Performance Anxiety (first time rider)

[honey_badger]

  In My Opinion, go out, beg, borrow, or steal a small displacement enduro/duel sport bike, find a muddy grass field after a rain, and ride the dog snot out of it!!  take hard corners, slam on the brakes front and rear, FEEL IT!!. Fall down a few times, with good gear of course,and understand what happens when You input the commands. it is the only true way Anyone will ever understand the dynamics of riding a Motorcycle. Those of Us who were born on a bike have already been through this, and most of Us still learn every ride new ways to do things properly. the reading of books is a good thing, only after You understand what the bike is about, what it is telling You, and I read several every Spring to refresh My memory. By doing this You are teaching Yourself and saving time, money and bodily injury,it's cheap to replace levers and bars on a cheap bike, not so on the street, with other obstacles and such.Time is a great teacher, but not all of Us have it, so accelerate the process, safely of course. Good luck in Your learning process, and slow and smooth is the way to start...

Best advice right here! I grew up on dirtbikes riding on trails and muddy fields and laid it down plenty of times -- once you get used to that feeling of the bike sliding all over the place and how to control it in a safe environment, you can apply it to the street. Just ride like every driver is out to kill you and assume and prepare for cagers to make the wrong move and you'll be fine.

[justinrhenry]

[Betty]

id like to read all those books but i cant afford them. seriously tho, if i read only 1, which should it be? i have, however, been cruizing the Riding Techniques thread.

This is a tough one ... most of the books carry much of the same information but are written and presented differently - the different styles will suit some more than others but it also depends on exactly what you are trying to gleen from them. Of the books that I have read, I tend to generally agree with the previous posts (but you will have to excuse my memory a little).

I don't see a problem with you reading up before you start riding ... but after some practical come back and read through it again. Your first read will give you the 'vibe' and your second read will allow you to properly understand and then develop.

'Proficient Motorcycling' is probably more street focussed and will help more with the crash avoidance you mentioned. However to me it seemed very wordy (it is a thick book) which made it a little harder to get through ... probably the reason I haven't got to his second book yet.

In terms of understanding the dynamics 'Total Control' and 'Sport Riding Techniques' are both excellent  - my pick of the books I have read. They are both easy to understand and convey a lot of information in a clear and concise way.

'Smooth Riding' was another book that was a little better and easy to follow. Though personally I didn't agree with a couple of things he was pushing pretty hard which turned me off a little.

'Twist of the Wrist' from memory seems even more track focussed, I thought 'Twist of the Wrist II' was better. But neither are particularly easy to read. To my simple mind the writing style is too complicated and a little confusing which saw me re-reading paragraphs to try and understand. The Superbike School though which teaches the book's theory is bloody good ... but expensive - to get full benefit though I would recommend a considerable amount of time on the bike first.

But you can tell you are a little more ... ummm ... 'mature' because you are still considering a book. The youngsters would already be sitting down watching the homoerotic DVD

Good luck.

[seevtsaab]

You can't be too aware when riding in traffic. It's automatic, idiots will scare the shit out of you.

Look thru the turns. You bike will follow your eyes.
I find it remarkable how well it works. And how often I catch myself admiring the curves twisting past my bike. Look up dammit!

[Rawr01]

busted my cherry today

riding is a good word. its pretty much a passive activity. tell the bike what to do and it does it and ur going with. be careful what you tell it to do cuz it has no conscience or will or instinct for self presevation. it just goes.

controlling the bike is pretty intuitive. i wanted someone to tell me how to turn a bike and was incredibly frustrated that nobody could. now i get why. i just got done doing it. bunches. and i couldn't explain how with a gun to my head. i might say just lean or it comes naturally or something else equally vague.

as far as situational awareness goes, scanning and mirror checks are already second nature for me. i drove for MANY years without a license; accidents had far greater consequences for me than for a licensed driver. happily, those days are behind me now. good habits die hard tho; looking at cars, checking their speed (slowing or accelerating?), what lane are they in, etc.

i've always preferred to drive a manual over an auto ever since learning, so shifting and gear selection was also a non-issue. being as its sequential there's not a whole lot of opportunity for error. finding neutral was kinda iffy tho. i don't know if th@'s peculiar to this type of gearbox, or just something i will get used to.

what i did wrong: i keep leaving my signal on! in cars signals are automatic; not on bikes tho. the dumbest thing i did? stopped in gear. i was coasting to a green light for a right turn when it turned red. i knew i was suppose to do SOMEthing; so i squeezed the brake. oops. other than th@ everything went totally fine. turns out those dash lights actually ARE good for something!

the experience was incredible and this bike is amazing. definetly a very powerful machine and surprisingly easy to control. but then i have absolutely nothing to compare it to. my first bike has a 900cc motor, performance clutch, speedymoto springs, and a rilly rilly good tire, so i guess the bar has been set high. i just went out and banged around the neighborhood side streets and kept widening my circle, venturing further and further out. some busier streets, moderate traffic. i did get followed by a cop for a bit which was a little nerve racking. overall, it was a blast tho. seriously, a blast. i completely lost track of time; one of the two times out i'd ridden 30 miles in about an hour....i'm not even sure how.

a word about dummies. they are REAL and they really are trying to kill you. i had a guy almost swerve into my lane from my left. i cut right, down shifted, grabbed some throttle, and put a couple car lengths between us pretty much instantly, but you wanna know what he was looking at? my bike! he was literally looking directly AT my bike. all BS aside, it doesn't matter whether they see you or not, ppl just do goofy sh*t.

* i wore all my gear. full face helmet, armored jacket, boots and gloves. oh, and i will be taking the MSF course next week.

[KRJ]

  Right on, like I said, Time is a teacher, Experiance cannot be explained. Riding season is coming soon,Ride Safe and enjoy, learning every minuite....

[thought]

make sure you get some practice in on stopping and getting going on uphills... aka, the uphill stoplight.

first time it happened to me i stalled three times before i got it going...  i kept on trying to use my front brake instead of my rear.  they told me how to do it in my msf, but never understood how annoying it could be till it happened.

and in case you dont know, you have to hold your rear brake down to stay stopped on a uphill for a light.  it lets you free up your hands to get the throttle/clutch going.

[WhiteStripe]

I am coming on my third season of riding.  I had some very limited experience on dirt, and pssed my motorcylce test 10 years earlier after dubbing around on a Harley for 20 minutes right before hte test.

After one ride with a friend, i decided to buy an S2R 1000 from another friend, and took my first solo ride 120 miles from NH to Boston in 40 degree weather in jeans and fleece gloves.  Needless to say i learned a lot about aot of things (particulary shriveled nuts) on that 4 hour ordeal.

I also started commuting the next day.  Many woudl say this is stupid - but the one thing i had in great measure is respect for the bike, caution, humility and a total, borderline irrational fear of getting hit, falling, etc.

Looking back on 6,000 miles here are a couple observations from a new rider to a new rider:
1. RELAX.  you are not going to help anything by being tense.  you cannot hold a bike up by clenching the grips, straining your neck, or being tense.  This was the hardest thing for me to get over.
2. BE METHODOICAL.  Everything is going to be new to you.  Putting a blinker on.  hitting the brakes, merging, limited vision by a helmet, the noise, parking, smells etc.  The more you can get into a routine the better i think you are.  A little mistake in a car can result in a dent.  A little mistake on a motorcycle can be less fun.  I have done some stupid things when rushing, like forget to strap on my helmet, forget to put a foot down, etc.  Last summer I missed a shift at 90 mph. Little mistake that could have been baaad – pretty humbling.
3. Be ALERT 100% of the time.  No excuses, no drinking, no distractions.  when in doubt drive your car.
4. STOP WORRYING.  I got so worried about hitting a dog, getting hit, low-siding, high-siding, tank slappers, skidding etc., that I forget to just ride and have some fun.  The times I feel like I am riding safest and am most alert are usually when I am warm, relaxed and not worrying. 
5. DON’T GET OVERCONFIDENT.
6. HAVE FUN.

Also, the more you can read the better as many others have said. 

Hope this is helpful to you as a fellow new rider.

Tim

[Betty]

3. Be ALERT 100% of the time.  No excuses, no drinking, no distractions.  when in doubt drive your car.

Might I suggest when in doubt ... find another mode of transport where you are not in control lest you become part of the problem.

Nobody needs another inattentive, distracted driver on the road

[DoubleEagle]

What if before you got your 1st car , people said " you know you with being a new driver , you will probably get in an accident ."

You would have similar thoughts and may be dreams of a an accident.

I have ridden Motorcycles off and on for over 45 years.

I've had 3 crashes in my 45 years of Motorcycle experience. ( all on a  '07 Ducati  S4Rs )

All in the past 4 years , mainly my fault.

I had never owned a Sportbike before.

I didn't know squat about riding skills for riding fast on curvy roads.

I have learned a WHOLE lot about riding fast on curvy, twisty roads here in the past 2 years.

The last crash I had was nothing to do with riding skills and more to do with a Dumbass hillbilly pickup truck driver and me not willing to play his game so I was as much at fault I guess as he was .

Anyway, back to to the new driver, new car scenario.

My question would be , " would you not drive a car for fear of getting in an accident  ? "

Your answer might be  " yes ."

I doubt that , I feel that reason and logic should tell you in both situations that YOU control most of what happens on the motorcycle as in a car.

If you just have a positive attitude believe in the fact that most people drive and ride safely each day and you , if you don't push the envelope of your skill level will do just fine.

We can't as you already know control what the other guy is going to do, but the most important thing that you must always remember is to keep your head in the game 100 % of the time you are on that bike seat.

No exceptions.

You are alike Radar Screen taking in all input your Eyes can gather.

You see what is in front of you and as far ahead of you as you can , your peripheral vision will take in what is going on to your sides , your ears will not be as important certainly as your eyes since you should be wearing earplugs to protect your hearing .

You will get used to them in no time.

You DON'T want to be sitting around and hearing a field full of chirping Crickets for not wearing hearing protection.

That's what it like to me for all the years I rode and DIDN'T wear earplugs. I wear them now ..and have for the last 4 years
Being paranoid about crashing is doing your Psyche more harm now then a tip over...besides, you may be one of the riders who never crashes.

If it gets too bad...buy a Harley with Crash Bars , most everyone I see riding them including me for years generally rode about the speed limit.

They don't call them " Cruisers " for nothing.

I feel you will be OK.

Truth be known, I'm having my own anxiety issues about riding this new season

I haven't ridden since mid November and here we are , already into April.

Alibeit , the weather has been cold and Snowy au until just yesterday but a lot of rain forecast in the long range forecast ..I don't ride in the rain ..if I cn

Dolph    [moto]

[Twizted]

What I found helped was a bit of advice given to me by an experienced rider on another forum. When you feel anxious on the bike especially going through bends, on gravel, wet roads, and strong winds instead of death gripping the bars, death grip the tank with your thighs and let your arms and shoulders relax. Gripping the tank gives you that bit of confidence where you feel planted to the bike without locking your upper body up which needs to be relaxed. Here was his post =

"Crosswinds, wet roads and gravel are the two things that tend to spook most riders, inexperienced a little more than experienced.

Experienced riders always say to "Relax the upper body." or "Relax your grip on the bars." They are absolutely right.  But they usually don't say why and they almost never tell you how.

Why?

Whenever the bike is being moved around under us, we want to be in better contact with the bike so we don't lose it. The automatic tendency is to tense up and grip the bars harder. That's exactly the wrong thing to do. But why? Because the harder you grip the bars, the more steering inputs you make. So every movement of the bike that causes your upper body to move gets translated into a steering input. This exaggerates every movement of the bike into an even bigger move. If you keep it up, pretty soon you can set up a totally scary weave. All caused by your steering inputs as your upper body gets moved around, either by wind buffeting both your body and the bike or the natural tendency of a bike on gravel to try to "hunt".

How?

That's the important question. Turns out it's pretty easy. Just grip the tank really hard with your knees. If the bike is moving about pretty good, just try to put dents into the sides of the tank with your knees. (You can't, but try to anyway.) This will allow you to maintain good solid contact with the bike while relaxing your upper body and your grip on the bars. It also helps if you lean forward a little from your normal riding position. If you do this while gripping tight with your knees, relaxing your upper body and lightening your grip, you can relax and let the bike move around.

If you never develop this riding technique you will never get really comfortable with riding in buffeting crosswinds or on gravel. If you work on it you will start to trust it and get way more comfortable.

For those who wonder where I'm coming from, I started riding in 1965, back when if you wanted to go anywhere there was about a 50% chance you had to take some gravel roads on at least part of the trip. I taught the Canada Safety Council rider training course (kind of like the MSF course) for ten years.  I wish I had a buck for every student who came back to thank me for that single riding tip in helping them get confident and make their riding so much more pleasant in conditions that had them completely spooked.

So just remember, when the bike starts to move under you, squeeze with the knees, relax everything from the hips up and stop fighting the bike.

Now go find a nice gravel road or windy bridge to practice on until it becomes more instinctive than the death grip on the bars. "

[zooom]

i had a guy almost swerve into my lane from my left. ...... but you wanna know what he was looking at? my bike! he was literally looking directly AT my bike. 

this is a fine example why you look where you are going and you will make it there...in this case, it was someone else looking at you and went right at you....but in general, you look where you are going into a turn or forward and that is exactly where you will go...

What I found helped was a bit of advice given to me by an experienced rider on another forum. When you feel anxious on the bike especially going through bends, on gravel, wet roads, and strong winds instead of death gripping the bars, death grip the tank with your thighs and let your arms and shoulders relax. Gripping the tank gives you that bit of confidence where you feel planted to the bike without locking your upper body up which needs to be relaxed. 

I have heard and learned the exact same thing a long time ago and learned the trick of when I feel or think I am tense, to flap my elbows like a chicken....it shouldn't upset your bike at all when doing it whether you are going 15mph or 115mph if you are loose in the arms and holding the bike with your legs...

[Rawr01]

i'm officially not freaking out. i've ridden about 150 in the last.few days. my first day was, well i described it in an earlier post. the second day waz a little more exciting. took it out and got up to freeway speeds for the first time. tested the physics a little on a ramp. then had to do my first merge: choose a gap. there was one i could slow down for. another i had to speed.up for. some1 on my ass so i chose the latter. bang bang bang (70? 80? idk. eyes on the road), mirror check, head check, merge to the waaay left. light turned yellow and i thought of going thru it but i smelled . mirror check, bang bang bang, 0. niiiice officer. now go away.
get to my friends house and i'm dripping some oil. okay, its coming of the filter so its not tooooo serious....
the rout i took home was slower, albeit curvier. not sure what my logic was there. thought slower speed would keep engine temp down er sumpin. duh, its air cooled. i noticed aLOT of smoke at stops, but the sight glass still showed oil so i kept on my way. noticed it step out on some curves which i attributed to sand, but noticed it a little squirrely in the straights too after shifts. hrmmmmm, ok, maybe some oil on the tire?
i make it home and pull. in the garage and its pissing oil. get off look around. the tire is covered in oil.



so i pull the filter to have a look, completely smooshing it in the process so there goes the loose filter theory. fml. stranger still, the gasket lookt fine. i put it back on. huh, the gasket is lying there on the floor. thought that was on the filter? and oh, looky, its broken.... so off with the filter again. nope, gasket was still there. two gaskets, weird. somebody goofed and it wasn't me.


the culprit

needles to say, some colorful emails were sent, with photos, and replies were promptly received. i then replaced the original filter, refilled the oil, and ran it on the stand for a few min then checked for leakage. there was none. cleaned up the tire and Amoral'd it and was back on my way... jk. no Armorall.

then today the plan was to ride about 15 miles from my home to my folks house then follow my step dad to the shop in the city. it rained alot last nite and the humidity was high so the roads stayed wet. the first part of the trip i felt her slip a little. what i did? the best way to explain it is i continued doing whatever i was doing, i just did a little bit less. did.i mention it was 39°? thats fehrenheit. then comes part two. i cant go on freeways on account of i'm not fully licensed so we ended up going to the other extreme: narrow and curvey parkways with lotsa puddles, potholes, stop signs, and idiots comin rite atcha.... then all the sudden we're in downtown . more of the same plus stop lights and oneways and even worser idiots. i swear, ppl who gawk at bikes are even more dangerous than ppl who dont even see em. oh yeah, and all that stopping, starting, shifting, and signalling? my hands were painfully numb for most of this trip. so, that's my first 150 miles, in a nutshell.

none of these are complaints. i have learned alot in a short time and had many opportunities to put some of the advice i have gotten to good use. as far as the oil change snafu, it was a mistake and it was handled very professionally so if ur going to recommend i have someone's ass in a sling pls dont bother. nobody got hurt and if i would have layed it down on the way home likely only the bike would have been damaged which very well might have been to my great benefit. i digress.

[WhiteStripe]

WOW!  i am glad you are ok.  That coudl have sucked.
Have fun!!!!

[Twizted]

  Looks like that could have ended up real nasty. Glad you didn't go down. What did the person who performed the oil change have to say for themselves?