best way to learn to ride? gimmie your 2 cents

[Grigori Rasputin]

simply as a matter of curiosity. what do you think is the best way to become familiar and comfortable with the....feel of riding motorcycles. should one develop their skillz in the dirt and then move over to street bikes, vise versa, or something completely different?

[/J/]

My start was mini-roadracing with a NSR50R and also playing around in the dirt also. I'm still a n00b, though. :D

[Asian Dave]

Start small.

[Desmofemme]

at night on something little.

[Dano]

at night on something little.

You are talking about bikes right

[Asian Dave]

The NSR was great for track riding. It helped a lot w/ body position and it transfered well to the bigger bike. Then after doing a track day on the 600, I realized I can go a lot faster on the 50.

A few Skillz Days wouldn't hurt either.

[Desmofemme]

You are talking about bikes right

course not. i love me some micropenis. :wiggle

But yeah... I'd have loved to start in the dirt. The MSF, Jeff & skillzday-type help, and parking lot practice were essential. And I started riding the streets at night to cut out the traffic element & get comfortable on the road.

[Grigori Rasputin]

I learned my freeway riding at night...little traffic and headlights help you know where the traffic is i say +1....also made me go slower since I wasn't entirely comfortable of what was in front of me

[Asian Dave]

I remember riding around the block at night and around the CSULB parking lot. LOL.

[/J/]

Learning to ride a bike by starting on the street was really easy for me. When I said a post up that I got my start, I meant with my start in sport riding. However, I was/am smart enough (mostly) to know that I should not try to ride hard on the street with the inexperience I had (actually, to know that I should never try to ride hard on the street).

[Jeremy]

I taught my wife to ride, in the verizon amplitheater parking lot.. and I used Alex's old TTR-125 super moto bike

[Grigori Rasputin]

I'm not so interested in riding hard....well not on a bike...more interested in understanding how the bike communicates. I've had a few oh shit experiences that were very....um educational. I feel I've learned a lot from those experiences, so i guess another question is how do you safely induce situations that scare you. my inexperience is probably the most dangerous risk to my riding, i'd like to change that....with as few broken bits as possible

[Gman]

get a turbo busa. go as fast as you can. never let go of the throttle. dont use the brakes.

[Gman]

YouTube - Suzuki Hayabusa with Turbo Vmax 390kmh (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwieel03c-w)

[The Sauce]

Drag race!

[Grigori Rasputin]

Drag race!

what next I think I got that one covered

[trackpimp]

I learned when I was a kid in the dirt..

I think the best way is to sign up for an MSF course and learn from qualified rider-coaches. smaller bikes are easier to learn on also..

I taught my wife how to ride in less than 30 minutes on her XR-100

[Indetrucks]

Start on dirt..
Learn all the controls and the way a bike reacts on dirt. Ride trails, learn panic braking etc.

This helped me because now when my rear end gets loose at the track I don't panic or chop the throttle, I just ride it out.

[Nocontrol]

Start on dirt..
Learn all the controls and the way a bike reacts on dirt. Ride trails, learn panic braking etc.

This helped me because now when my rear end gets loose at the track I don't panic or chop the throttle, I just ride it out.

+1

Practicing on the street helps you get a feel for the bike, but riding dirt really helps you learn to stay calm and control the bike when it is sliding. Then again, I rode dirt quite a while after I rode street and I survived a few occasions when I spun up the rear tire on my z1000. If you don't learn how to do that without having to think about it, you are gonna be in trouble when it happens.

[Markbone]

started on dirt, took the MSF, practiced in lots. to get familiar with the bike and how it works.

aidan what worked for me was the skillzday with jeff. i got exactly what you are looking for from him, but that could have just been me. im up for another cuz there's still tons i want to learn.

[420]

Have absolutely no dirt or street experience and go buy a 600. Drive off the lot with no helmet and flip flops. 3 bikes and 12000 miles later buy a racebike, race for a couple years, win some championships, quit racing for a few years, do stupid stuff on streetbikes, buy a dirtbike, race again for a couple years, win some more, sell streetbike, buy another dirt bike, buy a mountain bike, stop racing again ....

And the 9 year saga continues.......

[k0ncept]

if you can ride dirt/sand/rocks/hills you can ride the piss out of just about anything, R1's will feel like pocketbikes after you get good..

[Markbone]

one thing i have noticed is most everything is just a mindset. hell on my commute my mind just stopped thinking and i had the most fun ever. didnt do anything amazing but i was in total control of my bike. i kew how it would react and what to do once it did. hasnt happened to me all that often but this morning def stood out. if you think it it will happen. skills can be learned and practiced but that does you no good if youre still paranoid. set yourself in your Zen mode and rock it.

[The Sauce]

Have absolutely no dirt or street experience and go buy a 600. Drive off the lot with no helmet and flip flops. 3 bikes and 12000 miles later buy a racebike, race for a couple years, win some championships, quit racing for a few years, do stupid stuff on streetbikes, buy a dirtbike, race again for a couple years, win some more, sell streetbike, buy another dirt bike, buy a mountain bike, stop racing again ....

And the 9 year saga continues.......



I hate you. Good Day.













































I SAID GOOD DAY!

[Dee Dub]

I learned in the dirt...Rode and raced until I was about 30.
I think that's a good basis, but disagree that being hot in the dirt will make you hot on asphalt...completely different style, bike weights. I actually did better in the dirt than on the pavement, but....maybe I'm just a wuss...

[Grigori Rasputin]

started on dirt, took the MSF, practiced in lots. to get familiar with the bike and how it works.

aidan what worked for me was the skillzday with jeff. i got exactly what you are looking for from him, but that could have just been me. im up for another cuz there's still tons i want to learn.


ya I've done the basic MSF and I've been to a handful of skillz days, but I'm always down for more. I was thinking about the MSF advanced course, but haven't thought about it much

[triplestack3]

helps if you have a friend that will work with ya

I don't think my BMX experience really helped all that much though; I just hated pedaling.

[Chromodome]

ya I've done the basic MSF and I've been to a handful of skillz days, but I'm always down for more. I was thinking about the MSF advanced course, but haven't thought about it much

MSF Advanced is just the MSF Basic all over again, on your own bike. You get much the same from a day with Jeff. :2cents

[Grigori Rasputin]

don't you have to renew your msf status every so often to get the insurance discount?

[Chromodome]

Not sure, I told State Farm I had taken the advanced course and they said "congrats". YMMV, depending on insurer. :D

[Da Baddest Mofo]

I'm surprised no one said it yet:

SUPERMOTO FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!