First ride- FINALLY!

[Deviant]

Having read some other threads here, I thought I should add my experiences from my first day out on my Suzuki GN250.

Buying the bike, I was told to go for at least 250 (max for learners) as anything less will seem too weak in one month.
After one day out, I can confirm that they will be right...

Although the GN250 is renowned for it's gutlessness and ease of use for learners (and cheap parts- I recommend this if you're looking for a first bike).


After training in the Basic Handling Test on a GN185, the 250 seemed massive and I was scared of it, wishing I'd gone smaller.
I really wanted to ride it, but with no prior experience and on a much bigger bike, I knew it would be suicide without some proper practice time under my belt.

Then yesterday I got in 2 hours of practice in a 2 lane carpark with about 150m or more of space, tight turning areas, and a few speed-bumps for good measure.

After this, I wanted more, so had a friend ride it to the domain for me, where I hooned (at reasonable speeds) around the park roads practicing every skill I could and doing very well- surprisingly well actually. I loved it.

One thing really fucked me off though.

Part of my circuit required turning right at an intersection while the road curved to the left heading slightly downhill.

Some young prick in a white hatchback was right up my ass trying to be a smart cunt- I wasn't worried and slowed down at random intervals to force him to back off and be more cautious of me. He kept getting right behind me (1m or so) every chance he got.

I indicated right for my turn about 6-7 seconds before the turn just to be sure he knew what I was doing. I also slowed down for the turn as I reached it. I started to turn.

The fucking idiot tried to

OVERTAKE ME ON THE RIGHT!

ON A BLIND CORNER!

AT AN INTERSECTION!

WHEN I WAS INDICATING A RIGHT TURN!

WHEN I WAS HALFWAY THROUGH THE TURN!!!!! :angry2:


I sped ahead as it was too late for any other action, then gave him a filthy look and shouted (in my visor) "FUCKING DICK!".

It probably wont come as a surprise that he looked about 19, had on a baseball cap, and brand stickers for car part manufacturers all over the car.


The highlight was the hot MILF in the red bug that gave me a big grin and a thumbs up at another intersection! :2thumbsup


But to cut this story short, I loved every minute of it apart from that little cock smoker boy-racer in his mum's old hatchback driving the domain like a rally track.

I hope to join some rides sometime soon with you guys, and see you all on the road sometime!

Deviant.

[carbacca]

good to see you getting out there, we have all been there and got started somewhere some how

idiots on the road is just soemthing you have to deal with. bike vs cage the bike will most likely come off worst so sit back and chill before you do anything rash. keep your eyes open and spot idiots before they get too close will at least give you some options in dealing with them

hope that hasnt put you off, and work on getting into traffic then you'll be good to go

[Deviant]

It hasn't put me off, the day's ride has given me such a buzz I would have been out all day if I didn't have a free food and wine-tasting event today! (link to pics (http://deviantsblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/hospitality-nz-wine-new-zealand-2007.html))

[675trippy]

good on ya but the real test is amongst traffic so be careful out there and treat every cage as though they are out to fuck you up.

[Hawkeye]

Good on you Deviant for getting out there and doing it. Just take your time and practice. You will soon improve. Just don't push too hard. Things have a way of bringing you back to earth with a bump on bikes if you get too cocky.

First rule of bike riding. Everyone is out to get you and you need to ride to survive. When you come across dicks like today, give them a wide berth. pull over and let them past if you have to. Life's too short to get upset about it.

[Rosie]

First rule of bike riding. Everyone is out to get you and you need to ride to survive. When you come across dicks like today, give them a wide berth. pull over and let them past if you have to. Life's too short to get upset about it.

What he said. :yes:
Pulling over and letting people past is always a good idea. It puts you in control of the situation, so they overtake when you want them to, rather than waiting for them to pick some scary blind corner to overtake on. And if someone's driving is making you nervous, you are far better off having them in front of you, where they can't run you over.

Edit: Good on you for getting out for a ride. Practise makes perfect!

[EJK]

Good on ya practicing out there!
When you feel confident enough, you should join the Auckland Wednesday Night Mentor Ride. It's really good and it's on every Wednesday 7:00pm, meeting at Westgate Shell petrol station.

or a weekend ride where some mentors organises occasionally :)

[slickaz]

Hey all im new here and am keen to get a bike and get to biking. obviously its going to a 250 (im 6ft3 and 90kgs)..sorry to cut the post, but what is the Mentor Ride Night about? how does it work?or planned to work? how many new riders attend a week? cost?

[carbacca]

they meet at shell westgate at 7pm and go practice at a parking lot i think, sometimes a short easy ride. i am just guessing cos i have never been to one, i dont like riding at night.

[Timaa]

hey, yea its a meet at westgate shell and just before 7pm. cause thats wen they all leave, then we head out to a quiet safe practice area and work on rider skills. cornerning crash avoidance, generally wat ever comes to mind, and if you have something in particular you need to work on then come along and one of the peeps will be able to give you advice and help you practice in a safe positive environment. but its not all just carpark stuff. obviously we ride to the place, generally albany or a random carpark, so you get some road time too. and if everyone is keen then we sometimes go out and practice on the roads with traffic.lol
its a good way to start at least.

new riders are always welcome. there is a thread in 'meetings and events' titled AWNMR ride. check it out. and its free. and we sometimes end up at a pub somewhere to chill out after.

[slickaz]

wow! thats awesome man..i will be real keen to come to it after i get a bike..soon.

[surfchick]

well done surviving ya first ride :) plenty have skermishes of one kind or another on that maiden voyage. rad you stayed on and happy :2thumbsup

[discotex]

The highlight was the hot MILF in the red bug that gave me a big grin and a thumbs up at another intersection! :2thumbsup


:lol: Must have been that sexy GN!

Just be careful you don't ride into the back of a semi while "semi" mate.

[breakaway]

I hope to join some rides sometime soon with you guys, and see you all on the road sometime!

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=56326

[90s]

Having read some other threads here, I thought I should add my experiences from my first day out on my Suzuki GN250.

Welcome to KB. You have taken your first step into a larger world, as Obi Wan said.


the 250 seemed massive and I was scared of it

Well, Ginnys terrify me too ;)


I wasn't worried and slowed down at random intervals to force him to back off and be more cautious of me.

This was a pretty stupid idea, and if no one else will step up and say it I will. Basically you are tempting a crap driver to hit you through inattention, lack of control or through frustration. Your call - but the one result is your new ginny will be shafted and probably you too.
And the cage may not have scratch.

Is it worth it?
Do you want that?

Bikes have three responses - learn them:
1) let them overtake - prefered and you will live longer
2) use your speed and get out of the situation - only if you think there's no other way. But you speed you take your chances with the law etc.
3) as 1) but you get their licence and #555 them.
(and if you think confronting them, chasing them etc. will do I advise you read Skidmarks thread)


The fucking idiot tried to

OVERTAKE ME ON THE RIGHT!
ON A BLIND CORNER!
AT AN INTERSECTION!
WHEN I WAS INDICATING A RIGHT TURN!
WHEN I WAS HALFWAY THROUGH THE TURN!!!!! :angry2:
I sped ahead as it was too late for any other action, then gave him a filthy look and shouted (in my visor) "FUCKING DICK!".

Yeah, welcome to biking. This will happen again and again. Learn to aviod these situations. There's no way to win.
And shouting might have made you feel a little better, but one young hoon just hates bikes a little more. And people walking in the park who saw it will ... blame the bike.

Sure, I shout at stupid cages too, so just some little thoughts.

Also you don't like the way was using the domain like a 'racetrack' but did you restrict your 'hooning' to the speed limit? I doubt it!


I hope to join some rides sometime soon with you guys, and see you all on the road sometime!
Deviant.

You look as though you have got basially the right ideas, so go easy and good luck on the MILF action :apint:. Unless its my wife :Oi:.

[Deviant]

90', I appreciate the advice. Constructive criticism is always valuable- if you can't listen to your critics, you can't improve, and you're far more experienced in this field than me so thanks for pointing out where I could have done things more productively.

As for the hooning, it was my first time on the bike in traffic, so for me, hooning was getting up to 40kmph on a straight! (just an estimate, I could have gotten faster).
It's a bit different to what the other guys was doing. The other guy was seriously racing like it was RallyNZ or something.

Yeah, I shouldn't have shouted, but I was shitting myself- after all it's my first time on the bike and some clown breaks several road rules and nearly kills me in the process. I guess it was the stress that made me shout. He was in the car and I had the helmet on, so he may have been able to lipread but I don't think he heard me, or anyone else for that matter.

I definitely wouldn't chase anyone out of anger, it would be suicide on a bike. Will look up Skid's thread to see what happened.

Also, with the slowing down, I think I could have worded that better. I wasn't braking hard and being dangerous, I was just slowing my speed down as it says in the road-code and on these forums. I knew that the faster I go, the faster he will go too- meaning that if I slow down too fast or make a mistake, he'll run me over. By slowing down, he had time to brake when he tried to overtake me at the intersection and nearly mowed me down. If I hadn't done the slow-downs, he would have been going twice as fast, and I'd probably have been hit there, so I think it was the right move this time.


I have taken the bike out on local streets a few times now, and practiced the following succesfully:

Roundabouts, speedbumps, heavy traffic intersections, hill-starts, fast stops, cornering, hills, gear changing and others.

Still loving it, can't wait to get better!

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and advice!

[90s]

erm 40k, OK. I think that's the domain's speed limit ...

Thanks for the response. I can I summerise Skids latest thread for you below - save you hours of reading:

- loses rag with car overtaking him (sound familiar?) - does what we would all like to do and chases car, some form of collision. Cops come, Marks loses licence, dangerous driving charge, bike impounded 28 days, arrested. Could have been worse.

Again, you seem to be on to it. But don't slow down/speed up to 'learn' cars expecting not to be hit or to cause an incident where the car then recklessly overtakes you. Only you are at risk there. Let them overtake you. Its the best way.

Welcome again; and look out for twats. Roads full of 'em.

[Rosie]

I have taken the bike out on local streets a few times now, and practiced the following succesfully:

Roundabouts, speedbumps, heavy traffic intersections, hill-starts, fast stops, cornering, hills, gear changing and others.

:niceone: Taking the time to learn slow speed handling, emergency braking, hill starts etc will really help your riding. Getting that stuff nailed will make it heaps easier once you start to venture further afield.

[Deviant]

Cheers Rosie! I hope your new bike is going well!

I took the Suzy around some nearby streets for an hour or so, then ventured through Broadway and up Khyber Pass to visit my sister. I did well again, but made one mistake. Coming back through Khyber Pass on the way home, I didn't realise the inside lanes lead to the motorway, and ended up sitting in the outside of these two lanes with the straight through lane to my left. There was a big gap in traffic, so I took it and just joined the flow again. I was lucky, I could have been forced into the motorway if there were cars behind me, a green light for motorway turns and no large gap to move into.

It was a good learning experience through, I loved it!!!

[Billie]

I must agree with 90s. Taking on larger vehicles on the road is dicing with misfortune - possibly fatally.
When I was in the early stages of learning I would indicate and pull over to let cars pass me so that I was not under any pressure. The goal is to stay upright and enjoy riding for as many years as you want. don't stack the odds against yourself.

I love the GN. I remember when it looked like a monster also. They are reliability plus. I also know riders who take 200-300 km rides on one of these won group rides and have a ball.

Enjoy your GN and stay safe.

[EJK]

I have taken the bike out on local streets a few times now, and practiced the following succesfully:

Roundabouts, speedbumps, heavy traffic intersections, hill-starts, fast stops, cornering, hills, gear changing and others.

Still loving it, can't wait to get better!

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and advice!

Ok, now you MUST join AWNMR now! lol
I will be waiting for you lol

[Tank]

Ok, now you MUST join AWNMR now! lol
I will be waiting for you lol


So will I - Im there on a GN250 also and can really recommend the AWNMR as a fantastic tool to learn. Nice people - great training - really social lot.

C

[Deviant]

Yeah, wanted to join last Wed but had a hangover so didn't touch the bike all day.

I'm commuting to work now, over the bridge, so count me in for Wednesday!

See you all there! And I agree, I should have acted differently, I just thought that it was safer keeping him behind me than letting him overtake me on a blind corner at an intersection I planned to turn into- will think more carefully next time!

[EJK]

Good to hear! lol
If you need escort or anything, just ask! :)