Tips for new Riders from somone whos been riding roadbike since 1996
For those of you who have just bought your first bike and its the Ninja 300, well done, you have picked a very nice bike to start off your motorcycle addiction with
I started riding motorcycles , a dirt bike when i was 7 years old on my grandfathers farm about 31 years ago and rode assorted dirt bikes many for years. I bought my first road bike in about 1996, a Honda CBR 250RR, then a VFR800 and had the VFR800 as well as a BMWK1200RS together for a number of years and traded them both a BMW K1200LTSE had it for a number of years as well and picked up my current ride a Suzuki GSX250F Across about April 2012 . I have also rode my VFR800 17,922 kilometres around Australia via highway number one in 2001, awesome trip it was. I have accumulated well over 250,000 kilometres in 17 years riding road bikes so i have seen and experienced a lot and i think i have a reasonable good idea on what im talking about when it comes to riding on the street.
in no set order here's some tips for you new to riding
ride within your limits. this means use what’s between your ears before you use your right wrist.in other words, don’t get full of adrenaline and think your Wayne Gardner or Mick Doohan when your not.
Ride to the conditions of road. If is pouring down rain, best thing to do is find somewhere out of the rain like an under cover car park at a shopping centre and let the rain hammer down for at least half an hour before getting out and riding on the street again. the reason for this is the rain mixes with the oil left on the road left my the cars and its like riding on snot very slippery.
when stopping use both front and rear brake at same time for shorter stopping distance.however, there is some exceptions to the rule. when im riding at less then say 20 or 30 kmph i use the rear brake only like if i was in a car park or in slow moving traffic. reason being i don’t want to lock the front brake up and lose balance and drop the bike.
buy a compact air horn like one from Stebel and fit it to your ride, the volume of it will one day save your life when some moron cage driver decided to change lane and not look before changing lanes
http://www.stebel.it/stebel2012/products.asp?IDserie=6&uso=1&tipologia=auto
invest in some half decent riding gear. if you have the money to buy a motorcycle worth a few grand get some gear so when you do come off and wind up in hospital the nurses don’t have to scrub you down with scrubbing brushes to remove the tar/bitumen from your skin and you don’t have to scream in pain.
no need to race out and buy million dollars worth of leather racing suit.leather was great about 40 years ago when there as nothing else, but thankfully times have changed and there’s alternative products that weigh less, cost less and your not married to maintenance wise.yes i have owned a full leather race suit before today i had it for 12 years, i had a mars leathers suit
http://www.marsleathers.com.au/detail.php?nod=1507
![]()
the suit on the right is the one i had. one thing no body ever tells you about leather is when it gets wet, it absorbs the water and gets very heavy and takes ages to dry. and if you don’t maintain the leather with something like "dubbon" your suit will rot.
and contrary to popular belief you can ride with leathers in 45 degree Celsius and hotter weather if needed.
one of the alternatives to leathers is dragign jeans and jacket
http://www.dragginjeans.net/
i have had mine now for 17 years and they are still going strong.probably due to the fact i think i have only washed them a handful of times and the grease,oil,dirt stains make them waterproof in the rain, lol.
they are kevlar reinforced denim and if you wish you can put extra body protection under them as well.
remember always out your gear on everytime you ride even if your going a few blocks to the shops to get supplies.
i also suggest you look at RHOK Kevlar Jeans also http://www.rhok.com.au/jeans.htm
check these riding jeans out from one of our site vendors - http://www.kawasakininja300.com/forum/62-riders-discount/46985-lean-angle-jeans.html
spend some time doing a motorcycle course, talk to your local motorcycle dealer and see if there’s anyone in your area that does them and go and spend a few hundred bucks on yourself and do it.better off doing it and learning how to ride well, then wind up as a statistic and be dead and buried and never see your wife, kids, family, friends any more.
if there is no courses near by,don’t panic. get two books, they are called
twist of the wrist (link to book)
and
twist of the wrist part 2 (link to book)
the supplementary DVDs for the books, these DVDs *DO NOT* replace the books (link to both as a set)
both are written by kieth code.get them and study them, they were designed for a race track, but the knowledge in them is absolutely 100% relevant to street riding as well and if you think its not, then your kidding yourself.when i got my cbr250rr in 1996 where i lived in outback Australia the closest place to get a course was over 1000kilometers away so i ordered these 2 books from a local book shop and went to a abandoned car park every weekend and trained myself. it didn’t take long and soon i had a number of other riders turn up and we all worked together to improve our skills and my books did the rounds.i still have the books infact my wife is still reading them since getting her licence only a few weeks ago and her own motorcycle as well.
also invest in some half decent gloves to cover your hands. skins doesn’t last long while skating along tar and your hands are a valuable asset to look after.don’t skimp on a helmet either. get what ever you can afford.i have in the past bought a Suomy helmet in "gambler" paint theme and payed over $600 for it. worth every cent. it was the lightest and most comfortable helmet i have ever bought.now days im on a budget and i buy "kbc" helmets.
also make sure you replace your helmet every 4 years no matter what and replace it if your in an accident.when replacing the helmet, take the old one and cut it in half with a 9 inch angle grinder or similar.don’t cut the straps off it and put it in the bin, some moron will get it from the rubbish rip recycle shop and wear it on the street i guarantee it, then kill them self and then we will read in the news about another motorcycle rider killed. the governments of the world don’t want us here now so lets not give them any more ammunition to try and outlaw/ban us.
invest in some decent riding boots, i love Sidi boots
http://www.sidisport.com/eng/splash.php?macro=2&id=2
my first pair of boots lasted me about 12 years and even were on my feet when i went round australia on them, 2nd set lasted about 5 years.cant complain, very comfortable and durable boots.
you want something decent on your foot so when you fall off your foot has a god chance of surviving the fall as well as your ankle. plus you don’t want to have shoe laces getting caught in your chain or your foot peg. its a bit hard to put your foot down if the laces are caught and you will look like a tool when your laying on the side with your bike on your leg crushing you while your in pain with a hot engine as well and no one around to help you.
and when out riding with your mates, don’t think your mick doohan and race on the streets, this is yet another way the rest of the motorcycle riders get a bad rep from morons like you who do this.you want to race, goto a race track, that’s what they are for.when your riding too fast and your not experienced enough to know what your doing , that’s when accidents or death occurs, its that simple.learn to control yourself, its self discipline at its simplest.
*Riding With Pillion*
if your going to take a pillion passenger with you, don’t just throw them on the bike and ride like mick doohan either.have a talk to the pillion and explain to them some basic stuff like don’t hold on to my shoulders and twist and turn cos im the one who has the handlebars and you do that and we are going to crash, we need to work together on this bike or we will be dead.its that simple.if your scared tap me on the left shoulder and i will stop for you.just simple stuff like that. they need to be aware that riding is fun but there’s risks with it as well and we don’t have the protection of a steel cage around us when we crash and it hurts when we do.Also make sure you kit your pillion passenger out with decent riding gear as well so they wont be real happy when they have to scrub gravel/tar/dirt from their arms/legs/backside.
tell the pillion to hold on to your hips if possible, but not your shoulders, if he/she moves your shoulders, your arms, move and so does the handlebars and your history.
also, tell the pillion to only get on/off the bike when the rider tells him/her to, if you don’t and your not ready for it you will dump the bike.
remember, a pillion will magnify any of your bad riding habits like too heavy on the throttle/brake & can cause you to bang helmets or passenger to slide forward into you and jam you against the fuel tank
don’t be afraid to spend some money on a decent tool kit and service manual and fix the bike rather then be a visacard biker and take the bike and your visacard to the local mechanic every-time you need something fixed.
also make your you check your tire pressures once a week as well.i learnt years ago on my 1996 model cbr250rr to keep front tyre at 38 psi and rear at 42 psi have done it on every road bike i have ever owned/ridden and it works a treat.if tyre pressure is to low it wont go around a corner with out you fighting it and it follows the contours of the road and is not a fun riding experience at all.experiment a little and see what works best for you.
i think i have covered the basics, but most importantly have fun and ride*RESPONSIBLY* when riding don’t be a moron and give all motorcycle riders a bad name just because you are a tool, the nurses and doctors at your local hospital don’t enjoy scrubbing you down and fixing you up after your accident cos you were too stupid to ride with decent gear on in the first place.
and most importantly if your new to riding motorcycles and this is your first, find some where to practice riding in a safe area be it a a car park where no one is or a new housing estate with no body living there. practice, practice, practise, there’s no substitute for it, and before you go for a ride, change the way you think. if you think that no one can see you , your invisible and everyone is out to kill you, then your going to last a lot longer then some moron with more money then brains who only knows how to turn the throttle round and use it as a on/off switch, remember the throttle is proportional, not just off and 100% on.
also remember, what you look at is were your going to go, look at an object too long and you will hit it for sure,its target fixation.look where you want to go and your body/bike will do the rest
when you stop at traffic lights/intersections, don’t stop on the oil patch left by cars, move over to the left/right and put your motorcycle tyres where the car tyres go.keeps oil and crud off your tyres so you don’t slide down the road.
make sure you go over your bike at least once a week and check oil/fluid levels, and all lights work and horn. best idea is to check all lights/horn work before riding away as soon as you get on everytime, a good habit to get in to.
There is a great video that was released in Australia in about 1998 that has Aussie motorcycle legend Wayne Gardner in it produced for new/rookie riders and is a great source of information
(if above video fails, use the below links)
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/ro...005/video/Introduction_with_Wayne_Gardner.flv
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2005/video/Bike_Control_Skills.flv
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/ro...005/video/Mental_Skills_to_Recognise_Harm.flv
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2005/video/Self_Control_Skills.flv
there is a great PDF booklet that goes with this video, grab it here
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2005/pdf/Ride_on_booklet.pdf
This video link is a training video about off road adventure riding, a lot of the techniques displayed can be applied to street riding, and it also shows the correct way to pick up any motorcycle off the ground without hurting yourself
If your going to buy a motorcycle make sure it has ABS
Honda Fireblade ABS vs Non-ABS
ABS Info on motorcycles
ditch the stock horn for a compact airhorn
http://www.kawasakininja300.com/for...tebel-nautilus-compact-airhorn.html#post16138
Another good idea is to keep some spare fuses under your seat as well, buy an assortment pack from a super cheap auto store or similar.
Here is a very good book from USA - Motorcycle Safety Foundation a very good free book for beginners.(infact if you turn to page 20 it says -Always apply both the front and the rear brakes at the same time.
More Books
Proficient Motorcycling and More Proficient Motorcycling and Street Strategies - A Survival guide for Motorcyclists by David L. Hough
Total Control: High-Performance Street Riding Techniques by Lee Parks
How to Ride a Motorcycle by Pat Hahn
Sport Riding Techniques by Nick Ienatsch
Smooth Riding the Pridmore Way by Reg Pridmore
Performance Riding Techniques - The moto GP Manual by Andy Ibbot
The total motorcycle Manual - 291 skills you need : by Mark Lindemann
Other interesting reads
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig
Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road by Neil Peart
Perfect Vehicle: What It Is about Motorcycles by Melissa Holbrook Pierson
Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon
Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across the World by Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman
Long Way Down: John O'Groats to Cape Town by Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman
Motorcycle Camping Made Easy by Bob Woofter
Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon isn't moto-related at all, but it suits the vagabond spirit.
Blood, Sweat and 2nd Gear: More Medicine For Motorcyclists by flash gordon, m.d. covers medical, health, and emergency tips for motorcyclists.
And another good book from USA - Department of Motor Vehicles , California (click for pdf)
Found a web site in Victoria, Australia for rookie riders - http://www.spokes.com.au
Australian Design Rules for Motorcycles - http://www.mraqld.org/index.php/aust-design-rules-adr.html
The good gear guide - Australian Department of Infrastructure & Transport
**IF your a rider in Queensland, Australia, then this motorcycle web site will interest you http://www.motorcyclesafety.qld.gov.au/ ** and this PDF will as well
a great web site in New Zealand about motorcycle safety - http://www.rideforever.co.nz/
some great advise/info on this USA site http://www.msgroup.org/articles.aspx
The essential rider guide for gear from the U.K click here
Iron Butt Association tips for riding long distances , please click here
If you live in Australia and are looking for a list of LAMS approved bikes and photos of them (Learner Approved Motorcycle Scheme) then click here
hope this might help a few of you and maybe even save a life or two , feel free to copy/paste this to what ever forum you want, just include a link back to this so i might get some credit for my work.thanks
a great skill to have is clutchless shifting & learning how to slip the clutch to keep the bike moving at very slow speeds with out putting your feet down
http://www.kawasakininja300.com/for...hless-upshift-downshift-stock-300-se-abs.html
also just for kicks, watch this Honda safety video form the 1960's
If you find this post useful , please click the "thanks" button in the bottom right corner
I started riding motorcycles , a dirt bike when i was 7 years old on my grandfathers farm about 31 years ago and rode assorted dirt bikes many for years. I bought my first road bike in about 1996, a Honda CBR 250RR, then a VFR800 and had the VFR800 as well as a BMWK1200RS together for a number of years and traded them both a BMW K1200LTSE had it for a number of years as well and picked up my current ride a Suzuki GSX250F Across about April 2012 . I have also rode my VFR800 17,922 kilometres around Australia via highway number one in 2001, awesome trip it was. I have accumulated well over 250,000 kilometres in 17 years riding road bikes so i have seen and experienced a lot and i think i have a reasonable good idea on what im talking about when it comes to riding on the street.
in no set order here's some tips for you new to riding
ride within your limits. this means use what’s between your ears before you use your right wrist.in other words, don’t get full of adrenaline and think your Wayne Gardner or Mick Doohan when your not.
Ride to the conditions of road. If is pouring down rain, best thing to do is find somewhere out of the rain like an under cover car park at a shopping centre and let the rain hammer down for at least half an hour before getting out and riding on the street again. the reason for this is the rain mixes with the oil left on the road left my the cars and its like riding on snot very slippery.
when stopping use both front and rear brake at same time for shorter stopping distance.however, there is some exceptions to the rule. when im riding at less then say 20 or 30 kmph i use the rear brake only like if i was in a car park or in slow moving traffic. reason being i don’t want to lock the front brake up and lose balance and drop the bike.
buy a compact air horn like one from Stebel and fit it to your ride, the volume of it will one day save your life when some moron cage driver decided to change lane and not look before changing lanes
http://www.stebel.it/stebel2012/products.asp?IDserie=6&uso=1&tipologia=auto
invest in some half decent riding gear. if you have the money to buy a motorcycle worth a few grand get some gear so when you do come off and wind up in hospital the nurses don’t have to scrub you down with scrubbing brushes to remove the tar/bitumen from your skin and you don’t have to scream in pain.
no need to race out and buy million dollars worth of leather racing suit.leather was great about 40 years ago when there as nothing else, but thankfully times have changed and there’s alternative products that weigh less, cost less and your not married to maintenance wise.yes i have owned a full leather race suit before today i had it for 12 years, i had a mars leathers suit
http://www.marsleathers.com.au/detail.php?nod=1507
the suit on the right is the one i had. one thing no body ever tells you about leather is when it gets wet, it absorbs the water and gets very heavy and takes ages to dry. and if you don’t maintain the leather with something like "dubbon" your suit will rot.
and contrary to popular belief you can ride with leathers in 45 degree Celsius and hotter weather if needed.
one of the alternatives to leathers is dragign jeans and jacket
http://www.dragginjeans.net/
i have had mine now for 17 years and they are still going strong.probably due to the fact i think i have only washed them a handful of times and the grease,oil,dirt stains make them waterproof in the rain, lol.
they are kevlar reinforced denim and if you wish you can put extra body protection under them as well.
remember always out your gear on everytime you ride even if your going a few blocks to the shops to get supplies.
i also suggest you look at RHOK Kevlar Jeans also http://www.rhok.com.au/jeans.htm
check these riding jeans out from one of our site vendors - http://www.kawasakininja300.com/forum/62-riders-discount/46985-lean-angle-jeans.html
spend some time doing a motorcycle course, talk to your local motorcycle dealer and see if there’s anyone in your area that does them and go and spend a few hundred bucks on yourself and do it.better off doing it and learning how to ride well, then wind up as a statistic and be dead and buried and never see your wife, kids, family, friends any more.
if there is no courses near by,don’t panic. get two books, they are called
twist of the wrist (link to book)
and
twist of the wrist part 2 (link to book)
the supplementary DVDs for the books, these DVDs *DO NOT* replace the books (link to both as a set)
both are written by kieth code.get them and study them, they were designed for a race track, but the knowledge in them is absolutely 100% relevant to street riding as well and if you think its not, then your kidding yourself.when i got my cbr250rr in 1996 where i lived in outback Australia the closest place to get a course was over 1000kilometers away so i ordered these 2 books from a local book shop and went to a abandoned car park every weekend and trained myself. it didn’t take long and soon i had a number of other riders turn up and we all worked together to improve our skills and my books did the rounds.i still have the books infact my wife is still reading them since getting her licence only a few weeks ago and her own motorcycle as well.
also invest in some half decent gloves to cover your hands. skins doesn’t last long while skating along tar and your hands are a valuable asset to look after.don’t skimp on a helmet either. get what ever you can afford.i have in the past bought a Suomy helmet in "gambler" paint theme and payed over $600 for it. worth every cent. it was the lightest and most comfortable helmet i have ever bought.now days im on a budget and i buy "kbc" helmets.
also make sure you replace your helmet every 4 years no matter what and replace it if your in an accident.when replacing the helmet, take the old one and cut it in half with a 9 inch angle grinder or similar.don’t cut the straps off it and put it in the bin, some moron will get it from the rubbish rip recycle shop and wear it on the street i guarantee it, then kill them self and then we will read in the news about another motorcycle rider killed. the governments of the world don’t want us here now so lets not give them any more ammunition to try and outlaw/ban us.
invest in some decent riding boots, i love Sidi boots
http://www.sidisport.com/eng/splash.php?macro=2&id=2
my first pair of boots lasted me about 12 years and even were on my feet when i went round australia on them, 2nd set lasted about 5 years.cant complain, very comfortable and durable boots.
you want something decent on your foot so when you fall off your foot has a god chance of surviving the fall as well as your ankle. plus you don’t want to have shoe laces getting caught in your chain or your foot peg. its a bit hard to put your foot down if the laces are caught and you will look like a tool when your laying on the side with your bike on your leg crushing you while your in pain with a hot engine as well and no one around to help you.
and when out riding with your mates, don’t think your mick doohan and race on the streets, this is yet another way the rest of the motorcycle riders get a bad rep from morons like you who do this.you want to race, goto a race track, that’s what they are for.when your riding too fast and your not experienced enough to know what your doing , that’s when accidents or death occurs, its that simple.learn to control yourself, its self discipline at its simplest.
*Riding With Pillion*
if your going to take a pillion passenger with you, don’t just throw them on the bike and ride like mick doohan either.have a talk to the pillion and explain to them some basic stuff like don’t hold on to my shoulders and twist and turn cos im the one who has the handlebars and you do that and we are going to crash, we need to work together on this bike or we will be dead.its that simple.if your scared tap me on the left shoulder and i will stop for you.just simple stuff like that. they need to be aware that riding is fun but there’s risks with it as well and we don’t have the protection of a steel cage around us when we crash and it hurts when we do.Also make sure you kit your pillion passenger out with decent riding gear as well so they wont be real happy when they have to scrub gravel/tar/dirt from their arms/legs/backside.
tell the pillion to hold on to your hips if possible, but not your shoulders, if he/she moves your shoulders, your arms, move and so does the handlebars and your history.
also, tell the pillion to only get on/off the bike when the rider tells him/her to, if you don’t and your not ready for it you will dump the bike.
remember, a pillion will magnify any of your bad riding habits like too heavy on the throttle/brake & can cause you to bang helmets or passenger to slide forward into you and jam you against the fuel tank
don’t be afraid to spend some money on a decent tool kit and service manual and fix the bike rather then be a visacard biker and take the bike and your visacard to the local mechanic every-time you need something fixed.
also make your you check your tire pressures once a week as well.i learnt years ago on my 1996 model cbr250rr to keep front tyre at 38 psi and rear at 42 psi have done it on every road bike i have ever owned/ridden and it works a treat.if tyre pressure is to low it wont go around a corner with out you fighting it and it follows the contours of the road and is not a fun riding experience at all.experiment a little and see what works best for you.
i think i have covered the basics, but most importantly have fun and ride*RESPONSIBLY* when riding don’t be a moron and give all motorcycle riders a bad name just because you are a tool, the nurses and doctors at your local hospital don’t enjoy scrubbing you down and fixing you up after your accident cos you were too stupid to ride with decent gear on in the first place.
and most importantly if your new to riding motorcycles and this is your first, find some where to practice riding in a safe area be it a a car park where no one is or a new housing estate with no body living there. practice, practice, practise, there’s no substitute for it, and before you go for a ride, change the way you think. if you think that no one can see you , your invisible and everyone is out to kill you, then your going to last a lot longer then some moron with more money then brains who only knows how to turn the throttle round and use it as a on/off switch, remember the throttle is proportional, not just off and 100% on.
also remember, what you look at is were your going to go, look at an object too long and you will hit it for sure,its target fixation.look where you want to go and your body/bike will do the rest
when you stop at traffic lights/intersections, don’t stop on the oil patch left by cars, move over to the left/right and put your motorcycle tyres where the car tyres go.keeps oil and crud off your tyres so you don’t slide down the road.
make sure you go over your bike at least once a week and check oil/fluid levels, and all lights work and horn. best idea is to check all lights/horn work before riding away as soon as you get on everytime, a good habit to get in to.
There is a great video that was released in Australia in about 1998 that has Aussie motorcycle legend Wayne Gardner in it produced for new/rookie riders and is a great source of information
(if above video fails, use the below links)
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/ro...005/video/Introduction_with_Wayne_Gardner.flv
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2005/video/Bike_Control_Skills.flv
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/ro...005/video/Mental_Skills_to_Recognise_Harm.flv
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2005/video/Self_Control_Skills.flv
there is a great PDF booklet that goes with this video, grab it here
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2005/pdf/Ride_on_booklet.pdf
This video link is a training video about off road adventure riding, a lot of the techniques displayed can be applied to street riding, and it also shows the correct way to pick up any motorcycle off the ground without hurting yourself
If your going to buy a motorcycle make sure it has ABS
Honda Fireblade ABS vs Non-ABS
ABS Info on motorcycles
ditch the stock horn for a compact airhorn
http://www.kawasakininja300.com/for...tebel-nautilus-compact-airhorn.html#post16138
Another good idea is to keep some spare fuses under your seat as well, buy an assortment pack from a super cheap auto store or similar.
Here is a very good book from USA - Motorcycle Safety Foundation a very good free book for beginners.(infact if you turn to page 20 it says -Always apply both the front and the rear brakes at the same time.
More Books
Proficient Motorcycling and More Proficient Motorcycling and Street Strategies - A Survival guide for Motorcyclists by David L. Hough
Total Control: High-Performance Street Riding Techniques by Lee Parks
How to Ride a Motorcycle by Pat Hahn
Sport Riding Techniques by Nick Ienatsch
Smooth Riding the Pridmore Way by Reg Pridmore
Performance Riding Techniques - The moto GP Manual by Andy Ibbot
The total motorcycle Manual - 291 skills you need : by Mark Lindemann
Other interesting reads
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig
Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road by Neil Peart
Perfect Vehicle: What It Is about Motorcycles by Melissa Holbrook Pierson
Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon
Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across the World by Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman
Long Way Down: John O'Groats to Cape Town by Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman
Motorcycle Camping Made Easy by Bob Woofter
Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon isn't moto-related at all, but it suits the vagabond spirit.
Blood, Sweat and 2nd Gear: More Medicine For Motorcyclists by flash gordon, m.d. covers medical, health, and emergency tips for motorcyclists.
And another good book from USA - Department of Motor Vehicles , California (click for pdf)
Found a web site in Victoria, Australia for rookie riders - http://www.spokes.com.au
Australian Design Rules for Motorcycles - http://www.mraqld.org/index.php/aust-design-rules-adr.html
The good gear guide - Australian Department of Infrastructure & Transport
**IF your a rider in Queensland, Australia, then this motorcycle web site will interest you http://www.motorcyclesafety.qld.gov.au/ ** and this PDF will as well
a great web site in New Zealand about motorcycle safety - http://www.rideforever.co.nz/
some great advise/info on this USA site http://www.msgroup.org/articles.aspx
The essential rider guide for gear from the U.K click here
Iron Butt Association tips for riding long distances , please click here
If you live in Australia and are looking for a list of LAMS approved bikes and photos of them (Learner Approved Motorcycle Scheme) then click here
hope this might help a few of you and maybe even save a life or two , feel free to copy/paste this to what ever forum you want, just include a link back to this so i might get some credit for my work.thanks
a great skill to have is clutchless shifting & learning how to slip the clutch to keep the bike moving at very slow speeds with out putting your feet down
http://www.kawasakininja300.com/for...hless-upshift-downshift-stock-300-se-abs.html
also just for kicks, watch this Honda safety video form the 1960's
If you find this post useful , please click the "thanks" button in the bottom right corner
1 - 20 of 21 Posts
Hard to take advice from a country that drives on the wrong side of the road. Just sayin...
On a more serious note though, that was a pretty good video for beginners. I should've shown that to a buddy last year when he first bought his Ninja 250. I watched him stab the brakes and drop it in the middle of the street while walking it around a u-turn. Some people's children... LOL
On a more serious note though, that was a pretty good video for beginners. I should've shown that to a buddy last year when he first bought his Ninja 250. I watched him stab the brakes and drop it in the middle of the street while walking it around a u-turn. Some people's children... LOL
1 - 20 of 21 Posts
