I had been toying with the idea of getting into motorcycles a few months back. I badly needed a release outside work, something to blow out the desk-job-cobwebs. Felt job was sucking away my youth/ having a midlife crisis 25 years too soon.
I had very little experience on two wheelers. About 2 minutes on an old farmbike in paddock when I was about 17 years old followed by about 10 minutes on a friend’s pit bike when I was around 21. Both times I had zero problems with balance or control so I knew I could ride.
Finally I got to the point were I decided to kick things into gear. I sat my basic skills and handling about 3 weeks ago. Was totally nervous about it beforehand given I was as inexperienced as anything. I went round to the local motorcycle shop a day beforehand to see the bike I’d be hiring for the test. Found it was brand spanking new with about 1 km on the clock. Uhhh Yikes!
In preparation I was reading swathes of information and how to’s, i.e. using the clutch, gear shifting, braking, etc etc. Read about countersteering, but didn’t understand it whatsoever. I also watched a heap of youtube tutorials to the point I had the theory of riding down pat to the point I practised getting on a ‘bike’ (a chair) from the left, kicking the stand up, turning the key and so on. All the bike’s control locations were memorised and I was ready.
Came basic skills and handling test day. I wheeled out the brand new bike ( I think it was a Suzuki Marauder 250 or something similar). Everything was exactly as I’d expected. Had a bit of a putter around the test area to get used to the bike before the examiner showed up. He arrived and we commenced the test. The whole test went off without a hitch. Awesome. Even though I only got up to about 20kmh, riding a proper road bike felt amazing. Riding in the breeze with just two wheels and a motor, man I couldn’t get enough of it. A few days later I did the theory and got my learners. No problems at all.
Next came the bike-to-buy search. Had zero knowledge on bikes, but I’m a research-a-holic when buying most things and hate having to ask questions and be spoon fed when I can dredge up the info myself. I already knew I wanted a sportbike because they look fast and awesome and hey I’m a guy. I liked the look of the Ninja 250r, but the more reading I did, and hearing from a friend that ‘250s have restricted power now’, the more I realised the Ninja wasn’t the answer. I wanted good value, maximum power, great reliability and so on. Reiterating power, wooyeah. I didn’t want to deal with 2 stroke maintenance so stuck to looking at the 4 strokers. Inevitably I ended up gravitating to the golden era of the 250cc sportbike 1989 – 93, the period before the 94 power restrictions came into place. From all my reading I was set on a Honda cbr250rr mc22. Gear driven cams, good reliability, fork spear largely guarded from rock chips inside fairing etc. Basically good design, great power @ 45hp and solid engineering.
I knew nervously in the back of my mind I’d have to ride the bike back from wherever I bought it. The fastest I’d been was perhaps 30-40km/h on the farm bike in the paddock long ago so had no experience riding on the highway. I knew I needed some practice beforehand. Thankfully I managed to wangle a ride on a friends 2008 Honda 125. Rather scary getting up to speed and past 70km/h on a somewhat bendy bit of road, but over about 20 minutes I found a feel for it.
So a few days later I ended up travelling down to Auckand to look at two bikes, plus 1 in Hamilton. First cbr250 had done under 10,000 k’s and when I gingerly rode it, it scared me! I didn’t even rev higher than 9-10,000, well away from the 19,000 red line. The bike was jumpy and putting on the gas slightly would have you surging away pretty quick even at low revs. I’m only about 65kg and it felt very pitchy and jerky for a learner like me. However, it only took a very short while for me to feel comfortable at speed on it vs my friend’s Honda 125 which I never felt all that good on. That cbr just wanted to zoom. The price was a bit outside what I wanted to pay for a first bike, but if the other two bikes weren’t up to it I was prepared to fork out.
The second bike had about 65,000 k’s on the clock, throttle handgrip would stick open and it just didn’t seem to have the urgency of the first bike. On to Hamiltron!
The perfect CBR250 awaited. 30,000 k’s, was imported by the local Honda dealer, one NZ owner who was the guy selling it who had himself done about 5,000 k’s. Top bloke and real honest. Said he had ridden it tapped out pretty much. Still had the factory chain, and the bike was in overall good nic cosmetically, better than the sub 10,000k bike. Best part was that he wasn’t demanding some ridiculous price for it and I got it for $3,800. He was genuinely a really good guy.
Was about a 2.30hr ride back from Hamilton through Auckland to where I was staying these holidays. Very uneventful but totally exhilarating journey. Slightly sore backside on the north side of Auckland so had a bit of a leg stretch then back on the bike. Body steered the whole way.
So I’ve now owned the bike one week, agonised and poured over countersteering theory, tried it out a couple of days ago and got the hang of how it worked over the course of several corners. Found this link quite good http://www.vf750fd.com/blurbs/countercode.html
Cornering improved 100x. I could hardly believe how much better cornering became. Transferring the automatic-for-many act of countersteering out of your subconscious into direct awareness allows you to fully exploit it. Body steering is like navigating a barge by comparison. Over the last week I have been working on smoothing out gear shifts, matching revs better, leaning further and so on. I’ve also been reading about “chicken strips” and two fingered braking to enable revs for downshift etc. I still haven’t made up my mind on clutchless shifting so still dutifully honing my clutchwork. Every time I ride it seems I’m exponentially expanding my ability. I don’t want to give the impression that I’m rash, although I’m not immune to rashness. I like to think things through beforehand, analyse, test things out and improve.
I find myself telling most of my friends they should get motorcycles. Since I’m so buzzing with bikes I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them did get their learner licenses.
Goes to show you don’t really need any experience to get into bikes. Give it a go, you don’t know what you’re missing out on if you’ve never ridden.
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Originally Posted by White trash
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