so i picked up my bike today.

emericanchaos · 03-31-2008, 01:14 AM

so i got my first bike today. 2005 R6 (OMG!!). pictures tomorrow cause it's dark out now.

deal was done at a Best Buys so i had a parking lot to noodle around in without worrying about hurting anyone. plus the whole back side of the store was desolate so i put in alot of work back there. spent two hours cruising the lots learning the gears, figuring out how much input to give. etc.

first time around i threw my leg over it kicked the kick stand in and started rolling down the slight grade i had. wobbled the bars a bit while trying to find where the clutch really engages. finally was able to dump it without lurching and proceeded to grab second. wind out to about 15mph see the stop sign coming up faster than i wanted it too and said OK time to shut her down. close the throttle and BAM i start bucking. scared the shit out of me. i grabbed the clutch and rode the rear brake in to the stop.

decided since i failed that i should turn around. used the abandoned culdesack (sp) to pull a U-turn and started over. try it again. same shit. decide to try something else as this is alluding me. figure i should practice leaning the bike at low speed through the empty post office parking lot next door. go for a few laps to the left. whip back around to the right. bike still lurching when i chop the throttle shut. at this point i'm also trying to use the front brake to stop as well as the rear. bad idea. front brake is very grabby and the bike pitches hard when i grab it. at this point i'm a mixture of pissed of from failing and a bit nerve racked and, dare i say it, afraid. i park the bike next to my car and sit down for a minute, hands shaking in fear and frigid cold.

accepting defeat i call the guy i just bought it from and ask him for some help. told him i was sitting balls up on the tank and "riding tall in the saddle". he agreed that this was bad and to try scooting my ass towards the back. word. lets try it. i buy a bottle of water and after a couple deep breathes climbed back on.

now i'm back on, slip the clutch over the idle until i get first rolling, shift up and just putt around back idling on second gear. once i get clear i dig into the pegs a bit and push my ass back. this brought my arms down and bent my elbows instead of having them locked and TADA i don't feel the lurching nearly as bad, bumps are cake to run over and i actually gas it up to 25!

now that i know how to move this thing i figure it's time to get some balls. that's right folks. it's time for THE INTERSECTION. roll up to the stop sign, find a clearing in traffic and start to drop the clutch on first. well don't you know i stall the thing. strike one. start the bike back up and get it going, shift right to second and juice it out of the way. problem averted. sort of. once i'd made my turn i went to shift, missed it without realizing and dropped the clutch back onto second. oops. strike two. decide i'm not ready for the real world of traffic and such yet so i crawl back behind best buy and work at it some more.

on about my fourth little adventure i realized i was losing the sun to the clouds and it's getting cold. really cold. at this point i've stopped getting lost in the gears, i know not to grab my front brake for low speed braking and i am fairly decent at controlling the throttle since i'm not putting my weight on the bars. i decide to ride to my uncle's house since he lives 4-5 miles away and basically put the bike away there until i could practice again. OH NO!! WRONG LANE!!! i'll just turn around ASAP, i thought. well this little error forced me to drive at 50mph. shit! wait. this isn't bad at all. shit this is easy. and from there i rode home in low 40F weather and gusty wind.

all in all today was incident free. i didn't even do so much as drop it in the parking lot which surprised me. stalling in the intersection SUCKED but i think i played that smart by waiting until NO cars were coming. i basically rolled around the parking lot for over two hours learning the very basics of the bike before rolling the 30 highway miles home. although i've made good progress today i still have a few problems i could maybe get some help with.

so here's the bad parts. first gear is scarey. straight up. it's twitchy as hell and if you're not careful with the throttle the bike with twitch and buck. since i began i've gotten better at handling first gear but i try to avoid it really. my first gear starts are SOMETIMES a bit uncontrolled. i tend to lurch and buck a bit more then i'd like. i usually grab up the clutch and drop the throttle when this happens. need help on this.

second issue. turning to the right. i can do it yes but it's uncomfortable. i'll lean the bike in first and the bars tend to follow but it feels like i hit an invisible wall. after awhile the bike just won't turn in anymore. turning left it will almost over steer. feels good. i noticed that my front tire isn't in the best of shape and is much more worn on the left than the right. is this related or do i just suck?

that's all i cant think of right now. everything else i've encountered so far can be remedied with practice and forcing new habits. being used to a pedal bike i dropped my left foot down while in a turn i felt to leaned over in. realized right away that if i were going faster than the 15mph i was at that wouldn't have ended so well.

if you have any tips that came to mind as you've read this please post them. the thing about oversight is that the smallest of things can become the biggest of problems.

F4sSprintST · 03-31-2008, 01:17 AM

Wow, break out the popcorn!

You are going to get the living hell flamed out of you for being a noob starting out on an R6 and not taking the MSF course.......

I'll go a bit easy on ya - but it does sound like you could REALLY REALLY benefit from taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course and letting them teach you basic clutch and throttle control on their bikes, before you crash the one you just bought.

Ozy · 03-31-2008, 01:18 AM

Congrats man

Wear your gear, take the MSF, practise practise practise

Wait, shit.

emericanchaos · 03-31-2008, 01:24 AM

so their's the arguement of an SS being a bad first bike. my thoughts.

if you want to just sum it all squarely then yes an SS is a bad bike to start with. not because of it's speed or power though. for me it's about how sensitive this bike is to every little thing i tell it to do. if i intentionally nudge the throttle it winds up fairly high. if i grab the front brake the front brake grabs HARD. if i let out the clutch a bit too much i get thrown back in an uncomfortable sort of way.

IT'S VERY EASY TO SEE HOW AN OVER ZEALOUS NEWB CAN GET HURT! i approached this bike with fear and determination. i knew that i didn't have alot of a clue as to what it would be like to ride it so i not only practiced but i was tough on myself. now i don't mean to come off as someone that thinks they know all because they learned how to move the bike without fucking up too badly so don't take it there. what i'm saying is i was determined to make progress today and i went from being very afraid of my bike to being moderately afraid of it.

in short. if you're not willing to be patient in learning how to ride DON'T get a super sport. for half the day i questioned my decision on getting this as my first two wheeler and as it sits i'm more comfortable with it now but not so much that i feel like i can drive any faster than the posted speed limit. i'm very rough still and letting my 36yr old neighbor who's been riding for 20 years take my bike for a spin and watching how he can hop on and go after parking his gold wing i can say that riding a motorcycle isn't a skill you should expect to learn very quickly.

emericanchaos · 03-31-2008, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by F4sSprintST

Wow, break out the popcorn!

You are going to get the living hell flamed out of you for being a noob starting out on an R6 and not taking the MSF course.......

I'll go a bit easy on ya - but it does sound like you could REALLY REALLY benefit from taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course and letting them teach you basic clutch and throttle control on their bikes, before you crash the one you just bought.

i agree 100% the last time i looked into the MSF i couldn't sign up because i didn't have a permit. i now have a permit so this situation will be remedied ASAP.

i've already been flamed for the SS stuff. my info used to say 03 R6 so i caught flack straight off. i understand that this thing is way too much for me now. all in all i'm going to be riding this like i would ride a 250. i'm seriously not comfortable with anything above 5-6000 rpms.

emericanchaos · 03-31-2008, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozy

Congrats man

Wear your gear, take the MSF, practise practise practise

Wait, shit.

gear is in the mail but i don't have all the paperwork in order for her yet so i won't be riding much until i'm legal.

Ozy · 03-31-2008, 01:33 AM

you got a d-a-m-p-e-r?

bjay51d · 03-31-2008, 01:34 AM

As long as you have respect for it you should be all right. Its the guys that think they are experts after learning how to shift into sixth that get into trouble.practice makes perfect if you have a bit of common sense you wont have a problem.

emericanchaos · 03-31-2008, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozy

you got a d-a-m-p-e-r?

not now. i'm going to being like an 80yr old guy in a crown vic on this thing for a good while. right now it baffles me how people are even comfortable with the front coming up. i've not experienced it yet but i'm really not looking forward to it.

emericanchaos · 03-31-2008, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjay51d

As long as you have respect for it you should be all right. Its the guys that think they are experts after learning how to shift into sixth that get into trouble.practice makes perfect if you have a bit of common sense you wont have a problem.

lol! yeah right now my style is to get to top gear asap. fourth is generally comfortable though. at least where i've seen it.

emericanchaos · 03-31-2008, 01:40 AM

oh to add fuel to the flameage, the guy before me added full exhaust and a power commander thing. shit's loud and it idles kinda lumpy. sounds like a giant weed whacker with a big cam.

06six00 · 03-31-2008, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emericanchaos

oh to add fuel to the flameage, the guy before me added full exhaust and a power commander thing. shit's loud and it idles kinda lumpy. sounds like a giant weed whacker with a big cam.

haha power commander thing....

Congrats on the new bike man. Have fun!

Qwknuf · 03-31-2008, 01:49 AM

Keep the bike PARKED until you take and pass the MSF BRC. That's the best advice I can give you before you hurt yourself trying to learn on your own.

emericanchaos · 03-31-2008, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qwknuf

Keep the bike PARKED until you take and pass the MSF BRC. That's the best advice I can give you before you hurt yourself trying to learn on your own.

thanks bro!

RayOSV · 03-31-2008, 02:31 AM

Where to begin. You've demonstrated almost all the reasons why one shouldn't start on an SS bike plus no MSF. Yes the throttle is twitchy. Yes the brakes are twitchy. You haven't discovered this yet, but even the steering can be twitchy. You're afraid of the bike. You can't respect it. You can't master it. The best you can do now (and probably for many weeks) is hope it doesn't dump you on your ass. And then you'll become over-confident and it will dump you on your ass. Hard.

Higher gears feel better because your keeping the engine barely above idle. The first time you open the throttle more than you intended I hope you're pointed straight down the road and not at some parked car or worse a cliff.

Imagine how much fun you'd be having on a 500 that doesn't scare the crap out of you after learning basic bike controls in a safe MSF environment. This is the difference between your day today and what could have been.