Noob mistakes and lessons learnt...Anyone wanna share?

[Flak Monkey]

remember to turn on the choke all the way before you start riding, or youll be riding a bull

?? I usually dont have to choke my bike at all unless it is a colder day, and even then, I choke it for 10 seconds or so then it idles on its own.

Are you saying you ride with your choke on? If so, there is something wrong with your bike.

i do have to choke my bike for like 30 seconds even if its like 90 degrees or itll die on me, i dunno why. i gotta have my buddy check it out.

i was just saying that one time i left it like half open on accident which gives your bike roids rage, i just had to reach down and push it off after i pulled out.

I can relate. Yesterday I forgot and left the choke about 1/2 way on and while starting from the dead end of a 3 way stop the bike decided to rev on up to way faster than I wanted to be going. I was going too straight to finish the turn and get a handle on the situation so I was in danger of running into the curb/trees on the other side of the road. Instead of grabbing the clutch and applying to rear brake like any normal person would do I tried to turn more while grabbing the front brake. Needless to say the front tire turned all the way left to lock and the bike fell to that direction. I was lucky I didn't high side. Both me and the bike came out remarkably uninjured. I busted the cover on the left turn signal and my left foot was caught under the bike. I have some pretty severe bruising behind my big toe. I don't think it's broken so I'll just stay off the bike for a few days until it starts to feel better.
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Ferrari 166 S

[Shorts]

Aside from be sure to put the side stand down and don't dump the clutch unexpectedly in the garage, from my learning thus far, I've found when I goof the controls, the best thing to do before grabbing a handful of anything else, is stop all subsequent movements and *think* instead of react. Of course, I'm still in the early processes here, but if you safely have time to think it out before reacting do so. As you progress, of course that think time will turn to muscle memory and a reaction.

But, keeping your head on straight just for a split longer, you can make a good solid choice.

Ok, that's all my learnings for now. Gosh I need to get going!

[CTLawyer]

I was stubborn as an experienced but rusty rider when I got my bike in May this year (2006), and CT DMV made me take the rider course as my M50 was too big to pass the test as the parking lot test course is tiny and the instructions given for the test are vague. I was angry when I failed, but in the end taking the course was a great move. The classroom part is boring, but the riding day is the high point. I learned a lot about taking curves, starting on hills after a stop, protecting my lane, emergency swerving and stopping, proper braking and a lot of other stuff. I kind of knew all this stuff from experience, but I was definitely a better and more confident rider after taking the intermediate rider course. Take the course that suits your experience level. You'll have more fun when you ride, you'll look better when you ride, and just maybe you'll avoid a wreck.

[Dragonhawk]

Don't attempt sharp u-turns on REALLY steep hills ... with a passenger ...

[CTLawyer]

Don't attempt sharp u-turns on REALLY steep hills ... with a passenger ...

I can confirm this one.

[jrdudas]

Beware when turning onto a suburban side street or road from the main road. Especially when there are no sidewalks. The small gravel and dirt from each edge of the secondary road or street works it's way into a triangle shaped spot in the middle of the entrance to the secondary street or road. Taking your turn a bit too wide puts you right into that triangle spot. If you have any lean going in to the spot you end up with a low-side dump. If you are going slow enough you can try to straighten up your lean to avoid the low-side dump; traffic has to be clear on the side road for this to work however.

JR