Please share with new riders!

[Blade]

A young man with a wife and 3 year old daughter lost his life to a tragic motorcycle accident. He was a new rider with less than 50 miles on his first motorcycle. I have always stated about riding with in your limits and now using this story, I have added a new page to my website related to this and to share with new riders:

Riding With In Your Limits And Not The Limits Of Others

The link is off the bottom of my website, just click on:  ALWAYS REMEMBER TO RIDE WITH IN YOUR LIMITS AND NOT SOMEONE ELSE'S!

[wristwister]

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO RIDE WITH IN YOUR LIMITS AND NOT SOMEONE ELSE'S!

The problem is, a new rider has no idea what his/her limits are! As I see it, there are three ways for a new rider to quickly discover their limits:

- Keep dumping the bike till you learn and no longer dump it - bad idea!

- Always ride so cautiously and conservatively that you're sure to never approach the limits - Also a bad idea (ya gotta know where the limits are to survive panic situations)

- After the appropriate MSF courses and conservative/cautious street time, take the bike to the track (NESBA, 2-Fast etc.) and touch the limits while in a safe environment and being guided by an experienced control rider - GREAT IDEA!

[leedogg]

I'll stick to my cautios riding style...no desire to dump my 8000 dollar bike at a track.  Though I do understand your logic,,,,it is solid advice.

[Blade]

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO RIDE WITH IN YOUR LIMITS AND NOT SOMEONE ELSE'S!

The problem is, a new rider has no idea what his/her limits are! As I see it, there are three ways for a new rider to quickly discover their limits:

- Keep dumping the bike till you learn and no longer dump it - bad idea!

- Always ride so cautiously and conservatively that you're sure to never approach the limits - Also a bad idea (ya gotta know where the limits are to survive panic situations)

- After the appropriate MSF courses and conservative/cautious street time, take the bike to the track (NESBA, 2-Fast etc.) and touch the limits while in a safe environment and being guided by an experienced control rider - GREAT IDEA!

Actually everyone knows there limits. Basically (and this applies to everyone) if it is scaring you to much or makes you to uncomfortable, common sense will tell you to back off. Now you know your limit until you learn some more.

I have a friend that only started riding about three years ago and his first bike was a R1. His only two accidents were one he forgot to put his foot down at a stop sign and the second accident was a car failed to yield the right away on a round-about and clipped him from behind.

The first one, I know a newbie will do but the second one would not have mattered if you were new or a seasoned veteran, you would have most likely would have been hit too.

As to the third suggestion, that is what I am saying on my website page. Right now on the street, I never ride more than 80% of my ability and usually I keep it more at 70 to 75%, but on the track during track days I am more around 90% and when I race I am giving all I got.

[wristwister]

I'll stick to my cautios riding style...no desire to dump my 8000 dollar bike at a track.  Though I do understand your logic,,,,it is solid advice.

I guess that would be another piece of advice to a new rider: don't start off with a shiny new expensive motorcycle. Get a mechanically sound but cosmetically thrashed starter bike. Your gonna dump it anyway during the learning period. This is also the perfect bike to take to the track to hone your skills.

[SteelD]

This is so so sad. I am amazed that in the States you can buy a powerful bike without a license or training and ride it on the road. So many people want to start at the top and never consider working their way up so that what they ride matches their skill levels.

In the UK, all new riders are limited to 125cc and have to take an approved training course before taking the test which permits them to ride a larger bike and throw away the learner plates they have to display. Our biggest risk are old riders with a full license returning to the saddle after an absence of many years without realising that bikes are much more powerful than what they were used to.

I started back about 5 years ago and got a 95 bhp Yamaha 600. Even that was a big step up from the 37 bhp Honda 400 I rode 25 years earlier. However, I took it easy on the Yamaha and got used to it. My next bike was an FJR1300 (145 bhp) but it was much bigger and heavier and didn't make you feel as if you wanted to fling it around too much. I now have a Bandit 1250 and it probably has far more power than I'd ever use or need. It's great to ride but I always ride within my limits and that of the road and conditions. That's not to say that I don't enjoy myself because I do.

I suppose what I am saying is that nobody should think they can start at the top. You don't learn to ski on black runs and neither do you learn to swim in the ocean. Motorcycling is no different.

It's not being a wimp to start at the bottom, it's just plain common sense. Motorcycling is dangerous enough without stacking the odds against us. Just one mistake could be your last. Take it seriously and keep within your limits and you can look forward many happy biking summers.

[ilrcflyboy]

As a matter of fact, Mr. SteelD, you can come here to the states, go to your favorite dealer and pick up a brand new shiny Suzuki Hayabusa WITHOUT A LICENSE! (At least in Illinois you can).

I know plenty of guys who have purchased more than they could ever handle, just (in my opinion) to test Darwin's theory or participate in the natural selection process.

Horribly sad....

[wristwister]

As a matter of fact, Mr. SteelD, you can come here to the states, go to your favorite dealer and pick up a brand new shiny Suzuki Hayabusa WITHOUT A LICENSE!

... and in many states you can ride that crotch rocket out of the showroom floor in your sandles, shorts and tanktop without a helmet!

God bless the USA (and please take good care of our idiot squids lining up at the pearly gates)!

[Dave 02 1200]

The first of the two best ways I know to learn to ride safely is to get a dirt bike and push your limits until you know where they are.

That experience with limited traction on dirt will teach a new rider what it feels like when he/she is approaching limits and that can help tremendously.

The second thing is to take the MSF course. (it is not just for new riders) I am biased because I was an instructor during the mid 80s and I really believe in the teaching method and the course content.

Lastly, remember that peer pressure is a dangerous thing if it causes a new rider to ride faster than he/she would ride alone.

Good luck.

[solman]

Here are some of the reasons new riders ride beyond their limits:

1.  They are young and invinicible, so their ego takes over and feel that they have keep up.

2.  These new sport bikes make it so easy to go fast.  They are so confidence inspiring, that it is usually to late to realize that they have done something bad.  U.S. is one of the countries that have no rules on the size of bike that you buy.  In some countries, you have to start out on a small bike and work your way up.

3.  Following a more experienced rider.  If an inexperienced rider follows someone who is really smooth, the new rider can easily get sucked into a bad situation.  I know this because I got sucked in once and hit a decreasing turn and it bit me in the ass.  I didn't crash, but it sure was a scary situation.

4,  Think it equals a sport bike.  One of my friends was was following a ZZR sport tourer down a hill and this guy was riding it pretty hard.  My friend was on a GSXR 750 following this guy on the sport tourer.  Well guess what, the sport tourer crashed hard and the guy was hurt pretty bad.  Riding a sport tourer isn't going to react and have the clearance like a sport bike.

Accidents happen!  It isn't if you are going to go down, it is when!  I've been down few times and have been hurt seriously once.  The one time I got hurt bad was because of loose gravel in a turn which sent me into a tank slapper.

[Katamaniac]

I'm a Rider Coach with MSF and I can tell you that our curriculum addresses the cornering abilities pretty hard. As a matter-of-fact, the most negative points that you can accumulate is going outside the barrier on the cornering portion of the skills evaluation.

Also, the statistics are going down as far as running off the road in a curve. The old stats were 40% of all deaths were caused by running off the road in a curve for a single vehicle crash. The curriculum has been updated to 37%. So either the word is getting out through formal training, or we are weeding out the bad riders through process of elimination.

[B6mick]

When I started riding there was no limits to what you could ride, mind you there was nothing around that did 320kph off the showroom floor. But one could go out and buy a H1 or a H2 which went like shyte of a shovel in a straight line, corners well thats where things got a little tricky. So then the men whom lead us, introduced 250cc laws, for L and P plate riders, so manufactures made 250cc's that went like slightly smaller shytes from a slightly smaller shovel ala, The 1st year well here in Oz, RD250LC the government soon stepped in a told Yammie to detune it. I was lucky enough to get the first RDLC sold here in Vic, by the way that was after the T20supersport the Bonnie, and a stinking hot Z1R (high 10s in the street drags back in the late 70's). So no matter what new laws, brought in to limit new riders, manufactures will aways, come up with a missle that comes under the radar. Darwins law will still sort out those, that really shouldn't be left alone outside the front door, whether they ride a busa or 250 rice rocket.

[solman]

Also, the statistics are going down as far as running off the road in a curve. The old stats were 40% of all deaths were caused by running off the road in a curve for a single vehicle crash. The curriculum has been updated to 37%. So either the word is getting out through formal training, or we are weeding out the bad riders through process of elimination.

One thing to think about is that bikes progresss.  Better design in frames, better suspension, etc.  I know that I look at my 82 CB900F and then my 03, B12 and what a difference.  To top it off, the B12 doesn't even have the newest and best suspension.

[Dave 02 1200]

I wish everyone who rides, regardless of years of experience, would just take the MSF course.

I was an instructor in the 1980s and a club-level roadracer at the time.

Many, if not most, accidents could be prevented if riders were better prepared for what we will all eventually encounter on the "mean streets" and the MSF course will go a long way toward that preparation.

My advice, leave your ego at home and take the course.  

You will be surprised at how much you will learn and how much it will enhance your riding enjoyment.

[Tx RN]

I can't count the number of times I've been asked by newbie wannabees, after seeing me on my Valkyrie or Goldwing, "How hard is it to ride that big bike?" I ALWAYS tell them to go down to the nearest motorcycle dealer and register for the MSF course. That way they can get the legal and mechanics of riding from a professional. I also tell them it beats buying a motorcycle and finding out it ain't for them. When I started riding in 1983 the military required us to attend a 2 week MSF course and a 2 day refresher every year. I have been riding since 1983 on everything from an XR250 to a GL 1800. I have over 400,000 miles on motorcycles and have never been down on a street bike. (Crashed plenty on a dirt bike though). I have lived in big cities with high motorcycle fatalities and rural areas with almost no motorcycles to speak of. My MSF training is a great foundation for safe riding even 24 years later. There have been close calls but experience and defensive driving is key to staying upright and out of the hospital. Us old guys can teach the young bucks a thing or two about staying between the ditches huh?