Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Ladies, please. Your greatest challenge is to think of yourself as a biker, not a woman. Confidence!! Females can ride bikes just as good as males. Females can ride the same bikes as males. I've been riding for many, many years, but I never thought of myself as a woman on a bike, I think of myself as a biker. Think of yourself as a biker. I ride close to 20K miles a year. I've never had a small bike, women don't need a small bike. I've never wrecked a bike. Be confident! Be agressive!! You can often pick out the female riders in a group. They're slow and unsure of themselves. Don't be. The guys I ride with treat me as one of them. I ride in rain, hail, snow, wind, cold..........road construction with mud, gravel, no road.......Fortunately for me, my husband encouraged me to ride my own from the beginning. He has never suggested what bike I should buy as he knows I know what I want and what's best for me. He considers me a biker.

Confidence!! Agression!! You're a biker!

Well said Marge! Tho I would prefer to suggest assertiveness rather than aggression.

This thread is certainly bringing the girls out to play!

mogster wrote:Tho I would prefer to suggest assertiveness rather than aggression.

I concur.

Some of us learned how to ride late in life. We had a life time of being told no and a lifetime of being timid and a lifetime of being under someone else's control to "unlearn".

It's a process that does not happen the minute you sign up for lessons.

A certain amount of self assurance is required to ride. You've got to be able to trust your own judgement first. The rest builds from there. It can be a struggle to "get" some of the mechanical stuff (shifting for instance). Ladies who decide to ride because a friend or significant other thinks it is a good idea are the ones who never quite get it.

I still hate that I can't figure out what mechanical thing needs tweaking when there is something not quite right with my bike. Hubby is usually available to help, or I've got access to a wide circle of fellow BMW owners online for other help.

P

Getting comfortable with leaning - pretty scary - thought I would drop the bike!

Somehow, some way… there were a couple of 'twisty' curves on my way to work everyday which were a little scary at first - especially 'cuz the cars coming up on my arse weren't going to understand why I'm slowing down - YIKES! So, little by little I just started leaning the bike and adding a little speed - then one day, it hit me like a brick - now I love the curves

We just took our bikes out for the first time this year a couple of weeks ago. It was the first year I felt REALLY confident on the first ride. It was like tying my shoes... just came completely naturally. It felt awesome! I finally know I have 100% confidence on a bike and it only took me 8 years of riding to get there. (Keep in mind I don't ride all year round) I feel like I could go and slaughter a track day!

I got my license in the Uk when i was about 18. It was sooo scary. I remember feeling totally intimidated by the teachers and everyone. I couldn't do anything right. In fact I remember I was yelled at all the time and spent a lot of my classes in tears (like you Andrea). It seemed like everyone was better and faster at learning. Finally I did get my test and it was the best day of my life . No question .

Then I went to work in Japan......... and the law says if you wanna live here longer than a year you have to take the Japanese test!!! I couldnt even speak the language how the hek was I ever going to do that and yet by this time I knew I could not live any place without a bike. So I had to try...

Tried. And they were soooooooooooo much stricter and it took me AGES even though i already had an English license! but eventually after some more tears and learning curves i did get it and I got my Japanese licence Another best day . But yeah..the hardest part for me was the language. Learning again ..familiar routine...but in a strange new language And there were also new parts that we didnt do in the UK test like the 5 inch bar where you ride along a really narrow line and cannot stop/stall/falter..........it has to be done within a time limit and if you do it too fast yer fail Clutch control.

Hondagirl wrote:And there were also new parts that we didnt do in the UK test like the 5 inch bar where you ride along a really narrow line and cannot stop/stall/falter..........it has to be done within a time limit and if you do it too fast yer fail Clutch control.

CRAZY!!!!

Hondagirl wrote:And they were soooooooooooo much stricter and it took me AGES even though i already had an English license! but eventually after some more tears and learning curves i did get it and I got my Japanese licence

Yes Japanese riders are soooo skilled! They have to be as the training and the test is so strict. I bet the majority of the riders in the US would fail the Japanese test!

You are such a great rider! I rememeber that time we were riding up a steep hill and you needed to change direction, you did a quick smooth U-turn on that narrow and hilly road like it was nothing, with me on the back as a pillion.