So, you’ve decided to do this!
You are going to learn to ride a motorcycle.
Or perhaps you’re just moto curious.
What should you expect?
What challenges are you going to face?
What are some of the things I wish I knew before I learned to ride?
Stick around!
This entire video is dedicated to you, the new rider!
Hi, I'm Dave with CanyonChasers!
First I’m stoked that you are here!
Learning to ride a motorcycle is an enormous challenge and it might seem a bit overwhelming...
but riding is also one of the most rewarding things in the world.
For me, from as early as I can remember, I’ve loved motorcycles, no strike that, I’ve
been obsessed with motorcycles.
Motorcycles have taken me around the world, over awe inspiring mountain passes, across
face-meltingly hot dusty deserts, suffered through insane rains and hail, tip-toed through
the mountains in the snow - sharing the road with snowmobiles,
no really - it was that bad.
My best vacations, my greatest adventures and all of my closest and dearest friends
have all come through motorcycles. Even my wife of more than 20 years.
Our first date consisted of riding around all night until the sun came up again.
Motorcycles have given me so much, but they’ve taken from me as well.
I’ve lost friends and some have suffered injuries they’ve never recovered from.
That is all to say for all the joy and excitement and fun… motorcycling cannot be done safely,
All we can really do is identify the risks and then make choices to reduce those risks.
As a new rider starting out on your great motorcycle adventure I ask that you recognize
and accept that it can all go pear shaped at any moment,
even if you are doing everything right.
So with that said here are some of the things I wish I’d known as I started out and some
free advice that is probably worth every penny you are paying for it.
This seems to be the hardest lesson for so many riders.
Tires are the most important part of your bike.
Don’t waste money on blingy farkles and loud exhaust pipes and chromey do-dads and
who-ha’s.
Spend that money on tires.
Replace them in sets, buy the good ones and replace them before you think you need to.
Motorcycle tires don’t last very long.
Car tires come with a 80k km warranty - I’ve never had a tire last longer than
9k kms, and I've seen an astounding number of motorcycles with dry rotted tires riding
around with “plenty of life” left on them based on tread depth. for love of all things
two wheeled, check your tire pressure and check it often and set it according to the
owner's manual not the stamp on the sidewall.
A helmet is not adequate to protect your hearing, open-face helmets cause even more noise.
The wind noise and highway noise will permanently damage your ears
and it doesn’t take long at all.
I wish someone would have told me this when I first started riding. Wear earplugs!
When it comes to your first bike; you’ll learn more, faster on a small bike.
And by small we mean weight and horsepower.
A Sportster may be a small bike by cruiser standards, but it’s a freaking heavy bike.
An R6 may only be 600cc’s but it makes 130 horsepower.
That's a crap-ton of power.
Learning on a big or powerful bike is like trying to learn how to fly by starting in
a fighter jet or a 747.
There’s a reason why pilots all start out on Cessna’s or smaller trainers and have
to qualify on larger and heavier aircraft.
Oh, and don’t spend every last penny on that new bike with nothing left over for riding kit.
Which brings me to riding kit.
A full-face helmet with a tinted visor looks totally badass
no matter what kind of bike you’re on.
It's also the safest and most comfortable helmet option.
But seriously, it looks legit.
Get a full-face helmet with a tinted visor for double-cool points.
Buy Armored Gear that fits.
Most new riders, left to their own devices, tend to buy gear, including helmets, one size
too big for comfort.
But remember, your riding kit needs to stay put at, basically, hurricane force winds.
It should be snug.
Any good motorcycle shop worth its salt will have someone on hand who can help you figure
things out and good shops will also have someone who has been trained to fit your head properly
for a helmet.
And finally, just because it comes from a motorcycle shop, doesn’t mean it’s motorcycle
gear (I’m looking at you Harley-Davidson).
It’s not a motorcycle jacket unless it has armor in the elbows shoulders and back, otherwise
it's just a fashion jacket.
Same goes with boots and gloves.
As far as you're concerned; no armor means no good.
So, when you learn to ride a bike, or how to operate a motorcycle, it feels like a lot.
But when we break it down, it’s only four things.
Starting, Stopping, Turning and Shifting.
At first, getting the bike rolling is going to be a big challenge and then most of us
get really worked up about shifting - don’t worry you’ll get those.
Turning will become a life-long pursuit as we all strive for that perfect corner.
But the most important skill that you need to develop is stopping.
You need to learn how to become comfortable with your brakes more than any other control
at your fingertips.
Your brakes are the most powerful tool in your arsenal.
The confidence of knowing you can slow or stop the motorcycle, and what the brakes on
your motorcycle are capable of, will be key to your success.
You can begin your journey towards becoming a demon on the brakes just by pushing your
bike around.
Reach up and slowly squeeze the brakes to bring the bike gently to a stop.
Listen for the click of the brake light switch.
Every time you squeeze the brakes do it like this and learn how this feels.
The key to stopping quickly is to square the handlebars and then master slow, progressive,
linear brake squeezing.
Never grabbing, especially with the handlebars turned.
Learn to trust and rely on your brakes, especially your front
brake because as much as 85% of your stopping power comes from the front.
Go to the brakes when you are nervous, just enough for that brake light switch to click
on is all you need most of the time.
Use that front brake to gently slow into corners until you are comfortable with your speed
and you can see your exit.
Ignore anybody who recommends “no-brake drills” or suggests not using the brakes
on twisty roads.
Riding without using your brakes doesn’t teach you anything
Your brakes are your best and most powerful friend.
Continually foster that relationship so they’ll be there at the ready when you need them most.
Cars are not out to get you - and what I mean by that is it’s not personal.
Sure, we should conduct ourselves and be prepared for anything as though we are totally invisible,
but If a car cuts you off, or violates your right of way - it’s not personal.
Do not lose your temper and go into a hulk rage fit because you think you’ve had your
rights violated.
They weren't.
That car driver isn’t paying attention, nor should you have
expected them to be paying attention.
Give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they’re having a bad day, or they just found
out their kid broke their arm and are rushing to get home.
It’s not personal.
So stay cool.
Leave the past behind you.
You must learn to think like an Italian.
- What is behind me is not important.
- I’ve seen so many riders crash because they are upset about how they messed up that last
corner, or they are obsessing about that car that almost pulled out in front of them - they
focus about what happened to the point where they lose sight of the moment.
What's in front of you is a lot more important than what's behind you.
Same thing goes for any stress at work or at home.
Leave that baggage in the driveway and focus on whats in front of you.
Most advice is bad advice - This is especially true if you are female.
Almost every dude out there is going to try to impress you with mountains of really crap
information, mostly as a way to try to impress you.
Realize that the vast majority of riders are going to tell you how they ride - and they
probably ride like ass.
Speed and skill are not the same thing, just because someone is fast it doesn’t mean
they know what they are doing.
This goes for books, and yes, YouTube videos, and even some riding schools out there.
Do your own homework before taking advice from anyone.
The people you ride with matter and for that fact, avoid group rides as much as possible.
Some of the most violent crashes I’ve seen have all happened on group rides.
One bike falls or swerves, hits another bike…
And suddenly nobody is having a good time.
When it comes to group rides, only the guy in front is riding the speed they want, everyone
else is either going slower or faster than they want to go.
My best advice is to simply avoid group rides altogether.
And if you do end up in a group, remember this: The golden rule of group riding is “Ride
Your Ride.” Don’t let anybody goad you into riding faster or wearing less gear than
you are comfortable with.
It’s your ass in the seat and is your ass on the line.
Fitness helps… a lot.
So, I know I talk a lot about the soft-skills.
The mental focus and mindsets that help us be successful, but motorcycling is also physically
challenging.
Not so much about how strong you need to be to pick the bike up off the sidestand or lift
it onto the centerstand, but riding a motorcycle is physically taxing in a way that driving
a car can never be.
You are exposed to a constant battering by the wind, including turbulence from other
traffic.
The temperature, be it hot or cold, takes its toll.
The noise too.
It exhausts you.
Wearing earplugs helps a ton with this, but noise is tiring.
So, don’t underestimate the physical requirements of riding a motorcycle.
Stay hydrated, eat a little something during fuel stops, stretch and, if you want to progress
as a rider, enact some kind of regular physical exercise.
And the best exercise you can take up - ride a bicycle… quickly.
Or even better, get a mountain bike.
Every professional motorcycle racer in the world spends thousands of hours per year on
a bicycle.
Look, it’s still saddle time and all the rules of motorcycling still apply.
It leans the right way in corners, you need to keep your eyes up, and you can practice
all your riding techniques on your bicycle and it translates right back to your motorcycle.
Struggling with u-turns, go practice on your bicycle.
Struggling with braking smoothly, go practice on your bicycle.
Plus, all that exercise is going to give you the strength and stamina
to deal with the physical stresses of motorcycling.
The only thing, depending on what part of the world you live in, your bicycle brakes
might be backwards.
Swap your brakes so the front brake is in the same place as on your motorcycle so you
can build good muscle memory so we never hesitate
that our right hand controls the front brake.
Listen, as you embark on this amazing adventure,
remember Riding well is a skill.
Not a gift.
It’s going to feel weird and you are not going to be good at it, and you are not be
good at it for a while.
You are starting at the beginning, just like we all did.
You are going to struggle, especially in parking lots.
Again, like an airplane, motorcycles are more stable if you are going a little quicker.
Stall speed if you will.
Below “stall speed” your motorcycle turns into a 450 lb brick that tips over easily.
As you are figuring this out you will probably drop your bike trying to park or at a gas
station, and I assure you, it’ll only happen when you have an audience.
Don’t let this deter you because it’s happened to all of us.
Hell, I once found myself in the middle of a black-leather biker rally on my Pink and
Blue FZR 600 (the 90’s were a different time, don’t judge) and I promptly dropped
my bike in the middle of them all.
I carry those emotional scars with me to this day.
Not really.
Seriously, it happens to all of us.
Don’t let setbacks and failures deter you.
It’s only a failure if you don’t learn from it.
We all need to be constantly practicing and improving if we want to become, and if we
want to remain, a good rider.
A basic rider course is the first step, but it’s not the only step.
Every rider in the world has something they can be working on, world champions simply
spend the most time doing that.
So, the whole reason behind CanyonChasers is to help others reduce the risk of riding,
make riding more enjoyable and to help all of us become more proficient and precise riders.
Hashtag CanyonChasers.
I really hope to see you guys back here.
Click like and subscribe and be sure to check out our channel or our website for lots more
content.
In the description, we’ve linked to several video’s where we’ve covered many of these
topics in greater detail.
Oh and one last thing, check your tire pressure.
Thanks for watching and ride well.