|
Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester posted:I'm aware that the mechanical principles are the same on a bicycle, but I don't remember ever pedaling a bike and being able to notice the effect of countersteering that you feel in motorcycles. Not to mention the big effect that throttle and brake have on the steering of the bike. In my experience, the biggest difference just comes from the rider:vehicle weight ratio. In either case you need to enter a turn by causing the vehicle to lean, obviously. On a motorcycle, you must create that lean consciously through countersteering; a bicycle is so much lighter than the rider that you tend to create the lean unconsciously, by subtly shifting your weight to the side. You definitely can experience actual countersteering on a bicycle if you make a conscious effort to push on the inside handlebar and react appropriately, but most of the time it's not necessary or noticeable. I think riding a bicycle would be a good stepping stone for a newbie to get in the groove of riding a small, statically unstable open-air vehicle, but I'd hesitate to draw any further comparisons. Skreemer posted:Most bikes have either a green "N" or a green light that comes on. Though on all of the eliminators we have I've gotten good enough to be able to get the green light to come on and have the bike in second. Al to have the bike in neutral and have the green light off... (Don't rely on the light) I got my neutral light working properly when I initially rebuilt my bike. After about 500 miles it quit working as well, and would only turn on at one specific sort of "sub-location" within the small range that is neutral, if that makes any sense. So I spent a long time pushing up and down at stop lights trying to get the light to go on when actually the gearbox was in neutral already. A few hundred miles later it stopped working at all, and then a few hundred miles after that it came back on and now constantly glows at about 50% brightness.  So yeah, I agree that once you get used to it, it's much easier to just recognize the feel and ignore the light entirely. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Aug 16, 2012 |
#
¿
Aug 16, 2012 21:29
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 00:10 |
|
|
Mine was the opposite -- I took it in the fall and it was about 35 degrees and pissing rain the entire weekend. I wore long underwear and three layers of shirts under my jacket and it was still pretty frigid. Lots of warming your hands in the exhaust stream, or hovering them around the header. On the plus side, I learned right at the beginning that it's not *that* scary to do panic stops on wet pavement, so that was good.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 26, 2012 19:05
|
|
|
No MSF instructor is going to come up and examine your jeans to make sure they're heavyweight material, let alone motorcycle-specific; they'd have to turn away most of the class. Some people will have armored jackets and gauntlets and so on, while others will wear a nylon windbreaker and gardening gloves and get away with it. You're right in the middle I'd say.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 25, 2012 06:29
|
|
|
Angryboot posted:I'd squid the gently caress out of it if I get to play on a simulator. How does it look like? Is it something like http://www.tecknotrove.com/Motorbike_Training_Simulator.html? One of the environments you can simulate: "Hill Drive"  
|
|
#
¿
Oct 27, 2012 20:17
|
|
|
Lothire posted:This handy video shows it in all its awful glory. The part around 2:35 where he's not maintaining consistent lane position, crosses a solid white line, leaves his lane entirely, enters the acceleration lane for no reason and then actively steers right into the side of a truck, then calls that a "very typical situation". 
|
|
#
¿
Oct 28, 2012 02:12
|
|
|
Wulframn posted:And remember to loving wave when you pass another biker, even if they don't wave back. Just because they're being a dick doesn't give you an excuse to reciprocate. If it's safe. I don't wave if the traffic situation is complex, and I don't feel snubbed when a guy on a bike in traffic fails to wave back, because I know that he also is dealing with at most a second or two of buffer zone and needs all the reaction time he has.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 29, 2012 19:36
|
|
|
Yeah, I felt the same way at the end of my course. Like "Aaaaaagh that was awesome but man I am so NOT ready to take this on the roads, I need to spend about a month riding in circles in the parking lot." That feeling lasts about two days after getting your own bike  When I got my bike running, having only the MSF course and some farting around (badly) on friends' dirt bikes as a kid under my belt, I started by going slowly around the block, up and down the street, then two blocks, three, down to the corner store and back, until I'd gone maybe fifty miles on empty streets without really leaving my neighborhood. That took about a week to get through without pushing myself beyond my limits -- but every ride I found myself wanting to go longer and longer. After I felt like I was smooth enough with the controls and steering to ride in light traffic, I gradually built upwards from there. I didn't get on a highway until I'd ridden over eight hundred miles on surface streets. But you'll be surprised at how quickly your confidence builds -- don't let it get ahead of you. I felt pretty confident after, I dunno, 150 miles but obviously I still didn't (still don't) know poo poo about how to ride well. Hell, I just learned last night that my little 350 has enough power to pop a wheelie. Always new and surprising things to discover. Welcome! Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 06:48 on Oct 30, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Oct 30, 2012 06:45
|
|
|
Yeah. You shouldn't have to tighten the strap down so much that it cuts off your breathing -- I don't notice mine usually unless I look down at my feet or duck my chin. If you're having to tighten it down like that to get the helmet to stay in place, it's way too large and you need to get a smaller size. Put the helmet on, do up the strap just so that it feels snug but not tight, then grab the chin piece and sharply pull the helmet back and forth, up and down. If it slides at all on your head (instead of taking your head with it), then it's going to move around or even get popped off in a crash, and that's A Very Bad Thing.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 1, 2012 01:18
|
|
|
Eh, I have an HJC and it's fine. It whistles at 40mph with the visor open, but I really shouldn't be riding at that speed with the visor open anyway. Cutting into your throat to make a sore spot is too tight. Just loosen up on it a bit -- it sounds like the helmet is probably fitted pretty well otherwise. Like I said, the helmet should be pretty stationary on your head with or without the strap; it's only there to keep it from being pulled off in a crash. Also, just keep using it! The padding does break in and mold to your head somewhat over time (including the padding and curvature of the strap), and your body is very good at ignoring constant sensations if you just let it be for a while. When was the last time you felt your shoes on your feet?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 1, 2012 02:00
|
|
|
Once, having just been to the grocery store in all my gear like a total badass, with the yoga moms and envious dads watching, I coolly flipped on all my fuel and electrical systems like I was starting a fighter jet, hopped up on the kick starter, gave a mighty kick while ripping open the throttle, and had the bike shoot forwards out my grasp six inches and fall over because I forgot to bump it into neutral first. :iamafag:
|
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2012 01:11
|
|
|
Hey, breaking scares me too!
|
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2012 09:28
|
|
|
I'm proud of you, nsaP. Z3n would be too. 
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2012 01:35
|
|
|
Why all the stomping? If you put a little bit of initial pressure on the shifter before you pull the clutch, then when you do bring the clutch towards the friction zone the transmission will just slip gently between gears with next to no effort. Try it sometime.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2012 19:50
|
|
|
Can you even buy a new cruiser-style bike under 650cc in the USA, other than the Rebel 250?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2012 03:50
|
|
|
Pissingintowind posted:Ugh, seriously? San Francisco DMV doesn't have any open appointments until December 5th. How am I supposed to wait that long! You can always just go and wait in line. As long as you get there by about 1:30PM you'll probably get dealt with before the close of business. ThatCguy posted:I guess I've just never subscribed to the "YOU MUST START ON A VESPA, THEN A 125, THEN A 250, THEN BUY AND SELL 3 MORE BIKES AT A LOSS TO GET TO WHAT YOU WANT" mentality. Which it sounds like the MSF instructor agrees with me as well. I have a 40 year old 350 that may have had 32 horsepower in brand new factory condition, and today it will lift the front wheel in second gear, hits 90mph two-up and is just getting intro its power band in 5th gear at about 70 miles an hour, ideal for freeway passing. The bike is a bit squirrelly at those speeds, but that's far more related to old suspension designs and skinny tires than having a small engine. If you're spending most of your time on the interstate at high speeds then a larger, heavier bike would be more stable and less buzzy, but don't lie to him and claim that a small bike "might as well be a Vespa". In the majority of the world a 250 is a midsize motorcycle.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2012 21:50
|
|
|
I tend to stay off the interstates on my bike if I can, because it's somehow both extremely stressful and mind-numbingly boring. Even a frontage road is a better choice than the superslab. That said, I definitely do notice that immediately after a long-ish highway run at 7500 RPM (hooray for low gearing and a small engine), the engine sounds and feels too quiet at street speeds, so I definitely shift later and accelerate harder. Lasts for ten minutes or so. I think the same thing happens to me in my car, but it takes longer -- a couple of hours at interstate speeds at least. Incidentally, I also keep it under 75 the vast majority of the time. I usually ride in the slow lane, but I often puzzle about which lane is theoretically the "safest". In the slow lane you have the most reaction time, but it's also often congested with cars merging in and out. In the fast lane, well, you'd better be moving faster than everyone else. The middle lane would seem like a good compromise but then you have people darting across in front of you because they're about to miss their exit. Lots of things to watch for. Part of why it's so much nicer to take the the inevitable state highway 10 minutes away, accept that you'll take 30% longer to get where you're going, but you'll enjoy the ride so much more.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 22, 2012 11:07
|
|
|
ThatCguy posted:why250smakeshittystreetbikes.txt It's a 40-year-old 350. The bike is still pulling at 75mph; like I said, that's about 7500RPM, and the engine power peak is 9500. Sure it's not anything like a modern bike, but I've had it to ~90 two-up (on the salt flats, whee) without a lot of trouble. I said I prefer to stay under 75mph, and that's for two reasons: it has skinnier tires than a modern 250 (80/20 dual sport tires, for that matter) and an ancient suspension design, so it starts to feel pretty squirrely when you really get going, and it has drum brakes front and rear, so stopping distances are...leisurely. I don't require the ability to go 100 miles an hour or pass everyone on the interstate in the blink of an eye to have fun on my motorcycle. Sorry if you do. e: and because it was bugging me, I went back to find what I actually said: quote:If you're spending most of your time on the interstate at high speeds then a larger, heavier bike would be more stable and less buzzy, but don't lie to him and claim that a small bike "might as well be a Vespa". In the majority of the world a 250 is a midsize motorcycle. Which I think is pretty clearly "yep, middleweights are better on the highway, but a 250 is not outright suicidal like you are claiming." nsaP posted:His bike is probably the equivalent of a modern 125. Well, I don't think it's quite THAT bad. Maybe a modern sporty 125 2-stroke. I did manage to lift the front wheel by accident once :iamafag: Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Nov 22, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Nov 22, 2012 20:31
|
|
|
Is there another level up from the basic MSF that isn't the superbike school? I wouldn't mind taking another training course to brush up on things and learn some more advanced techniques, but I don't plan to own a supersport or race on a track any time soon.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 24, 2012 01:13
|
|
|
M42 posted:Anyway, unfortunately it's gonna be quite a while till I can get my own bike, but when I do I fully intend to spend like 6 months loving around in parking lots. Definitely not confident enough to even start side streets yet. Yeaaaaaah...everyone feels that way, and then that feeling lasts about 2 days. It quickly becomes harder to keep yourself from pushing beyond your skill level than it is pushing yourself to try new things.  Congrats on passing. e: like, I definitely did feel that way immediately after passing the MSF, but to get to the nearest parking lot to try the drills again I had to ride on some streets. I was terrified at first but got used to puttering along in traffic after a couple of days. From there, it's just a lifetime of practice. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 05:19 on Nov 26, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Nov 26, 2012 04:03
|
|
|
ThatCguy posted:As for your suggestion, no disrespect intended for M42's mechanical ability, but I'd be somewhat reticent to recommend a 1k "project" bike as a first bike for a newbie female rider. Obviously ymmv. Pff, my first bike was a $600 project bike that I put back together for another $1200 or so (of which probably half was fluids or wear parts like tires, brakes and chain). Now I know what every single piece is on a Honda 350, and how to repair each one.  I would not recommend this for someone who just wants to get out and ride, and doesn't have a bunch of free time. Also, what does her being a "female" have to do with it? 
|
|
#
¿
Nov 26, 2012 07:14
|
|
|
Z3n posted:There's a fine line between getting a deal and penny wise/pound foolish. You and AncientTV apparently ended up on the wrong side of that equation I actually did it specifically to learn how to rebuild a motorcycle, cost be damned. I did the MSF in the fall in Canada, and I was only partly employed over the winter, so I had lots of free time and newbie-hostile streets. Figured I could either buy something running and have it sit in the garage all winter while I stared at it, or buy a project, risk having nothing usable/paying a huge amount by the end, but learn a new skill in the process. It wasn't much of a deal overall (though incidentally, there appears to be no shortage of hipsters willing to pay >2000 for a running CB350 in decent shape) but I learned what I wanted to and now I've got a sweet little bike to joyride on too. Exactly what I wanted from the experience. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 07:35 on Nov 26, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Nov 26, 2012 07:33
|
|
|
Good question. I had a near-death experience on a mountain road followed soon by sliding through a stoplight with the rear locked up (a light, nearly invisible dusting of sand on the road) that knocked me out of the overconfident newbie stage right quick. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, of course, but it sure did work.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 27, 2012 01:08
|
|
|
yellowjournalism posted:Anyway I'm being too harsh, and I'm by NO MEANS saying I'm better than most of the people in the class-- it's exactly the fact that I don't trust myself at this level (only 10 hours on a bike total), yet will come out of this with a license, that sorta worries me. Shrug. The whole licensing process in North America creeps me out. In Ontario, you literally don't need to demonstrate any motorcycle skills at all to get a license -- you go into the MOT after you turn 16, fill out a 40 question test, and if you get 32 right you can ride away on your new Panigale or whatever totally legally as long as you don't take it on the controlled-access highways or ride at night. (Well, and if you can find someone who'll insure a superbike for a 16 year old with no experience). Eventually you have to actually demonstrate some skills if you want to keep that license, at which point they punt you up to the unrestricted version, but you're good to go for at least a year. In my case, because I took the MSF course and passed, I was able to go directly to the unrestricted license with nothing more than the aforementioned 10 hours on a bike and the written test at the MOT. Also crazy. On the other hand, one province over in Quebec you have to spend your whole first year riding with another person as a chaperone (following you on their own motorcycle). Not sure if that's too far in the other direction but it does seem safer than the Ontario way.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 27, 2012 02:58
|
|
|
Pompous Rhombus posted:That seems... incredibly inconvenient. Do you need to prove you were riding that whole year, or can you get the license, sit on it for a year, and then start riding normally? The SAAQ (DMV equivalent, not to be confused with the SAQ, the province-owned liquor stores) website has this to say: quote:learners must first pass a knowledge test in order to get a class 6R learner's licence, which is valid only for the purposes of a driving course and for the SAAQ closed track road test; So basically you do the written test to get a heavily restricted license that literally only lets you do the MSF course. Then when you pass the MSF, you get your probationary license, and have to hold it for another 11 months before you can do an exit test, during which time you have to be accompanied by someone else on their own motorcycle. I didn't find what qualifies as "accompanying" or anything like that, but I didn't look very hard either. I don't see anything that says you have to actually be riding the whole time, but it is quite possible that you need to rack up a certain number of miles. In Ontario when you go for your full car license, you have to tell them how many times you've been on the highways in the previous 3 months, and if it's not enough they reschedule and tell you to come back when you have more experience. Obviously you can lie but I don't think that hurts anyone but yourself. Incidentally, PQ also has three classes of license based on displacement (125, 400, anything), just like Europe. I personally am glad that I didn't have to go through the whole chaperoning process, but everything else about the PQ licensing system seems safe and sane to me. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Nov 27, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Nov 27, 2012 06:35
|
|
|
It sounds like he's a bit of a weirdo with odd opinions (no surprises there), but I don't think any of that is explicitly *wrong* other than the Hayabusa vs. Gold Wing thing.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2013 02:04
|
|
|
Actually that's something I'm kind of confused about too. From my understanding a highside occurs when the wheels go out of line with the bike's motion, and then the wheels suddenly start gripping the road again, and the wheels suddenly "pushing" the bike in a vector the bike isn't currently traveling are what throws the whole bike out of balance. This most often happens when you're making a tight turn and accelerating out too hard while leaned over, and the combination of the cornering forces and drive forces overwhelm the tire and it breaks loose and spins up. The rider panics and chops the throttle, the decreased drive force allows the tire to slow until it grips again, but now it's off-angle and away you go. Right? But having experienced some unpleasant squirmyness myself while braking in a turn (stupid, I was really new), I think that you could theoretically get a highside if you came into a turn and locked the rear wheel instead of spinning it up, then re-engaged it while you were off center. Same fundamental dynamic problem, different way of starting it. So, while you shouldn't really be braking hard in a turn in the first place, I would think that in that situation yes you should keep the wheel locked until you're upright. Cause if you let off while you're at that angle, you'll still highside. Right? However, locking the rear while you're going straight is no big deal, and you can stop quicker if you modulate the brake than if you just skid, so in that case you *should* let off and re-engage it more carefully. But only when you're going straight. Also right? Like, I think I get the gist of this but it's something that I've always been a little shaky on. e: nsap makes a succinct rule. do I have the general sense of the dynamics right or am I talking out my rear end again? Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Apr 21, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2013 02:31
|
|
|
What? Why didn't your MSF coaches alter their curriculum to include what was actually on the test? Was there one specific part that everyone failed on?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2013 00:04
|
|
|
Yeah, that's ridiculous. I know there's already a "stop with your tire in this box" thing in the MSF test so I can't imagine why they wouldn't teach that, and it would take all of five seconds to say "by the way, remember to stop for that stop sign there". You should write to the MSF itself (msf-usa.org) and complain.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2013 02:33
|
|
|
You said you were in Maryland...I saw an article once about roving gangs of kids on dirt bikes there who are free to hoon all over the place because, after a number of deadly accidents, the police are forbidden from chasing them down if they run. I wonder if the changes to the licensing are some kind of futile attempt to stop the hoonery?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2013 21:42
|
|
|
No, not at all. It's exactly the same kind of "criminals with illegal guns are shooting up our neighborhood, let's make everyone buying a legal gun go through more background checks" mindset that all riled-up politicians seem to have.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2013 21:59
|
|
|
It took me a while to get the hang of using the rear brake, since I had also only ever ridden bicycles (a couple days with friends' dirt bikes as a kid doesn't really count) and so was used to stopping with hand levers. After I did get used to the motorcycle brake setup, I actually switched all my bicycles over so that the front brake is on the right thinking that it would help reinforce the muscle memory. Dunno if it actually makes any difference but it doesn't hurt. Digital_Jesus posted:EMERGENCY BREAKING So I guess this is like when fighter jets come in for an emergency landing and they have to dump fuel and weapons to stay light enough to land safely, except it's your motorcycle dumping parts all over the road to lose weight and reduce the stopping distance?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 20, 2013 04:41
|
|
|
Hey, you don't know that. Maybe his rear end is so fat that it spilled over the seat and down the sides and swamped the airbox and choked out the engine.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 29, 2013 08:18
|
|
|
tofes posted:If I do decide to get a bike after this I would definitely look into taking more of the MSF classes, I think that's how everyone feels afterwards. Like "wow, this is only the start, I need way more practice before I go out on the road." I spent a couple of days just puttering around the neighborhood and the nearest big parking lot, then a week or so of just going couple of miles down to the lake and back getting used to keeping up with traffic, then started actually riding to places on errands and things. Your confidence will rise dramatically after just a few days on the road, which is great, but it's also something you really need to watch out for because your confidence in your abilities increases a lot faster than the abilities themselves. That's one of the hardest but also most important things to keep in check when you're starting out. (Well, always, but especially in the first six months to a year when accidents are the most likely).
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2013 00:06
|
|
|
The helmet rule I've heard a few times is that if you grab the chin bar and forcefully yank it up and down, your head should move along with it, no slipping.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2013 09:53
|
|
|
Yeah, at my MSF they used those little flat soccer field markers Makes sense to me. Not as distracting as the big cones, won't get hit by saddlebags, and they're a lot less likely to destabilize the bike and cause a crash if a beginner hits one.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2013 06:00
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 00:10 |
|
|
My MSF bike (a TW200, fun) appeared to be in perfect mechanical condition, with just some scratches and dings on the bodywork. To be fair I didn't strip it down for a full inspection so I might have missed something.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 7, 2014 19:59
|
|