Confidence

[Badger722]

hi all

Just looking for a little advice i got my bike six months ago and i've come off twice, once on a round about (oil slick in the wet) and the second time coming around a corner and the tires slipped out from underneath me. No mager damage done other than my confidence in cornering, any one else had some shakey moments when starting out and how did you start to feel more comfortable again?
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bike: YBR custom

[CaNsA]

[Badger722]

glad to see i'm not the only one stupid S%^% happens to
i rode to work with no front break lever snapped clean off kept things interesting
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bike: YBR custom

[...]

I had a couple of spills on the GZ125, two of which were definately my fault.

One was going too quickly around a roundabout in the wet resulting in a nice slide along the tarmac, the other was a car pulling into my lane that I really should've (and could've) seen earlier. Went through a large puddle instead, grabbed a handful of front brake and lowsided. Confidence severely dented, it took me a few months to get back to leaning the bike over properly and to stop being a giant wuss.

Got a few hours tuition from the guy who would later get me through my test and I was spill free for a year until a Polish minicab driver in a Honda Accord took me out from the right side.

Keep at it, you'll improve in time and your confidence will return before you know it. Crashes happen to us all, it's a matter of time and how much karma you've accumulated.

[pinkyfloyd]

Everybody falls off. Its just the way it is and its an accepted. I've been off 3 times on my 125. Twice all by myself once I had help.

The first time was a wet day in the center of Belfast during rush hour traffic. Guy 2 cars in front for some reason slammed his brakes on causing the guy in front to slam his on and of course I had to then slam mine on. I learnt an important lesson. Rain and greasy roads + front brake = oopsie!

Second time and 3rd time was sheer stupidity. Driving into the car park of the flats I hit a bit of moss and the front wheel went from under me and driving out of a country park up a steep hill target fixation caused the back wheel to hit a rut I was trying to miss and off I came.

Does take a little while to get the confidence back but as Cansa says. Providing your not seriously injured then take it on the chin and laugh it off.
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

[N cee thirty]

lol falling off is part of riding the bike

i came off twice last year in the ice,too much throttle (on a fuckin rs50!!) and went down like a bag of shit with my dad laughing at me ¬_¬

second time was just coming out of the road and the bike just came from under me,had to push it home as the handlebar had snapped ¬_¬
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[Benson_JV]

Building up confidence just takes time and make sure it's on roads you know. Everytime I go out I go a little bit faster and a little more leaned over in the corners.
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Willson - "If you go out on that CBR600 in the winter, you're going to do more miles on your side than on your wheels."
Riding: CBR600FW Driving: Audi A6
Previous Bikes: '96 Bandit 600, '96 GPz305

[pinkyfloyd]

[Highside_Hilly]

[Benson_JV]

[rob_scott92]

I fell off my 350 on a mini roundabout 6 days after i bought it
Turned out to be the rear shocks were leaking on my tyre, so it just slid away
For about 2 months after that i could not corner at all! I just used to tense up and end up going stupidly wide

I'll have to say, the thing that helped me was going to wales with my uncle and his mates, and aberystwyth with some of the BCF crew actually. I found myself thinking "are you really going into that corner at that speed! Oh god you are!" But following their line i started to gain more and more confidence. now it all kinda just flows which is good

Just keep practicing and you'll get there
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First bike: 1982 Suzuki Gs 125 'The beast MK1' > 1988 Honda Cb 350's' FOR SPORT! (Good ol' oil burner!) > 2001 Suzuki Sv 650 's' Made it out of the 80's! > 1997 Honda Cbr 600f :p

[...]

[rob_scott92]

although i wouldn't reccomend following someone elses line all the time, just starting out i mean.
Just use them as some guidence to get you into the swing of it That way you can start figuring out WHY they're taking that line, not just following like a sheep
Suppose it depends on who the other rider is aswell, and how much you trust them
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First bike: 1982 Suzuki Gs 125 'The beast MK1' > 1988 Honda Cb 350's' FOR SPORT! (Good ol' oil burner!) > 2001 Suzuki Sv 650 's' Made it out of the 80's! > 1997 Honda Cbr 600f :p

[Rogerborg]

I'd have thought that being "confident" on a bike would mean choosing your own speed and approach for a bend, rather than trusting your life to someone else's judgement.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[N cee thirty]

[...]

[N cee thirty]

+1 ^^ you've got to learn somewhere

apparently not in bogers superior world.
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[Clanger]

I have even toppled over on my bike at no speed with mud on the tyres, on a slope which had loose gravel on it, a couple of years ago, and I've been riding for MANY MANY MANY years.

It happens to the best of us!!!
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[pinkyfloyd]

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Save up about 50 quid and book a few hours with an advanced rider.
Your mates may have good road positioning and cornering ability..they may even have a 2 way radio, but very few will be able to translate exactly what you should be doing and why. Do your homework and find a good one.

I don't lose confidence when i fall off...i assess(try and learn) and get back on soon as. The day i lose confidence is the day i hang up my leathers (stubborn/foolish).

[edit] I managed to track down the bloke who did my CBT as i liked his attitude. He confirmed a few things for me and gave me some advice. Ok it cost me to find out what i already knew....but i'm alot happier now.
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[bootsbiker]

I came of last year on my way to the MOT station on the Gizer... Was a new back tire... exiting a round about.. not use to the power..

I just had plaster removed from my arm from another crash and it was my 1st go on the bike..

edit
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https://justfuckinggoogleit.com/

[Teflon-Mike]

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

^^^I said that

...and 2 stroke chainsaws run upside down ok. Not indefinitely tho.
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[nokiakeys]

[tahrey]

Allegedly until you've had an off, you're not a "proper rider" is what I've been told a few times...

Certainly you haven't fully figured out where the limits actually are, you haven't had the chastisement of said comeuppance for exceeding them, and you haven't had the fun experience of lifting the bike's deadweight off the deck and then finding out what needs repaired

Could be that your cornering confidence was a bit TOO high, so if you now take things a leeeetle easier you're nowhere near as likely to have a third spill! (Oh and look out for those killer rainbow patches).

I think I'm a bit too far in the other direction, often feels like I'm cornering far too slowly, but I won't know if that's false until such point as I actually do overcook it and come off (all I've had so far is not leaving enough braking (thinking?) distance on a wet road, and failure to properly hold a tank slapper on a snowy dual carriageway because I was too preoccupied screaming abuse at the person who caused me to swerve and welly the rear brake in the first place). I think my protective instincts are still working in pushbike mode a lot of the time!

Don't worry too much, just concentrate on not repeating whatever caused you to come off. Fill up the bag of experience before the bag of luck is empty and all that.

Nokiakeys: hope the fear fades sometime soon... riding on snow + ice proved to really be something else, you need a whole different technique and such an incredibly light touch, and I count myself incredibly lucky that I was on 4 wheels the day the black ice descended. Perfectly ordinary looking road surface being almost impossible to even stand up on, not fun.
Now we're occasionally seeing temperatures in the double figures you can relax a bit. Personally, I just can't wait until we finally get two bone-dry days on the trot, because all this lingering dampness is really getting me down... brings the oil to the surface and exacerbates the way all the rust is winning the war of salt vs incessant scrubbing-off...