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hey guys if you saw my other post i just gota gs500 a few days ago. i taught myself how to ride in a day and a half. is this normal? first day i took it up and down the driveway and the next day i did the same and took it out on the road. not major roads since i dont have insurance yet. i am trying to get into a msf course vut they are booked until july. i am still practicing ont the back roads but i just wanted to see what other learning curves are. thanks

Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by riding. I learned in the same amount of time how to do very basic turning and how to go up and down streets and so forth. It isn't enough to go out into traffic and major roads though.

i taught myself and asked for some tips here in this forum before i took the MSF.

i got the basics and i was already going to places (w/o freeway since i only had permit) before i took the MSF.

basics are not hard to learn but not easy to master either.

did you simply hop on and go for it or did you get a book like "Proficient Motorcycling" and practice out of there?

the basics of going, stopping and shifting are the easy part. At 18 I was able to figure out enough stuff on my own to putt around on my friends dirt bike a few times and not wreck it.

if your not gonna be able to take the MSF until july I would get "Profictient Motorcycling" (if you dont already have it) and read it cover to cover and practice the techniques out of the book. the low speed drills are very good to practice and a great way to learn bike control, it takes more skill to ride at 5mph than it does at 50mph

I bought a new CB400T at age 52 and had my son ride it home for me. I then practiced in the parking lot for an hour and put it away. Next morning I hit the streets and roads alone and haven't stopped or slowed down for 22 years and 330k+ miles since. You haven't even begun to learn to ride yet. I'm still learning. Good luck with your learning and never forget that every mile you ride is practice for the next mile whether you have 300 or 300k miles behind you.

I have over 110k miles on the GS500's and think I'm getting the hang of it now. When you can run with your more experienced friends on their 600cc sportbikes with you on your GS500, you may be ready to move up.

thanks for the replies. i actually did read proficient motorcycling from advice from this forum. i have been on thouroughfares just not the highway or anything like that. i am taking it easy and avoiding high traffic times. the book was a big help and this forum is the best feedback i have. i am soooooo happy i got me a bike. it is awesome. everychance i get im on it.

amiles wrote: i taught myself how to ride in a day and a half. is this normal?

sure, if you got on a bike at 8am, told how it works, and told to go for it. most people would have a very basic understanding and ability to ride after a whole day. Its not that hard to get a bike to go and stop, so i think its normal.


JWF

I was riding around the parking lot just fine within the first hour of the msf I took.

11000 km later I'm still learning to ride.

amiles wrote:hey guys if you saw my other post i just gota gs500 a few days ago. i taught myself how to ride in a day and a half. is this normal?

Well, well. Look out Valentino Rossi.

When the day comes that you tell us that you know it all, that's the day we get scared.