How did you learn to ride?

[dantama]

The sv650 crash video in the safety forum made me wonder about how lucky I was to safely learn to ride, considering the circumstances.

I don't remember the specific day, or days, that I learned to ride. It was probably 7th or 8th grade. My friends had two stoke dirt bikes and they taught me how to ride.

I already knew how to drive tractors and forklifts, so the concept of a clutch and what it does wasn't something new that I had to learn. I remember them saying that the gears were "1 down, 3 up". I needed a little explanation of what the deal with up and down was, tractors had an H pattern.

80cc 2 strokes have almost no torque at low rpms, and a lot of horsepower at high rpms. That makes learning clutch and throttle control a bit difficult, but in a few tries I had it.

Watching the SV650 video made me think about all the fences, trees, and obstacles at the orchard and gravel pit where I learned to ride. It is a wonder that we didn't kill ourselves learning to ride with other 13 year olds, no adult supervision, and no helmets.

I progressed to buying an XL250 at 14, and riding on the streets in high school on a 650 special, all with no adult instruction at all.

After watching a lot of video clips of friends teaching friends how to ride, and it becoming a disaster, it is a wonder that we all made it.

How did you learn to ride?

And Trip's question from a few posts down:
Do you know what countersteering is, and how did you learn it?

[nomad]

when i was a kid my neighbor had 3 or 4 bikes. he would get drunk (every day...) and would let me ride them. he had a kawasaki kz650, honda cb350 (4 cylinder) and a couple others. i rode them all over the place. never put a scratch on any of them. i guess thats why he trusted me to ride them all the time.

[dantama]

Originally Posted by Nomad

when i was a kid my neighbor had 3 or 4 bikes. he would get drunk (every day...) and would let me ride them. he had a kawasaki kz650, honda cb350 (4 cylinder) and a couple others. i rode them all over the place. never put a scratch on any of them. i guess thats why he trusted me to ride them all the time.

Was it the drunk guy who taught you the whole clutch and shift pattern?

[redeye]

The last bike I owned & rode was back in 1968. On December 12, 2007 I purchased my Nad. The salesman delivered it to my house, as I was too scared to try & ride it on the freeway.

Over the course of the winter, I would take it out starting with short trips around the block. In April '08 I attended the Motorcycle Safety Course at my local Community Collage. The following weekend I had the pleasure to take a 850 mile, 3 day ride with Valdez down the California Coast. Ron is very patient instructor.

One advantage I may have is, being a trucker, I have the skills to "GET THE BIG PICTURE" which we are taught in defensive driving courses over the years.

There has been some close calls, & I have dropped the bike a few times. I try to learn from my mistakes.

[refugio]

On Dirt Bikes........My 2 brothers and I used to ride them all over our family land when we were about 12 years old and up. Wrecked and crashed them many times over.
In the early 80's I started riding my first street bike.....Learned from experience.

[towering]

i tought myself after watching some guys back in L.A riding back in 69

[trip]

Self taught.....Learned how to ride from other friends, videos and online riding forums for years.

I'm curious......let me ask a question on top of Dan's question.....

How many of you know what counter-steering is and how to use it?

[jmorrow]

The first motorcycle I rode was a Honda trail 50 that belonged to a neighbor. i was about 12 year old. I just got on and twist the throttle. My neighbor's Dad told me if I can ride a bicycle I could ride the motorcycle. Wasn't a problem.....

[mlogsdon]

MSF course two weeks after my 40th birthday...7 years later I wonder why I waited so long.

[nomad]

Originally Posted by Dan Lund

Was it the drunk guy who taught you the whole clutch and shift pattern?

nope...he just threw me the keys and said "see ya later..". ;)

[johnb]

I learned how to ride a motorcycle the same way I learned how to drive a manual shift...by myself. I bought a car with manual shift and had to get it home and didn't want to say I never drove one, so I basically knew the pattern and backed it out and then drove off. It really wasn't that difficult.

I had always wanted a bike so finally when I was in my 20's I bought a '76 Honda 360. Cheap ride. Believe it or not, my license (NY) came with the motorcycle endorsement. I showed it to the dealer and he was surprised. He told me to do some figure-eights and slow turns in the parking lot and told me to watch out for sand/loose dirt. I spent about ten minutes and then rode home. Of course, I took it easy and kept riding away from traffic until I felt I had it. A couple of years later, I bought a '78 Yamaha XS 750E and by that time it was just getting used to more HP.

Now, after 20 years off, I bought an'06 Nomad. Had to get it home, so I got on and it came back to me. Of course, I did manage to stall it at a light, but the feel was there. Since March I put on about 5,000 miles taking day trips whenever I can. I practice the "Ride Like a Pro" exercises, at least the slow ones, tight circle and figure-eights going both directions. I do think though that I will see if I can take the "Ride Like a Pro" class. They have a location in NJ that offers it. It would be good to be sure I really know what I'm doing.

Counter-steering for me seemed to be intuitive. Later read about it in a magazine, I think it was an article in the old mag. Road Rider. That was a good magazine.

[Top Cat]

The father of one of the girls in the group I hung out with in high school had a small engine repair shop. He sold lawn tractors and stuff.
When I was 19 and out of school and working I mentioned I wanted to get a motorcycle. He said he was thinking of selling Bridgstones and asked if I would ride over to the distributors with him to check them out.
Long story short, he got a franchise and I was his first customer. Paid for the bike , he handed me the keys and the rest is history. So I guess you would say I am self taught.
Trip, I didn't know what counter steering was then but I do now ;)

[Yellow Jacket]

I started on a bicycle when I was just a little kid. Rode on gravel (mostly just graded dirt) and "tarvy" (gravel spread over hot tar) roads. We lived out in the country. No such things as "mountain" bikes back then but we rode everywhere. I was a riding fool. I would drift into the front yard coming off the road by locking up the back wheel and letting it slide way out. Folks were always getting mad about the ruts I would make. I even did "stoppies" on my bike by taking off the front fender and then clamping my foot down on the tire just behind the fork. It was pretty delicate work since if I didn't get my foot sideways enough the tire would drag it into the fork or else I would get too much braking and go all the way over.

Anyway, when I was in my early teens my cousin got a Cushman Eagle scooter. Once in a while he would actually let me ride it. Some other friends got scooters and I would ride theirs when they were in a good mood. One school mate offered to sell me a scooter he had for $20 bucks. It turned out to be a real piece of junk and I refused to buy it. Shortly afterward ours desires began to change to getting cars and I never did get a scooter.

Years went by. I graduated from High School, worked a while, went off to college for a bit and then joined the Air Force to keep from getting drafted. Came home on leave in the summer of 67 to my folks house and there was a Honda 305 Scrambler in the garage. It belonged to my brother. He was in the Army and was away in basic training. Well, I couldn't just let it sit there. I rode the wheels off that thing for two weeks and had a living blast. Lessons or training from anyone? Nope, just got on and rode.

Trip asked about counter steering.

I never thought about counter steering or what it was. I just intuitively figured out that once you were moving faster than a good run, you pushed on the bar on the side you wanted to turn to. I reckon I had been riding for at least 15 years before I even heard the term of counter steering.

[Netnorske]

I learned to ride pretty much the same way I learned to row a drift boat on our coastal rivers. With drift boats...you jump on the oars and handle your business or die...not much in between... ;)!!

[burkazoid]

Originally Posted by Dan Lund

How did you learn to ride?

I learned to ride on a 1982 Kawasaki AR80. That was my first bike, back in 1985. A couple of summers later, my cousin and I rode his yamaha 80cc dirt bike and a couple of kawasaki 80cc four-wheelers practically all summer. We would do all kinds of tricks, two wheels, four wheels, wheelies and stoppies, and so on.

Then, it was a drought until 2004 when I bought the 2004 Vulcan 800 Classic. It was like being born again. Upgraded to the Nomad a couple of years later, and it's all history from there. I do miss the 800 though, from time to time.

I wanted a motorcycle all my life, ever since I was very small. My family was always exceptionally poor though. When I was five it all started, I wanted a motorcycle so bad it was all I thought of. For my fifth birthday I got Kawasaki motorcross jersey, and a big wheel. I was so disappointed!

When my pop took me to get the AR80, I was disappointed again. I looked at him and said something along the lines of "If that is my only option, I would rather do without." But, no, he bought it for me. And I spent the next two years hating it with all my heart. I only ever say one other AR80 on the road.

Fast forward twenty-five years, and I can say looking back it was undoubtedly worth it (the wait). That Nomad and I are joined at the hip (or buttocks).