Posted before but I thought it time for another post for the new ones or less experienced here.
I've read heaps of posts on the newbie site and thought to myself,
one thing was missing when I first starting riding and that's.... what
are the first steps to riding a bike in order to keep safe?
This is a difficult thing for an experienced rider to share
as so much we do automatically and take for granted is completely
foreign to new riders on their first bike.
So, I have to believe that I am just starting out again and try and
convey the real basics to help you guys and gals get confident on your
bikes and in the process minimise the risks involved.
So here are some minimal tips to get you going. There are heaps of tips
to throw at you but I will keep it real simple.
So hear you go:
1. Never think you know it all. With biking, the more you learn
the more you realise how much more you have to learn. So be teachable.
2. Don't skimp on good gear. Synthetics have come a long way but
I truly believe you can't beat leathers when it comes to sliding down
the road. Whtaever you buy, make sure it's relatively tight fitting
as armour can move around if it's lose.
DO, get a good quality full face helmet, gloves, boots, pants and jacket.
I've had accidents in the past, that have removed the chinbar on my full
face, taken the entire left side of my boots out, ripped my gloves and jacket
to shreds.... so don't ride without your gear, even to the corner shop.
3. First ride or consequent rides. Throttles are fun, but before you play
with the throttle, it would be a good idea how to learn to stop.
Find a carpark, or deserted country road and start to learn how to brake.
If you can't brake properly at the speeds you travel at, you are going
to cause injury.
Emergency braking: squeeze the front brake lever gently and apply more
pressure as the bike drops down on the forks. Stabbing the brake hard
will cause the bike to dive and because weight transfer to the front takes
time, you will cause lockup and front wheel washout.
Increase pressure harder once the front has dived. In the dry you can stop
real fast with the front brake alone. Heavy braking causes the rear wheel
to almost or to actually break contact with the ground and therefore the
rear brake, except in experienced hands, is next to useless. It is way to
easy to lock up the rear brake under heavy braking and therefore induce a
sideways slide and then an off.
New riders also try to balance the rear brake with the front and therefore
to prevent rear wheel lockup, brake too softly with the front, which
dramatically increases their stopping distance.
Learn to stop quickly with your front brake first, then start applying a
little rear. Under heavy braking the front brake will give around 90%
stopping power on the front brake on a modern sports bike. The heavier
the bike and the longer the wheelbase, the more the rear brake will
be able to handle.
If any wheel locks up, you will drop the bike or increase your braking
distance so immediately reduce the grip on the offending lock up wheel
and then reapply the brakes.
In the wet, the front can washout a lot quicker than the dry, so more reliance
is placed on the rear. You can still brake quite hard with the front but
have to ensure you don't lock it up.
4. Until you know the balance point between tyre grip and braking in a corner,
do all your braking before the corner. Slow in and fast out. With experience
comes trail braking ( braking while cornering). Do not do this until you
know your stuff.
5. When cornering, the most common mistake for a newbie, is to arrive at
the corner too fast and brake to late. This causes panic and many people
hit both brakes hard with the result that the rear usually locks up
putting them in a rear wheel slide. Result, a nasty lowside where the
bike drops under them and a long slide occurs. Hopefully nothing solid
is encountered. Or, brake pressure is released, the tyre regrips and
tosses you off the top of the bike (highside). Result: a lowside is
way better. A highside generally means, rolling, bouncing, hitting the
ground hard and ending up with broken collarbone, wrist, ribs etc.
The other common fault in a corner, is to stand the bike up and brake hard.
This is worse as you will disappear into the roadside scenery at a fair rate
of knots.
Your bike, will corner a lot more than your brain will lead you to believe.
The chances are that at some stage of your riding experience, you will enter
a corner too hot. Your brain will tell you that you won't make it and you will
do one of the above wrong moves. Lockup the brakes in the corner and lowside or highside, or stand the bike up and brake hard. Either option will
more than likely end up in an accident unless you are real lucky.
What you need to do is positively reinforce your mind that you will make
the corner. Lean your bike more, drop your shoulder into the inside of the turn, push the inside bar forward slightly (counter steer) get off the seat a little to the inside of the turn to transfer weight. You will be amazed at just how much your bike will lean and 90% of the time, you will actually make the corner.
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Originally Posted by Katman
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