Newbie

Ok I have never ridden a motorbike I am over 30 and have just got something
in my head that says I really want to do it.
What should I do from here? Get a learners and go to a riding school I
suppose. Should I get a 250 to start with or can I learn at one of these
schools in QLD and buy a bigger bike after getting competent through one of
these schools.
Thanks in advance.

 

Down in Vict where I came from about 30 years ago, the going thing was to
get something like a z900 kawa on learners and ride it real fast. I could
not imagine where all the locals lads moved to. Maybe they didn't. Maybe
they just died.
Then someone introduced that stupid law that you could not ride a bike
bigger than a 250 unless you had a licence for more than one year or was it
until you got off your P's.
Get a 250 to start with. You will find that most of them are plenty fast
enough now anyway. I had one and used it as a traffic zapper.
But at least it will be a light bike to start with and then once you get
used to it, then you can get a 600. I really believe in levels. eg: 250,
600, 900 and then what the hell. I hope the new triumph 2 litre
http://triumphrat.net/article.php?sid=129 comes to Australia next year. Just
a rumour I heard.

 

I thought you just evaporated if you went too fast?

 

Not dead just a bit smelly

Ah those days
Ride honda 750 four into town
answer 30 questions
sign form
Pay fee
Go back to bike and fit L plate
ride home

 

Ride to pub to celebrate

Ride home when pub closes.

 

One night I was riding home following the white lines on the road
and the white lines finished

That was thankfully a pushbike night

 

Yup.

 

And then started, and then finished, and then started, and then finished, and then started, and then finished,
and then started.........

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 05 Oct 2003 07:51:48 GMT

Well.. you won't get competent through one of those schools. You only
get competent through good training to start, then a few years of riding
while paying attention to practicing your skills and thinking about what
you are doing, and more training.

Q-ride will teach you how to use the controls, and give you some things
to think about and some practice. You won't be a competent rider, you
will be able to operate a motorcycle in good weather when nothing goes
wrong. Be very clear on the difference.

Whether you go for a 250 for a while or a bigger bike will depend on
your desires and temprement.

IF you tend towards being a bit wild as a driver, you like to go fast,
you think you are pretty good at it, then I suggest you don't get a
bigger bike, but learn your craft on a 250. That's cos it's very likely
that you'll get over confident in the early stages, and there's a good
chance you'll be hurt worse on a bigger bike. Get a VTR Honda or
Hyosung Comet or some other sporty twin 250 (I have a prejudice against
4cyl 250 sportbikes for learners, I really don't think you learn to ride
well on them) and focus on riding the wheels off it.

If you are the more laid back cruisy type, thinking about Harleys rather
than GP bikes, then a 600-750 cruiser would be fine.

Just be very clear that riding a bike doesn't require that much more
skill than driving a car, when the weather is good, the speed is low,
and everything's simple. But when the speeds rise, or the weather goes
bad, or there's a bad road surface or an idiot in a car.... Then you
have to have a much higher level of skill. Not realising that gets a
lot of novice riders hurt. If you go into it with "This will need work
and I am old enough and smart enough to realise it and do the work",
then you'll be fine no matter which size of bike you choose.

Do whichever learning course you want. Ride for 6-12 months, then do an
advanced course. That way you'll become competent a lot faster than
just getting a licence and riding about, and you'll have more fun when
you are competent.

Zebee

 

Hi Pedi

Great to hear of someone going with an impulse - it makes life more fun. In QLD
you have two options, you can either get your L plates and try and learn on your
own (do you have friends who ride ?) or you can do the Q ride route. I would
recommend going Q ride as professional trainers are more likely to bring your
skills forward more quickly than trial and error and you're less likely to make
painful mistakes. The smart thing to do at the end of Qride though is to resist
the temptation to go out and get a 300Km/hr sports bike that will do 0-100 in
2.5 secs - you wouldn't let a 17 year learner loose in a Ferrari and nor is it
the best step for a beginner.

When you've done your Q ride, have a look a the list of learner approved bikes
you're allowed to ride in Canberra - NSW's list cuts off at 660cc whereas ACT
has a pure power to weight ratio. Anything on that list would be an excellent
bike to hone your skills on post Q ride. Depending on the style of bike you like
the look of, bikes I'd suggest you consider are:

VTR 250
GS 500
ER5
Monster 600
SV650
XVS650 or any of the middleweight cruisers
Bandit 250 or 600

These are just few examples. There's more on the list mentioned above that would
be suitable. Basically as a rule of thumb you should look for a twin of 750cc or
less, a 4 cylinder of 400cc or less (hence the Bandit 600 above isn't really a
strong recommendation) or a single of any size. Avoid 2 strokes.

The reasoning is quite simple - the way the power is delivered - 2 strokes have
very narrow power bands, small capacity 4 cylinders have relatively narrow power
bands (the power band gets wider as the capacity gets bigger - hence in many
ways a 4cyl/400 is a better learner bike than a 4cyl/250) however the 4cylinders
start putting out serious hp when the cappacity gets larger - a 4cyl 600cc
sports bike is not my idea of a good learner bike - with a power to weight ratio
better than any car that costs under 1/2 a million and a top speed usually circa
250K these are not that learner friendly ! The amount of HP the 600 supersports
can put down means that a hamfisted throttle hand (and everyone starts off with
one) will lead to you highsiding on a corner if you're not real careful.

Bikes are great fun, if you extend your skills sets gradually rather than take a
"crash or crash through" approach you'll enjoy yourself a helluva lot and find
it becoming a central part of life (it sorts of creeps up on you

JL
96 Bandit 1200
89 KR1 - 250

 

Rudi - I hate to say this but this forum is full of cynics, bastards, and
shit-stirrers. Before I can do the official Dance of Welcome (now that I
have my lithe and luscious figure back) we will need proof that you are
actually a newbie, not just a doofus trying so hard to trick us into
answering (I know these things, I've done it).

So, we'll need proof that you've hunted down the FAQ, old archived posts
through google, and checked out the website before we can truly call you a
newbie and answer your questions

kathy

 

"Kathy Vickers" wrote

We only accept seasoned newbies now?

Theo

 

Whats this we? I think the screening was to ensure it was worth doing the
welcome dance....

Hammo

 

I agree with John's and Zeebee's comments. Only this year I lost the
battle to not get onto a bike, as a teenager I used to rip around the
local countryside with a friend on our little 2 stoke dirt bikes
loving both the riding and new found freedom of mobility. Forward a
few decades, a good mate of mine had taken up riding and after
resisting the urge for 2 years I took his bike for a little spin ...
and the rest is history

I did the Q-ride course and jumped onto a '96 VFR750. I figured that
I just had to use self control with the throttle(still scared myslelf
a few times though) - I am still learning as road riding is totally
different to dirt riding, I love the bike and Mondays suck cause its 5
days till the next weekend. In retrospect a smaller and lighter road
bike would have been better - but I ain't changing the Viffer.

Then two months ago my wife and her friend decided to take up biking.
They did the Q-Ride course and going from never riding a bike, over a
weekend they got their Open Licenses. My wife now rides a GS500 and
her friend got a SV650S. These bikes have proven to be great choices
(light and not too much power) and their riding is improving
dramatically every time we go out. One thing to keep in mind is
fairing are expensive -- both my wife and friend have dropped their
bikes doing low speed maneuvers resulting in some cosmetic damage to
the bikes. Luckily the GS doesn't have fairings but the SV fairing
does cost about $300. If you get a faired bike maybe take the fairing
off for the first few months? We didn't go the 250 route as we wanted
bikes that could be kept for a bit longer as their riding improved and
more comfortable for longer rides - 10,000rpm at 100km/h on a 250 can
get pretty tiring.

Cheers
Conrad

 

I once took a call (RACV) from a lady who wanted a patrol to check her electrics. No joke, she
actually told me her indicators were working on and off! The silence from her as the penny dropped
as to what she had just said was priceless.

Dale Porter

 

Thanks all, much apprieciated.

 

Ah ha. There you have fallen into my cunning trap. A newbie who has done the
research isn't a newbie !!

Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!

K

 

"Hamish Alker-Jones" wrote in

This we.

Theo

 

"Kathy Vickers" wrote

Trap? That hole was so large the sides were eroded to a gentle slope.
I was able to enter and leave without stumbling.

Theo

 

Fried, boiled, whatever...

Doug Cox.
Work to ride, Ride to work...