New biker, tips/advice on how to ride the bike

[mase101]

New biker with a cbr 600 f. I've only had it four days and apart from having a ped when I was 16 and a field bike (125) this is my first proper bike. as you can imagine im still getting used to it and giving it a lot of respect. I want to see if anyone has any helpful tips on riding it. still haven't got it past 7000 rpm as im still a little bit nervous! any experience/knowledge passed on would be very helpful. cheers

[Az]

Ride as much as you can for as long as you can, within your limits/comfort zone and it'll soon come to you. Don't push yourself outside of your limits on a 100+bhp bike because it'll just end in a big fail.

Take it easy, your limits will soon expand and you'll be used to the bike in no time

[barrkel]

Ride as much as you can and stay within your comfort zone. Consider going on a mini-tour in the UK on a weekend. There's little substitute for putting on miles.

Pushing past your comfort zone too soon will likely result in a scare, which may create hangups in your riding.

It's not clear what kind of riding you're doing - urban or rural. I expect it's probably country roads. The primary thing to do there is keep your vision up, get used to watching the limit point on bends, gently accelerating out of bends when you can see them opening up. If you find yourself braking in the middle of a bend, it means you went into it too fast. Focus on slow in, faster out, and keep looking further down the road so you're less surprised at where it goes.

Consider doing a bike safe day after you have a few thousand miles under your belt. Also consider rospa / iam, or one on one advanced riding instruction, if you prefer that and you have the budget. Buy the roadcraft book (police rider's handbook). There's lots of common sense in there, but you may not have thought about all of it. Simple things like overtakes: positioning for vision, pulling out before putting on the power especially when traction is bad, etc.

Check out twist of the wrist 2 as well - the video is floating around out there. It's very cheesy, but the content is good.
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ

[Teflon-Mike]

Advice?
Keep the rubber on the road, and your arse in the saddle.
Manage that, and you shouldn't crash.
Pretty simple, really.
If you are on a 600 legally, have to presume you have done a bit of training to get your licence, so you should have been given all the 'best' advice by person most qualified to offer it...
- Remember it
- Follow it
That's where you are at, right now. Putting that teaching into practice, so GO practice, and if you feel uncomfortable or uncertain, go back, get a little refresher.

DO NOT, go watch or read Twist of the Wrist...
Worse follow other folks random suggestions based on their interpretations of KC Faith-Riding!

There is an irony in the fact that KC actually 'sells' TotW in the opening sequences, parodying a couple of new riders getting it all to fuck following 'random' old rider words of wisdom... but then they are Americans, they have never been strong on it.

KC does offer some pearls of wisdom in his prescription for better riding, BUT, he also offers a LOT of very dangerouse ideas, that only get more dangerouse through repatition distortion; and the most significant one, is with regard to 'natural inhibitors' and resisting reflex actions and over-riding fear responses... which unfortunately suggest riding WELL beyond your comfort zone, believing actually that's how its done, and you can keep doing that and only get better... rather than crash, which at some point if you keep riding 'beyond' you will!

However, having told you about it undoubtedly you will be curious, and go look anyway.... feel free... but, if you have to follow any of his advice... follow the first bit! Don't take 'random' advice from other bikers as gospel... and for note, he is just another random biker, to greater or lesser extent... and only reason his advice seems 'gospel' is its derived more from the teaching of his church of Scientology, as it is any real science! (Though he does dress his Scientology explanations up as some sort of 'science', plausibly enough to fool most!)

Most of that concerns 'Counter-Steering' though; where the 'flaw' in his explanations is that he calls any natural contrary steering effect during turning as 'counter-steering', then uses the same term, 'counter-steering' specifically to describe his 'technique' of counter-bar loading, to initiate a steering action... contrary steering effects happen naturally when turning a motorcycle, whether you initiate them by counter-bar loading or not... but by ambiguous application, and applying the term indiscriminately, he manages to imply that you HAVE to 'counter-steer' to make a bike turn, therefore you HAVE to apply his contra-bar loading technique to ride properly, which is total hocum, dressed up in the same sort of sales bunkum as snake-oil.

Contra-bar loading IS a valid and useful tool for turning a heavier and faster motorcycle though; but its by far and away not the be all and end all KC would credit it with, for ALL bikes in ALL situations. Again, follow his first advice; don't take random advice as Gospel.

Road-Craft... in direct opposition to TotW, is the 'Captain Sensible' book of riding, where KC offers the 'Fast track to Fast Riding, short cut'. It DOES however contain far more wisdom, with far less fast-sell. Very Prescriptive and proceduralised; but then the book was commissioned for the Police and other Gov't Agencies, as a 'Proceduralised-Standard' for riding a motorbike, like the Military instruction manuals for issuing condoms, or field stripping a Lee-Enfield 303 Rifle (Yes, you can see how long its been since I was a Cadet!)

Unfortunately, riding a motorcycle is a dynamic activity, that doesn't lend itself well to being procedural or responding to 'prescriptive' techniques; a lot of it you have to do by 'feel' not by 'rote'... you cant ride a motorbike by numbers!

However, a LOT of good military and government standards are actually NOT as stereotypically procedural as boot-camp making the bed by numbers; and they DO contain a lot of common sense, and actually try to engender common sense, and Road-Craft IS one of them.

I haven't read the latest edditions, but that was actually essence of preface; that actually stated; that the 'procedures' offered weren't rules, but tools, think for yourself, and apply best tool for the job.... and THAT is probably the BEST bit of biking 'advice' any-one can be offered. THINK FOR YOURSELF... apply common sense; apply what advice or tools might be offered as YOU think may be appropriate.

But, this is heading off into advanced riding; which here and now; you just DONT need to worry about.

You ought to have had a lot of advice and learning in the 'basics' and what you need at the moment is to keep that fresh in your head, and make sense and use of it JUST getting miles under your wheels....

Keep the rubber on the road, and your arse in the saddle.
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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?'

[defblade]

"Only a fool breaks the two second rule"

aka
"Only a tw*t rides like that"
or
"Only a c**t hits the car in front"


Stick with this and you'll have time to sort everything else out
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Honda Varadero 125cc => Suzuki Bandit 650 33bhp => 77bhp =>
BMW K1200R Sport 163bhp => Aprilia Shiver GT 750 95bhp