Best thing I could have done as a Noob. So grateful for this knowledge

[Jay GTI]

Whenever I see the idiots on bikes in t-shirts and shorts, or even paddock jackets and jeans, I always want to follow them so I can ask them to walk back out onto the road and sprint as fast as they can, then just throw themselves at the ground. Then ask them if that sounds like a fun activity? And then ask them if that doesn't sound so great, why they seem to think they would be fine if an unobservant motorist gave them the chance to play the same game at 100kph...

[superman]

SQUID - Stupid, Quick, Underdressed, Imminently Dead.

Get to see some sweet Darwin awards.

[otter]

As a genuine noob who has had absolutely nothing to do with motorcycles prior to owning one (I ride it everywhere - do not own a car).. no friends who have owned motorcycles - may I ask what the benefits of your suggestion is?

In my eyes the main benifit is safety. Any money that I can give someone to teach me to ride better so that I'm more able to avoid writing myself or my bike off (hospital is boring) is well spent.
You'll also be more confident and skillful when things start getting hairy (bucketing down with rain, gravel on road etc) and instead of shitting your pants, keep riding.
Ohh, and depending on the training...faster

You don't nessisarly need training with another person, there a books, youtube etc to teach you to ride better. I recently found that I improved my techique greatly riding twisties with riders who were going just a bit faster than I would usually and really had to concentrate on staying loose on the bars. In saying that, don't go faster than you feel safe and never go 100% on the road.

[2DriveSafe]

A bit of self promotion here in regards to training, as that is what I do. I was talking to a guy a while back who said he had been riding 17 years like me, but about a year ago he realised he only had 1 years riding experience that he had repeated 16 times making the same mistakes again and again!

We get 'experienced' riders coming to us all the time to get their licences ( basic handling skills or further training) and they get more out of a half hour or half day course than they have in their entire 'experience'. Simple things like head up, look where you want to go, relax on corners and looking for limit points all helps. Practicing quick stops and stopping in a curve and counter-steering help too.

Training is an investment in your own life, skin, finances, family etc. Even better ACC subsidise our training so you technically get some of those levies back, by the training being much more affordable.

Its always better to practice new stuff with someone who can help guide you through it in a safe environment rather than becoming a Squid and learning the hard way.

We have just started our summer training programme in north canterbury, check out our website for more info.


Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back. ~Chinese Proverb
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. ~Attributed to Harry S Truman