The LEARN

[Quartida]

You know that time, back in your first days of riding, when you needed someone to give you the learn? As in the learn-to-ride?

What are people's experiences with getting a friend/partner to help them to learn? I am just about to start learning - hopefully - and though the boyfriend had offered very generously to teach me, I'm a little nervous. I will either
a) drop it
b) drop it
c) drop it AND break some part of my anatomy
d) somehow get something stuck and end up hitting something (perhaps even said boyfriend)

Having said that, it's a lot cheaper to learn this way than to take a course. My question is - is doing the course a more stress-free way to learn to ride (and thus worth the moolah)?

[bobsmith]

I got one of my friend to teach me... She was the helpful kind, we went to an empty road, she started her bike for me and told me to go for it......

So I said... uhhh... which controls do which??? at which point I think she was a little nervous about teaching me to ride... Anyway, 5 minutes and two wheelies later, I was riding around everywhere laughing my head off in joy.

Oh she told me the next day that everyother person she has taught to ride has either gone into a fence or a paddock or fallen off the bike..... so I suppose I was lucky.

I would have taken a proper course if I could have though (no such thing in Palmy) in fact, I still am thinking about trying to attend one of the courses (I've been riding for a couple of months now) to upgrade my skills and learn new ones since I essentially taught myself to ride.

But if your boyfriend is a very competent rider, you could try getting him to teach you first, it's really not that bad, just go easy on the clutch the first time. Mind you the bike my friend taught me in was a mean 2 stroke 180cc farm bike, the thing would wheelie on 2nd gear with no clutch.

[Quartida]

Haha, perhaps what I SHOULD have asked the forums is whether my boyfriend is a competent rider


He is. I think.

[cowpoos]

You know that time, back in your first days of riding, when you needed someone to give you the learn? As in the learn-to-ride?

What are people's experiences with getting a friend/partner to help them to learn? I am just about to start learning - hopefully - and though the boyfriend had offered very generously to teach me, I'm a little nervous. I will either
a) drop it
b) drop it
c) drop it AND break some part of my anatomy
d) somehow get something stuck and end up hitting something (perhaps even said boyfriend)

Having said that, it's a lot cheaper to learn this way than to take a course. My question is - is doing the course a more stress-free way to learn to ride (and thus worth the moolah)?

I offered to learn ya? aff man....wasn't really keen on that idea....hmm???

[nodrog:Me]

Haha, perhaps what I SHOULD have asked the forums is whether my boyfriend is a competent rider


He is. I think.

he's a good rider alright, just needs a bloody haircut.

[crashe]

Quartida - So what bike have you brought????


The offer still stands on going out there to help you learn...
as it is with Scorpygirl... who has also shyed away from her bike...



If Aff_man gets shitty when teaching you, just tell him to shuddup...


Oh and when he is asleep give his hair a wee trim will ya...
He is starting to look like a woolly sheep....
(pt)

[Rosie]

My boyfriend is teaching me to ride (been on my learners since February).
It may have been useful to go on a course as well, but there isn't much in the way of motorcycle courses in Rotorua, and it's worked out really well with him teaching me.

Maybe start off with him teaching you, and see how it goes. If it starts to get stressful, and doesn't seem to be working out you can sort yourself some lessons. Maybe you could agree to a couple of weeks of bf teaching you, then you'll decide if you want professional lessons or not.

Clint was incredibly patient and supportive when I was learning to ride. It can be a bit stressful, and you do have to do the same things over and over again until you get them right.

I have found it useful to ask lots of questions, and discuss ways I can improve my riding. I learn a lot that way, and avoid a stream of well meaning advice when I am stressed out and trying to concentrate on other things. Clint won't generally say anything about my riding (other than "you're doing really well!") unless I ask. And I try to ask specific questions about problems I'm having rather than "how was my riding" (one may as well ask "do I look fat in this").

Dropping-the-bike-wise, it's good to start out on something that is very drop proof. I learnt on a friends KRR150 that had been crashed multiple times and I wasn't going to be able to do it any damage. I did drop it once. I got a fright, but the bike was fine.

Start off somewhere like a carpark where there isn't much to hit, and work on going slowly and learning how the controls work (especially the brakes ). If you are nervous, and likely to get stressed about the whole thing (as I did when I first started) it might help to do lots of frequent short (< 1hour) lessons, rather than a weekend-long learn to ride marathon.

Let us know how you get on.

[Quartida]

Thanks Rosie. You have reassured me. But I'm thinking those <1 hour sessions are a good idea. Else aff-man might start pulling his hair out.

And as we all know, there's a hell of a lot of it.

Crashe: no bike yet...I'm on the lookout (with a small bank balance - bye bye all my savings )

[Colapop]

I still think a paddock and a farmbike is the best way to start to learn to ride. Wide open spaces and a fairly soft landing. Patience and trust are the next best things. You've got to trust yourself and feel that whoever is teaching you trusts you (sometimes on their bike). And you've got to be patient - you're not going to be riding MotoGP on your first go.

[kiwifruit]

Fully agree with colapop there,
nothing better than learning basic control skills in wide open spaces with grass instead of tarseal to land apon.
Learning on the grass/dirt tends to be helpful with things like skid control,
learning how the bike moves when its sliding etc.
I have taught lots of people to ride who have never riden this way,
at least if its an old dirt bike the thought of dropping it isnt really a worry.
4 sure let your bf teach you!
As long as you are comfortable with it, its a great way to recieve the learn

[vifferman]

Meh.
No-one taught me, I just got on and rode. Most of my first experiences were on grass, which helped, including my first bad experience: parking across a steep hill (good), losing my balance after stopping (not good), toppling over to the downhill side with the bike's crankcase on top of my left ankle (very bad). Eventually the nerve damage repaired itself...

But mostly it was all good, and lotsa fun. Even the day riding through swamps on a friend's farm, and even the same day getting barbed wire wrapped around my ankle (socks and sandshoes were little protection against that).

[mikey]

gay - keep your relationship offline! or least off kiwibiker, for your own sake.

[Quartida]

Sorry

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[aff-man]

Ok so this thread has turned into is aff a competent rider... and what is the best way to get me a haircut.

Ok the ideal thing for her to larn on would be a dirtbike and a paddock... but seeing as we have neither this will have to do. I learnet to ride from a mate (CK) in a parking lot on my first bike.

I am pretty sure that if she doesn't freak out to much she'll be fine. No I won't get to stressed watching her.... but I am a little worried as anyone would be in this situation.

She'll be right mate. She just needs to get a bike first. So anyone got anything.

[crashe]

Frosty has a little wee GN250 that he has just purchased...
It could be sold at a real cheap price...

Grab it before the rest of the KBers destroy it completely...
It was Markauckland's bike.
Just had a nice paint job and engine work done on it..