Been riding since I was 8, just picked it up as I went along, when I was 30, I bought my girlfriend a bike, the insurance man said she would have to take a course before they would cover her, so we wnt to a MSF course together. By this time in my life, I probably had 750,000 miles on different bikes and thought I had seen it all. Boy was I wrong, I was doing things my whole riding career that were wrong, once I learned the right way, I became a much better rider. My advice is get to a MSF course as soon as possible. I have since taken two race/sportbike courses so Modian, go for it, even if you don’t race, its a lot of fun and you will have a much better riding experience.
As an aside, be carful of who you get information from, I have been in a long running dispute with the safety director for ABATE of Wisconsin, in one of his colums, he gave information that was wrong and is very dangerous, (it concerns turning and initiating a lean).
MagicSilverKey, it sounds like you may have some preconcieved (negative) notions about M/C riding, Hey try it, I bet you have a blast!
“There are two kinds of riders: Those who have dropped the bike, and those who will drop the bike.”
You can keep your speed up and avoid making U-turns on hills; but there’s always something that can get you. My ex-SO was making a turn on a paved road and hit a patch of gravel. She dropped it. As I mentioned, I’ve been riding since I was six years old. A couple of years ago I was making a left turn in an intersection. There was a flattened aluminum can in the road. Didn’t even see it. My rear wheel hit it and the bike slid out from under me. No matter how careful you are, you’re going to fall eventually. I like to think I got most of my falling behind me when I was desert riding. Part of the fun of a dirt-bike is sliding around a bit. Sometimes you slide too much. Now that I have a street bike with lots of pretty (and expensive) plastic bits, I put the skills I learned in the dirt to use to avoid dropping it.
ABATE. Haven’t dealt with them. But. In So. Cal. there is a place called (I think) “C.C. Rider”. It’s a motorcycle school. I see some squids on sportbikes, but the worst one I’ve seen had the yellow “C.C. Rider” (?) sticker on the back of his helmet. I thought those guys were supposed to teach you how to ride right!
I agree with most but the helmet. If you have to wear a helmet, avoid the full face ones at all costs. you go down face first and the thing will try to roll and take your head off. From what I hear, there illegal in some countries. Half helmet is best, 3/4 cuts down on your hearing too much. It may help you in some situations, but your more likely to get into an accident in the first place. I never wear a helmet. Not because of some macho crap, but because they tend to do more harm then good. The fatigue factor, the limits they put on periphrial vision, and severe neck damage that can occur in even minor accidents. They do help out in some sitiuations, but the odds are against you. I know a couple of EMT’s that have responded to quite a few motocycle accidents, and they don’t wear them either.
leather chaps help some. I went down at highway speed (due to a mechanical failure, and some truly horrible judjment on my part)in Dallas, and didnt get a bit of road rash. banged up my knee a bit, tore a chunk out of the sleave of my leather jacket on the guardrail, but otherwise walked…er…hobbled away with no real damage but my ego.
Dunno if I’d agree with that. Very few people in the UK use open-face lids, mostly cruiser riders.
The chin bar has saved many a smashed jaw.
A common crash scenario is to hit something head-on like a car pulling out and you go straight down using your face as a brake.Full face lids are stronger in lateral compression too.
Put it another way, how many pros racing wear open face lids ?
At the speeds these guys crash at and their frequency I’m sure that your worst case scenario would have happened by now and AFAIK it has not.
Actually it happens quite often. Race conditions and street conditions are a lot differant, but still people do die of broken necks in races(I was kinda exagerating about takeing the head off,more like it tries to). there is also a multitude of other injures that occur in this situation, including one where you wind up choking to death on your own blood. Your better off with a broken jaw. In general, if your not wearing a helmet, your bodys natural reactions tend to keep your face off the pavement… Most motorcycle injuries are to extremities. If your wearing a helmet, the extra wieght defeats your natural instincts and inertia caries your head right to the pavement, where the helmet either tries to roll, or bounce, resulting in neck injuries.
I can see this going to great debates soon if this keeps up but…
avoid the full face ones at all costs huh? lets see I’ve been down twice, my wife once, NO damage from the helmet and it helped save my wife’s head as she landed on her head at 60. gave her a concusion and she was in the hospital for a week. no helmet she’d be dead. When I hit the deer I got draged for a few hundred feet, helmet kept my face from looking like my leges. out of all the motorcyclists I know only one has said in his accident he had a problem from a helmet and that was because he landed on his chin and it cracked some of his vertebre. of all the other guys I know they all wear on a normal basis 3/4 or full face and these are guys with 100s of thousands of miles each.
as for the vision, have you ever put one on? a good helmet, and any DOT helmet, has to have ‘X’ amount of perifral vision. I can not see any of my helmet from the corner of my eyes without really moving my eyes to the side. so I haven’t ever worn a helmet that limits in any way your vision.
for hearing I have no loss of hearing with my full face and actually I am thinking about wearing ear plugs because the wind is starting to get to me after my longer days. I will say though that I haven’t ridden much on bikes without windshields so in the wind it might be harder to hear.
I also don’t take to the fatigue either as I ride long distances on a normal basis and my neck doesn’t become tired or anything like that. now maybe if you tried to do a 1000 mile day on your first day your neck might get tired, but not if you’ve been riding for awhile.
both times I had went down the EMTs kept asking me if I was wearing a helmet and they all said they DIDN’T like working on people who didn’t.
I started out on a 67 BSA spitfire, haved owned numerous triumphs, BSA’s, etc. Always wanted a norton. Had a couple of Guzzi’s, and a bwm at one time. Right now I ride a 1953 Harley hydroglide, in the original rigid frame. I love brit bikes, but they just don’t really make them in my size. Im 6’6", and weigh about 380 or so, so I looked pretty ridiculous on them. I used to restore them for a living, and I even named my son Vincent.
I hear the reason the english drink warm beer is because they use lucas refrigerators…
Okay, I’ll chime in on the helmet issue. (Maybe there should be a seperate helmet thread?)
I “always” wore a helmet. Sure, I’d go without for short hops around the block; but if I was going anywhere I’d put one on. Having started out in the dirt, I’ve taken my share of spills. I decided a helmet is a good thing. I also discovered that if I wore a seatbelt while driving a car, I had more control of the vehicle in turns (I’ve always been a somewhat aggressive driver). Too bad I wasn’t wearing a belt when I was driving a pickup instead of the sportscar, or I’d probably be flying jets in the Navy now.
Now, I don’t think there should be a law that we have to wear helmets or wear seatbelts. I’m a strong believer in Darwinism. I’ve heard the arguments against wearing helmets, but I’ve always chosen to wear one. I think the benefits outweigh the alleged detriments, and I value my head.
When I started riding there were no full-face helmets. I had a Bell 3/4 helmet and Uvex goggles. I had to replace a lot of lenses in the goggles when they’d get hit with a rock thrown up by the guy in front of me. One problem I had with the 3/4 helmet was in the (rare) rain. Those drops sting when you’re going above 30mph or so! I wore a bandana (bandit-style) and it helped, but it was soon saturated. The “bubbles” that snapped to the front kept the wind off, but they can sure hold in the heat! I prefer wearing a full-face helmet with a visor that flips up for ventilation.
Back on-topic: I think a well-used “beater” is good to learn on. If you buy a brand-new, expensive bike with lots of expensive plastic bits on it, you’re less likely to find out what the bike can do. You might be too careful. Most people who only drive cars seem to instinctively brake in a tight situation. Often on a bike it’s better to accellerate out of a situation. Sometimes that’s hard to learn if you’re worried about pranging an expensive machine.
I wore denim jeans and a denim jacket while riding in the dirt. A leather jacket is good on the street. You can get a “motorcycle jacket” for about $100 at Wilson’s Suede & Leather. The ex-g/f bought a one-piece racing suit from a bike shop. She was rather pretentious and wanted to look like she’d been riding a while, but I can attest to the value of a full leather suit. A truck changed laned in front of me on the freeway. Fortunately I was wearing o one-peice that day. (It was pretentious for the ex to wear leather, but I think I’ve earned it over the years! ;)) I kept the bike on two wheels and it sustained no damage; but the truck had a nasty dent where my knee hit the left-front fender. My leather suit with nylon knee inserts saved me from a (another!) painful knee injury.
Well…Yes, I have worn about every kind of helmet imaginable, I used to wear a snell aproved full face, and I used to have one of those BMW ones with the flip up front. the fatigue factor comes in more from riding without a windshield. If you turn your head to look, say for a lane change, the wind twists your head around.after a while, subconsiously, you stop turning your head as much.I could see it wouldnt be so bad with a windshield. Hearing is definately decreased. With out a helmet on, i can hear the sound of my own pipes change as someone pulls up on me. with, I cant. Vision, well I guess it depends on the person, or the helmet. the ones I wore, definately limited perphrial vision.
to each his own.
as for a debate, we are about as likely to solve this one as gun control or abortion.
FWIW, I’ve ridden 600 miles in one day on the motorcycle while wearing a full Shoei helmet. No noticeable fatigue caused by the helmet. The fatigue came from riding so far on a bike that was not designed for long trips. My butt was sore, my knees were sore, but my head and neck were fine.
I can detect cars by sound with the helmet on. But in L.A. traffic, I have to! (Besides, my head is on a swivel, so I take note of who’s near me anyway.)
I sometimes wear a full face when riding in rain or sleet. I remeber about a 40 mile ride in driveing sleet, with nothing but a pair of jeans, a leather jacket and a Tshirt. I really wished I had one then. Got a lot closer to God that night. I got home, broke the Ice out of my hair, and sat there shakeing for about a 2 hours. Stupid weather.
I’m not going to debate the helmet thing, but I’ve seen what happens when you don’t wear one and end up with a melted face or crushed skull. Road rash on the face is not pretty.
there of course is a lot more on the net, but its not going to convince anyone. The conclusion I reached was the its pretty much a break even sitiuation as far as injuries go. Half the time your better off with, half the time without and your more likely to get into an accident in the first place if your wearing one, so I don’t. The best thing I guess is for everyone to research it for themselves, and make up their own mind. its not really clear cut either way
there are a couple of others too that are kinda out there but I don’t have time to look them up. I’ve read most if not all of them and may are good, but just like everything else take it with a grain of salt.
I agree it’s not the best advice out there, but there are some good points in a lot of those.
And even though I already knew bout how long denim and leather last in a slide, I still wear jeans.
One thing I forgot to mention before is, it helps a lot if you know how to drive a stick shift before riding a motorcycle. My sister had a helluva time learning to work the clutch and gears when she first started because she had never done it before. When I started, I took to it like a duck to water. Just wish it didn’t rain so freaking much round here, or I’d sell the car and use it for main transportation.
yep I used to wear jeans all the time with my leather jacket until I got laid off. I got a nice severence package and little did they know I already had another job! so I took the money and bought a Stitch of which I like a lot. plus rain, cold, heat never bothered me. never tried riding in the snow though. don’t think I wanna start either. all I need now is an electric vest and I’ll be ready for year round riding!
Just read the link about the 1000 mile days, kinda chuckled a little bit, on one of my trips out west, I rode from just south of LA to Vancouver WA straight through. Yea, my ass was numb, (also when I got to the area, there were no hotel rooms anywhere, ended up sleeping on a covered picnic table at a wayside!) but it was really no big deal. Spent the next day seeing Mt St. Helens, drove to Ellensberg WA stayed the night, then drove all the way to Dikenson (sp) North Dakota. First day was just over 1100 miles, the last day was just under 1100 miles. Did the trip by staying focused and maximising my time. Yes, it was a Gold Wing, but I was still filling up every 150-175 miles.
bdgr, liked the crack about the Lucas refrigerator, btw, I,m 6’3" 300lbm I try not to ride next to mirrored walls when on my sportbike or Norton. I’d probably die laughing at myself.
