Crashing

So, I get to type this post one-handed. Saturday afternoon was a lovely day for a ride, a little hot for the jacket I was wearing but not too bad. I decided to take a road I'd never been on, just to see if it went where I thought it did. Mistake number one. Almost immediately, the road started into what looked like a nice sweeping turn. Once I got about halfway through, I realized it was tightening down. Here is where I made the second mistake. Just days after I had been talking about discovering just how much looking all the way through the turn helps with stability and cornering, I look at the edge of the road in front of me. While I look in the wrong direction, I panicked about not being able to make the curve. Enter third mistake, I locked up my rear brake. The back tire started to slide out and I went straight off the road toward a slope down into a field. As soon as the tires hit the grass, they slide the other way, dumping me down into the ground elbow first.

I can't say enough about the kindness of strangers. By the time I stood up and gathered my wits, a bicyclist and the lady driving behind me had stopped and the biker was starting to pick up my motorcycle. Three motorcyclists also stopped when they saw me and called the EMTs for me, since I couldn't move my arm to get to my phone.

Basically, one broken front fairing, smashed turn signal, a few bruises, and one dislocated shoulder later, I learned a few things I would like to share and hopefully help some one else avoid my mistakes. First, sometimes riding the speed limit is too fast, especially when you're on unfamiliar ground. Second, look where you want to go. Had I looked through the turn, I would have reacted better to conditions. Third, and this goes with the second, lean more in the turn. I had plenty of lean angle left, I just didn't trust my tires and bike like I should have. Besides, if I had been further leaned over, I wouldn't have had as far to fall. ;)

Q&A Session

Comment:

Hi, nice blog. I'm on the verge of moving to a new job which I'll have to drive
to - about 40 miles each way, so I'm debating the idea of buying a bike to cut
my fuel consumption. What do you think after commuting for a month? Is this
something you'd be happy to do long term or are you sick/afraid of it?

Response:

First of all, thank you for reading! Now to the meat of it, and I'm sure Matt will also have a response, but here is my take on it. I think that the best way to answer is taking the last point first. Motorcycle commuting is definitely something I will continue to do. Not only does it conserve fuel consumption, it has a variety of other helpful effects.

One, if I have had a stressful day at work, the ride home is rather relaxing. I think that comes from the fact that to concentrate on the commute I must focus completely on it, no distractions left over from the day can continue to eat at me on the way home.

Two, I can concentrate better on my work when I get there. Again, motorcycling is as much a mental exercise as a physical one. It wakes you up and focuses your mind before you even sit down behind the desk.

Three, I drink less coffee over the course of the day. See reason two for an explanation.

That being said, it is more nervous to ride to work versus drive to work. Commuting any sort of distance over congested roads is not something to be taken lightly. Rush hour traffic is the worst for aggressive drivers and inattentive drivers, all focused on something other than the task at hand. If I had it to do over again, knowing what I have learned over the past month, I think I would have waited until I had a few more miles in the saddle before actually committing to a lengthy daily commute. On the flip side of that, you'll notice that I did not actually commit to the full month and cherry picked the days that I drove a car due to the problematic lack of experience.

As a final note to anyone interested in a motorcycle as an alternate form of transportation. Over the past month, my fuel consumption has averaged 65 miles per gallon. Obviously, motorcycles are very effective gas savers and a very fun form of rapid transit. They are also not for everyone, they are more exposed and less noticeable than a car and they require a huge commitment on the part of the rider to learn, practice, and care for the motorcycle. However, my advice to anyone curious about the sport, look into it, whether you know people you can ask, have a dealership you can visit (although, as with auto dealers, take what they say with a grain of salt) or a motorcycle safety school you can enroll in or sit in on, do it. Learn everything you can and make an informed decision on if it's a hobby that you can enjoy.

A couple of "Oops" moments

So I had a great commute. Lovely weather and polite drivers made it nice and easy. Despite the "easy" part of it, I managed to make a couple of mistakes that make me kick myself. Not literally.

First, I got a little distracted at a light and forgot to roll on the throttle before easing off the clutch lever. Pop. Stall. Restart engine hopefully before the people behind me realize what's going on.

The other one was another clutch issue. Note to new riders (yes, this includes me) roll off the throttle when you up shift. When you don't (like me) you can give it a little too much gas and make the front tire a little light when you re-engage the clutch. I haven't done as badly as I did the first day I had the bike, when I lifted the wheel momentarily, but it's still unnerving when you do it.

Lastly, I will mention a bit of advice that served me well today: always do a head-check before changing lanes, the mirror can only tell you "no." When I wanted to change lanes on the way home, I checked my mirror: clear. I turned my head: Ford Explorer. I stayed where I was.

As weather continues to get nicer, I am willing to bet I'll see more and more biker out. To the riders: ride safe. To the motorists: look for the motorcycles, please.

Infamous Left Turners

This afternoon I got my first look at the infamous left-turner. I was on a two lane road that narrows back down to one lane and. As I was looking to merge, a white duelly truck turned left across both lanes and slowed almost to a stop, with two lanes of traffic coming at him. I'm fine and there was enough room for me to slow down without an emergency stop. I still don't understand why you would turn and stop in the road, with or without oncoming vehicles.
Other than that little blip, today was good. I saw a lot of other bikes out on the roads, even another little Ninja. I also got a chance to think about a couple of things. First, one of the most challenging aspects of riding (after learning how to turn at low speeds, brake effectively, get a feel for counter-steering, ok so low on the list) is selecting the correct gear for the situation. Fortunately, my bike is good for helping a rider get a feel for that and also to forgive any noob mistakes I can make. I'm getting a better feel for when to shift down to keep up the right amount of power for a situation, but when I forget or make the wrong decision it has the ability to pull steadily and predictably from 3000 rpm to 13500 rpm. This in and of itself is a good reason to keep in mind one needs to match the bike to one's level of expertise and no higher.

Today's lesson

My lesson for the day is: check your tire pressure regularly. I check the electronics and oil fairly regularly, but I kept putting off the tire check until yesterday evening. Here is another place knowing your bike is handy. The steering felt a little sluggish and squishy on the ride yesterday, so I determined to check the first thing that came to mind. Sure enough, the front tire was way down on pressure, and fully inflating it made a world of difference for this morning. There was also a bumper lying in the middle of my lane this morning, so steering was quite useful today.
Second lesson today, crouching into a full tuck behind my fairing on the highway means I can drop 500 rpm and maintain the same speed. Something to keep in mind for gas mileage.

"Reserve" tank

I broke 3000 miles on the bike today. I've been riding for almost 2000 miles. That is all.
Well, not really... I still need to write up the ride. I know it's boring to say that it was uneventful, but boring is very good when talking about motorcycle commuting. I suppose it wasn't actually uneventful, just safe and ordinary. The weather took a down turn over the course of the day, dropping the temperature 10 degrees by the time I was headed home from when I left this morning.
One bit of advice for people learning to ride, learn to find the petcock while moving and be able to switch the fuel tank to the "reserve" without having to hunt for it. I was merging with traffic on the way home, when I felt the bike shudder a little under me. Since I have run myself out of gas on it several times, I know what it feels like when the carbs are sucking on air. If I hadn't practiced flipping the valve under the tank, I would have been "that guy" holding up traffic as I restarted my bike.

Preparation: Experience

I see Philip's already covered the basics of gear to get when you start riding. So now I'm going to cover one point I've alluded to a couple times, but never really gone over in detail. This one is about building up experience. I wouldn't recommend going straight from an MSF class to riding 40 miles to work for a straight month. In the MSF class, you've been riding around in an empty parking lot in broad daylight, and usually in dry weather (although the classes are held rain or shine). On your commute, you'll have to deal with darkness, bad weather, bad drivers, and more.

So after the class, you'll want to build up experience. At first you'll want to just practice what you've done in the MSF class, either on side streets or parking lots. Then you can start adding more challenges - riding in somewhat heavier traffic, then maybe in the rain or night. Eventually you'll work your way up to longer rides, heavy traffic, the Interstate, and more. But don't bite off more of a challenge then you're comfortable with, and just try a little at a time - for example, you might want to make your first Interstate ride between two exits a few miles apart.

If you're wondering how much experience I have, it's about two years and 10,000 miles at this point.

Today's Ride

Starting the day out at 45 degrees and ending it at 74 made for a bit of practice in layering. Fortunately, my vest has a pocket on its back large enough to fold my extra clothes into for the ride home. The morning ride lacked any of the usual tail gating, but I also left the house slightly earlier and may have missed the people who are in a hurry to get to work.
On the way home, I yet again discovered the wisdom of listening to the advice of more experienced riders. As I leaned over into a turn, it felt like I was leaning too far and the bike just had to be about to fall. So, I started to straighten my body up with the bike leaned over, which, of course, actually started to destabilize the turn. Then I remembered the advice I've been told by a number of people, the bike can lean farther than you think,trust it. So, when I remembered that, I leaned back into the turn and realized that I was going well within the constraints of the corner/bike/speed... and no, I wasn't speeding... Aside from that little revelation, today's ride was very pleasant and unremarkable.

New Rider Advice

As something of an addendum to Matt's post, I wanted to point out that the Ninja 250 Riders Club has a great page designed for answering questions posed by new riders and people who think they might just want to try this two-wheeled thing. The page has articles ranging from what to look for in gear to what to look for in a bike to why you don't want a super sport for your first bike. It has more info than I would want to put into a post and a lot of the articles are better written than I could do, not to mention written by guys doing this a lot longer than I have. Keep in mind it's from those of us who ride the little Ninja, so it may be a little biased towards the Kawasaki.
In my humble opinion, knowing what to look for in gear is more important (or as important) than knowing what to look for in a bike. While you want a bike that's comfortable, is not too much for you to handle, looks like what you think a bike should, you can talk yourself into compromises on your first bike. After all, that's why it's called a first bike, you will have others. Gear you should never compromise on. There is a term you will see if you hang out on a lot of the forums and at some events: ATGATT- all the gear, all the time. It's a good motto to live by because it will keep you alive.
Look through the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's library for their take on gear and then I'll throw in my two cents.
1. Full-face helmet- I can't stress that enough. Yes, an open face will give you some impact protection, but it won't save your face from road rash and, think about it, if you come off a bike moving forward, what is most likely to hit the ground first? Your chin. Do you want a face shield or goggles there, or would you prefer to have a chin bar in the way of the concrete? Also, one of my Basic Rider Course instructors had a bird dive bomb him on his way to teach us, proving yet again that full-face helmets are good at deflecting flying debris, literally.
2. Jacket- Motorcycle Consumer News did a comparison of the various materials used in motorcycle gear and how long you can slide before the pavement grinds through them, but I can't find it. To sum up, leather takes the longest, followed by Kevlar weave and Cordura, followed by denim. In addition to the material, look for one with armor or padding to cushion impacts. Mine is a textile jacket with dual-density armor pads in the shoulders, elbows, and back. If it fits right, you won't even notice the pads.
3. Pants- See #2, with the pads in mine being in the knee and hips, with a pad extending up behind my kidneys.
4. Gloves- Like a helmet, your hands hit first. I have two pairs of gloves, one that only goes to my wrist with padding on the palms and one pair of gauntlets with the padding over the knuckles and a carbon fiber patch over my wrist, both pairs are full leather.
5. Boots- Don't overlook this item. They need to at least cover your ankles. You want something there for when the road pulls your pant-leg up and tries to bite you. There are boots with ABS plastic pieces to protect your ankle, heal, toes, etc. and there are plain leather boots. With this item, you can always find something with the looks and comfort you want with the protection you need.

Sure you might look a little funny when you where all your gear, but wouldn't you look funnier without your skin?

Good motorcycles for first time riders

It's a question that I see all over the Internet, and probably would see more often in person if I knew more people who were looking to become motorcyclists: "What's the best bike for a first time rider?" Nearly half the time, somebody replies, "A Kawasaki Ninja 250." It's easy to understand why, as that's one of the best bikes out there for first time riders. But there are plenty of other good choices. Some of these recommendations would be similar for everyone, while others I'd say depend on the rider. The reason the Ninja 250 gets recommended so often is that it fits a lot of riders, not to mention a lot of budgets. There's even quite a few experienced riders who keep a Ninja 250 around.

Unfortunately most dealerships won't let you test ride bikes. In some cases, I suspect the salesman who says "Sure, this bike would be perfect for you!" secretly fears you have little chance of bringing it back in one piece if you test rode it. Other bike dealers will hire a sales staff that doesn't even have motorcycle licenses. There's some good salesmen out there who will point you towards a bike that matches your abilities, but too many who are thinking of their own commission.

In some countries, the choice is made for you - they have a set of rules about what bike you can get after you first get your license, and you have to stick with them. I'll assume you live in the United States or another country that lets you buy anything when you have a license.

I've often heard people recommend waiting until after you take riding lessons to pick out your first bike. I didn't and Philip did. But I think it's a good idea. It's possible you may find that a particular type of motorcycle you wanted, or even motorcycling itself, doesn't really fit you. And it's also possible that you may find you like the bike they assigned you in the class enough that you'd want one just like it. Some classes even have several different bikes and let you ride different ones. This does seem to be the exception rather than the rule, as it appears to be more common that you'll be assigned one bike and stay with it throughout the class.

If you leave the class thinking that the bike you rode there is all you are ready to handle at the moment, I'd recommend getting a 250 cc bike as your first bike, or maybe a Buell Blast (which is what they use in Harley classes). These are light, controllable, and predictable. You may leave the class feeling you're ready for a bit more. Here are some rules of thumb about how to avoid getting too much more. These are what I'd recommend for a first bike.

1. It needs to have forgiving and predictable handling. Although horsepower doesn't say much about the chassis or braking, it's a good predictor on modern bikes of how the rest of the bike will behave. I definitely wouldn't recommend more than 60 hp for your first bike. You may think that's a bit small, but a sport bike with rider will typically weigh somehwere around 600 lbs. 60 hp in a sport bike is like having a Mustang with 350 hp, only a Mustang isn't quite as much at risk of falling over if you break the rear wheels loose in a corner. On sportbikes (or bikes with sportbike-based engines, like a Yamaha FZ6), that means no more than 500 ccs. A 600 may not seem like much of a jump, but the 600 cc sportbikes are built for all out power. A Yamaha YZF-R6, for example, can put over 110 hp to the rear wheels. That's over twice what Motorcycle.com measured from a Ninja 500. With cruisers or dirt-oriented machines, you can get a bit larger than 500 cc.

2. A bike that's too heavy can be a handful for a beginning rider to control, too. A good rule of thumb is to keep it under 500 lbs and get a bike that's light enough you can pick it up if it falls over, without any help. If you can pick it up, there's less of a chance you will actually have to.

3. Being able to keep your feet flat on the ground when you're at a stop is also very helpful to the beginning rider. Most riders should be able to find a good bike they can "flat-foot" - that is, get both feet flat on the ground when sitting in the saddle. If you're under 5'2" you may have to settle for getting the balls of your toes on the ground instead. But an average sized rider shouldn't make that compromise.

4. You ought to pick a bike that'll fit you. You should be able to find one that meets these guidelines that you feel comfortable sitting on, that fits your budget, and that looks like your idea of what a motorcycle should look like. There are quite a few bikes out there that are appropriate for first-timers, so you don't have to settle for a cruiser if you really wanted a sport bike, or vice versa.

Preparation: Training

If you're learning to drive a car, you usually get a learner's permit and practice with one of your parents riding around in the passenger seat and giving you instructions. Carrying an instructor around on a motorcycle obviously isn't practical. In most US states, you could just get a learner's permit and practice riding a bike on your own, with certain restrictions such as no riding at night, no carrying a passenger, and no interstates. But the problems with that are obvious - you're starting riding a bike without any experience, and out on public roads unless you have a big empty parking lot next to your house or can trailer your bike to one.

So the option I'd recommend is motorcycle school. These are usually run by the state or by private companies (some Harley-Davidson dealers, for example, put on a class called Rider's Edge). Both state-run and private classes often follow a curiculum developed by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, althouth sometimes you'll see other programs from state governments or ABATE as well. Usually these classes take a Friday night and a complete weekend (There are exceptions: Rider's Edge is a four day class - thanks, Philip!), and the school will provide the bike. In some states, the class is nearly free from the state instructors. In Georgia, they aren't subsidized and cost $250. Private lessons can cost a little more, but not by much.

These classes start with instruction in a classroom. Usually it's not quite as disreputable looking as this classroom, which was in a wing of a high school slated for demolition. (They'd given the students free reign with cans of Krylon after the school let out for the summer since it was geing torn down anyway.) They cover the basics of how a motorcycle works on the first night. Then on Saturday morning the instructors lead you though exercises in the parking lot. It starts off with how to work the clutch and moves up through weaving, hard braking, and some courses even have you hopping the bike over 2 x 4's by the end of the class.

Along the way, you'll also learn a lot of defensive driving skills, and much of the generic "Stuff every rider should know." You generally won't be ready for commuting through rush hour traffic by the end of the class, but you should leave the class knowing enough about how to get on a bike on a lightly traveled road without hurting yourself. Then you'll be ready to start practicing on the road and building up your skills. As Philip noted, you'll want more experience before you take on riding in heavy traffic and all weather. More about that next...

Preparation

One of the problems with using a motorcycle for commuting is that you can't just decide one day that you're going to be a motorcyclist and ride every day to work, go down to your local Kawasaki dealer and buy just any bike there, and start riding to work the next day. Motorcycle commuting takes a bit of preparation and equipment. So in the month leading up to April, I'm going to be going over the things you need to do, and that for the most part I've already done, in preparation for a commute. Here's some of the areas I will cover.

First, my motorcycle has been sitting for a couple months as I haven't really figured out how to beat the cold just yet. So I'm going to go over it and make sure it is safe to ride before I hit the streets. Since this is something I'll be doing very soon, this will probably be the first thing I'll write about, even if it may not be the first thing someone looking to get into motorcycling will need to do.

Motorcycling also takes training, and you're best off both getting some lessons from a pro and doing some practice in safe, low-traffic areas before you try a 40 mile ride to work. So I'll go over what is involved in training and practice.

The other area of perparation is, of course, shopping. So I'm going to cover what makes a good first bike, what sort of safety gear will protect you on the ride, and various items that are helpful for comfort and carrying things for your commute.

Oh, and one other thing - you may notice there's a second blogger on this blog now. I'll let him introduce himself.