Learning to ride a motorcycle
Posted by Kyle Heon Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:23:00 GMT
It’s been quite awhile since I last posted and a lot has happened too. This past May I started getting the itch to buy a motorcycle. I convinced the wife (she was apprehensive, worried I’d get hurt). I quickly registered for New Hampshire’s Basic Rider Course ($110) and then waited (not patiently, I eagerly approached the mailbox every day only to be disappointed, until today).
In June (Father’s Day in fact) I purchased my motorcycle. Over the Memorial Day weekend I went looking at bikes, asked a bunch of questions and sat on a couple small bikes (the Kawasaki Vulcan 500 Ltd and the Yamaha V-Star 650 Custom). I then did a lot of research online and both bikes got many thumbs up for starter bikes. I was all but sold on the Kawasaki except that I wasn’t finding many aftermarket parts for but the Yamaha had slightly better aftermarket support, plus a slightly bigger engine.
I ended up going with the Yamaha for the increased engine size, slightly better aftermarket support, the shaft based drivetrain and the fact that it looked so much more bad-ass then the Kawasaki.
I took delivery a few days later. It was so cool and it had a nice little roar to it (nothing like a Harley, but this is my first bike so it sounds good to me).
Having never ridden I wasn’t sure how to even get the thing moving so I worked to get it into first and takeoff without stalling. That didn’t go so well for me until my dad showed up one Sunday morning and helped me work through it. I continued to practice my starts in the parking lot for another week or more and then on July 3rd went to take my permit test (a 20 question written exam). I passed (just barely—phew) and then that weekend my dad showed up again. He rode the bike over to an industrial area near where we live that has numerous (and empty) parking lots to practice in. After a good 1-2 hours of practice in the parking lot I felt comfortable enough to ride it home (about 2 tenths of a mile).
I continued to practice around our neighborhood, not daring to venture out into the main streets of downtown Portsmouth. It’s pretty crazy where I live so I really had to learn the hard way, right into the fire.
Last weekend my dad came down again and we went out on the open road, taking two trips to where I work (about 5 miles away). I stalled a couple times on the way there but overall did pretty good. This past week my truck has been in the shop so I rode Tuesday through Friday to work (the weather cooperated for me).
As I eluded to earlier, I got my training date(s): August 22nd-24th. This unfortunately falls right when my brothers Jack & Jill has been scheduled (they know, so I’m not spilling the beans). Because this is a non-refundable event I’m still going to go and hopefully I can shoot up to my folks to catch the tail-end of the party.
My permit runs out the end of this month so I have only a couple more weeks to ride, and more importantly only two more Thursdays that I could go in and take my riding exam. While I’m feeling really comfortable on the road and with my bike, I’m not sure I’m prepared for the road test…so I need to decide if I’m just going to wait for training to get my license (assuming I pass) and miss a month of riding time (all of August) OR do I make an attempt and go for my license?
I sadly don’t have any photos of my bike (yet) but I will work to get some shortly and post them to my Flickr Photostream but for now, you can see what my ride looks like here (mine is in black).