My first ride...

[Howsie]

I had been waiting 3 days to get out on my new bike, with the lousy weather early this week i was praying for a fine boxing day to go out for my first ride. The gods must have been listening as it turned out to be a cracker day for a ride.

Rolled it out of the driveway and got used to the gears and how the bike handled. For my first ever ride on a bike it just felt so natural, everything flowed and it was an amazing experience!

Waved to the many bikers i saw, from Maraetai through to the Auckland CBD, most of them waved back.... what a fantastic "club" to be part of, i have never felt more alive than when out riding.

I learnt a lot about the bike and how it handles, even experienced cager road rage who took objection to me filtering at the lights and tailgated me for a short distance. Got cut off my another chic cager who objected to the same thing and almost ran the red i was slowing down for with a full carload of people!! Nutters......

Traveled 270km today, only 730km to go until i can use the full rev range of the green machine!!

A few interesting points to note to those who have never been on a bike before, i found my sense of speed to be out of whack as i was going slower than i felt. I had also not been used to a machine that revs so high so having the bike do 5000rpm felt like i was wringing the tits off it even though its not quite half redline. Massive amounts of engine braking too which was fun to play with.

Looking forward to getting back out tomorrow. By the way, if anyone is keen on going for a ride PM me.

Howsie

[Skinnyninny]

Hey man glad to hear about your new found addiction. Keep safe while riding, you will never stop learning so never over estimate your ability to ride as this could lead to some very nasty outcomes or possibly only 1. As for some of the cage drivers out there... DAMN YOU... DAMN YOU! I too rode around for most of the day, used up a full tank of gas (380k). Was tailed many times by people that thought 60km/h in a 50 km/h zone was too slow or maybe they just thought that the big yellow "L" on the back of the bike was a target that they had to hit, was almost side swiped by many cagers changing lanes for no good reason. Was overtaking at high speed then had rude gestures made at me… The life of a biker . Anticipate what every driver will do and you should be fine. I've noticed that most drivers are pretty predictable...

As for riding with other riders there are a few "L" plate riders that live on the shore that I am sure would be happy to ride around with you. Me being one of them (Live in Torbay).

Dan

[Reido]

once its run in i suggest ringing its neck off at least once.
its quite a trill, and the bike will love it.

anyway, good on ya for doing a decent sized ride. and yeah angry cagers all over the place. be careful when filtering, its not fun being between two 4x4s 2/3rd in the row when the light goes green.

no get out there and do it again

Reido

[Gummie]

Hey great to hear your story, its always good to read about people good experiences.

Always keen for a ride, there are heaps of good roads with little to no cages in south auckers.

[Slyer]

Sounds like a long trip is in order to shorten the time till first service!
High RPM fun.

[KiwiKat]

Great to see another new biker out there. Enjoy the learning curves and take it easy (with tiredness / loss of attention) on those long rides when you're just starting out.

[howdamnhard]

Welcome to the wonderful world of biking,take care and mind those cagers.If your out East,the boys often get out on Sundays.

[dblancer]

Forgive my greenhorn question

But whats a cager?
Some reference to drivers who follow to close? block you?

[Slyer]

Cagers are people that drive vehicles that are fully enclosed inside glass/metal.
It's a negative term that points out that they are quite safe inside of their cages whileas we are vulnerable, and that this cage gives them a license to drive stupidly because they are safe.

[Hiflyer]

Cagers are people that drive vehicles that are fully enclosed inside glass/metal.
It's a negative term that points out that they are quite safe inside of their cages whileas we are vulnerable, and that this cage gives them a license to drive stupidly because they are safe.

Bastards!

i think everyone has bad stories about how oblivious people in cars are

[Hawkeye]

I had been waiting 3 days to get out on my new bike, with the lousy weather early this week i was praying for a fine boxing day to go out for my first ride. The gods must have been listening as it turned out to be a cracker day for a ride.

Rolled it out of the driveway and got used to the gears and how the bike handled. For my first ever ride on a bike it just felt so natural, everything flowed and it was an amazing experience!

I learnt a lot about the bike and how it handles, even experienced cager road rage who took objection to me filtering at the lights and tailgated me for a short distance. Got cut off my another chic cager who objected to the same thing and almost ran the red i was slowing down for with a full carload of people!! Nutters......

Traveled 270km today, only 730km to go until i can use the full rev range of the green machine!!
Howsie

First ride on a bike and your already filtering. Can't wait to see the first post after 'using the full rev range'. It will probably be something like this.....

"Biker Down - A biker is seriously injured/dead (strike out applicable) after thinking he is bulletproof."

Try walking before running. Bikes have a way of bitting you in the arse if you don't give them the repect they deserve. As a first time rider, you have not developed the skillset to be splitting and as for using the full rev range.... If you have never ridden a bike before and have never reached that particularly point in the revs where the bike decides to take control if your not ready for it....

[CB ARGH]

Great to hear that you had such a blast on your first ride!

I do agree with the poster above though, take each step slowly, if you want to get into filtering then I would reccomend going into an empty car park and practicing slow riding, as you need to get your balance up (don't want to scrape your baby across some dimwit's old ass piece of shit truck). When the wednesday night rides are back on I'd seriously reccomend these, I do and the skills that you learn are amazing.

Just keep your bike(s) maintained and you'll be riding into the sunset for many years to come!

SHINY SIDE UP!

[Cheshire Cat]

Bastards!

i think everyone has bad stories about how oblivious people in cars are

ford and holden drivers are the worst!!!

[Howsie]

An update seeing as the weekend has now passed and have put many more kms under my belt. Up to 730km or so now so will need to book in that servie very soon!!

Thanks to all those that have posted so far, i will take on board everything that has been mentioned as i have no desire to have a "Biker Down" thread posted about me cos of my own doing.

So far i have found the power of the new Ninja to be very linear and is a blast to use so the extra 7000 rpm extra will come in handy for getting across those intersections real quick. I fully respect any machinery i operate as it has the ability to be unpredicdible and cause serious injury.

Being orginally from Napier, after moving to Aucks i found that the drivers here were so much worse so I have developed a fine sense of judging traffic and who is going to do what beofre they do it. Most of the time i can even narrow it down to the type of car they drive or the driver themselves! Having driven a smaller car for all of my teenage years i grew to become proactive rather than reactive and this has saved me from many accidents, so a natural progression of this to the bike has occured.

Come the new year i will be getting out with the evening/Sunday rides to learn some more skills. Looking forward to it!

I hear what you are saying Hawkeye

[xMythOne]

Hey,

If your in the CBD much, give me a buzz!
im always looking for an excuse to jump on my bike

Jamie,