Thoughts after first ride

[dyls]

Bought a bike, little gn250, picked it up and rode it back from Upper Hutt to Wgtn city today. Took me 2.5 hours cause I wanted heaps of practise before hopping on the motorway.

Thoughts:

- helmets are great. Not only do they protect your noggin, they also hide your red face when you are parked outside someone's house for 15 minutes looking for neutral

- leaning / cornering is actually fucking scary if you're not used to it...haven't quite shaken that inner, instinctive fear that leaning over is going to tip the bike

- shit my visor gets misty! What's the best way to counter this? Other than buying a new helmet that's designed slightly differently?

- always remember to check whether your kick stand is up before you ride off....lol

- there is nothing in the world more annoying than.....putting on your glove lining, putting on your gloves, putting on helmet, realising you can't figure out your helmet's chin strap with the bulky gloves on, taking the gloves off, doing your helmet's chin strap, putting your gloves back on....and then accidentally pulling the key out of the ignition and dropping it on the ground. START AGAIN

- I WANT MORE!!!!

Time to head out tomorrow and get heaps more practise in!

[hayd3n]

- shit my visor gets misty! What's the best way to counter this? Other than buying a new helmet that's designed slightly differently?

leave your visor open a little bit and practice breathing not so hard

[fridayflash]

yea i just leave my visor open, when your going a bit faster and need to close the visor again youll find the vacuum created by the passing
breeze seems to help.
i only ever have my visor down for short periods..but thats just
a personal preferance and a habit ive formed.
good luck with the practice by the way.
if i was down your way id come out for a tootle on my gina too.

[Trudes]

That's awesome!! Good for you!
Go to Wellington Motorcycles or most of the other shops stock it too and ask for some "Cat crap". This stuff is a very cheap (about $10 and will last you probably bout a year if reapplied once a week) and effective way to stop the visor fog, or buy an insert (about $60, lasts forever or until it gets scratched, so don't wipe it with anything rough).
Good luck, sounds like you're a mad keen biker already!!

[Mom]

Bought a bike, little gn250, picked it up and rode it back from Upper Hutt to Wgtn city today. Took me 2.5 hours cause I wanted heaps of practise before hopping on the motorway.

Thoughts:

- helmets are great. Not only do they protect your noggin, they also hide your red face when you are parked outside someone's house for 15 minutes looking for neutral

Sometimes these bikes of ours are mean and dont select neutral easily. GN's love to tease this way for sure. TIP: find 2nd and very slowly release the clutch until you feel the first grabbing sensation, it will feel like a bit of a lurch. Quickly pull the lever back in and minutely tap down on the gear lever, hopefully you now have neutral. If not turn the bike off and then hey presto, the horrid thing will select neutral in a flash!
- leaning / cornering is actually fucking scary if you're not used to it...haven't quite shaken that inner, instinctive fear that leaning over is going to tip the bike

The bike will not fall over! Practise heaps...change the tyres if they are still original.

- shit my visor gets misty! What's the best way to counter this? Other than buying a new helmet that's designed slightly differently?

leave it open a crack, and relax! Chances are you are breathing a bit harder than usual.
- always remember to check whether your kick stand is up before you ride off....lol

- there is nothing in the world more annoying than.....putting on your glove lining, putting on your gloves, putting on helmet, realising you can't figure out your helmet's chin strap with the bulky gloves on, taking the gloves off, doing your helmet's chin strap, putting your gloves back on....and then accidentally pulling the key out of the ignition and dropping it on the ground. START AGAIN

ROTFLMAO!

- I WANT MORE!!!!

Time to head out tomorrow and get heaps more practise in!

Welcome to the world of two wheels! You sound like you are having fun already!

[kevfromcoro]

haha..good onya..ive been riding for 40 yrs..and still forget to do my helmet up.......just one of things that goes with bikin

[Subike]

Welcome to the world of the Steel Horse Rider. dyls.
find yourself an empty car park, take a couple of coke bottles with you to act as cones, spend an hour going around them in figure 8"s. that will get you use to the "lean" of the bike. and practice a bit of emegency braking at the same time.
Unlike a cage, which any idiot can drive under NZ laws, bikes need LOTS of practice to refine the skill needed for safe riding. but its good fun learning those skills too.

kevfromcoro... um, senario... wet day, going to work, tog up inside house to stay semi dry... lock house, (spring latch) walk out to bike..... where are the keys???
In my jeans pocket of course....under the wet weather pants...which are over the leather pants.....which are over my jeans....which contain the keys ....in a back pocket no less!!.....to make it worse....house is locked so have to access the keys in the pouring rain.....so much for keeping dry!

[1 Free Man]

Thoughts:

- helmets are great...... hide your red face when you ......15 minutes looking for neutral

- leaning / cornering is actually fucking scary ... leaning over is going to tip the bike

- shit my visor gets misty!

check whether your kick stand is up before you ride off....

there is nothing in the world more annoying than.....putting on your glove lining, putting on your gloves, putting on helmet, realising you can't figure out your helmet's chin strap with the bulky gloves on, taking the gloves off, doing your helmet's chin strap, putting your gloves back on....and then accidentally pulling the key out of the ignition and dropping it on the ground. START AGAIN

- I WANT MORE!!!!

Time to head out tomorrow and get heaps more practise in!

Had a good laugh over this one DYLS. Took me back to my first ride not that many months ago. the whole Keys, wallet, glasses, helmet on gloves off, chin straps, zips, buttons, velcro,thing... FUCK THIS I'LL GO IN THE CAR!! wondered there for a minute or two what the hell I'd got myself into. What a fuck'n performance. First ride was Tauranga to Rotorua and back. THEN I KNEW WHAT I HAD LET MYSELF INTO. A wonderful world of freedom and fun.
Don't ya just love it!!!

[Rollestonchick]

Had a good laugh over this one DYLS. Took me back to my first ride not that many months ago. the whole Keys, wallet, glasses, helmet on gloves off, chin straps, zips, buttons, velcro,thing...

Omg havent we all been there, that also was me, not so long ago too....

Congrats DYLS on starting out on your new.
Good luck with your next practice ride tomorrow. Very time you go out, you will learn and settle more into your bike and riding

[sinfull]

Good on ya mate Have fun ! Like Trudes said go get ya an ainti fog thing that ya stick insid ya visor ! Well worth it in the wet stuff !
Subikes comments on carparks and cones is the go, practice ya braking ! In the dry practice using both, trying to keep in a straight line using more front than back ! then see what happens when you brake with ya front on a bit of paint (in said carpark) in the wet ! Biggest read on KB is hearing how new riders lose the front on paint in the wet (handy to know whats gonna happen before it does, out there with cars ready to run ya down if ya bin it )!

[Griffin]

Good on ya dyls - many more experiences ahead of you. My main concern at this point tho has to be the rapidly growing number of digitally altered DangerousBastard avatars around this site... have I missed something?

[captain_andrey]

From paintball experience, to stop our goggles from fogging up we used to spray soapy water on the glass and let it dry out. Havent tried that with a bike helmet yet because didnt really have a fogging problem.

[varminter]

Great, I thought it was just me that forgets things (hey, I'm old, so that's an excuse). Let's see, forgot the following: do up helmet strap, switch on headlight, keys in pocket, can't find neutral, forgot to turn on petrol (was thinking about taking it to the fixer man) ride off with side stand down (whats that rattling noise) forget to cancel indicator or flip it too far and it's on for the other way (this is a bad one) not all on the same trip though. faaarrrk, there's so many thing to do. But I'm getting better and my hands don't shake so much before I head out. Was stopped at the lake at the weekend, just waiting for my son to turn up, bloody gust of wind almost blew me over !!

[mstriumph]

......... - always remember to check whether your kick stand is up before you ride off....lol.........

i still have problems with that one on the '73 honda ..........

glad you are having fun!!

[fizbin]

- shit my visor gets misty! What's the best way to counter this? Other than buying a new helmet that's designed slightly differently?

I have massive issues with this. even if i leave the visor open a bit on rainy mornings the visor still fogs.
i have found Rainx really good for most of the time. i little bottle only costs around $10 or something like that.

- there is nothing in the world more annoying than.....putting on your glove lining, putting on your gloves, putting on helmet, realising you can't figure out your helmet's chin strap with the bulky gloves on, taking the gloves off, doing your helmet's chin strap, putting your gloves back on....and then accidentally pulling the key out of the ignition and dropping it on the ground. START AGAIN

ROTFLMAO thats some funny shit right there