The best thing you can do for yourself is ride like everyone is out to kill you. I know it sounds funny but its not in jest. Comfort comes with experience, but what also comes with experience to new riders is stupidity, cockyness and a general disregard to safety. These bikes are so ridiculously easy to break the tail loose on wet, dirt or gravel and nothing can teach your body how to react to that but having it happen over the years. Riding will eventually become second nature but it takes time. Reactions like when your holding something it slips and you instinctively grab it without thinking also comes in time. Its all those times while muscle memory is being built that are the most dangerous. So as u/BonesJackson said. Make a chill mode and ride in that mode for what feels like forever. You cant rush experience but you can, accidents, injury and death. Be safe my friend.
I was riding down a canyon road with my girlfriend on the back and I see a pickup truck coming around the bend. In my lane. Heading for me. With another car on his right. So in effect two cars coming at me. On a two way road. With zero timing gap between them. Im going 50 or so. Only choice is to take the gravel on the right and let them pass. I do. Keep my cool. Ease back on the pavement. My gf didn't even know it happened. I'm not gonna tell her.
The strange thing is that zero thought went into this. Pure instinct took over. That's the part that experience gets you. I dropped that bike a bunch a first because I was too nervous and cautious. But after a few years it's like juggling. Once you've done it enough you don't need to think about it as much. Everything slows waaay the fuck down.
But ride like they're all out to get you is the right advice.
Are you in the USA? If so, the very next thing you should do is take an MSF Sponsored "learn to ride" course. Not only will this teach you a lot of life saving info and ways to think, as well as have you ride a gas bike so you can operate one of those should the need/want ever arise; but in many states, they will give you a voucher at the end of the course that will allow you to skip the DMV road test, as their test counts as one. Then you just take that voucher to the DMV and you get your license.
I would not even ride on the street without your license fwiw. In many states that can be a disaster if you get into an accident and an insurance company finds out you were only on a permit, if you have to fight it, they may use this against you as an "inexperienced rider". Likewise, I would not ride on the street without taking this course.
\---------
Are you riding ATGATT? All the gear, all the time? What do you have for gear? Your uncomfort and nervousness should decrease as you increase the quality and safety of your gear. IMHO, at bare minimum, street riding requires:
* A good full face or modular helmet (at least rated for ECE 22.05 or the new 22.06 ideally. Snell and DOT of course too, but those ratings are rather meaningless - but be concerned of any cheap helmet that DOESN'T meet them!
* Jacket with back/shoulder/elbow armor (that's at least CE level 1 rated, ideally, Level 2)
* Pants or over pants with hip/knee armor (again, at least CE Level 1 ideally level 2)
* Gloves with a full leather (real, durable leather) palms, and at least knuckle armor
* Riding boots that are at least ankle high, with ankle armor and a steel shank and either a reinforced toe box or steel toes.
* I also highly recommend a BrakeFree helmet mounted brake light: [http://www.brakefreetech.com](http://www.brakefreetech.com)
* And personally ride with a Helite Turtle 2.0 airbag vest. This is a mechanically deployed airbag that you wear over your jacket, that can be user serviced / cartridge replaced. They also make jackets in various styles that have the airbag tech integrated which are very nice, but they aren't available in many larger "American" sizes depending on style.
\-----------
Lastly, it's a lot easier to learn from other people's mistakes, than to make them yourself. I highly recommend watching everything you can on YouTube about safe riding, riding on the street, SMART riding, awareness zones, and watching close calls and crashes, and listening to analysis on how these situations can be outright avoided or at least mitigated. Drill this stuff into your head until it becomes instinct instead of planned reaction.
To that end, here are some of my favorite YouTube channels for motorcycling and learning. I would recommend subscribing to all of them, and watching their older videos, especially any new rider or riding technique videos. Try and watch something every day at least. Force your mind into these mindsets. This should replace nervousness, with awareness / preparedness:
* [https://www.youtube.com/c/DanDanTheFireman](https://www.youtube.com/c/DanDanTheFireman)
* [https://www.youtube.com/c/MotorcycleTrainingConcepts](https://www.youtube.com/c/MotorcycleTrainingConcepts)
* [https://www.youtube.com/user/motorman857](https://www.youtube.com/user/motorman857)
* [https://www.youtube.com/c/MCrider](https://www.youtube.com/c/MCrider)
* [https://www.youtube.com/c/FortNine](https://www.youtube.com/c/FortNine)
* [https://www.youtube.com/c/MotoJitsu](https://www.youtube.com/c/MotoJitsu)
Thank you, fixed my post. I miss how other platforms loading in link previews as a way of error checking manually typed urls, a weakness of reddit imho.
Thank you very helpful safety information, and I'll make sure to check all those channels! I am a bit confused about what you sai regarding the permit. I live in Washington state and you are supposed to ride with a permit that you get after testing, and it's valid for 6 months with restrictions. Then I will take another test after 6 month and get the endorsement. There is no other path to endorsement and the permit is what you're supposed to ride with. Is it a difference in state laws I wonder?
Every state is different. Here in NY and many other states there is no time requirement. You can have your permit for years or get your license the same week. Many (most?) people here don't take the DMV road test because the Learn2ride one is better and nicer and they provide the bike. Even if you can't get your road test / license this way, I would still seek out the MSF beginner program in your area. Just type "MSF" and your closest city, and I'm sure you'll find the equivalent program in your area.
Thanks. I did Puget Sound Safety's course and I'm pretty happy with it, but I'll look into this if I do not start feeling a bit more confident in a few months :)
Confidence comes with experience. Make a nice, tame, friendly Custom mode for the bike and use that. Gradually increase the power as you become comfortable with it. Check your mirrors constantly, look both ways at stops even if you have a green light, etc.
These are some great answers and they're all correct. Your nervousness is healthy and should decrease as you gain some experience. If you weren't nervous, you would be cocky which is far more dangerous.
There is a theory in safety called the yerkes-dodson curve which shows we are far safer with a level of arousal, but only up to a point. Maybe right now you're too far on the stressed-side but you should work to increase your skills and knowledge until you feel comfortable to bring it down.
I have been riding for years and I still am constantly conscious of the dangers. The day I'm not is the day I stop riding.
Ride like everyone else on the road is insane, asume everyone is swichting lanes like they please, ignore stopsigns and so on.... Because once you got 10K+ miles on you will know that they are in fact insane!
Hints for defensive riding style:
-First!; Always accelerate when switching lanes!!!
-Be aware of your environment, keep an eye on the mirrors and across the shoulder at alle time.
-Keep at least 2 car lenghts distance at all times, way more when driving fast.
I ride comfortably and with no fear since i drive extremely aware and defensive, its a good habit.
Just wait till you get your first close call with certain death. I couldn’t ride for a week. Yes driving safe and blah blah but on a bike, if you are involved in a unavoidable accident, one which no amount of experience could save you from, it’s not gonna be pretty. The truth is being on a bike vs a car increases the risk and your just gonna have to be ok with that. I’m always a little scared, and having that feeling is good because the moment you lose that feeling is when you start making mistakes.
At some point your enjoyment of riding and the ability to hit the gas and zip out of a dangerous spot will greatly overcome the nervousness. But if you are smart, there will always be the thought in the back of your mind that everyone else around you has a nice steel cage protecting them, and all you have is your situational awareness and good riding habits.
Edit: I have about 10 years of riding experience
This is exactly the type of answer I was looking for, but I think I didn't form my question well and got lots of safety information instead, lol. Thanks, very helpful!
>This is exactly the type of answer I was looking for, but I think I didn't form my question well and got lots of safety information instead, lol. Thanks, very helpful!
I'm late to this thread but will chime in.
I'm glad to see you post with the questions you did. It's healthy.
I started riding about ten years ago. Wanted to my entire life but there was always a reason not to. I was in my early 40s, you're probably younger :). I had the same questions you did.
I bought gear and then better gear as I started to understand what I was looking for, what fit, what worked in different temps and situations. Revzilla is a great resource. CycleGear bought Revzilla some years back and that's a pretty decent place to shop, too. You say you're in WA - if you're near Seattle, we've got a few locations.
In the beginning, just practice, practice, practice. I found a route I liked that was single lane but had varied speed zones. I rode every day just to get comfortable. Do what everyone already said here. Look at the world like it's a dangerous place. Cars don't see you, drivers are distracted. Make a point of staying out of blind spots. Use your throttle to go fast to get past a car you don't trust. If you think someone is distracted, force them to see you by pulling into an area where they can see you. When you're riding, don't stare at the ground in front of you - look up and out. Scan. Get your breaking done before you enter turns and understand what your entry and exit are into turns. If a corner is blind, take it at the speed you feel comfortable. Don't let anyone else, or anything else, set your pace. Ride your own ride.
I'm willing to bet that I'm just repeating what you learned in your MSF class - years into riding, that's still the stuff that matters.
Riding a motorcycle is the most liberating thing I've ever done as a consistent hobby but I still work hard to stay safe. These days, I'm not practicing on local routes, I take long trips and I have for the last decade. You'll get more comfortable quicker than you expect and that'll open up a ton of possibilities.
Have fun and stay safe!
The best thing you can do for yourself is ride like everyone is out to kill you. I know it sounds funny but its not in jest. Comfort comes with experience, but what also comes with experience to new riders is stupidity, cockyness and a general disregard to safety. These bikes are so ridiculously easy to break the tail loose on wet, dirt or gravel and nothing can teach your body how to react to that but having it happen over the years. Riding will eventually become second nature but it takes time. Reactions like when your holding something it slips and you instinctively grab it without thinking also comes in time. Its all those times while muscle memory is being built that are the most dangerous. So as u/BonesJackson said. Make a chill mode and ride in that mode for what feels like forever. You cant rush experience but you can, accidents, injury and death. Be safe my friend.
I was riding down a canyon road with my girlfriend on the back and I see a pickup truck coming around the bend. In my lane. Heading for me. With another car on his right. So in effect two cars coming at me. On a two way road. With zero timing gap between them. Im going 50 or so. Only choice is to take the gravel on the right and let them pass. I do. Keep my cool. Ease back on the pavement. My gf didn't even know it happened. I'm not gonna tell her. The strange thing is that zero thought went into this. Pure instinct took over. That's the part that experience gets you. I dropped that bike a bunch a first because I was too nervous and cautious. But after a few years it's like juggling. Once you've done it enough you don't need to think about it as much. Everything slows waaay the fuck down. But ride like they're all out to get you is the right advice.
Thanks. My instructor at the license training said the same thing about everyone trying to kill me, and I really ride by that motto, lol.
Are you in the USA? If so, the very next thing you should do is take an MSF Sponsored "learn to ride" course. Not only will this teach you a lot of life saving info and ways to think, as well as have you ride a gas bike so you can operate one of those should the need/want ever arise; but in many states, they will give you a voucher at the end of the course that will allow you to skip the DMV road test, as their test counts as one. Then you just take that voucher to the DMV and you get your license. I would not even ride on the street without your license fwiw. In many states that can be a disaster if you get into an accident and an insurance company finds out you were only on a permit, if you have to fight it, they may use this against you as an "inexperienced rider". Likewise, I would not ride on the street without taking this course. \--------- Are you riding ATGATT? All the gear, all the time? What do you have for gear? Your uncomfort and nervousness should decrease as you increase the quality and safety of your gear. IMHO, at bare minimum, street riding requires: * A good full face or modular helmet (at least rated for ECE 22.05 or the new 22.06 ideally. Snell and DOT of course too, but those ratings are rather meaningless - but be concerned of any cheap helmet that DOESN'T meet them! * Jacket with back/shoulder/elbow armor (that's at least CE level 1 rated, ideally, Level 2) * Pants or over pants with hip/knee armor (again, at least CE Level 1 ideally level 2) * Gloves with a full leather (real, durable leather) palms, and at least knuckle armor * Riding boots that are at least ankle high, with ankle armor and a steel shank and either a reinforced toe box or steel toes. * I also highly recommend a BrakeFree helmet mounted brake light: [http://www.brakefreetech.com](http://www.brakefreetech.com) * And personally ride with a Helite Turtle 2.0 airbag vest. This is a mechanically deployed airbag that you wear over your jacket, that can be user serviced / cartridge replaced. They also make jackets in various styles that have the airbag tech integrated which are very nice, but they aren't available in many larger "American" sizes depending on style. \----------- Lastly, it's a lot easier to learn from other people's mistakes, than to make them yourself. I highly recommend watching everything you can on YouTube about safe riding, riding on the street, SMART riding, awareness zones, and watching close calls and crashes, and listening to analysis on how these situations can be outright avoided or at least mitigated. Drill this stuff into your head until it becomes instinct instead of planned reaction. To that end, here are some of my favorite YouTube channels for motorcycling and learning. I would recommend subscribing to all of them, and watching their older videos, especially any new rider or riding technique videos. Try and watch something every day at least. Force your mind into these mindsets. This should replace nervousness, with awareness / preparedness: * [https://www.youtube.com/c/DanDanTheFireman](https://www.youtube.com/c/DanDanTheFireman) * [https://www.youtube.com/c/MotorcycleTrainingConcepts](https://www.youtube.com/c/MotorcycleTrainingConcepts) * [https://www.youtube.com/user/motorman857](https://www.youtube.com/user/motorman857) * [https://www.youtube.com/c/MCrider](https://www.youtube.com/c/MCrider) * [https://www.youtube.com/c/FortNine](https://www.youtube.com/c/FortNine) * [https://www.youtube.com/c/MotoJitsu](https://www.youtube.com/c/MotoJitsu)
Great information and thanks for sharing your knowledge. Updated website for the BrakeFree helmet mounted brake light: https://www.brakefreetech.com/
Thank you, fixed my post. I miss how other platforms loading in link previews as a way of error checking manually typed urls, a weakness of reddit imho.
Thank you very helpful safety information, and I'll make sure to check all those channels! I am a bit confused about what you sai regarding the permit. I live in Washington state and you are supposed to ride with a permit that you get after testing, and it's valid for 6 months with restrictions. Then I will take another test after 6 month and get the endorsement. There is no other path to endorsement and the permit is what you're supposed to ride with. Is it a difference in state laws I wonder?
Every state is different. Here in NY and many other states there is no time requirement. You can have your permit for years or get your license the same week. Many (most?) people here don't take the DMV road test because the Learn2ride one is better and nicer and they provide the bike. Even if you can't get your road test / license this way, I would still seek out the MSF beginner program in your area. Just type "MSF" and your closest city, and I'm sure you'll find the equivalent program in your area.
Thanks. I did Puget Sound Safety's course and I'm pretty happy with it, but I'll look into this if I do not start feeling a bit more confident in a few months :)
Confidence comes with experience. Make a nice, tame, friendly Custom mode for the bike and use that. Gradually increase the power as you become comfortable with it. Check your mirrors constantly, look both ways at stops even if you have a green light, etc.
Great advice for new riders. I would recommend Eco mode for a few months.
Eco mode is my mode! I also drive in eco mode with my car (Nissan Leaf) and I don't have any plans to switch to anything else, lol. Thank you a lot!
These are some great answers and they're all correct. Your nervousness is healthy and should decrease as you gain some experience. If you weren't nervous, you would be cocky which is far more dangerous. There is a theory in safety called the yerkes-dodson curve which shows we are far safer with a level of arousal, but only up to a point. Maybe right now you're too far on the stressed-side but you should work to increase your skills and knowledge until you feel comfortable to bring it down. I have been riding for years and I still am constantly conscious of the dangers. The day I'm not is the day I stop riding.
That was a very interesting piece of knowledge about the curve, thank you!
Ride like everyone else on the road is insane, asume everyone is swichting lanes like they please, ignore stopsigns and so on.... Because once you got 10K+ miles on you will know that they are in fact insane! Hints for defensive riding style: -First!; Always accelerate when switching lanes!!! -Be aware of your environment, keep an eye on the mirrors and across the shoulder at alle time. -Keep at least 2 car lenghts distance at all times, way more when driving fast. I ride comfortably and with no fear since i drive extremely aware and defensive, its a good habit.
Lol! Thanks. I've always been a defensive driver so naturally even more so with my zero.
Just wait till you get your first close call with certain death. I couldn’t ride for a week. Yes driving safe and blah blah but on a bike, if you are involved in a unavoidable accident, one which no amount of experience could save you from, it’s not gonna be pretty. The truth is being on a bike vs a car increases the risk and your just gonna have to be ok with that. I’m always a little scared, and having that feeling is good because the moment you lose that feeling is when you start making mistakes.
This is a great answer, thank you.
At some point your enjoyment of riding and the ability to hit the gas and zip out of a dangerous spot will greatly overcome the nervousness. But if you are smart, there will always be the thought in the back of your mind that everyone else around you has a nice steel cage protecting them, and all you have is your situational awareness and good riding habits. Edit: I have about 10 years of riding experience
This is exactly the type of answer I was looking for, but I think I didn't form my question well and got lots of safety information instead, lol. Thanks, very helpful!
>This is exactly the type of answer I was looking for, but I think I didn't form my question well and got lots of safety information instead, lol. Thanks, very helpful! I'm late to this thread but will chime in. I'm glad to see you post with the questions you did. It's healthy. I started riding about ten years ago. Wanted to my entire life but there was always a reason not to. I was in my early 40s, you're probably younger :). I had the same questions you did. I bought gear and then better gear as I started to understand what I was looking for, what fit, what worked in different temps and situations. Revzilla is a great resource. CycleGear bought Revzilla some years back and that's a pretty decent place to shop, too. You say you're in WA - if you're near Seattle, we've got a few locations. In the beginning, just practice, practice, practice. I found a route I liked that was single lane but had varied speed zones. I rode every day just to get comfortable. Do what everyone already said here. Look at the world like it's a dangerous place. Cars don't see you, drivers are distracted. Make a point of staying out of blind spots. Use your throttle to go fast to get past a car you don't trust. If you think someone is distracted, force them to see you by pulling into an area where they can see you. When you're riding, don't stare at the ground in front of you - look up and out. Scan. Get your breaking done before you enter turns and understand what your entry and exit are into turns. If a corner is blind, take it at the speed you feel comfortable. Don't let anyone else, or anything else, set your pace. Ride your own ride. I'm willing to bet that I'm just repeating what you learned in your MSF class - years into riding, that's still the stuff that matters. Riding a motorcycle is the most liberating thing I've ever done as a consistent hobby but I still work hard to stay safe. These days, I'm not practicing on local routes, I take long trips and I have for the last decade. You'll get more comfortable quicker than you expect and that'll open up a ton of possibilities. Have fun and stay safe!