Do/Don't List for a Newb
 

My GF rides with me quite often and last year she took the MSF course. So, for Christmas I picked up a 2008 Ninja 250 for her which means come spring she is going to be riding. Want to put together a "10 Commandments" of motorcycle riding for her and would like everyone's input. 1) Wear your gear ALL the time 2) Ride within your ability 3) Make sure a cager sees you and is not looking thru you etc....

Thanks

Pay attention at all times.

My nasty wreck a few years back could have been avoided if I had paid attention.
Granted, people are wrong, but even if the lady was barreling toward me TRYING to hit me, I may have avoided it if my mind hadn't been elsewhere.

If it's too hot for gear, it's too hot to ride

If you're angry, sad, distracted, preoccupied with work, etc... might not be a good time to ride

I'd add not to use your roads as a racetrack. that's what trackdays are for. Never ride all out on public roads.

Stunts on public roads are for squids.

Those last two prolly dont apply to your lady tho.

Mine's gettin a ninja two fiddy soon too :-D

I don't have a list, but you can point her to www.RockTheGear.org Let her read Brittany Morrow's story. That will make her a believer in ATGATT.

Let her lead, so she's not struggling to keep up, or watching you instead of the road.

Avoid group rides until she is very comfortable and the reactions start to be natural.

Ride in one tire track or the other, not between them where the sand and marbles are.

Check your mirrors often to be aware of what the cars around you are doing.

Always leave an escape route...i.e. don't ride in the tire track next to a cage.

Stay out of blind spots...including your riding partner's. If you can't see their helmet faceshield in their mirror, they can't see you.

When approaching a red light or stop sign, check your mirrors to make sure the vehicle behind you is stopping too. Same goes for an occupied crosswalk.

When a car is approaching in the opposite direction at an intersection, be aware that they may not "see" you...and turn left in your path.

My wife, who started riding 5 years ago at 54 years old, has found several books that have taught her plenty. She still reads them, and goes over what she's read for my input (I've got over 180,000 miles in 28 years of motorcycle ownership).

Her favorite is "Sport Riding Techniques" by Nick Ienatsch. It's easier reading than Kieth Code, but she reads his books as well.

1) ATGATT

2) Assume the cagers are trying to kill you.

3) Pay attention to the road. (both the active and passive hazards)

4) If you are feeling uncomfortable for any reason, take a break, then when ready get back on the road. (don't ride when not ready either mentally - physically)

5) Practice, Practice, Practice. It will make you a better rider, especially with expert teaching, never assume you know best. (even though I had been riding for 15 years, when I took the MSF course I learned things, and recognized some things I disagreed with but still took them at face value)

Excellent tip by RCVTR!

My wrists and shoulders were sooo sore while my wife was learning, and we were just riding around town with her leading on familiar streets. The rewards were worth it though. She rides canyons with me now and loves it.

thanks - the other thing I would add to that is to teach her to follow at a distance, so that she can see what's ahead.

She should be in no way distracted by what you are doing. Her reactions are going to be slow and jerky - she needs as much time to process and react calmly as possible.

New riders are prone to panic and target lock.

All good points but you guys forgot "Wheelie for Safety".....lol ;)

Lots of good feedback. Yeah, keep her in front and make sure she knows where she is going and has a tankbag with map pocket. You can help ward off the cagers around her. This takes a little attitude but - well - you know.

Relax and be one with the bike. It is an extension of you and you are an extension of it.

Probably the most obvious

Never text when you're riding your bike:)

Actually, my number one rule is

Never ever ever ever assume that you are seen by other drivers. Even when you make eye contact with them.

Speaking of texting, go to YouTube and enter "This is how we roll in India" for an example of how to text while reclining on the seat of your moving motorcycle. 51 second video. It's a crack-up.:rotf:

After your girlfriend watches the video make sure you tell her "Don't ever do that".

A lot of the attention and or mood related concepts roll up nicely into the phrase:

"When you are riding, all you are doing is riding."

In a car you can think about work, mess with the radio, drink your coffee, etc. etc. but on a bike you really need to put all of your attention on the act of riding.

Also - Make sure she knows that she will drop her bike at some point, and that it happens to just about everyone eventually. Not something to get to upset, or give up over. (Just try to make sure when it does eventually happen, it happens with your own bike and not someone elses :eek:)

can't remember which forum I caught this on but it was rich. He is knee-down in the corner and she is upright (relative to the bike) hands off and texting. I laughed my ass off.

I am not sure how to make this in a rule format, but the best riders are also the best students of the craft. They read, practice, commnicate with other riders, follow, watch closely, and apply what they have learned. So as a rule I guess it would be to understand that you never are done being a student.

+1 on Bytes advice "Never ever assume that you are seen by other drivers. Even when you make eye contact with them"
If you see the front wheel on any vehicle start to move, they're going, they might be looking right at you, but they do not see you so.. take the course, pratice the emergency avoidance manuvers, have fun and stay safe.

I go by the rule of the fighter pilot gettin' down into the sticks with the "full situational awareness" theory. Be aware of all of your surroundings at all times and consider all possibilities/scenarios.
I also have always played by the "$10 rule;" where by your attention is equal to "$10" and where and how much you spend on variables that can influence the "expense of your attention [$10]" - where by the more you spend "to quickly" say - the closer your pushing yourself to your "expense limit" and focusing on to many things (The dog that 'might' run into the road, the seven year old playing with his friends in the yard your passing by and one of 'em may run into the road to get the ball their playing with - the approaching intersection - all of this and more at the same time.), or letting to many variables influence your riding safely before actually bringing the bike to a safe stop if need be. (Good grief that's an awful run on sentence - whatever. :P ) So say the variable of the dog taking off and running into the road might be worth $2.50-$3.00 of your focus - a quarter to nearly a third of your attention - the dog - you don't know him/her but it's untrustworthy basically, and if that in combination with one of the kids across the other side of the street from the dog runs into the street for the basketball their playing with - if both of those happen at the same time, you'd maybe say the threat level of both of those things happening at the same time is worth $5.00-$7.00 of your attention span. You've perhaps approached 50-70% of your attention span. Are you/whoever your teaching this theory aware of riding within their performance capabilities etc. [like others have noted above] and how will that influence the student rider's judgment on making a skilled and as precise attention expense decision - will they have made the proper choices responsibly and safely? Or would such conditions be improper for the student rider to be exposed to [etc.] and would the "$10 attention span" be potentially compromised and leave liability open for property damage or personal injury etc.?
So - this is just my input on how I taught myself how to ride back when I was 18 on my '84 Honda 650sc Nighthawk in the summer of '94 after reading some archaic bike riding books from the local library (One of 'em even reviewed how to pull a wheelie over rocks in the road – introductory level reading is what it was I think – lol – ridiculous. It was made in the late 70's or something.).
I gotta cruz’ I got mass homework in front of me.


-Matt

All good points. The most important one, for me at least, is: Look where you want to go. I'd bold that and put it in capitals but I don't like to shout. Look into the corner rather than the guardrail. Look beside the pothole rather than at it. Look at the clean pavement and not the sand. Etc.

+1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000................

I would echo this thought. And add take the MSF advanced rider course early spring, and sign up for a track-based class or one of the newer 'advanced rider courses' that are popping up and a hybrid between track and street skills.

When around other traffic, I think like I am playing the old video game "Frogger". Every thing is trying to kill you. If I am cruising on the highway, I stay away from the "packs" of cars that form. I also tend to ride in the left tire track to be in the drivers direct view.

Man, we could go on forever. #1 rule HAVE FUN!

Like Comedo said, "Look at the clean pavement and not the sand." I couldn't agree with that more. While I was still learning how to ride throughout my neighborhood before I had my license one evening - it was about sunset and the road started to turn to the west and I got "visor glare" from the sun. I totally missed the new patch of ashfault that was laid down and the sand that covered up the edges - literally saw it some just as I started to go into it. I was doing about 17-20mph perhaps and I knew something bad was just about to happen - the front wheel made it through, but the back end totally slid and then locked up/regained traction within about a foot or so - total learning experience then about visor glare and watching out for new patches of road that had sand applied over the tar patches.
I also wanted to mention two other things. One of which was learning where the center of gravity was on the bike. Just because this Nighthawk I had purchased had been dropped before, I laid it down on its side - on purpose in the driveway and then lifted it back up (Don't really recommend doing this always as the gasoline spill factor and mess up your back factor... ...but...). This was really helpful for me to do once or twice before I went out for a test drive. Manhandling 445lbs was totally new to me - learning FOR REAL and FIRST HAND in a controlled environment exactly where that center of gravity was totally helped me understand the balance of what I was working with.
The next point that has popped into my head was: When coming to intersections - DO NOT stop in the areas where there is oil that has collected from other vehicles engines dripping down onto the road - same thing applies when parking your ride in a parking lot - keep your tires out of the oil slicks - don't park in 'em - don't ride over them, etc..
I guess I'll throw this one in as well if I can: It has to do with braking and showing off that your "there" to the driver behind you. It's something that is controlled and it is an attention focusing sort of maneuver, but it can increase you' being visible to someone behind you who may not be paying attention when slowing down or coming to a stop. Sometimes, when it crosses my mind - when I'm able to slow down slowly I'll apply the brake gently, and drift from one third of the lane I'm in to the other and maybe back. So instead of being seen as just a "brake light turning on" it's instead a brake light that is more visible as a "side to side" motion brake light.
I guess anything else I could come up with that may have been reviewed already is going over the safety checks of the bike/vehicle before handing over the keys - stuff is torqued down right, the clutch cable is in good condition (I still get sick thinking of that video one of you put up with the stunt rider who wasn't wearing a helmet on YouTube and his clutch failed or what have you. :( ). Warped brake disks, worn pads, water in the brake fluid, poor wheel bearings - poor steering stem bearings... ...Misaligned chain - there's a good one - that will jack someone’s learning curve right out of the water - check on that before you guys go out!
…Make damn certain you aren’t in someone’s blind spot. If you are cornered to some extent somehow, perhaps you’ll get lucky and have some legitimate eye contact with the/a driver who really sees you in their side mirrors. But as usual, always assume they don’t. …Don’t follow any vehicle to closely. Yes be aware of your vehicles performance characteristics – and be aware of others as well (Semi’ trucks, dump trucks, motor homes, other sport bike riders.) Look out for show offs at the stop lights trying to race you.
I’m sure I can come up with a few more things that will cross my mind. ...Oh - I know - have the suspension setup properly - preferably toward the softer side, ya? ...And make certain the tires are properly filled with air. ...Oh - and if anything at all... ....at a bare minimum if for God's sake she doens't have a real riding jacket - get some really good riding gloves - period! The first thing you put down when you go down theoretically are your hands to protect yourself!

-Matt