Returning Rider

[germanshepherd]

Too late now but purchased a 2007 H-D Softail Heritage Classic has my bike. I've owned a Honda CB750(?) and Kawasaki KZ640(?) in the distant past. Just now returned to consistant riding after many years Everyone I talked with(friends and the dealer) said it's not too much bike and that I would grow into it. I've taken the MSF class and the instructors one a retired CHiP said I did very well and would be okay just to practice and soak up all I can read on motorcycle techniques and safety. This I have done faithfully. I guess what I'm getting at is any suggestions and moral support would be appreciated. Thanks

[scan]

Welcome back. Enjoy riding and do it often. Practice is what will save your butt when you need to react. Practice stopping hard, weaving to miss things in the road, and slow speed work. Find a parking lot near you and stop there during rides and try all those things a few times each time you ride. When an accident is about to happen you won't have to panic and not know what to do - you will react with your trained response.

Regarding if what you have is too big for you - only you can really know that for sure. It sounds like you cut your teeth on some other bikes, so just get to know this new one well, and you should be fine. Don't over-ride your skill and don't over-ride the bikes abilities. I think that is good advice.

Again welcome, and don't forget to check into the Harley group here on the board. They are a good group of guys and can carry on a conversation very specific to your Harley needs. Otherwises stop by and do a bunch of reading here and post often.

[germanshepherd]

Where is the Harley group? Can't seem to find it.

[qwerty]

Sounds like you lack self-confidence. This is good, a little insecurity will keep you mentally focused. I, too, am returning to motorcycling after much experience years ago. I have also taken the MSF BRC. I have not yet bought a motorcycle (I'm having a hard time finding a 200 to 500 standard, motard, or dualsport to convert to a motard in decent shape for a fair price). I have a background in psychology and education, so I've developed a plan of action, based on my motorcycle and professional training and experience, to keep myself safe and my riding enjoyable. Here is my plan:

1) Visit an empty parking lot. Use my imagination to create rights-of-way with the stripes and islands. Use my imagination to create hazardous obstacles, and practice my reactions to them. My guess is, lots of confidence will come back in an hour or two. I will stop often and analyze ny performance: what I learned in the MSF BRC and what I actually did in practice. I'll think about what I did wrong, and what I did right. Especially I'll congratulate myself on what I did right because of the BRC that I would have done wrong had I not taken the BRC and relied on my old habits and experience. Use that awareness to recognize that I are already a safer, better rider than I ever was before.

2) When I feel confident, I'll hit the road, keeping that little insecurity and let it be the tool that keeps me focused on my riding.

Most instructors recommend practicing in a residential area next, but I have problems justifying using live children as potential hazards for motorcycle rider training. I'll find a large industrial area that has next to no traffic on Sunday morning. These areas usually have a plethora of hazardous road conditions, such as potholes, gravel patches, truck parts, railroad tracks, grease spots, and lumber. I will focus on developing automatic searching, evaluating, and executing skills. I expect I will quickly become more able to recognize and avoid hazardous surfaces with this practice, mainly because of a strong off-road riding background.

I'll then take a cafe break. Again, I'll analyze what I did right and what I did wrong. I'll learn from my mistakes.

As my confidence increases and I feel ready, I'll head out of town and find some paved rural roads, those two-laners that follow the lay of the land and run between property lines. I'll be VERY careful to keep my speed in check. I'll focus on keeping your speed compatible with the constantly changing road conditions. I'll get lots of practice accelerating, decelerating, cornering, and avoiding the occasional animal. I'd feel a lot less guilt squishing a rabbit or squirrel than squishing a kid, not to mention a rabbit or squirrel will do a lot less damage to me and my bike than a kid.

I'll then take another break. Again, I'll analyze what I did right and what I did wrong. I'll learn from my mistakes.

3) Then I'll take it slow and easy in some residential areas. I'll work on scanning and searching for hazards. I'll ride some neighborhoods with roads like a geometric grid. I'll ride the through streets and the streets with one stop sign after another. I'll ride some neighborhoods with winding divided boulevards, cul-de-sacs, hills, etc.

I'll then take another break. Again, I'll analyze what I did right and what I did wrong. I'll learn from my mistakes.

4) As my confidence increases, I'll take a ride along some business routes, but not during periods of heavy traffic. At this point, I shouldn't have any problem keeping up and blending with the flow of traffic. I should be confident in my lane positions, be automatically searching, evaluating, and executing safe lines of travel, and operation of all controls should by now be automatic and sub-conscious.

I'll then take another break. Again, I'll analyze what I did right and what I did wrong. I'll learn from my mistakes.

5) Hit the open road. Ride an hour out of town, then back. I will to take interstate one direction, and secondary state highways the other.

I'll then take another break. Again, I'll analyze what I did right and what I did wrong. I'll learn from my mistakes.

6) Then I'll ride in heavy traffic. I will not delve into traffic for the first time when I have to keep a schedule, like on my way to work. I may need to pull over and collect my witts. I may decide to sit out the rush and continue on when there are less idiots in cages. Discretion will keep me alive. Worrying about getting to work on time will only increase my chances of becoming a statistic. Before riding under time schedules, I'll practice the route a couple times when time and traffic aren't a factor, like on a weekend. The first few times I do ride to a schedule, I'll allow extra time so I am not pressured to rush.

I expect this process will take a couple or three weekends, at least, since I work during daylight hours and have no safe time to practice at night. If at any time I'm not satisfied with my riding on the street, I'll repeat a segment, as many times as necessary. However, I have already painted the MSF BRC track on the parking lot at my shop, and the lot is well-lighted, so I will continue to practice those basic skills in the evenings.

Finally, I'll do it all again, at night.

After all that, I expect I'll be ready for the MSF Experienced Rider School. Somewhere along the line I hop to find a small dualsport and take the MSF Dirtbike School. I started out on dirt bikes, and what I learned the hard way as a kid saved my a$$ on street bikes in later years. For example, I was riding a fully dressed CB750K4 the first sunny day after a four-day rain, on the curving country roads along the loess bluffs by the Mississippi River in west Tennessee and Kentucky. I was cruising about 50mph on a straight stretch, and a mudslide occured right in front of me. I was instinctively up on the pegs and rode off the shoulder, over a ditch which threw the rear end out, recovered, down a very steep hill covered in wet dead leaves, wove through the trees, across another ditch, up the side of a levee, and onto a gravel road, where I used a feet-on-the-pegs power slide to turn the bike 90*, and braked to a stop. No damage. The guy I was riding with, who had never ridden offroad, locked up the brakes on his Electraglide and rode it right into the mud, where he dumped it, doing major cosmetic damage. I HIGHLY recommend dirtbiking as a means to improve highway safety in emergency situations.

[scan]

http://totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/groupcp.php

Go to that link and add yourself to the Harley users group. At that point I think you will be able to see an additional forum for the Harley users group.