorcycle since i was 16 but now 20year old. Motorcycle seem so fun to ride and with a group its more fun.

I have a helmet from my cousin but now bike



This post has been edited by SilviaSlider on Jun 24 2007, 01:05 PM

well its kind of like driving a manual car. instead you clutching with your hand and shifting with you foot. to put it into first you pull the clutch in and push the shifter down, give it alittle gas then slowly release the clutch to get rolling. when its time to change to 2nd. you clutch in and lift the shifter up with your toes. most bike and 1 down 4 up and otherwise its just like riding a bike with some balls.

Buy a Kawasaki, learn kamikaze piloting techniques, and pray that you don't injure yourself or others... that's what I did. And I learned real fast not to forget where the brake was... slammed into a fence at 25 mph. It was rather painful for a short while. Frankly, I was more worried about the bike than about my own injuries.

O_O

does the cheaper insurance thing work with cars too? Like say you took at a performance driving school, would your insurance be cheaper?

I would doubt that a performance driving school would lower your insurance rates, but perhaps a secondary road safety course would. In New Hampshire, in order to get your license you either take driver's ed and get it after you turn 16 or you wait until you are 18 and just pass the DMV exam. Without driver's ed, your insurance rates are through the roof. When it comes to bikes, you can go in, pass a 20 question test and get your motorcycle endorsement, which is like a motorcycle learner's permit. When you feel you're ready and/or your endorsement expires you take an exam at a special DMV to get your license. The DMV also offers a motorcycle training course which costs $110.00 but would result in lower insurance rates.

What kind of bike are you going to learn on? Something below 500cc is your best bet. That way it has enough power to be fun while you learn, but not too much that you wind up with your limbs broken. My friend Dan who is 28 bought a Honda Nighthawk 750R for $450. The thing is so intimidating that he's learning on my '79 CM400T for the time being.

IMHO,

1) Get a really cheap street bike to start.
2) If you're planning on racing, then get a something like a 250 Ninja if you can find it cheap. If you're going to get a cruiser, then get a 450 or so. Even older bikes are fast compared to cars, so look for well-maintained vs. "cherry" w/parts.
3) Enroll in a motorcycle training course. These courses are usually held on the weekends and will teach you how to avoid making common mistakes (like trying to use your back brakes in a panic).
4) You get to meet other riders of different kinds of bikes and it's fun.
5) Upon successful completion of the safety course, any good insurance company should give you a price break.
6) Be warned though: In general, your insurance rates will be higher if you're younger and you don't have a history of riding. Also, your rates will be higher if you ride a crotch-rocket.

Get an old bike. Learn to ride, beat the crap outa it. Nothing really fast, justan old Honda or something. New bikes: Kawasaki EX250 or EX500 Suzuki SV650 or GS500. Alpinestars or Sidi boots, Aerostitch, MotoGP, Joe Rocket, or Teknic gloves/jacket/suit, Arai Scorpion and HJC helmets. Note: I motard so I use an HJC CL-SP street helmet. It's great! At first if you're nervous, don't worry. You'll get used to it if you ride often. Good luck!

*Edit: Find a good parking lot. You'll see...

This post has been edited by Dakai on Jun 29 2007, 12:26 PM

I use an HJC CS-10 for riding b*tch on my dad's ZX-6. I think it was $90 and swapping shields between clear and tinted is a piece of cake.

i, i don't know where to start...

do you know how to use a clutch in a car?

find out where the nearest MSF basic rider course is and take it. pretty much every dealer will know of them, or you can look one up near you online.

that should get you licensed, it will be a weekend long course.

then find a used kawasaki ninja 250 (this is THE benchmark starter sport-bike/traditional motorcycle), should be no more than 2k in decent running order. make sure the brakes work, the oil is good, etc, just like any motor vehicle.


now... skin soft, asphault hard! get good gear.

go spend about 1k on gear, i'm not f**king with you here, you need a good set of gear. idiots might compain about it being hot, and expensive... but sweat wipes off, skin shouldn't, and it's a lot more fun than spending the money on emergancy room visits where they will rub your raw road rash down with steel wool to get the dirt out, and you will hate life... lol.

find a "cycle gear" (it's a chain, check their website) near you, go in the middle of the day in the middle of the week so it's slow.

-if your helmet is more than a few years old, looks old, or doesn't fit perfectly, you might as well buy a new one with the help of someone who knows how to fit helmets (size and shape of helmets differ by brand, so it can take a while to fit one to your head). i wear a shoei rf-1000. but price DOES NOT EQUAL SAFETY. only comfort features. this could be an article in itself, and IS all over the net.

-buy proper boots (i wear alpine stars SMX-4's).

-buy proper full leather gloves (nothing with mesh if you like your palms having skin, and NOT joe rocket), gloves are very hard to fit, like helmets, i have several pairs. they come in "gloves" which stop at the wrist, and "gauntlets" which cover the bottoms of your sleeves. gauntlets are safer, but more picky as to which jacket sleeve they will fit over. a glove should fit your fingers, but NOT be tight on their tips, because it will be tighter when your palms are on your grips. buy your gloves at cycle gear because their return policy is basically no questions no problems.

-buy a good leather jacket (everyone needs at least one leather jacket in life anyway, lol.)

-buy at least kevlar weave pants, but nothing beats real leather. the tradeoff with leather is that you look a bit goofy if you are going out somewhere. the boots blend alright and everything else comes off, but your pants are your pants, ya know? DO NOT EVER WEAR NORMAL JEANS, they will fall apart in about 10 feet, and so will your skin.


well, that's just the basic basics. notice how the gear was a longer read than the bike? that's because you can fall off any bike.


http://www.webbikeworld.com/ loads of gear reviews and gear articles.

http://www.newenough.com/ loads of "big brand" gear, with loads of great pics and generally good comments on the gear.

http://www.cyclegear.com/ previously mentioned. you will pay a little more than ordering online, but they can still get most everything, and their return policy is awesome. no restocking fee BS either. just last week, i took some gloves i hadn't worn but a few times in to a store in CT, that i bought in FL, and they gave me a no hassle credit on another pair i wanted right there.

^ Good Advice.

A very importent thing would be to not get discouraged. You will suck at first, but don't worry you will get better. Don't just climb on the bike and go 140 down the highway. Getting up to speed is much easier than realing it back in and cornering. There is no way for somebody to tell you how to ride with written words. If I start talking about countersteer and target fixation you will have no idea what I'm talking about. You just need experience. MSF is a good start.

To add to vrrf1d's post:

In regards to the bike:
- I'd recommend you learn stick shift in a car first unless you can get a lot of "secure" seat time on a bike. By "secure" I mean, you, your instructor, your bike on a close track / space. The last thing you want to do while stuck in the middle of cagers is to stall into 2nd and drop the damned thing.
- ALWAYS THINK THE CAGERS (ie: cars) ARE GOING TO KILL YOU AND ACT ACCORDINGLY
- Keep an eye on your 7 and 5 o'clock for fast bogies... especially if they're SUV's or trucks. Them passing you can cause a draft bad enough to throw you off if you're not expecting it let alone not comfortable with the bike yet. If you're being passed hard by a 16 wheeler, I'd really like to know what the heck are you doing.
- Relax. Tightening your body when nervous only makes things worse - unncessary feedback into the chassis will just perpetuate any wobbles or vibrations

In regard to gear:
- If you're going to go for the Ninja 250, be aware that it is a bashee. It will scream like it's going to blow (it's not) if you want to extract as much speed / power as you'll need (when it's loaded with a 220+ lbs like me, I can assure you it will scream often). Invest into a set of ear plugs. Even with a helmet, you can hear the damn thing quite readily.
- Spend, spend, spend and spend some more getting RIGHT equipment. Get the armour, get the helmet (FULL face btw - I've seen too many horror stories with open facers getting their chin removed) and try it for at least 5 minutes before you buy. If it pinches in 5, it will HURT LIKE HELL after 10.
- Leather pants look silly but would you rather look silly than be proven silly when you need a skin graft after falling off the bike going 30mph?
- Buy a nice solid back pack to stuff your gear into so you have no excuse not to be prepared
- Buy a vest similar to what construction workers wear (with the reflective strips) if you bike a lot at night. It makes a WORLD of a difference.
- Try to avoid colours that will blend you into the road or background. People will use this as an excuse for not seeing you. Got a blue bike? Get a fluorescent yellow jacket and a red helmet. Tacky? Yes but it beats being dead because you were literally a camoflaged ninja.

Ninja 500s aren't that bad for beginner bikes either.

Frost

make sure your not wearing like..converse chucks while you riding the bike lol
you need harder shoes or it will be unconfortable shifting up

Yup. I am also planning to get a bike in a year or two. I'm most likely gonna get a Honda Rebel or CB750, or an old Kawasaki 750 from the 80's. My neighbors have been riding for 20+years. He has said the same thing. I've also ridden my friends' bikes a few times. A Honda Rebel, nice and light. We have jus ridden on paved country roads north of were I live. No houses or people live up there, just a big wetland and farms.
Be careful as ever. Everyone on the rode is trying to kill you. That helped me a lot when my neighbors and friends told me that. It is true too.

Even if you are good for a while, you'll get messed up. On of my neighbors had that happen to him.He was an idiot for time. He didn't have any problems or falls before. About a year ago He got hit and wasn't wearing a helmet. In the hospital for around a month.

Also my mum's first husband rode a Honda 900. To start off he was a bad rider. From what I am told, he would almost lay the bike down just stopping on dry road. One day when my mum was going to work, she saw a big wreck with a Hona bike and a Toyota truck. As soon as she got to work the hospital called her. He ha gone front first into the truck and went over it. When he landed the helmet had split in half, they are ment to do that. Even with riding jeans and a leather jacket, he was still a big case of road rash.

This post has been edited by takahiro1985 on Jul 2 2007, 07:34 PM

If you're considering the Honda Rebel, the Yamaha Virago 250 is also a good idea. In fact, most reviewers find it better than the Rebel. A 700cc bike right off the bat might not be a good idea since insurance will be high and it'll probably have too much power for you to learn quick enough. I believe insurance starts climbing at 600cc mark.

Kawasaki has some of the best overall bikes for beginners in my opinion. They may not be crazy fast and the best of the best for track runners but they're damned good beginner bikes.

hay hay, kawisaki also makes crazy fast bikes!

the ninja nametag will take you from learning to ride on a 250, to running 9's in the 140's with their zx-14.


actually i think all of the "big 4" japanese makes have good sport learners like the ninja 250, but they just aren't available in the US because of the market. i know honda has like a 125 CBR sportbike in canada and europe.

everyone keeps saying "learn to drive a stick shift car first", seriously, you can do that, or, rent a quad. Same shifting techniques in a quad and motorcycle. A quad has four wheels, so it is easier to focus on shifting and not worrying too much about balance. Plus, if you don't have access to a manual tranny car, a quad is cheaper to rent. Don't go all out on a 300+ cc quad though, you'll end up flipping it. Get a little one.

Oh I know Kawa has some great fast bikes (ZX6R and the limited ZX6RR - we all know the more R's you add, the faster it goes) but as the best of the best, they're not up there with the Yama YZFR... or YRFZ or... shit, I forget the moniker. The Suzuki GSX-R is the bike I eventually want to move up to since it's actually slightly cheaper than the Kawa's.

Btw, Honda CBR125 sucks ass if you're my weight. My rule of thumb is that if my weight is getting close to 80% more than the cc's the bike has, it can't be a good idea to get on any road which requires you to accelerate faster than the cagers around you... which in North America is pretty much every road.

Someone in my neighbourhood bought one and pratices daily so I see (and hear - it's a buzzy engine) him all the time. I had a chat with him and he's not terribly impressed with the amount he had to spend (close to $4000 Cdn) and what he got. Sure the bike's nice, small and light but he weighs 180lbs and still find it inadequate for highway riding. He thinks it was made for maybe 150-170lb people (ie: girls).

For the same price, I'd rather get the Yamaha Virago 250. Beautiful bike, light and sounds terrific. Too bad the top speed is 130km/hr which on most days, is what the 401 runs at.

Frost

ooooooow no u di'nt. fact is, the years of the zx-6rr, the 6r was the fastest 600 class out. (the rr was a race homologation bike, and was a bit slower, lol)


yzf-rX is the line of yama's top end SS bikes.

truth is they are all equally fast in the overall picture. each year they jockey for position for ONE OR TWO extra HP. between all of the big 4's supersports, the difference is closer than the STi and EVO. and much more up to the rider.

my bikes only rival is the hayabusa. they are the two quickest street legal mass production vehicles in the world.

of course, none of these are beginner bikes.

This post has been edited by VRr1FD on Jul 6 2007, 12:13 AM

I was joking about the 6RR... that's the problem with Internet, sarcasm doesn't come through very well. I just found it hilarious how Kawai got stupid and slapped on a "R" to the zx6R and voila!

I personally like the GSX-R... I am nowhere close to getting on a 'busa though I've always loved them. The YZFR is a nice bike but I hear complaints about it being too high winding to be anything streetable. Lately cops have been busting people for overly loud cars and bikes so the Yama would be a magnet with even the slightest exhaust mod.

To me, it's all about the Kawai's and the Zooks. Yamaha has very nice cruisers in their V-Star lineup though.

DISCLAIMER: Again, none of the bikes mentioned in this post or vrR1Fd's posts are beginner bikes and I am by no means an advanced rider.

I like the idea of getting a cruiser and hitting up a country road though I like the sitting position and the rush from a sporty bike. Always a tough choice...

Frost

not stupid! the R is the standard bike, the RR is the race replica. makes perfect sense if you are into the scene. they don't have the 2 600's anymore though, it was only for 3 years or so. now it's just the one "R" again. they felt they didn't need the separation once the latest chassis came out. honda uses the "RR" designation on one of it's 600's and 1000's currently, and of course, those are it's most hard core super sports.


as for wanting a cruiser with loads of pull, check out the classic yamaha v-max. upright position, loads of power. those are pretty famously quick. and they haven't really changed in like 15 years so you should be able to find plenty for sale if they were ever sold in canada.

Ah so that's what that designation means...

But why is it that most people I've run across say that the ZX6R is better overall than the ZX6RR?

I know about the 600RRs from Honda... but I'll avoid Hondas until there is absolutely no other reason for me not to buy Kawa .

The V-Max's are available in Canada and one of the people who go me into biking has one. Fantastic bikes I say.

Right now I have to decide between getting a new bike or a used nice car.

Damn.

Frost

the R has 37cc's more than the RR. the RR had to stay down for racing reasons. so naturally, the R was the better street ride.