Car to Bike - Newbie Thread

[Rogue_Shadow]

Hi BCF

Been reading this forum for awhile now & although alot of my questions got answered through searching
I couldn't resist signing up to make a thread to summarise
So I'm sorry for asking you to repeat yourselves.

I'm 21 with only a CAT B licence. I drive my car and a company work van everyday and really enjoy driving, I wouldn't be without it. I'm a fairly sensible driver and would argue till I'm blue if I was called a boy racer
But recently I started considered taking the motorbike CBT, as a trial to see if I'd enjoy riding a motorbike. Mainly for a different experience, I don't aim to break any land speed records anytime soon & cant even be sure if I would be comfortable with the different sense of speed you get riding a motorbike. So I was after other peoples experiences with this, coming straight from Car to motorbike.
I've got a few other questions like:

I've read that a bike larger than 125cc is actually easier to ride, why is this?

&

In a car pulling up to junction, you can visual check for oncoming traffic but also hear traffic (extremely handy at nights). Can you still hear road noise etc with a Helmet on?

Really sorry to ask such silly questions and spam up your forum.
But any help would be much appreciated

thanks for reading

[goto10]

You can hear everything that matters - you ought to use earplugs too. It feels a bit *too*quiet when you first use them but you quickly adapt.
Might be worthwhile getting a free 1hr taster:
https://www.geton.co.uk/content/whats-it-all-about
____________________
'12 NC700S & '12 CB600F Hornet [Stolen by some dickless twat] Suzuki GT500 shed

[FerretFing]

Hi & welcome to the forum

[groovylee]

just done exactly what you described. in fact, passed my mod 2 today
the road sense you already have is useful, as you already know the signs, lane discipline, positioning etc.

different controls can take a bit of getting used to, but i picked it up fine, so anyone else should be able to

in the end, it is down to whether you like it or not. do the free taster, and then your cbt. if you enjoy it, go for your tests

as for the differences in bikes, i didn't notice it *too* much, but certainly it feels like the bigger bikes are more stable.



tl;dr - just do it, it's awesome
____________________
Past - 1988 honda revere 600, 1996 kawasaki gpz500s, 1999 Yamaha R6

Current - 2002 Aprilia RSV1000R & 1999 Kawasaki ZX6R

[Teflon-Mike]

Big bikes are easier to ride becouse with more mass they are more stable and damp out newbie clumsiness. Conversely they aren't so great to teach to to ride 'well' in the first place.

You can visually check for traffic by what you can hear?

I think I smell what you mean here

Think about it, car, metal box, full of sound proofing, a radio, heater fan whirring, what can you REALLY hear?

Your probably the bloke I Blasted the horn at, at 3" range, yesterday on a round about who didn;t bother to give way to me when I was turning right, and was more intent on shaking his fist at the car who legitimately turned left into the road room he was 'stealing'.... who never even BLINKED in my direction......

THAT is how much you can 'hear' in a modern car.... and older ones were even worse for what you could hear over the rattling tappets and drumming panels!

Now put your head in a washing up bowl and walk down the street.... THAT is how much you can hear with a crash helmet on!
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[_Iain_]

[Rogue_Shadow]

[pendulum]

[Teflon-Mike]

[Taught2BCauti...]

I had been driving cars for almost 40 years before riding a motorcycle for the first time, but I found that my previous experience with bicycles useful for balance and counter-steering (you never forget), as well as a sense of vulnerability that you don't often get in a car!

For the last 20 years my cars have mostly been Mercedes Benz with automatic gearboxes, but a hand operated clutch and foot operated gears are not a difficult concept, and I learned a lot from Google and YouTube in the days leading up to my CBT.

Larger, heavier bikes are easier to ride because the centre of gravity is lower, and the heavier components in the engine, provide a sort of gyroscopic stabiliser as they rotate - which is less effective in a smaller, lighter engine.

Regarding observation, there should be very little or no difference between riding a motorcycle and driving a car, except that you have just two mirrors instead of three - so remember not to expect to see anything behind you when you look up and to your left
____________________
Honda Varadero XL125(V8)
www.TheFutureIsHere.eu

[pendulum]

[Teflon-Mike]

With respect Pendulum, you are one Car-Driver, migrating to bikes, and talking of your own experiences, and how difficult YOU found it, and how much of an 'advantage' you THINK car driving was to you.

I was taking Newbies out every weekend, during CBT and in the week for road training...

How HARD is it to break the habbit of remembering to cancel indicators?

Well for an awful LOT of riders, it would seem to be VERY hard.

How many times should I, as the teacher have to point out to them that they are STILL forgetting to do it? Once? Twice, three times?

Yet SO OFTEN, I would have a student for CBT.... they would be tought what to do, they would have these 'habbits' pointed out to them, but seven, eight, even TEN weeks later, when they ought to be 'ready for test', I'm STILL picking them up on 'faults' that they WERE corrected for on CBT.

Observations, picking fault with T2BC's comments about observations in cars... sorry mate if you think its JUST a case of looking in the right place to find the mirrors you ENT doing enough obs.... on a bike you ought NOT be using ONLY the mirrors, and you should be making a lot more observations, over teh shoulder, or side glances into dead-zones.

Another Car-Driver error I found infuriating to have to keep repeatedly picking car-driving students up for, becouse no matter HOW many times you told them... three junctions on, they were back to mirror dependancy!

[Rogue_Shadow]

Grumpy bugger arn't you Mike
Thanks for more posts
I've booked myself in for next Thursday on a "trial" session.

[Andy_Pagin]

[Spudly]

Everything Mike just said. He is a font of useful information, I've learned a hell of a lot just reading his posts.

From my perspective though, my experiences have been as follows.

At the CBT, I was finding clutch control a problem - 10 years driving taxi's in Australia, millions of kilometers covered in a car (and yes I mean millions. I had the experience once of taking a car from 999,999.9k to 000,000.1k on a couple of cars, one of which I originally drove when it had 200,000k on it).

I'm not going to say I'm a 'brilliant' or 'talented' driver, however I will say that I believe a professional driver should never stop learning his trade. Every shift is an opportunity to learn something or test a theory.

Transferring to a motorbike though, my CBT instructor and I both agreed I needed to stop driving the car while I was riding the bike. Yes, some instincts are transferable, but the skills attached to them are very different. Situational awareness is achieved through a porthole which moves when your head does. Mirrors are obscured by your shoulders. The clutch.

Oh the clutch.

The clutch has four biting points, not one. For effective and correct slow riding, all are necessary.

The clutch is in your hand, the gears at your foot. I'm here to tell you, while accelerating through second and attempting to change to third, if your mind wanders and you smash down on your gear pedal instead of lifting it up, your bike will go into first and you WILL be touching cloth.

The instincts are transferable, the skills are modified or relearnt at best.

That all said, its a shitload of fun, wish I'd started 20 years ago.
____________________
The Old Apprentice

[Sherwood Bambi]

Afraid I'm another one who agrees with Mike. He's a very knowledgable guiy who's instructed and is intimately familiar with noobie mistakes.

To pick out just 2 points re; observations and cancelling indicators from my own experience - these are spot on.

Frankly I think having done a CBT, full Direct Access and passing my test has made me not just a qualified motorcycllist but I honestly believe a better CAR DRIVER as well.

[pendulum]

I have a lot to say in reply. It may take me several days to pen my full response.
____________________
1998 CG125 (Sold) CB500 [+ Clio 172]
Usually_Wrong: I tend to fail more than pass. [Speaking about Theory Practice]
Usually_Wrong: im on unemployment at the moment

[Rogue_Shadow]

Well I had my free taster lesson today in Penzance
Really enjoyed it!
I knew riding a bike was complex, but it looks hard work making everything fluid.
During the hour, I rode around a tarmac patch unaided in first gear, stopped on marks, even got asked to try a change into second gear ... fucked that up though
Got to ride around on a YBR125 which felt very big to begin with, but felt strange sitting in my car at the end of the session.
Only thing I had trouble with, was learning the difference between the clutch on a bike and car.
On a car, you press the clutch, change gear and release.
Whereas on a bike, you can hold the clutch on the biting point for more control for as long as you like.
So I kept fumbling and letting the clutch go and using the accelerator, only to remember being told to keep the clutch in ... space hopper moment followed
Still deciding on if it's for me though.

[garth]

The clutch works exactly the same in a car, it's not best to ride them on either.

[shereen]

[Rogue_Shadow]

ahh
That makes things easier to understand, thanks

[fraggie]

The blinker thing is parcially due to the fact that you need to concentrate on your driving when you first start.

blinker on, pull up , go through gears , watch traffic, and by the time your done you've forgotten about your lights.. (at least with me)

I have a moped scooter i use in town here (25kph max , no helmet )
and i never forget the blinker on that thing..

[fraggie]

[Rogue_Shadow]

Ohh and CBT booked BTW
Found myself constantly wanting another go, So CBT it is
If that goes well, I'll book myself a Lesson ... then think about buying a bike and doing the Theory ASAP