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

[jstark47]

• If you're not having fun on your bike, Get off!

There are days your body will tell you not to ride. Learn to recognize those days and walk, drive a car, take the bus, whatever.

also....

• Learn to ride in the rain, it's not all that bad.
• Do not try to learn to ride on ice, 'cause you can't.
• Don't comment overmuch on the squidliness of others. It's bad bike karma, and will bite you in the a$$!

[dieziege]

Really practice braking...as if it really matters.

A story from the ride home last night...

I'm cruising along at about 55MPH on a fairly smooth-flowing but tighly packed freeway when it has one of those "everybody hit the brakes" moments which are the most dangerous times to be on a freeway (I've been in cars that got crunched in those moments...not fun). So I start to brake and am thinking of slipping into the space between lanes to my left and filtering along when I get startled by this front fender in front of me... some asshat to the right has decided to do a plunge-merge into my lane, not knowing (or caring) that I'm using it. Then I do a really dumb thing... I lock my rear wheel. It slides out to the right, nearly hitting the asshat's door, but I countersteer (the real countersteering, not this namby-pamby "push steering") to keep tracking and then start feathering the brake and adding power... I almost get it back together and like a dumbazz I swing the tail out to the left, still swiveling the front around to keep going more or less a sane direction... at this point I'm skidding along between the lanes to the left of where I started... btw: highway dots make nasty thumping sounds when you hit them with the sides of your tires ... I finally get it almost settled, fishtailing to the right a bit but not bad, but I'm overbalanced a bit and I'm in danger of tipping the bike over to the right (a technical highside) so I do a final dumb thing and use my right foot to stabilize the situation...kick the ground to set it (or perhaps me) more upright. At 25-30 MPH the ground kicks back BTW... and then I'm I'm coasting along between lanes with the engine lugging because I never downshifted, my right toe hurting a bit but nothing too bad... so clutch clunk clunk and add some gas and roll along. I didn't bother to stop since nothing was really harmed and, had the asshat also stopped, I would've been hard pressed to maintain a civil demeanor.

There are several lessons: don't be a dumbfuk with your rear brake; start filtering early so you won't be trapped in traffic and forced to combine braking and maneuvering; wear your $&#*ing boots (I really like my Alpinestars...bet I'll like them more if I pull another dumb stunt like this ); don't give up the bike (I identified and avoided three ways of dumping the bike over the course of that 4.7 second event); and practice your braking some more so when you have your moment of surprise you don't lock up and go down.

Finally, practice in different ways. I've done parking lot hard braking practice many times, and in the last two months or so (I've been riding about three) I haven't locked the rear up once while practicing on dry pavement... but obviously I wasn't practicing correctly becaue I managed to do it yesterday. OTOH, I've also practiced riding my ninja on dirt roads and the like, which is IMO why I didn't dump the bike.

Oh, and Bombay Saphire makes a better martini than Tanqueray 10 no matter what anyone says.

[BLKNSLVR]

I wasn't such a noob when this happened to me. I was parking the bike in the garage next to its stablemate. I started to lean it over and at about the 45 degree lean mark I realized that the kickstand was not down. I guess they put those things on there for a reason, huh?

Luckily I was able to avert disaster by sheer soon to be sore back power.

[scan]

Really practice braking...as if it really matters.

Finally, practice in different ways. I've done parking lot hard braking practice many times, and in the last two months or so (I've been riding about three) I haven't locked the rear up once while practicing on dry pavement... but obviously I wasn't practicing correctly becaue I managed to do it yesterday. OTOH, I've also practiced riding my ninja on dirt roads and the like, which is IMO why I didn't dump the bike.

Also a good thing to know for many situations is that locking the rear tire is not the end of the world. Learning to ride your bike through dicey moments is what will help you survive. I have to admit I've had to lock my rear tire often, but if you are in a straight line and not turning your front tire, you can ride out a locked tire. You can still rely on the strength of those front brakes. The MSF teaching you about having the bike straight up and down before braking hard is critical though. Otherwise if that rear tire starts rolling again you likely get a birds eye view of your bike rolling the same way you were just hurdled.

[GrandGT]

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.

[xk]

Dieziege.. from my point of view those are skillz man, great recovery in a scary situation Hope I won't find myself in such a situation and if I do, hope I keep my cool just like you did.


<off topic>
To divideoverflow.. saw a post of yours somewhere that you had a GV 250. I'm thinking of starting out on one of those babies. Any opinions? pm me when you're online. Tnx

[dr_bar]

Great story, it's good to hear of the one's that someone actually made it through without injury to either themselves or their bike.

Another solution to that situation is to practice leaving bigger spaces between you and the vehicle in front when there are those congested traffic issues...

Oh, and Bombay Saphire makes a better martini than Tanqueray 10 no matter what anyone says.

+1

[HungPower]

Well I'm a big newbie so I can relate because I've only started riding recently, and mind you not often as I work 70 - 80 hours a week for the time being =(. When you let go the throttle, it is NOT the same as if you were to let go the gas in a car. You see, in a car, you might sometimes let off the gas and you'll cruise at a nice but decreasing speed but still you're fine. Now, when you let go the throttle suddenly, the back tire slows down dramatically as though you were braking so be very careful not to let go of the throttle especially in curves. If you feel as though you want to coast, hold the clutch down and when you want to give in some throttle again, give the throttle a good turn halfway or so then SLOWLY let go the cluch. If you let go the clutch too quick, you'll jerk forward and it's all about finesse when you're riding a motorcycle.

Also, while taking a curve, try to roll on the throttle slightly once you're leaned over to help stabilize the bike. Again, DO NOT let go of the throttle without the clutch held down because then it'll wobble and you might bust your "O Ring" =\.

[bennettoid]

Do not, under any circumstances follow a chicken truck to work. This probably applies to any truck carrying swine or cattle as well.

The 2000 or so chickens on the truck know when a motorcyclist is behind them and immediately bigin to throw poop, feathers and other unidentifiable liquids at the motorcyclist.

This is the second time I have done this and both times the results were the same. My visor got covered and I had to lift it to see. Then my sunglasses got covered and I had to take them off, at which time a particularly clever chicken put one in my eye. I then had to pull over and wipe off. The chickens were laughing so hard I could barely hear my engine.

My coworkers were considering sending me home because of the stench.

[xk]