Aspiring rider here, and I want to start off by saying how glad I am that I found this website. The wealth of information here is outstanding, and I have spent several hours reading a lot of posts going back a page or two. I also read the Beginners Guide and was very impressed by it. A lot of the advice in it is not something I think I would have thought of on my own, and some of it I did think about. I was glad to see that others saw things the same way and wrote an excellent guide. Through reading this section I have also placed the Proficient Motorcycling books by David L. Hough on my "to buy" list on amazon. Will pick those up next month when I get some fun money in my pocket.
As for myself, I've got such little experience with riding motorcycles that I don't count any of it. Most of it has been joyriding on dirt bikes and scooters, and all of it was over 15 years ago. As far as the big iron goes, all I've done is sit on a few different bikes that friends and acquaintances had. So I'm straight up FNG and want to do things as close to the right way as possible. As it stands right now, I'm in the "information gathering" stage because actually buying a bike isn't in my immediate future. I'm a soon to be 30 year old full time college student and husband/father so my expendable income is limited. Going to have to save for awhile to get the funds to purchase a ride. My motivations are two fold, I've always liked riding two wheeled vehicles dating back to the first time I rode a 50cc minibike when I was 7 years old. Also I'm going to have to do a bit of commuting when I transfer to a University next spring, and my 1998 Dodge Ram is not exactly the most fuel efficient vehicle. I don't want to get rid of my truck, but I also don't want to get shafted for $100 in fuel each week.
My very first step is going to be signing up for one of the state sponsored basic riders courses. I absolutely would not be willing to try things on my own, or let some joe off the street "show me how it's done". I understand that MC riding is a risky undertaking and I want to stack the cards as heavily in my favor as I can. I look at it the same way I did when I got my Commercial Drivers License and drove 18 wheelers... I don't know squat and I'm going to learn everything I can to make sure I don't become a hazard to myself or others. Life's too precious to put things "to chance", especially when there is one thing I can control- Myself.
Anyway, just thought I'd post and give my thumbs up to this forum. Everybody seems helpful and knowledgeable and to be perfectly honest, I think if I'd not started browsing this site I'd still be a little "iffy". Now I'm feeling a lot better about my choice to try to get into riding. It's nice to know that a lot of helpful people are just a click away.
on wanting to do it the right way.
Rex!! I'm glad you found this site too, please feel free to make Total Motorcycle your new home on the internet. 
