Everyone has a different experience when they learn how to ride. Some of us started very young. Others only get their first experience, later in life. Learning how to ride is not like driving a car, you don’t get to have someone sitting beside you. But you would be fortunate if you had a good teacher, rather than learning everything on your own. Somehow it isn’t cool to say you don’t know how to ride, and many people just decide to fake it until they make it. But some don’t get that far. Here are some of the most common mistakes of new riders.
- No Safety Equipment: Many people that wear full equipment, learned the hard way why that equipment is necessary. Coming off your bike, even at slow speeds is going to cost you some flesh. Many people feel they only need a helmet. But those people should spend some time watching a nurse pick sand and gravel out of someone’s road rash and get a good look at the faces they make while it’s happening. You can find motorcycle jackets at Wheels Motorcycles.
- Bike’s Too Big: The appeal of a big bike is obvious, but big bikes require respect and a more delicate touch. If you start out with a big bike, you aren’t going to look cool anyways. You are going to look like you have no idea what you are doing. The best thing to do is get something easy, a small displacement dual purpose bike, and get comfortable with how bikes work. Then work your way up to bigger bikes.
- Poor Use of the Clutch: On a bike you have four main controls, brakes, gears, clutch, and throttle, of these four the one that seems the most difficult is the clutch. A sure sign of a newbie is the indelicate use of the clutch, over revving, dropping the clutch hard, or grabbing the clutch while the throttle is open.
- Stopping Distance: New riders often have no idea of their stopping distance. If they are used to cars, they often get a big surprise when they find out that two skinny wheels don’t stop like four fat ones. The worst time to discover your stopping distance is when you are coming up on traffic and you are going too fast. Adding a passenger increases the stopping distance too.
- Bad cornering: When you get good at riding, you don’t even think about cornering. It just happens like you bike responds to your will. But newbies need to figure it out. The biggest mistake new riders do is looking at what they are trying to avoid instead of looking to where they need to go. Another error is entering corners too quickly. Make Sure you have the right license and insurance too
If you know someone who is getting into riding, do everyone a favour and spend a little time helping them get comfortable on the road. It will be better for all of us if you do.
