Passed! Any words of wisdom from seasoned riders?

[mattyfattyboo...]

I passed my test yesterday so I thought I'd ask the more experienced riders if they have any pearls of wisdom for us newly passed riders? I'm confident and enjoy riding, once I've got a few miles under my belt I'll look into some further training, advance riding kinda thing but always willing to listen to forthcoming advice in the meantime!

Cheers

[stinkwheel]

The single most important thing is to keep your head up and look where you want to go.

Don't look at the things you want to avoid, look at the route you will take to avoid them. This is harder than it sounds, practice on road markings. I like to slalom through the arrows and aim for specific points when riding across "SLOW" markings.

Don't look down at your clutch, it's where it's always been.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Matt B]

Words of wisdom - Just enjoy it!

Well done
____________________
stinkwheel: He had an animated .gif of a cat performing fellatio. It's not socially acceptable. It can have real life adverse effects on other people.

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

A few hours with an advanced instructor will save time and many tanks of fuel.

Ride in different weather conditions.

Your bike is likely more competent than you.
____________________
Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[Az]

As Stinkwheel said, look where you're going. Just google motorcycle target fixation. Look at a bush and you'll end up in it.

Don't use your front brakes when going round a bend, back brake only (but don't be to heavy footed on your back brake either).

Don't push yourself outside of your limits to keep up with others. I'm one of the slower ones out of my group of riding mates but one of the very few who hasn't crashed yet either.

Also, congrat's on passing! What bike have you got?

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

[CaNsA]

[MC]

[Rogerborg]

You can "get away with" a lot of things, but you only have to not get away with it once.

Speaking of which, join the club.
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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

[Az]

[MC]

[CaNsA]

[mentalboy]

Treat every other road user as a homicidal maniac who's out to get you and you won't go far wrong!
____________________
Make mine a Corona.

[stinkwheel]

[Teflon-Mike]

[Az]

[mailee]

Best advice I would give is go at your own pace and let no one rush you. Safe riding.

[kevin_cambs_uk]

My main thought after passing was that I was on my own, no one was looking out from behind, or telling me things over the radio.

That was for me the scary bit, and as such I took it really easy on the first few months.

The biggest thing I have really learned, and as has been said, look where you want to go, it works better than I thought it would!!!

[c_dug]

Learn to trust your instincts would be my tip for a n00b.

A year or two back I was playing silly buggers in London and tore down into Hyde Park corner underpass at about 80mph, around 50mph over the speed limit. The underpass has a bend in the middle which at the time I was happy to fly around at that speed. That day something caused me to slow down before the bend, at the time I couldn't have put a finger on what it was, but I felt uneasy at that speed so slowed to about 50mph.

Around the bend was solid traffic in both lanes, which I managed to stop just before.

I have been in similar situations since then and now I am pretty much certain that what caught my eye that first time was the reflection on the walls of the tunnel from the brake lights of the queuing cars. It's something I make sure to look out for when playing in tunnels these days.

I guess what I am trying to say in a roundabout way is that your brain is a super processing machine and you should trust it to do it's job, you might have caught a whiff of diesel on a wet day, or spotted what looks like a damp patch under a tree, without even realising what you've seen.
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[MC]

[stinkwheel]

[thomp1983]

black and white signs as you approach a bend, generally the more white arrows on the sign the tighter the bend

when you see a sign for s bends it is usually signed showing which side the first bend is on

https://www.slimmerandfitter.com/wordpress/wp-content/images/s-bend-think.jpg

for example the above sign the first bend is to the left (yes it's obvious in that picture but not always on roads with high hedges etc.)

if moving your bike around on an uneven surface or a hill, ignition off bike in first gear clutch in, if you feel the bike moving too quickly away from you letting the clutch out will slow it/stop it

when you need to brake heavily first gently pull the lever feel the front suspension load up then fully pull the lever, doing it like that should see you never lock the front wheel in any weather or snatch it and bin it

cornering as mentioned should go, chose the position you need to be on the road, brake to the required speed, select the required gear (get the speed off with the brakes there more effective than engine braking, then block change to the required gear) then apply a constant amount of throttle to see you round the bend, ideally your aiming to have the revs at around 5-6k going into the bend and keep them there by adjusting the throttle leave accelerating out of a bend until your happy your hitting the right brake to gear point first. as a new rider your likely to be in too high a gear for a bend aswell so generally try one gear lower than the one you think you want but go steady if your on a vtwin. speed to gear your aiming for the point where when you shift down and release the clutch there's no engine braking happening but at the same time your not in too high a gear that the revs have dropped too far and it strugles to pick up it comes with practice and you'll recognise the point when you hit it

[MC]

[stinkwheel]

[Rogerborg]