Motorcycle course
- Thread starter Drake_Demi
- Start date
I have yet to really have a problem with bike disputes. The times when there are bike issues are
A: Someone is not getting the hang of it, but you know its the bikes fault
B: Someone wants the ninja 250 BUT whenever they have been on it, they display behaviour that makes the other students or us nervous and are there fore not on it because we don't want them to be
C: Size. people want a certain bike but we have to let someone else on it because either they are too big or too small for another one.
C doesn't come up a lot. B is a big one, cus everyone seems to want that bike. B is one that comes up closer to test time when nerves start making people have issues.
The viragos are a good bike. I learned on one myself
Rubber gloves under your riding gloves do a surprising lot. Also add rain gear on top. It cuts the wind. Lastly, full face helmet. I hate wearing a full face but my second apprenticeship weekend it snowed/hailed etc. Heck I was wearing my full face helmet and I wasn't riding.
Workout gear or a good wick away layer as your first layer will do wonders also. A lot of people are a fan of Aliki's stuff, I love my lululemon. It pulls the moisture away from the skin keeping you dryer longer. That'll help.
but then we would miss out on all the fun.
The gist is as above. Not really relevant to the topic. Sorry to ruin your fun hugs!
Thanks for the tip... I should be good unless it rains a lot. My jacket is not fully water proof.
And I'm taking my course with you guys at the beaches.
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19891989
Guest
Don't look down when looking for the kickstand I dropped the bike doing this 
Drake_Demi
Well-known member
So pretty much stay dry, stay warm, listen, and have fun
Drake_Demi
Well-known member
I don't have any worries. I was on my father in laws bike on the weekend again practicing riding slow. Anyone can go fast. It takes skill to ride slow and in control.
I watched a police rodeo and they were doing the slow race. Most amazing display of control I've seen. Simply awesome.
I watched a police rodeo and they were doing the slow race. Most amazing display of control I've seen. Simply awesome.
Thanks for the tip... I should be good unless it rains a lot. My jacket is not fully water proof.
And I'm taking my course with you guys at the beaches.
And you are this weekend right? You'll have Willie as your senior.
I am so glad to be doing my course with you guys after reading this
What weekend? I work the 19-22 weekend
Yeah the slow stuff is hard. And on a bike it makes me not mind traffic too much cus I can play around and bet myself how slow can I go. Gilligan and I will play around with it when we are out riding.
The police skills I keep bugging an uncle for a course to do that. He used to be a motorcycle cop. As far as I can gather, the nearest place to go is stateside which there have been threads on gtam about. a guy went last year and posted his day to day of it. I'd love to take that course.
And you are this weekend right? You'll have Willie as your senior.
What weekend? I work the 19-22 weekend
Yeah the slow stuff is hard. And on a bike it makes me not mind traffic too much cus I can play around and bet myself how slow can I go. Gilligan and I will play around with it when we are out riding.
The police skills I keep bugging an uncle for a course to do that. He used to be a motorcycle cop. As far as I can gather, the nearest place to go is stateside which there have been threads on gtam about. a guy went last year and posted his day to day of it. I'd love to take that course.
Last weekend in April
joeyjoejoe
Well-known member
I have yet to really have a problem with bike disputes. The times when there are bike issues are
A: Someone is not getting the hang of it, but you know its the bikes fault
B: Someone wants the ninja 250 BUT whenever they have been on it, they display behaviour that makes the other students or us nervous and are there fore not on it because we don't want them to be
C: Size. people want a certain bike but we have to let someone else on it because either they are too big or too small for another one.
C doesn't come up a lot. B is a big one, cus everyone seems to want that bike. B is one that comes up closer to test time when nerves start making people have issues.
The viragos are a good bike. I learned on one myself
Bike problems happened to me.
The virago that I was on kept dying. It ran well once warm, but kept cutting out in idle getting it warm. The instructor told me to keep revving. I was so paranoid about stalling that when testing the first turn I put too much throttle, which caused me to go off the dotted line. I failed that part miserably. That one mistake costed me pretty much most of my points I'm allowed before a fail, but managed to do the rest of the testing perfectly and passed.
Probably the only advice I can give that hasn't already been stated, is if you are very green to motorcycles (like I was), don't get discouraged if you aren't getting it right away. In the afternoon of day 1, it was clear I was one of the weaker students. My head was telling me this was not for me, but I just kept at it. By the end of the day, I got better and before lunch on the second day, everything clicked.
Drake_Demi
Well-known member
I don't have any worries about that. I am pretty confident on the father in laws bike which has alot of power. But I know I still have much to learn which will come with the course and experience.
Gumby256
Active member
One more thing most people forget.
If you can't ride a bicycle you'll have a hard time learning to ride a motorcycle. When I took the course a couple years ago we had someone that had never riding a bicycle and because of this could not balance the bike at low speeds. Which for the first half of day one you are just pushing each other on the bike with motors off. He had to drop out.
If you can't ride a bicycle you'll have a hard time learning to ride a motorcycle. When I took the course a couple years ago we had someone that had never riding a bicycle and because of this could not balance the bike at low speeds. Which for the first half of day one you are just pushing each other on the bike with motors off. He had to drop out.
I was the remedial kid when being pushed (before we even fired the bikes up). I'm not sure if it was the guy pushing me or me, I just couldn't get it. I'm good at low speeds under power since I get to decide how much power is going to the rear wheel instead of the guy pushing.
Once the bikes were under their own power, I was one of the strongest.
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Charles Darwin
Guest
When I did the course, anyone who had never driven a standard car before failed that day. Learning to ride a motorcycle AND how to use a clutch/shift gears just seemed too much.
It was raining pretty bad that weekend. I brought a dry beach towel in a garbage bag which I used to towel off my visor, myself, etc. Second day, there were a few others who followed suit.
SLEEP. Don't plan any wild parties or late nights before riding. A guy in our course went out late with friends after the first day - he dropped the bike three or four times on the second day and just quit after the last fall.
It was raining pretty bad that weekend. I brought a dry beach towel in a garbage bag which I used to towel off my visor, myself, etc. Second day, there were a few others who followed suit.
SLEEP. Don't plan any wild parties or late nights before riding. A guy in our course went out late with friends after the first day - he dropped the bike three or four times on the second day and just quit after the last fall.
C
Charles Darwin
Guest
That was me, too. I've been riding bicycles forever, and even bike to work occasionally. I was nervous as hell getting on a motorcycle, and the first time I get to ride it some dude who ALSO has never ridden is PUSHING me while I'm holding on for dear life??? It was horrible - I was not looking forward to the rest of the weekend after that exercise.
Once we started the engines, everything went right.
PLau
Well-known member
The very first time I was ever on a bike was at a course. Which happened to be Learning Curves. First day there was a rain storm and second day where we did the test, there was a snow storm. Kind of ironic cause the original date I booked for got cancelled due to forecasted snow which turned out to be a nice sunny day.
It is true what the instructors told us that day. After riding in those conditions, we have pretty much ridden in the worst of weather around Toronto. On top of that, we didn't have to worry about dropping the bike too much on those days
(This course took place 1 year ago)
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This year, I started riding starting mid-Feb cause I was pretty anxious to ride.... After a couple days of practice around the block which were pretty cold ( -7 + windchill), I hit the bigger streets which consisted with the one "warm" day (4 degrees) which extremely windy (43km/h winds 50km/h+ wind gusts). I didn't really have much of a choice to go home so I rode in that. The practice and experience gained during the course somewhat prepared me for that day where I had a few too many "oh sh**" moments when the gusts hit me. Ended up riding leaning towards the wind trying to go straight.
Overall, I think the worse the conditions are during the course (other than hail cause that sucks), the more you get out of it.
D-3vil
Well-known member
I would not worry too much about the weather ... just make sure you dress warm and manage to stay dry.
Hopefully by the end of the weekend you'll appreciate that you've ridden in less-than-perfect weather -- you'll be a better rider because of it!
At RTI we offer several styles of bikes for a number of reasons, but primarily to allow students to find the "right fit". Bike disputes rarely occur, and by lunchtime Saturday most everyone has settled on the bike they will stick with for the remainder. That said, we always have extra bikes on the site and if the need to switch is pressing enough, the instructors can find ways to get weaker students onto more comfortable bikes.
As for testing, our standard is to allow students to test on whichever bike they like. If that means that all 20 students want to ride the same bike, then 19 students will be standing as we cycle that one bike down the line...
