radicalrabit
Crazy Courier
Joined: 27 Dec 2012
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 Posted: 18:50 - 24 Aug 2013  Post subject: free advice to all newbies to biking.... |
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I think there ought to be a sticky so all the old hands can offer sound advice to anyone new to biking or returning to biking.
I had thirty five years off biking and the first bike I got on my return was a huge heavy VF1000,,, Not a good move in retrospect but I didnt know what was a good bike and what wasnt .
Anyway
for my ten peneth I would just like to throw this out for riders young and old to glean information from or totally ignore at your leisure,
Bike? what bike which bike etc...?
Twenty guys will come up with different answers going by what was good for them .
So if you are 5ft 6 skinny with short legs and you want a bike to do a general commute on , I doubt you would be thinking of a BMW R1200RT or a Triumph Daytona...
Get a bike you feel comfortable on , dont spend a lot of money on it because you will adfaprt to a riding style and probably find after a bit you find the bike grows on you or you hate it .
Even if you have a full licence , if you have had twenty or thirty years off riding , my advixce is to start again from scratch .
Why ?
Because doing the CBT will get you used to modern teaching , get you accustomed to riding safely and you will find you actually learn to be much more observant.
The more you learn the better armed you are to defend yourself.
I did a DAS course but looking back that was done for the wrong reasons and I had an appalling instructor who would rant rave be sarcastic and was a bit of a bully and worst of all when He disagreed with me or I disagreed with him he left me and shot off on his own . leaving me riding illegally ie I was now no longer riding under the supervision of an instructor whith whom I was in radio contact . What I should have done was get off the bike and made my own way home leaving the bike where it was and reporting him to the training authorities, to my mind that guy should not be teaching anyone to ride.
If you have got a bike of your own seek out others who ride and ride with more people watch and learn and keep on learning.
Learn the different approaches to riding, learn about basic bike maintenance and above all dont let other bikers intimidate you . You learn at your own pace and you ride at your own pace.
TWIST OF THE WRIST 2 OUGHT TO BE THE NEXT THING A BIKER READS AFTER THE HIGHWAY CODE, Keith Code who wrote it knows a thing or two about bikes and biking and bike dynamics.
I dont know anyone who can say they didnt learn something from reading ghe books/ pdf files on line / watching the DVD etc.
Tyres...... get the best you can afford, they are what separates you from the gates of heaven.
Boots.
Get boots with armour cutting costs is FALSE ECONOMY
being off work and on crutches is no fun and a bike bouncing on your ankle covered only by cheap rubber or leather with no armour will cost you much more in the long run than getting good boots.
Boots protect you from hot exhaust pipes, from cars running over your foot. from foot pegs bouncing on your ankle joint and toes from all manner of nasties.
Textiles or leathers?
Long argument but the bottom line is if the armour is missing, if it is in the wrong place or can easily move about . its not going to help you when you hit the floor.
Notice I say When you hit the floor not If
.
Bikes drop for no apparent reason at times so dress for the fall always ..... I know of guys who say they accept the risk its all part of the risk of having a bike. Its a different thing when you see them hobbling around with a two foot long scar from gravel rash with deep lacerations in the arms and legs and feet .
Most learn from their error and have a change of heart after their first major off .
Gloves are useless if they are not fastened..... they have wrist straps for a reason it so they dont get dragged off when you slide up the road think about dragging your bare knuckles or the soft flashy part of your palms over the road surface for 45 feet ..........
You want armour on your hip because the bony hips smack into the road with a hell of a force even in quite slow spills. Believe me I have done it three times ... so learn before you find out for yourself.
Spine protector,
if your jacketes doesnt have armour for the spine elbows and shoulders get it fitted either buy the armour that fits into the pockets of the jacket(most have some armour and extra pockets for additional protectors)or get a back protector .....
Helmet .. its not about price its about fit and safety level
https://sharp.direct.gov.uk/
I came off a mates Hayabusa at 40mph no fore.warning it just went down I hit my head on the road and the visor flew off.
I styill had hold of the bars when I hit the deck so it was my ribs that hit the road after the head then the bike landed on me. I walked away with only a mild concussion and bruises. no cuts no grazes no bust bones but... The Adrlen Ness boots have a steel ankle protector which had a 5mm deep dint in it where the bike had landed on my leg and foot .
The helmet cost £26 from Ghost bikes it was my daughters helmet and not it looks like someone attacked it with an angle grinder and a belt sander But it did its job ...
So enough about kit.
Riding .. there is no point doing training having instructors teach you how to be safe and then forgetting it all or ignoring it all once you have past the test or just done the CBT ,
DO IT TILL IT BECOMES SECOND NATURE and you look and re look and do shoulder checks and life savers all the time every time .
If it doent come naturally then go and spend a full day out on your bike talk yourself through the whole ride
make yourself be that instructors voice that used to nag you .
Believe me, it is important
ANTICIPATE what others will do look for what might be about to kill you . If in doubt always give way to other cars that way you know for certain they have seen you and that they will not run into you .....
when you are stopped at lights or junctions keep a sharp eye on your rear view mirror .. as grandad would have said watch out for the hun in the sun ..,.The hun in this case is probably on the phone, thinking about the shopping of some other distraction and is not going to stop in the distance there is between the back of your bike and the front of what ever she is driving .
When you set off at a junction turning left dont presame the traffic that just passed you is still moving I have seen people set off from a junction turning left still checking right incase they missed something and ridden straight into the back of a car that had stopped to let someone out of their drive .... look in the direction you are going .
Do it evey time. all day long .
Dont take a pillion on your first ride on a new bike you dont know how it will handle .
Dont take a pillion who isnt wearing good safety protection
dont take a pillion who is drunk doped up on weed or is just stupid and likes to mess around.. he or she has the balance of the bike in their control when you least need them to they will move fidget about wave slip or otherwise spoil your day .
Read the road. all pedestrians anywhere near the road are a hazzard... every junction can hide hidden hazzards, Every dog cat pidgeon crow magpie what ever can decide to head for your bike . and its when you avoid them that the killer you havent seen attacks you .
dont believe me?
I watched a Pheasant , expected it to fly off anticipated it flying towrds me. and the car infront of me didnt exp[ect it to fly straight infront of it so he jammed on his brakes and swerved causing the guy behind me (who at that moment had decided to overtake me because he didn t know why I was going so slow) to swerve into the on comming traffic ...
BRAKE AND TURN AT THE SAME TIME ?
if you brake gradually , but firmly , and use both brakes, you can turn without dropping the bike, but as a rule grabbing the front brake will throw your front wheel out and you will be on the deck .
God this sounds like a lecture and I am sure others will advise you to do Rospa or IAM training as soon as you can .
Just remember this , Experienced riders will show off, will forget all they know and will end up dead or crippled. Learn as much as you can always ride safely dont forget and rush to catch up with your mate who has shot off in front . Always think " what if " expect the worst that can happen to happen , and ride every ride no matter if its two minutes to the shops or two months round Europe ...
Remember when you are out on your rides, that it isnt likely to be a car overtaking you that is you r biggest danger. Its the guy on a sports bike doing 90mph+ overtaking because he can see the road is clear just as you can , and you rquic k glance in the mirror before you move out to overtake isnt going to give to chance to see him .
shoulder checks and life savers are proper Looks. find the danger behind you because pulling out infront of a bike is just as lethal for both of you as pulling out infront of a car bus or lorry ...
Anyway I hope someone picked up something useful from this and that other riders will throw up their ten penneth .
I have been to two funerals this year and dont want to go to any more and hopefully if you new riders learn from others you will not be another road statistic.... Keep safe .. and keep learning ...
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VF1000 F2F, BLACKBIRD with carbs, 2nd VF1000F2F just need somewhere to go now.. |
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Clutchy
World Chat Champion
Joined: 08 Nov 2011
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MC
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