This is being written for the benefit of all those who offered me advice and responded to my questions concerning motorcycle riding when I asked them here. As a rank amateur rider, I recently bought a REALLY good condition '86 Honda 650 Nighthawk with only 9K miles on it, never laid down, no rust, not abused or stored outdoors, and I did it for $1200. Well worth it for a bilke in such good shape.
Despite my slight "fear of the unknown" concerning my first solo ride, I insisted yesterday that my dad take me on the bike to a nearby school playground where I could finally get on it and drive it in some low-speed figure eights, maybe get it up to second gear on the safety of the grass. I put on my Hannukah present, a nice new helmet, and off we went. Having arrived, after some rudimentary instructions, I got on it and off I went. The bike was a surprisingly easy ride and I quickly grew accustomed to all the controls and basic handling of the ride. I felt quite comfortable getting it up to second and back down, then as high as third once, but there just wasn't enough space to get it going any faster. Next stop is just going to have to be a bigger empty parking lot. Having not dumped it or killed myself, I then took it on the pavement of the miniscule school parking lot, but again there wasn't much room to go faster than second gear demanded.
So I guess what you guys said was right, that shifting is easier to master and more instinctive than I thought, though the gear shift indicator helped in the beginning. Next step is to do that rider safety course and get licensed, then hit the road baby! Thanks again!
Jeff
Despite my slight "fear of the unknown" concerning my first solo ride, I insisted yesterday that my dad take me on the bike to a nearby school playground where I could finally get on it and drive it in some low-speed figure eights, maybe get it up to second gear on the safety of the grass. I put on my Hannukah present, a nice new helmet, and off we went. Having arrived, after some rudimentary instructions, I got on it and off I went. The bike was a surprisingly easy ride and I quickly grew accustomed to all the controls and basic handling of the ride. I felt quite comfortable getting it up to second and back down, then as high as third once, but there just wasn't enough space to get it going any faster. Next stop is just going to have to be a bigger empty parking lot. Having not dumped it or killed myself, I then took it on the pavement of the miniscule school parking lot, but again there wasn't much room to go faster than second gear demanded.
So I guess what you guys said was right, that shifting is easier to master and more instinctive than I thought, though the gear shift indicator helped in the beginning. Next step is to do that rider safety course and get licensed, then hit the road baby! Thanks again!
Jeff
* This post has been modified
: 19 years ago
