When your friends find out that you ride a motorcycle, some of them maybe horrified: “It’s so dangerous!” just remind them that life is dangerous, that driving a car is dangerous, that walking down a busy sidewalk is dangerous, and yet we somehow manage every day. Some of us spend years honing our motorcycle riding skills and don’t take unnecessary risks. It’s all about managing risk, and risk versus reward. The rewards of motorcycling are great, and (for some of us) more than worth the risk. So AMERiders decided to compile some Great Starting Tips to Know When Beginning to Ride a Motorcycle, so you have some knowledge when begin to hit the asphalt.
When our non-riding friends talk with us about motorcycling, some of them are fascinated. A few have even asked our advice about getting started on a motorcycle this is what we and a few other of our riding friends have come up with.
1. Try a Class
The first of our Great Starting Tips that we give is that you should always, always take a riding class before committing to motorcycling. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) has a great program, the Basic RiderCourse, which is available in most parts of the United States. Many locations have motorcycles available for loan or rental in coordination with the classes, so you can see if riding is for you before you invest a significant chunk of cash on a bike. In most states, you have to have taken a course before you get your license to ride one.
2. Hit the Dirt First
Another of our Great Starting Tips that some of us suggest is that If we had it to do all over again we might have started out on a dirt bike before we learned to ride on the street. The skills you can acquire riding on dirt will translate to better control on pavement, particularly when it comes to managing traction. Handling cornering on dirt definitely will keep you a from freaking out from a little bit of gravel on a city street. You may have a dirt bike school or a small dirt bike course near you that will help you learn this.
3. Scoot Before You Ride
And last but certainly not our least one of our Great Starting Tips is that even if you decide to start with a scooter, there’s a training course for you— and you should take it. Scooters generally have automatic transmissions and much simpler operation. However, jumping on and taking off without instruction and some basic understanding of how to handle yourself on two wheels is just asking for trouble. Not to sound like an advertisement for the MSF, but they do offer a half-day Scooter School for entry-level riders. An internet search for “scooter training” will help you find instruction in your area.
For those of us that skated when we were younger think about it if you decided to ice skate or skate on an inline skate, it was harder if you never roller skated before. If you knew how to handle yourself on wheels themselves then it was much easier to handle yourself on inlines. Or even the blade of an ice skate or at least some of us at AMERiders thought so.
If you spend the time and energy to learn to ride safely, your time on two wheels can be safer and more fun – much more reward than risk.We hope that these Great Starting Tips have helped you talk to some of your biking friends they will also be able to help you with some other Great Starting Tips as well.
~And as always….
~Live Free Ride Hard~
~AMERiders
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Let AMERiders give you some Great Starting Tips to Know When Beginning to Ride a Motorcycle.
And as always don’t forget to send us your stories, pictures, and events for posting to GALLERY.AMERIDERS @ GMAIL.COM and we will post them for you. The more people that know about your event the better and we are offering free advertising. We would also love to hear about your rides and love to see those bikes so send those stories and pictures.
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