Any Other Biker/Riders?
- Thread starter tschiraldi
- Start date
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Agreed. You said you are a big fellow and, presumably, mature
My first bike was a 500cc "thumper", an '82 Honda FT500 Ascot.
It was a fun bike, but within six months, I was seeking more displacement.
Don't be in too much of a hurry to get that V-Max, however. That V-Boost is enough power to get you in trouble.
Make it your 4th or 5th bike.
And a bike thread in the general discussion category is perfectly within bounds!
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Having ridden for merely a month I have some observations regarding bikes vs cars.
The bike is a lot more demanding, and more engaging. A car is operated, a bike is essentially an extension of the rider, and that’s not a cliche, just never realised until I started riding one.
The bike demands attention and input from all four limbs, often concurrently, direction from the head, and even momentum from the body as well as gripping the bike with your thighs when accelerating. I told a friend who’s a biker the last 15 years that when accelerating I feel the inertia between my ass and the bike and he said “handlebars are for turning not holding on, use your legs for grip”.
Bet you all experienced riders are chuckling thinking “the rookie is having the honeymoon”, but I am really loving this!
The bike is a lot more demanding, and more engaging. A car is operated, a bike is essentially an extension of the rider, and that’s not a cliche, just never realised until I started riding one.
The bike demands attention and input from all four limbs, often concurrently, direction from the head, and even momentum from the body as well as gripping the bike with your thighs when accelerating. I told a friend who’s a biker the last 15 years that when accelerating I feel the inertia between my ass and the bike and he said “handlebars are for turning not holding on, use your legs for grip”.
Bet you all experienced riders are chuckling thinking “the rookie is having the honeymoon”, but I am really loving this!
Oh hell yeah I ride... All through out the year as well, despite the seasons. I've had a few bikes, but my current is a 2015 Victory Cross Country. I've had a 2008 Street Bob, suped up for real, 2013 Softail Deluxe, 2005 XL1200C, and a 1985 Yamaha XJ900... I started in my early 20s, been in the wind since. I'm patched as well... Here's some pics
Finally got my license @jaytex1969 :D
It's quite involved over here in Switzerland, if you have a car license you apply for a learner's license which comes a few days later by post. The biggest you can get is called A35, meaning 35kW (45-47bhp) max power. Then with this you're free to go buy a motorcycle, insure it and ride it, no questions about skill asked. This is valid for 4 months, in which you need to complete the mandatory 12-hour training by an authorized instructor, split over 3 sessions which must be done on different days.
Once you do that you get a stamp, the local transport authority is notified and you have 12 additional months to train and sign up for the exam. The exam is two part, an obstacle course with 9-10 items you need to complete (slalom, figure 8, circles, "gates", hill start, hill stop, u-turn, emergency braking, slow riding, parking securely and a few simple checks that you understand how your bike works). Emphasis is on confidence, and smoothness. Putting feet down in any situation where stopping is not part of the exercise is an instant fail, as is half-arsing the emergency brake, they tell you if your bike has ABS they NEED to see it engage. You must also hit 50km/h before braking and they do check. I failed the first time by putting my foot down in the figure 8.
When you pass that (you have 5 tries total) you can sign up for the street riding exam. This is where it gets to be a bit hardcore, the examiner (a man/woman you've never met...) rides pillion so they see and feel everything (the fact a stranger was putting their LIFE in another stranger's hands was very disturbing for me!), only communicates with taping your shoulder when they want you to change direction or stop, otherwise it's up to you to ride within legal limits, finding your way, there's no feedback along the way. In about 35-40 minutes we rode through pedestrian streets (10-20 km/h speed limit), town streets (30km/h), city streets (50km/h), countryside (80km/h) including a stretch of dirt road (first time for me, didn't enjoy that!!!) and downhill a mountainside, and finally rounded off by returning via the motorway (120km/h). Also, the exam can only be done in full gear (helmet, gloves, jacket, trousers, boots) - nobody's asking if this is your gear (one guy turned up like Robocop, with scratched kneepads, and failed at the figure 8 as well, so clearly not his gear!) but it's a way to force people to get some gear other than the mandatory helmet. Personally I don't wear the motorcycle trousers if I am not going for a long/fast ride, but do wear the rest every time. Also insurance here can decide not to cover you if you're not fully covered up and you crash...
The three things my excellent instructor hammered into me is a) you need to very obviously look over your shoulder every time you're changing lanes (it's become second nature to me including when driving my car), b) you need to "align" on the road before changing direction (essentially claiming your space, if you want to turn left you "block" the left side of the road) and c) most importantly the "dynamic". This "dynamic" meant "riding as fast as safely/legally possible in any given situation". I knew this would give me trouble so I worked on it, my instructor told me I rode like a grandpa in the mountain roads, said I'd fail if I rode like this in the exam. He said they need to see that you can command the bike with confidence, not just operate it. All in all I am very happy I passed it first time knowing how sticky the Swiss are about it. Their point of view is they give you 16 months of practice, you better show some competence, confidence and ability to be a safe rider! The weird thing is right at the start of the process though, a car license just means I know road signs and behaviour, doesn't say ANYTHING about whether I have any ability riding a motorcycle, and nobody's asking either.
Oh yeah, the license still is restricted to 35kW for 2 years, in which I must not be booked for "bad behaviour" (basically any offense resulting in fines/points on the license), then will need to pass a second road test before I can ride a full-power bike (but everybody says they pass the second road test without breaking a sweat). I think this is a good rule personally. Full-powered motorcycles are just too powerful, too fast for anyone to pick up with a few hours' worth of riding experience. They won't learn anything either, they'll just be fighting to control the beast beneath their crotch.
Here's a pic of the obstacle course from googlemaps, I was studying it and recreating it with water bottles when practicing after my first fail, and a pic of my last driving lesson in FREEZING cold in January, practicing mountain roads.
Next stop...just riding of course, Switzerland is a phenomenally good country for motorcycles, endless curvy mountain roads! There's nothing quite so good as riding a motorcycle, I just love it and get everyone else who loves this hobby, sport, activity. Still I am a grandpa though, my best case scenario is a long valley situation, cruising on soft curves. Not to say that I don't also like to throw the bike in tighter mountain/forest curves, but I am still a bit chicken for that.
It's quite involved over here in Switzerland, if you have a car license you apply for a learner's license which comes a few days later by post. The biggest you can get is called A35, meaning 35kW (45-47bhp) max power. Then with this you're free to go buy a motorcycle, insure it and ride it, no questions about skill asked. This is valid for 4 months, in which you need to complete the mandatory 12-hour training by an authorized instructor, split over 3 sessions which must be done on different days.
Once you do that you get a stamp, the local transport authority is notified and you have 12 additional months to train and sign up for the exam. The exam is two part, an obstacle course with 9-10 items you need to complete (slalom, figure 8, circles, "gates", hill start, hill stop, u-turn, emergency braking, slow riding, parking securely and a few simple checks that you understand how your bike works). Emphasis is on confidence, and smoothness. Putting feet down in any situation where stopping is not part of the exercise is an instant fail, as is half-arsing the emergency brake, they tell you if your bike has ABS they NEED to see it engage. You must also hit 50km/h before braking and they do check. I failed the first time by putting my foot down in the figure 8.
When you pass that (you have 5 tries total) you can sign up for the street riding exam. This is where it gets to be a bit hardcore, the examiner (a man/woman you've never met...) rides pillion so they see and feel everything (the fact a stranger was putting their LIFE in another stranger's hands was very disturbing for me!), only communicates with taping your shoulder when they want you to change direction or stop, otherwise it's up to you to ride within legal limits, finding your way, there's no feedback along the way. In about 35-40 minutes we rode through pedestrian streets (10-20 km/h speed limit), town streets (30km/h), city streets (50km/h), countryside (80km/h) including a stretch of dirt road (first time for me, didn't enjoy that!!!) and downhill a mountainside, and finally rounded off by returning via the motorway (120km/h). Also, the exam can only be done in full gear (helmet, gloves, jacket, trousers, boots) - nobody's asking if this is your gear (one guy turned up like Robocop, with scratched kneepads, and failed at the figure 8 as well, so clearly not his gear!) but it's a way to force people to get some gear other than the mandatory helmet. Personally I don't wear the motorcycle trousers if I am not going for a long/fast ride, but do wear the rest every time. Also insurance here can decide not to cover you if you're not fully covered up and you crash...
The three things my excellent instructor hammered into me is a) you need to very obviously look over your shoulder every time you're changing lanes (it's become second nature to me including when driving my car), b) you need to "align" on the road before changing direction (essentially claiming your space, if you want to turn left you "block" the left side of the road) and c) most importantly the "dynamic". This "dynamic" meant "riding as fast as safely/legally possible in any given situation". I knew this would give me trouble so I worked on it, my instructor told me I rode like a grandpa in the mountain roads, said I'd fail if I rode like this in the exam. He said they need to see that you can command the bike with confidence, not just operate it. All in all I am very happy I passed it first time knowing how sticky the Swiss are about it. Their point of view is they give you 16 months of practice, you better show some competence, confidence and ability to be a safe rider! The weird thing is right at the start of the process though, a car license just means I know road signs and behaviour, doesn't say ANYTHING about whether I have any ability riding a motorcycle, and nobody's asking either.
Oh yeah, the license still is restricted to 35kW for 2 years, in which I must not be booked for "bad behaviour" (basically any offense resulting in fines/points on the license), then will need to pass a second road test before I can ride a full-power bike (but everybody says they pass the second road test without breaking a sweat). I think this is a good rule personally. Full-powered motorcycles are just too powerful, too fast for anyone to pick up with a few hours' worth of riding experience. They won't learn anything either, they'll just be fighting to control the beast beneath their crotch.
Here's a pic of the obstacle course from googlemaps, I was studying it and recreating it with water bottles when practicing after my first fail, and a pic of my last driving lesson in FREEZING cold in January, practicing mountain roads.
Next stop...just riding of course, Switzerland is a phenomenally good country for motorcycles, endless curvy mountain roads! There's nothing quite so good as riding a motorcycle, I just love it and get everyone else who loves this hobby, sport, activity. Still I am a grandpa though, my best case scenario is a long valley situation, cruising on soft curves. Not to say that I don't also like to throw the bike in tighter mountain/forest curves, but I am still a bit chicken for that.
For a while during college I rode a Yamaha 250 very similar to the one pictured below, but wrecked it in a rather spectacular fashion and was lucky to be able to limp away from its charred remains. I haven't ridden since then.
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Some of those 1970's two strokes were pretty lethal. The Kawasaki KH triple series springs to mind, especially their KH 750 aka the widow maker!
Once you hit that powerband it was a matter of holding very tight until the front wheel finally came down and made contact with the road again.....scary days for sure.
Jay.
My daily, a 1980 Yamaha Xs650G
My wife’s 1976 Honda CJ360
My project
My wife’s 1976 Honda CJ360
My project
I lusted after a Yamaha SR500,but never bought one. I love builds like this! Keep me posted!
I'm actively hunting an XT500, the offroad version of SR. Prices on both the XT & SR have skyrocketed though.
My buddy had an XT500 with the silver/chrome tank. He loved riding my two-stroke DT 400 and we often swapped. I could ride a wheelie for a mile on that XT, which made me want the SR. Yeah, both out of my price range now.
I forgot I owned an XS650 Special for a short wile.
I had the very same only mine was a 1979 model (I think) with twin discs up front & drum on the rear with wire spokes as your has.
I loved that bike.
Jay.
All Euro models came with dual disc fronts, US models only had single disc. I have another disc, left caliper, hose, and manifold but haven't gotten around to putting it on yet.