Hardest riding skill to learn

[jaffaonajappa]

Yeah - pretty much what they all said.....but putting it another way. The most important (survival) skill ya need to learn is actually very similar to the one for all road users. Be willing to slow down early, think that no one else can see you on the road, and Wake Up lol (observe and understand (pre-empt) the movements of others around you)

Takes quite a while to Master it rofl.

[Deano]

In my opinion the next most important thing to learn is throttle control to match your speed to the conditions.

+1

Particularly in instances where an overinflated ego could get you in trouble.

[sgtp]

I chose high-speed maneuvers as the final frontier for me to master. I am the type of noob that before getting the motorsickel, mastered the scooter art of making it around most any turn in wellington with the throttle pegged, and conserving momentum on a lil 50cc. The chicken strips on my scooters tires are nearly gone, and it sounds funny for a scoot, but I scrape the side stand on left-handers from time to time. I was reading twist of the wrist and watching the accompanying video long before I got my bike, so yeah, my desire to corner like a pro is pretty high.

(after rereading the ego crap above, it does sound like a shit talking noob, haha.... If I am on a a barren stretch of road in the wairaiapa, cornering better is what I want to learn, but 75% of my riding in traffic. I want to learn survival skills an accident avoidance. Thats not "hard to learn" per-se, but I'd rather take a class on that before taking a class to learn how to get a knee down.)

[superman]

Wheelies for showing off. Still can't do em

Everyone always was going on about target fixation when I was learning, however I don't think my brain is built to move it's arms just because it's looking at something. I know people who do this in the car, IE look at the driver side mirror and drift to the right. But I've tried it on the bike, and no matter where I'm scanning or fixing my eyes say at the centre line only, my bike still goes where I want it to go, not where I'm looking. Go figure...

Ooo but the one that takes the most effort and cunning is reading traffic definitely. If you can do that well you can save yourself from many a scary situation.

[MSTRS:Me]

There is only ONE skill that is hard to learn.
Staying safe.
It consists of thousands of parts amongst bike handling, environment, yourself....some of which are easy for some, difficult for others. But collectively, those individual parts will always take a lifetime to learn (or not...)

[Maki]

The hardest and most useful skill to learn is proper situational awareness. That means understanding the situation you are in at any given time, the hazards it contains and how to minimize any risk. I sometimes find myself slowing down and taking stock when I feel that drivers are behaving in a strange and unpredictable way. This has proved itself to be a sound strategy... Another part of situational understanding is understanding dangerous road configurations where you need to take extra caution. Yet another is understanding the quality of road surfaces and what they mean for traction.

The skills mentioned in the original post should not be hard to learn compared to this.

With respect to target fixation, I consider it a good thing. Use target fixation for good, to get you where you want to go. Never for evil, to go where you do NOT want to be.

[spookytooth]

You forgot "Not showing off" that one takes years
'

[george formby]

You forgot "Not showing off" that one takes years
'

Took me 6 months & 2 write offs when I was 17.

[spookytooth]

Took me 6 months & 2 write offs when I was 17.

bloody hell thats actuly fast learning

[Bikemad]

stopping.......

[rustyrobot]

I think the thing I have found hardest to learn is not to freeze or panic when something out of sorts happens - like leaning deep into a corner and finding a large patch of gravel/mud/cowshit in the middle of the road half-way round. I think Keith Code called it "Survival Reactions" in his book Twist of the Wrist. That is - Survival Reactions that don't actually help. The best things to do in those situations is not those things that your body wants to do naturally - tense up, straighten up, throttle off.

Of course I haven't tried doing a wheelie with my girlfriend sitting on the handlebars yet, so that might be the harder skill to master.

[fokky]

stoppies,its got to be stoppies.hardest skill to master.aspecially on the harley

[unstuck]

On southland roads,and keeping the bike up when you do find it.

[bogan]

I ticked them all, as motorcycle mastery is the hardest, practice them all

[PrincessBandit]

Low speed maneuvering can be a bit of a bitch,

That's my choice of the lot. As a girlie I don't really have the desire to show off or do tricky stunting (besides not being able to afford all the bike and body repairs while going through the process of learning them); I also don't have any particular ego issues. However, puny wee arms and short leggies, combined with heavy bike - overbalancing at low speed turns is my biggest concern.

A few times I've been able to manhandle the bandit from not going past the tip point, and that's been largely through the old "keep your head and eyes up, don't look at the ground" technique. I've put it down a few times and each ends up with either a broken clutch lever knob or brake lever knob or mirror... too expensive to do too often! Off to the gym