What Mistakes Should I Avoid When Learning to Ride a Motorcycle?

[scorpa]

Well I am one step closer to getting my bike license, I have registered for a riding course and am now two days in. I am picking up lots of good tips and also learning about some bad habits I had. I got in trouble today for putting my right foot down at a stop instead of my left foot, they also don't like it if you put both feet down. Also got in trouble for having the middle of my foot on the footpeg instead of the ball of my foot (i thought that one was a bit silly). Most of the instructors are amazing (one is a champion roadracer that teaches racing schools in california) , but there is one that I am not a big fan of (the one that made me feel like an idiot for putting my right foot down even though everything else was perfect). There is no real point to this thread other than that I am excited that I am one step closer to getting my license and hopefully some day a bike!

 

[Cyrus]

Yay! Let me borrow your bike! Passing the test isn't hard.

 

[wolram]

Good on you scorpa, you will soon develop the correct habits, i am sure the instructor has told you every one and every thing is out to knock you off your bike, once you know that you can start enjoying your self.

 

[scorpa]

Yay! Let me borrow your bike! Passing the test isn't hard.

Apparently they have had people who have ridden all of their lives fail the test, apparently the testers that come out to test the people taking the course are pretty nitpicky :( I've been riding since I was 11 but I am definitely a bit worried i won't pass the test.

 

[Moonbear]

Good luck with your lessons and have fun! Having ridden horses, I can understand the issue of putting the ball of your foot on the peg rather than the middle (same deal with placement of foot in stirrups...it's to keep it easy to slide your foot off to the correct side so you don't get caught up during a fall/slip). But, having never ridden a motorcycle, why should you only put your foot down on the left rather than right? It sounds almost like the conventions all carry over from horse riding, but there's no real reason to mount a horse from the left other than that's how the horses are all trained and what they expect (and right-handed people are more agile swinging the right foot over rather than left). Is there something about the construction of the bike that the left side is safer than the right, or is it really a carryover from horseback riding?

 

[wolram]

Apparently they have had people who have ridden all of their lives fail the test, apparently the testers that come out to test the people taking the course are pretty nitpicky :( I've been riding since I was 11 but I am definitely a bit worried i won't pass the test.

Every one worries to much, they will not fail you for minor things, if you have been riding since you were 11 then you know how to control you bike, all you have to do now is show them you know how to ride it safely, and you know the rules.

 

[Danger]

Congrats, Scorpa. Once you get your license, come see us. Lots of great biking territory around here.

 

[wolram]

What ever you do, do not lend your bike to Cyrus, he is sure to break some thing.

 

[Cyrus]

Good luck with your lessons and have fun! Having ridden horses, I can understand the issue of putting the ball of your foot on the peg rather than the middle (same deal with placement of foot in stirrups...it's to keep it easy to slide your foot off to the correct side so you don't get caught up during a fall/slip). But, having never ridden a motorcycle, why should you only put your foot down on the left rather than right? It sounds almost like the conventions all carry over from horse riding, but there's no real reason to mount a horse from the left other than that's how the horses are all trained and what they expect (and right-handed people are more agile swinging the right foot over rather than left). Is there something about the construction of the bike that the left side is safer than the right, or is it really a carryover from horseback riding?

The left foot is the gear shifter, the right foot is the rear brake. You're not supposed to sit at the light in neutral because if some idiot in the car is going to plow into the back of you, you can just drive off already in first gear very quickly.

 

[Cyrus]

What ever you do, do not lend your bike to Cyrus, he is sure to break some thing.

Hey, its not my fault your scooters are 20cc.

 

[Danger]

Hey, its not my fault your scooters are 20cc.

Having become accustomed to Woolie's eccentricities, I suspect that the 20cc dimension is the size of his carb jet...

 

[turbo]

Apparently they have had people who have ridden all of their lives fail the test, apparently the testers that come out to test the people taking the course are pretty nitpicky :( I've been riding since I was 11 but I am definitely a bit worried i won't pass the test.

When I took my MC road test, my friend and I had ridden our bikes 25 miles through slushy snow to get to the county seat, and the inspector said the road tests were canceled due to the bad weather. Luckily, the other inspector knew my grandfather and persuaded the MC inspector to give us road tests. We both passed with flying colors.

 

[scorpa]

When I took my MC road test, my friend and I had ridden our bikes 25 miles through slushy snow to get to the county seat, and the inspector said the road tests were canceled due to the bad weather. Luckily, the other inspector knew my grandfather and persuaded the MC inspector to give us road tests. We both passed with flying colors.

Nice! I definitely know that i can do everything just fine, it is just that i have bad luck and if something ever goes wrong it will be during the test haha!

 

[turbo]

The jerk of a MC inspector told my friend Keith that he couldn't take the road test because one of his turn signals was out. I asked him to give me my road test first so Keith could get the bulb replaced and he acted iffy about that until the other inspector said that it would be alright. I did everything nice and slow and deliberate (good idea riding in slush anyway) and when I got back to the court-house, Keith had just pulled into the parking lot, all ready to go. I talked to the other inspector while Keith was gone and he said what a jerk the MC inspector was for not wanting to give us our road tests even though we had to make a 50-mile round trip in the snow. Just the fact that we could ride street bikes in the slush impressed the hell out of him. We weren't inconveniencing the MC inspector - all he had to do was follow us around in a nice warm cruiser using his horn, lights, etc to indicate when we should turn, when to stop and dismount, etc.

 

[scorpa]

Didn't you have an onlot portion where you had to go through obstacles like figure 8's and stuff without knocking over cones (they make it tight so you have to slip the clutch and ride the rear brake the whole way through) or was it just a road test? I'm thinking the onlot portion might be a more recent thing possibly. I can't believe you did it in the snow, I won't lie I would probably chicken out and wait for warmer weather if it was me haha.

 

[Danger]

That on-lot bit screwed me out of even being able to take the road test. The only bike that I could borrow for it was my buddy's 400 Honda Hawk. No way in the world could I get around the pylons with it. The damned thing wouldn't run at less than 1,500 rpm's (clogged idle circuit), so it just kept bucking and stalling while I was trying to slip the clutch and tease the brake.

 

[turbo]

Didn't you have an onlot portion where you had to go through obstacles like figure 8's and stuff without knocking over cones (they make it tight so you have to slip the clutch and ride the rear brake the whole way through) or was it just a road test? I'm thinking the onlot portion might be a more recent thing possibly. I can't believe you did it in the snow, I won't lie I would probably chicken out and wait for warmer weather if it was me haha.

There was no on-lot maneuverability test, though my buddy and I would have had no worries. I was running a 2-stroke Yamaha 350 (HOT little bike) and he had an identical bike of his own, but had borrowed his cousin's 2-stroke 350 Kawasaki for the road test because his bike would not have passed the inspection. Mine shouldn't have, but I lied. In those days, if a bike came standard with turn signals, you had to have them and they had to be functional. I had stripped mine off (along with everything else that was non-essential) before I painted my bike and I told the inspector that I had ordered the bike without turn signals. He didn't know how to check, so he simply passed the bike.

 

[scorpa]

Just got back from my road test and I passed with a perfect score. It's legal now!

 

[Evo]

Just got back from my road test and I passed with a perfect score. It's legal now!

Congratulations scorpa!

 

[Math Is Hard]

Sweet!

 

[Danger]

The left foot is the gear shifter, the right foot is the rear brake.

Unless you're riding a Bultaco...
Congrats, Scorpa. Never did I have a doubt that you would ace it.

 

[wolram]

Just got back from my road test and I passed with a perfect score. It's legal now!

Good for you scorpa.

 

[turbo]

Just got back from my road test and I passed with a perfect score. It's legal now!

Great news. With your off-road experience, I had no doubt that you'd make it.

 

[scorpa]

Thanks guys! I just have to get myself a bike now. Which I really can't afford right now but maybe I can convince my dad to help me out and buy it so I can make payments to him on it haha. You never know I might catch him on a good day.