Experiance..does it come with time on a bike or mileage?

[dodsi]

2 riders.

One has ridden for a year and put say 10,000 miles on his bike.

One has ridden for 3 years and put 3000 miles on his bike.

Who is more experianced?

Is it time of being on a bike? is it mileage? or a mix of both.

discuss?

[Rookie]

Oo good one!

I'd say mileage, assuming the bikers have the same level of skill, I think the heavy mileage in one year is more beneficial than the same mileage in three years, let alone a third of the mileage.

[.....]

Miles I think. You could pass your test and ride 10 miles in 10 years. You'd have feck all experience. It's the miles and the way those miles are racked up. Need some of them to be in bad conditions etc.

[White Noise]

[numark1]

Jon B's screwed then.

[dodsi]

Ok my circumstances.

I started riding bikes pretty much 2 years ago.

I put 9000 miles on my first bike, a further 4000 miles on my second 125.

Which brings me to the next year which I put 9000 miles on my ER-5 between late december and early July and now a further 3500 miles on my bandit between mid July and Now.

I have held my full licence since November last year.

I have ridden in all weather types all year round. used motorways...buisy towns...A-roads..B roads all types of roads.

Also taken pillions on various roads etc.

So what about someone who has had their licence say 5 years But covered an average 3000 miles a year but only really In good weather and probably more A-road riding.

Which one of us would be more experianced?

[White Noise]

[dodsi]

Its not about that...

Im just interested as to what people think.

[Fire_Eyes]

I think you'd be the more experienced one. But you can't always judge on millage or time. I think what really maters is the mistakes you make and how you learn from them. Someone that has been riding for a year might of done alot of mistakes and learned from them, yet another person ridin for the same time might have not been able to learn these things because he was never put under the test.
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Kawasaki ZZR 400 | K5 GSX-R 600

[Flip]

Milage of course.

You could have held a licence for 10 years and it wouldn't mean sh1t if you didn't actually ride a bike.

[instigator]

Hmm....depends what stage in life the rider is at.

If he's 17, done 10,000 miles on the bike and is now 18.

If someone passed their test at 32 and done 3000 miles on it until they were 35 on the bike, but using a car in the mean time, I'd have to say the 35 year old would be more experienced. Sense of self preservation, perhaps better judgement, more experience on the road (driving a car does help) etc.

No? (tossing about ideas here)

[The Tot]

I would have another outlook on experience

I would think that the more experienced rider is the guy whose encountered a situation, such as a spill, collision, error in line resulting in some disaster. Consequently, learning the "hard way" from their mistake, they should have the knowledge on how to cope with the situation the next time it arises.

I would say i've learnt from such experiences and i would say that i can possibly identify a situation better than if i hadn't been through it before. At this point, it don't matter how long u've been riding or how many miles, it's what you've personally witnessed and experienced in your time of riding that'll make you to more experienced rider. Or i may just be chatting a load of bollocks

But in this particular arguement, miles is the key. Miles and variation in what roads you choose.
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The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[dodsi]

I see what people are getting at.

You could have my licence a month and cover 3000 miles in a short space of time say on a trip.

Doesnt mean you are experianced as you could be simply mile crunching on motorways.

So variation and what you have seen and done.

[White Noise]

[Ichy]

I can easily clock up 30,000+ miles each year, 25k in a car 5-10 on a bike. I drive/ride in all weather, in different countries, anything from 10 to 600 BHP and I've held full licences for nearly 20 years, only ever had points for parking and other stupid stuff.

Spent months in hospital, feels like I broke everything except my head, never managed to actually sell any of the bikes/ cars I've owned except for scrap, all my company cars go back damaged. I ride/drive like an idiot most of the time and rarely follow the speed limit.

The point? I would say I was a pretty experienced road user. Experience simply means I did it, but it doesn't mean I'm any good at it.

[colin1]

I'd say its down to mileage.
I'd also say mileage in town wont give u experience of country road fast riding and country road mileage wont give you experience of in town riding with traffic.

You get a different kind of experience if u ride in winter or not, and on what bike you ride whatever the time of year.

Having said that not everyone learns from their experience.
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[Kickstart]

Hi

Definatly mileage. To some extent I would say the longer it takes you to do the miles the less experienced you are.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[kawakid]

On a car perspective.

When I was 19, I got my first car, it was my year out from university and I travelled from Halifax to Warington (95 mile round trip) every day for a year. In that 1 year I did over 50,000 miles in my car.

Prior to that year, i'd have been lucky to have done 300 miles in my fathers car.

Deffinately miles. But age does bring sense.

Even on bike I see other bikers attempting suicidal overtakes, ie blind corners.
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I've a twin and a 4.

[eli_74]

Surely Time riding = mileage?

Unless you just sit on it in your garage making 'Vroom' noises?

Edited to add, from a beginners point of view, I would feel much more experienced and therefore confident if I had come across different situations/obstacles whilst clocking up those miles.

Going the same route the same speed every day would'nt have the same end result to my riding capabilities.
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Well, I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't under such heavy sedation.
bn125 Eliminator / En400 Vulcan / XV250 Virago

[numbnut]

Got my first bike at 14 (yeah i know a bit late). My mum hates them. Had to build it to use it. 21 years later i ride bikes like a loon.

I love em and had a new found respect after a break of 8 years. Got back on bikes 5 years ago and can still ride. Out ride my friends who have only had their licence for a couple of years and think that as they have 600 or 750's they are faster.

I would say miles over licence time.

[Sparks!]

Miles = time on bike = win

Can't beat practice practice and more practice..

But time on bike also means a variety of different road conditions etc so it can't be mileage every time.. you could ride a bike every day and not really gain much experience (all motorway riding for instance)

And IMO even if you done 3,000 miles the same week you pass your test, that doesn't make you better than someone who's had their licence longer but done same/similar mileage..

You need licence time AND riding time/mileage IMO to make a good/better more experience rider.
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[Raffles_Gentleman Thug]

Of the 2, there's no substitute for miles.

But thats not all it is, a guy who does nothing but the same 10 mile commute for 20 years might not be as experienced as someone who's had a bike 4 years, and has toured, been on track, goes on rideouts etc.
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"Is sir addressing me or is he masticating on a house brick? Because either way sir loses his teeth."

[lurker]

in my opinion its nothing to do with big miles.
You could get rider A put 20000 miles on a bike over a couple of years but never push the bike in corners or test its grip, braking etc.
Whereas rider B whose mibee only done 3000 miles over a couple of years but when he takes his bike out is constantly testing his skills and makin a concious effort to improve his road craft.
there's alot more variables than just how many miles you travel as far as im concerned.
It's how they're travelled that matters more.

[Kickstart]

[eli_74]

Then theres also the added equation of how many different bikes you've rode.....
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Well, I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't under such heavy sedation.
bn125 Eliminator / En400 Vulcan / XV250 Virago