Newbies-my biggest distraction is my own shadow because dang I look sexy as hell

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Cycle Asylum > Newbies-my biggest distraction is my own shadow because dang I look sexy as hell

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is motorcycling awesome
	yes
	hell yes
	hell loving yes

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

I just signed up for the MSF class on the second weekend in May. :toot:

# ¿ Mar 25, 2021 06:45

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 05:35

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Sounds like it's almost an "uncanny valley" of control affinity for two-wheelers. Close, but different enough to make a rider uneasy.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2021 00:20

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Slavvy posted:

Disclaimer: I am basing this on about half a dozen people I've known who went from boy racer cars to bikes, plus conversations with a whole bunch of smarter people than me.

Car drivers tend to hammer the brakes on, but don't brake very hard. They often lock the rear and most aren't afraid to. They seem to fear tucking the front and might be used to powerful, binary-feeling brakes and heaps of momentum. They almost always brake in a straight line. They almost always brake far too much for a given corner.

Car drivers expect to brake, coast through the turny part, then hammer the gas on the exit. They tend toward very v-shaped lines. It's difficult to convince them that the turning part is super important on bikes. I guess in a car turning is just a matter of yanking the wheel in the right direction, wait till the car is pointing where you want to go and control it using the throttle. They find it hard to get on the throttle super early, stay at a steady rpm and roll on smoothly to match the lean; it's the addition of that extra parameter that imo elevates bikes above cars even before you get into the handing effects the meatsack can exert directly.

As mentioned before, they have difficulty accepting that the bike is rolling when they push on the bars, not (really) steering, because they're used to a handling paradigm where entering a corner too quickly causes understeer. So as any learner does, they interpret a psychological limitation as a perception of grip loss and tend to struggle to enter corners really quickly/exceeding a given psychological lean angle limit. Because they're trained to expect the front tyres to give way above a certain entry speed and bikes just don't work like that (mostly).

Car drivers have difficulty accepting you can't Just Sit There and have to actively participate in the cornering process, they tend to be amazed at the forces your core strength has to deal with routinely, they tend to be surprised you have to use your legs and they tend to potato-sack up against the tank with straight arms, but so do most other people.
They have difficulty accepting that you don't need arm strength or really any force on the bars at all until you're expert level on a face ripping bike.

And finally: they usually think 100hp isn't much to start on and are terrible at correlating paper specs with real life speed.

Taking notes on this since "boy racer cars" is an accurate description of my last 17 years of ownership, though I did have a solid week of high performance driving instruction eons ago and was introduced to threshold braking, trail braking, corner lines, etc. I admittedly don't use all that to the fullest extent on the street, and it's been a while since that class so I'll have to relearn what I forgot and then apply it in the motorcycle environment. But at least it won't be brand new. :unsmith:

# ¿ Mar 27, 2021 04:39

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Coydog posted:

Other than the downright terrifying dark souls world you apparently live in, supermotos have a way of easing your aversion to breaking the rules. Something about being able to do anything and go anywhere makes you see everything as a playground. Ride past a hill or something that looks like it would be a sweet jump off those stairs? You can't resist.

I had a lot of fun night rides on the WRx for sure...

Austria is on the short list of countries I would not gently caress around in because you will almost certainly find out.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2021 19:22

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Greg12 posted:

but but but but all those insane redbull races where they start with a hillclimb up the sheer face of a quarry wall are in austria

Get it properly cleared and approved beforehand and you can do some gonzo stuff but I advise against yolo trespassing there.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2021 20:04

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

lmao so i was supposed to take the MSF class this weekend but the school sent me an email saying "delayed a month, also we haven't actually been running classes since the beginning of the year even though we keep advertising them and accepting enrollments and money lol" which really does not sit well with me. I'll probably let it ride and if they do the same thing in June ask for a refund then.

# ¿ May 4, 2021 13:43

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

right arm posted:

chargeback those mfs

a marathon in NC did a similar thing to me this month lol I was pissed after training endlessly for it so gently caress em

Their June dates actually work out slightly better for me so I'm going to accept their reschedule this time but if they try to push into July or later then I'm done with them and will go elsewhere. Apex Cycle in the DC metro area if you're curious, and I'm only going through them because the local community college discontinued their MSF program last summer.

# ¿ May 4, 2021 23:34

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

builds character posted:

The june dates of the place that's straight up told you that they're lying about having classes? This seems like a bad plan...

They've already had my money for a few months and another 30 days won't make it any harder to recover so it's value neutral for me at this point. They came highly recommended by a number of other people who have taken their class before both on SA and in real life; I'm willing to give them a little benefit of the doubt given the circumstances here but eventually will cut bait.

# ¿ May 5, 2021 00:13

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Slavvy posted:

You've phrased this perfectly, that's exactly it. It's hard to put it across but yeah, going fast isn't the goal, it's a side effect of riding properly.

Nic Cage's character in Gone in Sixty Seconds had a short monologue about that at the start of the movie.

# ¿ May 24, 2021 02:06

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

My MSF class didn't get rescheduled again so this weekend I get to see what this biek thing is all about.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2021 07:11

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

MSF range day one down. I ended up on a dual sport that feels just a little too tall for me though not as bad as it would have been for the lady who would have ended up on it if I hadn't swapped with her (instructor likely would have kicked one of us off a shorter bike for her anyway). Reading this forum, Proficient Motorcycling, and a couple of other books definitely helped, the lecture night was 100% review for me. My biggest challenge today was consistently finding the foot pegs and leaning adequately around turns. I was hoping to get one of the Dukes but they got snapped up before I could get over there.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2021 22:30

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

MSF Day 2: I passed. At the beginning I fumbled with finding the footpegs again today. I think part of my problem yesterday is I was crushing my balls on the seat so I was standing on my toes a bit when we were still and got worn out; today I didn't have that problem. I suspect I went into yesterday a little dehydrated - I was pounding water the whole time but was still wiped out at the end and was in bed at 10pm last night - a super early night for me. I'm nowhere near as wiped out today. The bike I was on was a Vitacci 250 Raven. Seemed OK but seriously what do I know about anything at this point. I managed to scuff my helmet coming under the tent a couple of times but whatever, it's going to get gravel and dead bugs all over it as soon as I start riding anyway.

Things I need to get better at: everything.

For anyone else taking the class : bring a camelbak if you have one. No matter when you take it, you will dehydrate like crazy. Crack your visor open a bit when riding - it's cicada season here so wide open was a bad idea but a couple of centimeters open makes it easier to hear the instructors and gives you some breeze. If your helmet and jacket have vents, open them up in the summertime. I tend to death grip everything and motorbikes are no exception; my left thumb has a blister from grabbing the bar to work the clutch. Figure out how to sit on your bike such that you aren't hurting anything.

I probably need to replace my fridge before I can buy a bike plus the used market is still shithoused so I will continue to hang around here until then. Thanks everyone for your helpful posts in this thread and other places.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2021 00:02

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Knight2m posted:

After literal months of checking, I was finally able to register for the BRC. First class is Tuesday, range day is the following Saturday and I wish it was now.

I knew covid was messing up schedules for literally everything, but I did not expect to have such trouble getting into a riding course.

If you don't have one get a camelback or other wearable water container, you will dehydrate like crazy. Check my posts in this thread for my impressions from a few weeks ago.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2021 01:55

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

FBS posted:

at my BRC we had pretty frequent breaks, so if you don't want to spring for a camelback you can just bring a cooler full of water bottles and stash it somewhere handy.

That was what I did for both days of mine and it worked well the second day after I drank enough water to get out of the hole after day one, but the water I drank on the first day wasn't enough to make up for my deficit. If you go into it well hydrated, and I thought I was but apparently wasn't, I'd expect that to be enough for the weekend.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2021 04:06

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Went to the local powersport dealer to see what things look like before I start scouring Craigslist. Unsurprisingly they didn't have a ton of beginner-friendly stuff; the only things there that I should even stand next to at this point were a couple of Super Cubs and a Grom; everything else was some 600 mL thing or a huge rear end cruiser on consignment. Amusingly they had more Ducati bikes than anything else there, including a couple of Hypermotards in the very back of the shop.

Over the last few months it looks like I can pretty reliably find a Ninja 300 ABS or CBR300 ABS in the area so if my stupid house will stop breaking every cooling device in it for a couple of weeks I might actually get something this summer.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2021 04:18

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

T Zero posted:

No gopro, but here is what I recorded from my phone in a ram mount

https://i.imgur.com/rAhuCHc.mp4

HAMMOND
HAMMOND

# ¿ Jul 26, 2021 03:29

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Cyber Punk 90210 posted:

Fun little interaction during the test ride: I was waiting in an intersection to make a left and a woman in an SUV creeps by me real slow at an angle, catches my mirror on hers, rolls over the side of my foot, nearly makes me drop my bike and hosed up my right mirror.

She did roll her window down to ask if I was okay, though...

I assume you got her insurance and will take her to the cleaners for repairs and new shoes.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2021 03:29

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Unsurprisingly the little learner bike market is trash in my area at the moment though someone has a 2020 CB300R ABS with a few thousand miles on cycletrader in my zip code that I'm going to see if I can snag. I sat on a CBR300R at a dealer and it felt more comfortable to be on than anything else I've tried so far, though buying something there sounds like it comes with about $600 of bullshit above the sales price so lol. Lot of Super Cubs, which wouldn't be awful but I'd prefer to get something with a clutch to learn on.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2021 23:24

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Midjack posted:

Unsurprisingly the little learner bike market is trash in my area at the moment though someone has a 2020 CB300R ABS with a few thousand miles on cycletrader in my zip code that I'm going to see if I can snag. I sat on a CBR300R at a dealer and it felt more comfortable to be on than anything else I've tried so far, though buying something there sounds like it comes with about $600 of bullshit above the sales price so lol. Lot of Super Cubs, which wouldn't be awful but I'd prefer to get something with a clutch to learn on.

Score. I'm now the proud owner of a blue CB300R ABS with 4900 on the clock. PO added frame sliders and a battery tender USB port that he has an iPhone connector plugged into, looks like it's in great shape and mercifully unmolested. Now to the DMV for reg and plate, and then I can start looping in the school parking lot down the street.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2021 22:12

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

All right, rode down the street to the elementary school parking lot and did ovals and figure eights for a half hour until the sun went down. Zero dead, zero wounded, zero dollars property damage on my first ride on public streets.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2021 01:41

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

MomJeans420 posted:

That's a nice looking blue, hope you got the matching helmet:

Sadly they didn't have anything in stock in my size except gloss black, though I did get that model. Had I but known!

# ¿ Aug 4, 2021 02:15

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Invalido posted:

Me being married to the ABS idea is partly how I (possibly erroneously) interpret accident statistics, partly because all my training has been on ABS bikes and I haven't learned how to brake properly without it. I'm confident I could learn this skill, and on something like an old cb400 the prospect of learning doesn't feel intimidating. I'm less confident that I could remember how to do it properly in a panic situation if one should ever arise - being able to just grab all the brakes in terror seems like a Very Good Thing, but I'm a newbie so what the hell do I know.

If you're consistently activating the ABS when you apply the brakes you haven't learned to brake properly, like at all.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2021 21:33

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Carth Dookie posted:

I have never blipped the throttle on downshift, fite me.

What a jerk! :v:

# ¿ Sep 3, 2021 18:51

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Glad you're okay, CP90210.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2021 00:38

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

I keep reg and insurance under the seat and a second insurance card in my wallet.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2021 01:49

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

The "Let's ride" that the Honda shows on the display when I turn it on is very :3:

# ¿ Sep 11, 2021 23:58

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

I did some low speed drills in the school parking lot, using the traffic cones for their drop off lane as a slalom, and after a few completely successful runs in both directions decided to get on the 45mph roads near my house, though I don't feel like I'm ready for the six lane main drag in my area and it's all torn up with construction at the moment anyway. Got up over about 40 and returned home for earplugs, then spent an hour or so actually using my 4th gear and finished up with a stop at the coffee shop near my house, and got home before sunset.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2021 00:21

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

For warmth, 1.) Layer up with thin synthetic layers that comfortably fit under your jacket and pants and 2.) break wind.

Ride fast enough and you'll never have to smell it.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2021 19:18

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

gileadexile posted:

My dad traded up to a 500 after having a 300 a couple of years and he digs his as well.

Quick question. Can someone tell me again why it's ok to use a bikes rev range? What I mean is, as far as I understand, I'm not doing damage by using the upper quarter of the rpms every once in a bit, right?

Redline is maximum speed you can run the engine at for a long duration without damage so by definition anything less than that is safe for as long as you care to do it. Exceeding redline by a little bit for short durations is also not death for most engines.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2022 06:11

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Russian Bear posted:

This made me think, I got my M endorsement 10 years ago but didn't actually get a motorcycle until last year. Does insurance consider that "10 years of experience"? I was being honest and claimed less than 1 when i got my coverage, but if i can swindle insurance companies on technicalities i'm all for it.

Ten years of thinking about thos bieks, sure why shouldn't it count?

# ¿ Jan 7, 2022 22:46

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Slavvy posted:

The old rebel seemed to have a seat height lower than the rim diameter.

It looks exactly like a normal sized bike if you look at it through a zoom lens with no context.

Once upon a time I was test riding one and fiddling with the carb by the side of the road. A guy walked up off his lawn to ask if my daughter had broken it.

Somebody got owned here but I'm not entirely sure who and they may not even be physically present in the scene.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2022 20:43

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Uggh we've been having some nice days around here during the week and then on the weekends it's been "haha rain + 40 degrees F, suck it loser." I will resume my odyssey of learning this month, I hope.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2022 22:42

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

The weather finally stayed nice these last couple of weekends so I've gone out a couple of hours each Sunday. Today I ran my first errand on the bike to pick something up, a microSD card which I could just about squeeze under the seat of the CB300R. Compared to where I was in November when I paused for the winter I'm more confident leaning over and applying power in turns though there's still work to do. I'm staying off the 55 limit/70 actual speed limited access freeways for a while but have been going on the 50mph four lanes punctuated by stop lights and smaller roads in my area. I collected my first bug splat that was big enough I had to pull over and wipe it off while I was out so there's that milestone passed as well.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2022 23:36

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

A pill bottle is a great storage solution for earplugs, you can squeeze 3-4 pairs in and it's watertight too.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2022 12:44

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

LimaBiker posted:

If you have plenty of money, and want a hot pink or teal suit, go send Ryder from https://www.ryder-gear.com/suits a message.
He's a guy making fully CE approved suits in small numbers. He sometimes takes a generous selection of his suits to trackdays.
As a side note, they're crazy popular with gay bikers because he actively makes an effort to find customers in the gay community. Something Dainese alledgedly tries to avoid lol.

Because it's small scale work, he can also do made to measure stuff for folks who don't fit the standard sizes. It's recommended that you get a local tailor or someone who knows what they're doing to take your sizes in the right way, if you get it made to measure and can't see him in person.

Dainese Techno inspired colorful suit:

If you wanna look like a tiger, he's your guy! This is a bespoke suit.

owns

# ¿ May 1, 2022 02:00

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

GriszledMelkaba posted:

That site has some good custom suits for reasonable prices but what the gently caress

Hahahaha, nice one, Punchy

How are you intended to use the helmet hook under the seat? Just hang the D-ring off the hook? That seems like it's putting more force on the strap than I like, but on the other hand I guess it would see much bigger forces in a collision so maybe it's OK after all.

# ¿ May 1, 2022 20:57

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Even if it's not a threat to control it's often unpleasant. You have to adjust your body's position and manipulate inputs to deal with alternating gusts and calm, and it also makes things colder, which may not actually be a downside depending on things.

# ¿ May 7, 2022 21:45

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

T Zero posted:

Went to an open "cone camp" today and it was lot of fun. It's a group of riders who do competition riding on cruisers who meet up on weekends to practice riding. I was told this was one of their smaller sessions because of the holiday weekend. I was on the tiniest bike there but the turns and maneuvers were still really tough. I struggled with a couple of the very tight circles they laid out. I still have a lot of room for improvement on finessing the clutch, but I think my throttle is also pretty snatchy at low revs.

It was interesting because the competitive folks were absolutely shameless about scraping floorboards and tipping their bikes over. The rider who walked me through the course first asked me what kind of protection I had on my bike. "We drop bikes here all the time." One of the more advanced riders did the course without using his brakes at all (he rode through it with a cone balanced over his foot to prove it).

The only issue though is that the riders were all doing their own thing -- I didn't receive much in the way of coaching, although I'm guessing the Harley and Indian riders didn't have much insight into a low cc sportbike. They did warn me to take breaks to let my clutch cool off after such aggressive use, though I dunno how applicable that is to me.

I still need to take a proper intermediate/advanced riding class, but I definitely want to try it again.

There's a bunch near me that does a similar thing. I open every weekend afternoon ride with 10-15 minutes of low speed turning drills in a school parking lot near my house but I'm nowhere near ready to go at that level yet.

Today I went past a parking lot that had a BRC running in it; almost exactly a year ago that was me!

# ¿ May 30, 2022 00:41

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

I've only been riding for a year and even I can tell the Yammie channel is piss garbage made by poo poo idiots.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2022 22:25

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 05:35

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Russian Bear posted:

Honda CB300R has a futuristic ish retro look about it that's not a mess of hard lines and angles and other funny stuff.

It's pretty nice looking except for the exhaust looking like some chrome and black lump. Disclaimer: I own one and it's my first bike so I'm probably biased.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2022 04:55

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Cycle Asylum > Newbies-my biggest distraction is my own shadow because dang I look sexy as hell

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