OK, never owned one, but am interested. What should a newbie need to know about riding/ buying/ maintaining a motorcycle?

1. Take the Motorcycle Safety Training Class.

2. Take the Motorcycle Safety Training Class.

3. Take the Motorcycle Safety Training Class.

The class is a lot of fun and the knowledge you gain from it will answer most of your questions. If possible, take the class before buying the bike. It may change your opinion of what motorcycle you'll want.

Man, I miss my bike.

-Blast

+1 to Blast's first 3.

A motorcycle is not a step up from a bicycle to a car.

A motorcycle is like an F-16 and you don't know how to fly.
It'll hurt you or kill you really quickly. Or help the car drivers hurt or kill you.

Treat it like you would learning to fly the F-16 and you'll do fine. They really ARE trying to kill you out there! Your job is to prevent that and ride anyway.

(said by a 29 year rider who took the MSF Advanced course 4 times because it was fun and who hasn't yet been down on the street)

+100

And not just because I'm a licensed instructor. Everybody who rides should take a class even if they've been riding for 40 years.

+100 on that one.

Well...I'll add you to the list of people who must be on the road for the first time on a motorcycle.

We have this hill near me, and right near the top of the hill, the road turns, ever-so-slightly left.

See the map.

There's a slight curve there between Skyline Drive and Chestnut Ridge Road. People heading north, down the hill have to turn left.

In the last 3 months, we've had 12 motorcycle accidents on that curve. That's a LOT for that spot, and for all 12, it was a new rider who came into the turn just a little quick, got a tiny bit of gravel under the back wheel, and went off the bike. We land the helicopter right there at the scene. No fatalities, but some really banged up folks.

My point isn't to scare you off, it's just to let you know that I've seen a disproportionate number of motorcycle wrecks this year, and in 100% of the incidents, it's anew rider. Take the classes, start slow, and wear a helmet. The head injuries I've seen for the folks without helmets have been just horrible, the folks with helmets seem to do a lot better, in general.

Visit the ER, the cyclists able to talk will be the ones
that wore a helmet.

After spending over thirty years helping pick up the pieces, I have come to the conclusion that there are two types of motor riders; those that have been down, and those that are gonna go down.

Did I mention that I don't like scooters much???

The last time I was at the ME's office here, they were up to about 20 helmets....most of them motorcycle helmets...some of them not recognizable as such. They only started keeping them recently. Since the Hells Angels sued after they 'disposed' of a helmet that they wanted back for sentimental reasons.

And probably a lot of them were the really "cool" beanie types, that give less protection than I would want if I were falling off of a scooter...

I didn’t have a helmet on when a guy in a 79 impala pulled out in front of me while I was doing 65 on a country road. Lots of broken bones and a lot of skin scraped up. And a totaled motorcycle. I was very lucky; I could have been stuck in a wheel chair or dead. I think (I am reminded of it) the accident every single day, and it was a long time ago, 8/17/89 (4:20 pm) I always have Percocet & aspirin tablets in my pocket, All the time since the accident. Some days walking is somewhat painful (both knees were broke) and these really help.


Make sure you use a helmet, and take the course.

But you should understand there is a chance at some point you are going to go down, and it could be a hard drop.

If you are married, make sure your family is taken care of money wise and that you will be covered for doing risky things like riding a motorcycle. This should be worked out before the accident you may have, not after.

"...If you are married, make sure your family is taken care of money wise..."

Good point. My wife and I agree on just about everything, 'cept scooters. She loves them, I don't. We do not believe in life insurance. But she and her ex were scooter riders, with three young kids. So they took out lots of life insurance. With good reason. She also wore leathers, boots, and a top quality helmet on every ride. Lucky for me, they never had to use any of it...

The most mangled one was a helicopter pilots helmet. I didn't hear the story behind it but I was told by somebody who had that it was pretty gruesome.

Motorcycles are fun. That said, my only experience is a motorcycle safety class I took with my mom when she got a scooter. I took a spill at 20 MPH, I can't imagine (wrong I can imagine all too well) a spill at 60MPH. I personally would like a lot more time riding in secluded areas before going out anywhere I'm likely to meet traffic, or where anyone would pressure me (with their bumper) to ride faster then 30 MPH. Take the course. They provide motorcycles and helmets most places and require boots sturdy pants, gloves and eye protection. They start at the very basics, starting the motorcycle, shifting, braking and work up to how to negotiate curves, how to swerve and how to stop in a curve.

I plan on getting a bike when I get stateside and then riding it primarily on post (where all the speed limits are around 35 MPH) before I go anywhere on it. I think it would be a great way to reduce my gas consumption, and I think they're lots of fun. Much cooler then convertibles.

A friend lost it on a curve while riding a motorcycle. He went into a pulpwood plantation head-first at about 60mph. Knocked down almost a dozen trees. Busted him up pretty good too.

A redneck hunter and his two sons, out for deer don't ya know and attracted by the sound of a guy skydiving horizontally through a pulpwood plantation, found him. Drifting in and out of consciousness he saw the tobacco chewing rednecks leaning over him. He swears he heard the theme music from Deliverance.

Country boys treated him right. As one of them went to get the truck they lashed him to branches where he had fallen. They got him gently on top of the dog box and to the hospital quickly. Taking him in the truck saved my friend well over an hour because the site was on the other end of the county from the nearest ambulance. And in a remote spot down a lot of unmarked dirt roads.

The rescuers did a good job. Kept his head, neck and back straight by lashing them to two pieces of wood. ER doc said they did a good job and saved his life. He was bleeding internally and would have died in a short time without an operation.

His helmet was literally split in two. Without it there would have been no need for a rush to the hospital.

After three months he was back at work but took most of a year to resemble 'right'.

Lessons being that when things go wrong on a bike at speed they happen fast. Your the smallest and softest thing around. Helmets help a lot. If your lucky someone might find you and make sure the pieces all get to a hospital. So drive like your life depends on it.

Back when I was sixteen, bikes of any kind, vespa's for the MOD's and Kawaski's for the rocker's were the big scene. You had to be one or the other, or in my case neither.

That choice was based on the fashion at the time I disliked both but not the bikes. While I was still umming and errring, my circumstances changed. I lost three friends in three years to bike accidents, it's hard to have any trust in bikes after three funerals.

I'm wondering the same kinds of things, mainly due to gas prices. My big question, as someone who has ok hand-eye coordination and lousy use-the-force coordination is this:

Do they make them in automatic?

Yes, I'm serious. My biggest doubt is if I can manage the gears. I've driven stick in five cars, and had to buy three transmissions for people. The other two survived, but it doesn't fill me with confidence.

You can definitely get scooters in automatic, my mom's is an automatic. I don't know about motorcycles. I have my doubts, but I have no direct knowledge. But motorcycle transmissions are much simpler then cars, you don't have to figure out direction to shift, up shifting is pushing up with your foot down shifting is pushing down with the exception of first to neutral. First is below neutral. So it goes 1 N 2 3 4. But if you seriously have problems with it, get try a scooter with an automatic transmission.

Ironraven, go with a scooter, I believe they're just have a throttle, twist to go faster.

I've only one experience of these in Greece, it rained once, for about a minute, the first shower in months, I was in T-shirt and shorts the road was greasy, you get the picture. Luckily I could still walk back to the hotel. The scooter was toast. The bus coming the other way also doing it's impression of the "greased floor shuffle", made sure of the scooter.

So even when you do nothing wrong you can still get hurt.

I've a friend with an old British Leyland lorry, has no synchromech, if you don't change gear just right at the right revs, the stick snaps back and breaks your wrist. You learn really really quickly how to best change gear.

The lorry is still going, first and only gear box, close to 1M miles on the clock and still no one's managed to kill it yet. Up for a challenge ;-)

Back in the '70's Honda made an automatic. I think it was about 400cc so not a tiny bike. But it wasn't very popular.

If you have poor coordination I don't think a motorcycle is a good idea. The riding MUST be automatic because 99% of your brainpower needs to be on processing the threats around you. You're in combat. They ARE trying to kill you - whether they know it or not.

Well yeah, those are basically designed to hold earphones, mike, visor, and protect your noggin from bumping the walls in a rough flight, not skiddin' down the road at 70mph, or broadsiding a left turning car...

You can buy full motorcycles with CVT transmissions like in a Snowmobile that look like a Harley (I can't remember the name however). You can also buy scooters which are motorcycle sized like the Suzuki Burgman. The 600cc model is every bit capable. I've had one over 100mph.

"...I'm wondering the same kinds of things, mainly due to gas prices..."

I don't know about the little scooters, but back in one of the '70's gas crunches I considered a smaller (500cc or so) full sized murdercycle, only for saving money. I had an 18 mile commute to work, one way. I was looking at a used bike from a friend. I don't recall the actual numbers now, but after figuring out the mileage of the bike as opposed to my Toyota P/U, additional insurance cost, helmet cost, etc etc etc, I would have had to ride that thing to work every day, night and day, rain or shine, eight months of the year for something like five years before I started to break even. Assuming that I lived that long...

"...I've had one over 100mph..."

If you do that often, can I have your knives???

Compared to all but the most efficient modern cars, motorcycles still win out on efficiency.

Most new cars are guzzlers anyhow. I really gets me worked up when I see a Chevy commercial bragging about how many of their cars get 30+ MPG. My 91 Mazda Protege got 41mpg until the day I sold it with almost 300,000km on the odometer. There aren't many cars you can buy today new which are that good on gas and aren't a hybrid.

Neither of my bikes are that good on gas but are close despite one of them being a sport bike and the other being 25 years old.

Scooters are super efficient. A small (50cc or smaller) scooter in good condition being ridden normally (and not flat out all the time, everywhere) could get 100 mpg. I've heard estimates of about 85mpg from 'real world' driving from people I know who commute on them.

We call them donorcycles cuz they provide us with a constant harvest of young, healthy livers and lungs and things. Bones and skin, not so much. Be sure to fill out the organ donor form and have it posted prominently in your wallet. Ideally, we would request a chest tattoo, but some of the organ banks disqualify the tattooed for fear of blood borne illness. And on behalf of all the organ recipients out there, a warm and (transplanted) heart-felt thanks-

I've been thinking of getting one of these for my commute. What do you guys think?
MP3 500

Derbi came out with a very similar model a few years ago. I had a chance to ride one. If you've never ridden it would be fine. If you've ridden before, it would be awkward at first because of the way it handles. The bike leans but the front wheels stay flat on the ground.

If it's like the Derbi, below a certain speed the wheels lock somewhat to hold you upright so you don't need to put your feet down. Made me feel very uncomfortable.

The biggest concern I had was that one of the things which holds a bike steady in the corners is the gyroscopic enertia of the front wheel being pushed into the corner...which this scooter there is none of that as they don't lean. That also puts all the turning force lateral on the tire which could compromise traction.

I've see hundreds over here, it's the commute bike of the moment, strangely one of it's selling point is it's stability. Never riden and have no intention of trying but there are about 20 in our car park at the moment I'll ask one of the owners their opinion.

Right on, Blast. I've been riding for 36 years and tumbled to the MSF safety courses early on. I take the Experienced Rider Course every 3-4 years and always walk away feeling that it is time well spent. There is inevitably some skill learned or reinforced that saves me in some way in scary situations.

My oldest son rides and the first thing he did was take the MSF course. Same with my wife. I recommend the MSF courses highly and believe every rider should take them regularly.

An additional benefit is that I enjoy riding even more due to an increased confidence level.

Blast, what did you ride and why did you give it up?

My aged stable:
1976 BMW 750 R75/6
1973 BSA 500 B50MX
1974 Honda 250 Elsinore

- Andy

For that high price, I'd get a kawasaki KLR 650.

Yep, it is a wee bit pricey...but you must admit that it sure is cool lookin'

Cool, but for some reason the front end reminds me of Robin Williams's face...

-Blast

Big Toe,

Mainly dirt bikes, then finally a 1998 Yamaha 1100 Virago Special Edition. Oh, she was sweet! Beautiful as the Milky Way, powerful as a cheetah (yes, you can pop a wheelie on a shaft-drive bike!) and handed like a drunken cow. DW took the MSF class with me so as to be a better passenger. We spent many hours together riding the back roads of Texas. *sigh*

Like most guys, I gave her up after getting our first kid. DW is a stay at home mom, so we couldn't afford for me to get incapacitated.

Yep, I lead a much safer life now.

-Blast

Awesome bike for the money. I think about buying one every year...but can't justify 3 motorcycles ATM.

Ditto to what blast says, in spades...

But keep in mind that there is a huge learning curve with bikes when it comes to operation. I'm not just talking about wet roads, or avoiding cars either.

I'm talking about developing a hyper defensive driving mindset, as well as being able to see hazards that you would have never even thought of in a car.
Like the pea gravel in the center of almost every intersection and in emergency lanes that can take you down faster than a pole axed moose. And uneven pavement that can cause the front forks to wobble. Stuff like that. These things can only be gained from experience and time on the road.

And please, please, please ALWAYS wear safety gear and insist that any passenger do the same. Helmet, GLOVES, clothing and footware. ALL the time!!

Why do I say this? Because the accident that put me in intensive care for 2 weeks in the early 90's happened when I was just "running to the store" 2 miles away. So what did I do? I figured I didn't need to donn all the gear as it was right up at the corner.. Nuff said..

And for Heaven's sake, don't run out and buy an 1800 CC monster, or a rice rocket that can go 0 to 170mph in the blink of an eye. You'll just wind up in the ER, or the funeral home.

Instead, get a bike that you can handle and that you can outgrow as your experience grows. ( ask your motorcycle class instructors opinion, and other experienced riders.)