I intend this thread to become a collection of tips and tricks that brand new riders can use to help them get up to speed with their riding.

I'd like to go on the record and say that, in my opinion, the MSF class is a must for every new rider. It wraps your head around the basic theory and practice principles surrounding motorcycles. If you haven't done so already, take the class.

When I got my 599, my first bike, I had no riding experience except for the MSF class... which means that I knew next to nothing about riding a motorcycle.

Here's how my learning process went:
Stage 1: Parking lots.
I spent a few weeks riding in circles in a parking lot. Practiced making left and right 90 degree turns, slow maneuvers, shifting, hard braking, and taking off without stalling or thrusting forward. This didn't come without it's share of mistakes: I've locked the back brake (more about that later), stalled the bike, and layed it down more than once (get frame sliders for your bike, they will save it from much damage when you lay it down... which you most likely will). Ride around the parking lot until you feel comfortable with turning your bike (you should practice U-turns as well.)

Stage 2: Streets in quiet neighborhoods.
After I felt a bit more comfortable on the bike, I started making circles around the block and realized that I don't really grasp the concept of shifting down very well. (I'll talk about this later as well.)

Stage 3: Venturing out further and hitting the Highway.
After I got a bit more comfortable riding around the block and making u-turns I ventured out a little further. Soon I found myself on a highway.

Stage 4: Twisties
Once I wasn't afraid of the highways, I joined a newbie group ride, and went riding on some twistier roads. I joined a forum and asked more experienced riders to ride with me 1-on-1. Luckily the motorcycling community is full of great people and I found a few guys who went riding with me and showed me good "lines" and mentored me.

The rest, as they say, is history. A matter of seat time.

That was my experience, I'm sure others have their own paths that they went through and I'm curious to hear about it.

Below are some of the issues I ran into that I'd like to point out and make suggestions on. I'm still a new rider so some of the following comments and advice may not be totally correct, feel free to correct me.


Issues and Tips:
1. Hard Braking: This is a very important skill to master. Practice hard/emergency braking as much as possible. The goal is to stop in the shortest distance possible without locking your brakes. One of the biggest mistakes that new riders make when first starting out is locking the back brake, which is dangerous because if you release it at the wrong moment you may highside (right?). There is a neverending discussion in the motorcycling community whether to use the back brake at all. It's useful in the rain, when coming in too hot into a turn, or when riding over gravel (be very careful using the front brake where there's gravel)... or when making a U-turn... but in general, the front brake has sufficient braking power. I'm not an expert in this manner by any stretch of the imagination and therefor I highly recommend that you do your own research about using the back brake.

2. Shifting Down: As mentioned above, I had trouble shifting down. In fact, my core question was "when should I shift up and when am I supposed to shift down?" People used to tell me "you'll feel it; the bike will let you know" and I would say... "well... my bike isn't talking to me!" After a while, it started talking to me and I knew when to shift up and when to shift down. After a while you'll understand it too. Until then, I can recommend a very basic guideline - shift up every 10 miles per hour. So start in first gear until you reach about 10mph and shift up, rev 'er up till you're going 20mph and shift up into 3rd, et cetera. Same for shifting down... when you're going 40mph you should be in 4th, when you're closer to 30, shift down to 3rd, and so on. Try it, if it doesn't work for you, ignore this suggestion. If it does work for you, great! Now, from time to time when you shift down you'll feel engine braking. That will feel wierd... like it's damaging your bike. To avoid that you need to "blimp" your throttle a little to get the RPMs up. (Perhaps someone can explain this better.) Anyway... everyone told me "blimp the throttle a little" but no one told me what this "blimp" means. It took me a little while to figure it out... but what I discovered is that "blimp the throttle" means rev it 1 to 2,000 rpms above where you are before you release the clutch and engage the lower gear.

Here's an example... you're going 30 miles/hour in 3rd gear and but you're slowing down and you need to shift into 2nd gear. a)pull the clutch in b)shift down c)blimp the throttle up 1 to 2,000 rpms d)release the clutch slowly and smoothly to get into gear. Practice this in the parking lot or when going up and down your block.

3. Clutch Control - realizing that the clutch is my best friend on a bike took me some time. I'm going to help you skip this mistake. Proper use of the clutch will save you from hitting that curb as you turn into a driveway. It will prevent you from thrusting off a spot, and it will prevent you from stalling out. When you're in the parking lot, spend lots of time with your clutch. Here's an example of a mistake I used to make before I learned to love my clutch: on my first group ride, everyone was pulling into a parking lot on the left and when my time came to pull in I ended up running wide and almost hitting the curb... why? because I was going too fast and I gave the control to the motorcycle. The solution is to use your clutch. When you pull in the clutch, you're taking the power away from the back wheel and therefore from the motorcycle. So, when pulling into a driveway, slow down (and shift down), pull in your clutch, use a little bit of the back brake, and steer your motorcycle into the entrance. Try it.
(More experienced guys, if I'm giving bad advice, please correct me.)

4. First time on the Highway: First time on the highway was scary, but I picked a good time - Sunday morning. I will recommend this to anyone: when you first start riding on the highway, start when there aren't many cars, which will make the whole experience a bit less intimidating. With the 599 being a naked bike, you'll notice the windblast once you hit 65-75mph. Don't worry, you'll get used to it.

5. Group Rides: group rides a great way to meet other riders and learn from them. However, group rides often end with someone crashing, especially when it comes to new riders. It is VERY important to ALWAYS ride your own ride and not try to keep up with other riders. You can be in over your head and things will go south in a hurry. I recommend that you skip group rides at first and either ride solo or one-on-one with a more experienced rider. Also, when you do join a group ride, make sure you understand what you're getting yourself into (ie. which roads you'll hit and how fast). This is how I ended up crashing my first 599... I rode with riders who took me on a road that was way over my head and I and the bike ended up 75 feet down a steep hill.

This is it for me. I hope this was helpful.

interesting...when I first got my 599 I only had the MSF and a couple hundred miles at best on friends bikes and no freeway, and over 5yrs since I last rode a big bike. I picked it up and down the street a few blocks and while stoped at an intersection layed her down cuase I was looking for a gas station and wasn't paying attention so it leaned alittle too much over for me to hold up. Was really piss at myself for that! Controls of the bike all came back to me within a few miles of picking it up

Found the gas station and jump on the freeway, had a scooter ralley to go to. Boy riding scooters for the last couple years has given me really bad riding habits. Coming from Redwood city going to Los Gatos, got on 101 to 85 to 17 and split lanes on 17, was running late. Got to the meeting point and we got on highway 9, first time in the twisties with a big bike. Got to Santa Cruz then up highway 1 to halfmoon bay, ate lunch. On to 92 and on the roads that paralles 280 back to San Jose. The wind was and still bothers me at 80+mph. Riding behind those scooters was a great way to help with break in as well as letting me get use to riding the bike at a very slow pace. By the time I got home I had about 170miles on the odometer.

I had no riding experience except for the MSF class... which means that I knew next to nothing about riding a motorcycle.

Still, MSF is a great place to get the basics. Not just on how to ride, but how to ride safely. What to be aware of out there in the forest of cages.

1. Hard Breaking: This is a very important skill to master. Practice hard/emergency breaking as much as possible.

Yes, it is important. And danged handy when you need it!

2. Shifting

Shifting in general is a big issue with many new and younger riders these days. This is because almost all of you grew up with and learned to drive a car with an automatic transmission. I'm not trying to pick on anyone, I'm merely pointing out what it is that makes this such a big issue with many new riders.

Someone who learned to drive a stick, and has driven a stick in a car isn't going to be as concerned about this issue, if at all.


5. Group Rides: group rides a great way to meet other riders and learn from them. However, group rides often end with someone crashing, especially when it comes to new riders. It is VERY important to ALWAYS ride your own ride and not try to keep up with other riders. You can be in over your head and things will go south in a hurry. I recommend that you skip group rides at first and either ride solo or one-on-one with a more experienced rider. Also, when you do join a group ride, make sure you understand what you're getting yourself into (ie. which roads you'll hit and how fast). This is how I ended up crashing my first 599... I rode with riders who took me on a road that was way over my head and I and the bike ended up 75 feet down a steep hill.

The road wasn't over your head, you were (no offense meant here AleX). It's WAY too easy to chase tailights when riding in a group. It gets hard to ride within your skill level. You see everyone else taking corners fast and you think you can as well. And, you probably can...if you had enough experience.

The new riders should be at the front of the group. One, because you set are setting a pace that you're comfortable with, and two because the more experienced riders can get a handle on how you ride. Yes, the more experienced riders will think your pace is slow, and it is! The ones who are truly your friends will be willing to do this with you though, and you will benefit from their experience and get faster.

Let's face it. As men we let our testosterone get in the way of common sense. We have too much ego for our own good. It's hard to be the slow guy. It's hard to accept the fact that you're not as fast, can't corner as hard, lean as far, etc, etc, etc. as your more experienced friends. However, if you do come to accept that fact, you'll live longer, get injured less, learn more and have more fun riding! There's no substitute for experience and some good training.

Great thread though, AleX!!!!

P.S. Sorry to be the spelling nazi, but the word is "brake" not "break." :)

I'll add a tip/exercise that people can try/practice.

One of the hardest things for new riders is making sharp right, and left, turns from a stop, but especially right handers (in the US). Practice doing these in a parking lot. After awhile you'll find they're not that hard.

1) Keep your head and look where you want to go. If you think you're going to run wide over the line and look at it, you will end up doing just that.

2) Don't dump the clutch. Ease on the power and slowly let the clutch out all the while cracking the throttle further open. Not WHACKING the throttle, cracking it, rolling on it.

An interesting exercise here is: from a dead stop put your bars at full lock and ride out of it. See how quickly you can get your feet on the pegs and and make that turn. Practice this a lot and you'll make turns sharper than you ever though possible from a dead stop. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can get your feet up on the pegs.

The 599 is an easy bike to manuever at low speeds. I can easily whip it around on a narrow road with my feet on the pegs. The bike takes well to me leaning it over even at low speeds. All this with minimal counter-balancing. A simple shift of the butt is all it takes. This is a very different thing on the ZZR1200. That bike weighs near 600lbs and it really wants to remain very upright even at low speeds. There's much more effort to the bars than on the 599. That bike lets me know that when I try to lean it over at low speeds by moving the bars/wheels that direction instead of leaning. I mean it leans, but no where near as much as the 599. You also really need to stand on the outside peg for really sharp low speed stuff. It's a butt off the seat, stand on the peg move.

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James

The road wasn't over your head, you were (no offense meant here AleX). It's WAY too easy to chase tailights when riding in a group. It gets hard to ride within your skill level. You see everyone else taking corners fast and you think you can as well. And, you probably can...if you had enough experience.
You're absolutely correct. I was way over my head. After only 3 months of occasional riding I wasn't prepared for the number of downhill turns the road threw at me. In my case, I wasn't trying to catch up to anyone, they were long gone from view when I went down, I was unable to break effectively to slow down a bike that was gaining momentum and speed with every second. I panicked, stood the bike up, lowsided at the edge of the road, and off I went down 75 feet with my poor Hornet tumbling beside me.

The lesson, at least for me, was to keep the speed down by riding in lower gear (2nd in most cases) when I'm going downhill on twisty roads... that way the engine will do the breaking for me and I would be less likely to go into a turn at a speed that's way over my head. Also, using a little bit of a back brake in a turn goes a long way in keeping you on track.

downhill turns the road threw at me. In my case, I wasn't trying to catch up to anyone

Yeah, downhill turns in a series are tough. Gravity is pulling on you.

Yup, higher gear to help with engine braking, set the corner speed and here you may even want to trail brake a bit to shift the weight off the front tire and onto the back to settle the suspension a bit more.

Downhill turns in a series freak still freak me out a bit. There's a real sensation of freefalling/freewheeling.

Apparently they freak a couple of my riding buddies out even more though as I lose them everytime, and if I'm behind them I find myself climbing up their asses! Kind of funny. By no means am I fast! I'm not dog slow either, but I'm not fast.

edit to add: I like this site: http://www.msgroup.org/TIPS.asp

Blip the throttle dont "BLIMP" it :D

Yeah, what Mechanic said. :D

Yeh great writing AleX enjoyed much

downhill turns the road threw at me. In my case, I wasn't trying to catch up to anyone

Yeah, downhill turns in a series are tough. Gravity is pulling on you.

Yup, higher gear to help with engine braking, set the corner speed and here you may even want to trail brake a bit to shift the weight off the front tire and onto the back to settle the suspension a bit more.
Downhill curves used to freak me out, too, but now I love 'em. Yes, engine braking and proper entry speed are key, but it also helps to sit back in the saddle and to roll on the throttle a bit while cornering to help unload the front wheel and settle the suspension. You should also grip the tank with your knees to keep from sliding forward and to help your upper body and arms stay relaxed. The rest are the basics: keep your head up and look where you want to go. Generally, I don't use the brakes unless I need to slow down quickly and/or change my line to maneuver around an obstacle

Good stuff here! Thanks for all the info.

I've only been riding since I took the MSF course last July. Got a Nighthawk 250 (what we trained on) after that. I've put several hundred miles on merely commuting to work, taking occasional weekend rides on roads I know well, and doing some parking lot practice.

Getting a small bike to start off with is really a great thing, in my opinion. I have yet to crash or drop the Nighthawk and have learned a lot by doing basic maintenance on it, too.

Having driven stick-shift cars and trucks, I have to say, shifting a bike is a lot easier. Clutch-feel in the hand is much better than in the foot, at least for me. Probably the best prior experience I've had, though, is riding a bicycle. Balance and steering is much harder, in some ways, than on a motorcycle.

The biggest single lesson I've learned so far is this. Clear your head before you get on your bike!!!!! If you can't concentrate, you will have trouble.

Anyway, I'm pretty comfortable with the basic mechanics now. So I'm looking for chances to ride my 599 to learn all the ways it's different from the Nighthawk. It'll be a while before I go much over 60mph, though.

I'm looking for chances to ride my 599 to learn all the ways it's different from the Nighthawk. It'll be a while before I go much over 60mph, though.
Something tells me it will be sooner than you think. :thumbsup :wink:

After two months (and 1200 miles) on my 599 I'm getting better, but still close to the beginning of the learning curve. As a beginner, I want to share something that is helping me make tighter turns.

I read a riding tip (not sure if it was this board or somewhere else) and the gist of it is: When you turn, grip the bike with your knees and shift your weight onto the pegs (taking weight off the seat).

Doing this makes me feel more connected to the bike. It is easier to look through the turn (and turn my body in that direction). I have more confidence leaning into the turn.

Before trying this technique I noticed my chicken strips were pretty wide. After trying it for one day, the chicken strips were half as wide as before. I think that's progress.

After a while you'll understand [shifting] too. Until then, I can recommend a very basic guideline - shift up every 10 miles per hour. So start in first gear until you reach about 10mph and shift up, rev 'er up till you're going 20mph and shift up into 3rd, et cetera.


has anyone ever taken a look at the recommended shift points in the manual? for the 2006, they translate roughly to up shifting at 3k rpm. up shifting every 10mph will get you to around 5k or so.

it seems to me that the engine is super tame between 2 and 3k, and simply increases from there. i think that 3k might not be a bad shift point for people learning the power band.

of course, i weigh about 130 with gear, and i can't lug the engine below 1750 or so. riding with my partner (who weighs about the same as me), 4k seems about the mimimum, so bigger noobs might find it necessary to shift a little later.

your mileage may vary.
.cyb
________
Wendie 99 (http://www.lovelywendie99.com/)

I was out the other day for an hour+ ride. First thing I tried was up shifting every 10mph. It seemed to work pretty well and was closer to 4k rpm than to 5k. A couple of times, I was even able to shift up without the clutch as I'd seen recommended in Sport Rider. That was a lot smoother! The points in the manual seem to be about the same as anything I ever saw for a stick-shift car.

When I got into a nice series of local sweepers, I worked on the knee grip thing. It does make leaning easier, at least for me. On the straights, I found it took a lot of pressure off the wrists and shoulders. Made me think about getting a pair of those gripper pads you can put on a tank to give your knees some friction. Plus, I'm going to hit that weird machine in the gym that works your inner and outer thigh muscles.

Who knows? It might help more than it hurts (at first). :)

This video called "3minride" is very helpful... -showing me where to put myself in a curve ect. After riding with someone who is very full of critisism, I needed to see the proper technique in a video.
http://www.stayinsafe.com/video_3minride.shtml

That's a good one. I was interested to see him changing lane positions in the early part. Nobody mentioned that in the MSF course I took, but I'd been doing that anyway. Especially when large trucks or busses come the other way. :idea:

I was looking at taking one of the Stayin' Safe training courses. One of the tours comes pretty close by me. They aren't cheap, but they include lodging and at least a couple of meals. Anyway, I could use some real-time evaluation. That's gotta be helpful.

I'm bored at work and really looking forward to getting started riding. This thread has a lot of good info so I just wanted to bump it.

Transitioning from a Piaggio MP3 to my 2004 599. Just finished dayone of the MSF course. I originally took the course in 2007, but thought it wise to reaquaint myself with riding a motorcycle vs my scoot. I used to ride a Yamaha enduro of some sort in high school
Since purchase, I have ridden the 599 some in the 'hood as well as on the highway.
Alex your post about how you progressed in your riding skills along with mistakes and points learned are greatly appreciated.
I'm looking forward to riding the 3 Sisters with the 599 once I develop better skills and stamina. The MP3 is too easy to ride without much exertion.
Thank you again.

Do a track day, just don't make it out to be a race!

John, are you saying the secret to going fast isn't buying a supersport ? Inconceivable ! :wink:

Do a track day, just don't make it out to be a race!

John, are you saying the secret to going fast isn't buying a supersport ? Inconceivable !

I think there is a bit of learning involved to be fast and not fall down, does no good to be fast and fall down. The bike you want to learn that on is up to you.

A supersport may, or may not, get you to either place quicker.

Fast is relative, the people in front of you know your not fast enough and the people behind you know your faster than them. :mrgreen: