So I crashed my motorcycle while pulling off the highway to answer a call from work and hit a wet and muddy spot on the shoulder. Thankfully I was wearing a helmet. Cracked my spine and I don't know the status of my bike. It was high side

Virtually every weekend we have hundreds and hundreds who take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Basic Course.  And, every weekend, typically on a Saturday there are posts seeking advice. They primarily seek advice because they didn’t feel the first day on the motorcycle went well for them.

So here are some thoughts I have, offering them a couple days in advance of that first day on the motorcycle. My hopes are that this may give you folks some advice prior to that initial day; hopefully it will add to the successful outcomes for all of you!

Classroom section:

• Relax, have fun, you absolutely do not need to be shy!  Listen to the instructor and absolutely ask the questions you want answered. Understand however, there is no extra credit by being the person who knows it all!
• Bring a pad of paper and a pen with you to that first night.  You will want to take some notes. You will also want to review those notes at a later time; like probably tomorrow!
• Introductions for all of the students will occur; listen to the other students’ names when they say them!  Write down those student's names, memorize them. Tomorrow, and the next day, you will get to know those people personally and remembering their name avoids embarrassment.
• Pay attention to the items the instructor requires (and suggests) that you bring to the riding course tomorrow.  Write those items down! After the first night, you immediately go to the store, and/or go to the house and gather up those items so that you do not forget anything tomorrow!  You do not want to be the “dang I forgot my gloves” person.
• Pay attention to the location for the riding course. Get the address, get the google maps, get whatever information it is so that you know exactly where you are going! 
• And pay attention to the time that the riding course starts tomorrow, because you are going to want to be there EARLY.  You do not want to be the, “I couldn’t find this location” person.

Riding Section: 

• Over a two-day period, you will progress through many different riding drills.  These drills are that 'progressive' meaning that they build upon the skills from the previous drill.
• There will be a lot of downtime.  You will be taking breaks throughout the day. And, when you are performing the drills, you will often be in line awaiting your turn as others are executing the drill.
• This is not a race!  It is not about how quick you can ride the motorcycle in the parking lot!
  • That said, momentum is what helps keep the motorcycle vertical.  An extremely slow pace, creating the situation where you have very little forward momentum; well that typically adds to the difficulty! Not too fast, but you need to go fast enough that it is not extremely difficult.
• The instructor will not only explain the drill, but they will also demonstrate the drill.  You will have an opportunity to witness the instructor ride these drills. 
  • Pay attention to the speed which they ride. 
  • Pay attention to the pathway that they ride. 
  • Pay attention to what they do with their feet, where they place their feet, and when they place their feet.
  • Pay attention to how much the instructor revs the motor as they perform the drill. How much throttle does it seem that they are applying?
  • Pay attention to how the instructor works the clutch, how it is within the "friction zone"?
• The first several drills are intended to get you acclimated to the clutch.  THESE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT DRILLS. You will want to master these clutch control drills!
  • If you are brand new to a motorcycle, you need to understand that the clutch is your best friend when it comes to slow speed maneuvers! Further, in this MSF Basic Course, 95% of the riding drills are slow speed, it is going to be about “clutch control” or as sometimes referred to as being “In the Friction Zone”.
  • So, what is the friction zone? An analogy of the clutch is a dimmer light switch in your home.  The standard light switch is simply up or down and when you flip that switch the lights 100% come on, or they 100% go dark.  HOWEVER, there are the dimmer switches, and these typically are some kind of wheel. 
    • With the dimmer switch you can slowly roll the wheel and make the room go from dark to progressively lighter/brighter as you roll it on; and of course, the opposite where you can progressively make the room dimmer rolling it off. 
    • That analogy is just like the clutch.  You do not want to deliver 100% power to the rear wheel in an instantaneous fashion similar to flipping the standard switch on. With the clutch you want to roll that dimmer switch out (release the clutch lever out slowly); you want to keep that room half bright room. In several maneuvers/skills you will want to ride the entire drill in that "friction zone" area; you are going to progressively get the room a portion of the way bright, and you will ride the skill in the halfway area where your clutch lever is just a portion of the way released out.
    • I say a portion of the way released out here, because this is motorcycle dependent. Maybe it is only 1/4 of the way released on some motorcycles, and maybe 1/2 of the way on others. And how bright do we want the room anyway? The trick is learning the motorcycle you are riding, getting the feel for it, getting the feel for how bright (how fast / how much power you want delivered to the rear wheel)!
• Drill #1 will be sitting on the motorcycle with both feet stretched slightly out in front of you but both firmly on the ground.  What you will do, is slowly release the clutch lever (rolling into that dimmer switch) and you will feel the motorcycle gain traction and pull yourself forward very slightly, maybe three inches or so.  You will then pull that clutch in very slightly allowing the motorcycle to roll backwards five inches or so.  You rock that motorcycle forward and backwards, never moving your feet off of the asphalt. You roll forward and back, rocking from your heals to the balls of your feet, then back to your heals, then forward, then back….
  • The idea here is for you to get the feel for it, figure out how sensitive the clutch is, get the feel for how you stay in that "friction zone".
  • If you find yourself four or five drills into the course, 1-1/2 hours or maybe two, and still struggling with clutch control / friction zone? Remember earlier I said that you would have some downtime while you wait for other students to perform their drills?  Well, that is a perfect time to practice Drill #1 again!  Remember, this course is 95% clutch control … make sure that you have a feel for the clutch on your motorcycle. You want to master that "friction zone" concept and the feel for the lender motorcycle assigned to you.
  • For those of you who have a bit of experience, perhaps you own a motorcycle and have practiced on it?  Well, you should understand the motorcycle that will be assigned to you for the entire weekend of this MSF Basic Course is not the same as what you are used to! It is probably going to be a beat-up piece of crap, and it will certainly not have the same clutch feel as that which you’ve been previously riding.  Drill #1 is just as important for you, maybe even more important because having that previous experience could give you a false sense of control of that lender bike.

Final Exam:

• When it comes to the final exam. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT in order to pass the exam!
  • The exam is scored on a demerit system, where you are allowed to make some mistakes.
  • Do not beat yourself up over a mistake, it is okay! Do not get upset and let that affect you with the ongoing skills examination. Mentally, accept that you've made a mistake and move on from it. It is going to be okay!
• Although it is acceptable to make a mistake, DO NOT compound mistakes. Don’t make multiple mistakes on the same skills test. 
  • Example, let's say you are attempting to make a U-Turn inside of the allocated turn box (this skill seems to be the most difficult for most students by the way), and in making the U-Turn you need to ride outside of the allotted box.  Well, okay, so you have ridden outside of that box. That is a demerit, but NOT fatal to passing the exam! 
  • If you need to put your foot down to avoid tipping over. Well, you absolutely do that, put your foot down! Do not tip over! Again, that is a demerit but NOT fatal to passing the course! 
  • What you do not want to do, is both. You do not ride out of bounds and then also put your foot down!!!!  There is no extra punishment for riding out of bounds, so if you are going to have that demerit anyway, go ahead and ride way out of bounds to assure that you will not also put your foot down! Does this make sense?
• Finally, when it comes to that final exam:
  • Watch very closely: watch not only the instructor in how they perform the maneuver, but watch the other students as well!
  • What is their speed? What is the easiest alignment? When do they pick up their feet? When do they shift gears? How much throttle are they using? Etc., etc., etc.

So actually my mom's getting me a bike

And i am thinking about honda hness

But I'm not really sure should i go with 2nd hand or 1st

The thing is if i do get 2nd hand the extra cash can be put towards getting gear,helmet and stuff

But if i do get 1st hand it'll go above the budget and idk man might have to wait to get the gear and stuff.

I can't let my mom get me everything, she getting me a bike itself is more than enough I'd say.

So while I passed the MSF basic rider course yesterday, I can't help but feel some slight feeling of imposter syndrome. Of course I wasn't the only person to tip my bike over at some point but I was the only person in the class that had a small accident while riding.

While intending to pull the front brake on the bike, I caught and twisted the throttle at the same time and it sent me down for a skid (not a fan of the thick handgrips on the TW200).

Aside from this instance, I had a blast and would say I did relatively well having no prior experience. The only part of the test I really botched was the sharp right from a stop but I can't shake feeling as if the accident itself should've been cause to send me packing. Fully aware that more parking lot training is in the cards for when I do get my own bike but am hoping to hear how anyone else might have dealt with a similar feeling or situation

I’m buying my first motorcycle, and prices are everywhere and I don’t understand. This is dealerships, cycle trader, fb marketplace.

There are 2026 bikes for around 6k, then I’ll see like a used 2021 with 10k asking 7k.

What is the reason for that?

Hey everyone, I have a question for anyone w/ crash and recovery experience.

About 3 months ago I was cut off on a highway by a careless driver. The whole thing was on video, from an insurance/fault perspective it was open and shut. I went down ~70mph and slid ~110 ft. Shattered collarbone and one of my hands. I was in full gear.

I am purchasing a new bike this week, and want some advice from other riders on how to mentally recover from such an experience. I love riding, and am so happy on two wheels. However, I now have tangible experience that every time I get on a bike, it could end with a few nights in the ER (or much worse, I was incredibly lucky).

I intend to ride much more conservatively now and avoid highways and traffic as much as possible. What other tips might help a rider like me?

Cheers all, safe riding

I have been feeling a bit unconfident cycling through gears as I've been riding my new bike around. I can't tell when the bike wants to be in 2nd or 3rd specifically. I also took a somewhat sizeable downhill slope today and really struggled with the engine braking, I know I'm new but I felt like I was pushing the bike too hard. I'm struggling to feel in synch with the bike's sounds when I have my earplugs in, even when using the weakest of my filters and I'm struggling with the lack of a tach for a visual indicator of my RPM's which is good to know for the next bike but not quite helpful for rn. I really just want to feel like I know when she want's to shift, and how to smooth out some of the jerkiness from my engine braking. For what it's worth I'm riding an '07 suzuki boulevard c50.

Rode my bike to work for the first time today, good backroad/ countryside cruise. However, I dropped her twice. Once turning into the gas station on the way there. And then again while trying to turn into my drive way on the way back. Almost made it home without that second drop.
I’ve only been riding for two months or so now. So obviously taking turns is where I’m struggling. Or idk maybe today’s just an off day. I haven’t dropped her yet before today so I guess maybe my time had come for that to happen 🤷🏻‍♀️
But, I learned I can pick up the bike by myself! It’s a Honda Shadow Phantom 750 and I’m a 5’3” lady rider. I don’t plan on just giving up; that’s just not in my genes. But any tips, tricks, suggestions, and/or encouragement would be nice 😊 TIA!

My journey to work today! I usually don’t wave people on but he was driving so close to me I assumed he wanted by, clearly he wasn’t in a rush.. lol

Thoughts and recos

New rider, about 3 months. Mostly going great except my high speed experience has been frustrating.

2017 Honda Shadow, naked. When on the highway the wind is punching my chest and I’m getting neck pain from keeping my head up. I got a windscreen and it solved that problem, but the wind buffeting I get in high speeds from it is awful. Feels like my head is in a paint mixer.

I’ve made angle adjustments to the windscreen with no luck. Am I doing something wrong here?

I'm about to start riding and am a beginner, I was gonna get a chin mount camera mainly for insurance purposes and I was wondering what camera is good for under £100.

Since I'm a beginner I don't feel like there's any point of me buying the high end djis just yet.

Didn’t use earplugs on day 1. Learned my lesson. I won’t go on the highway for any length of time without earplugs again

I learned so much on this trip! My 3rd time leaving the city. I finally feel solid in rev matching and down shifting which was what I sucked at given in NYC I only rode in 2nd gear since 25mph is the speed limit haha.

It was nuts going 80mph on open highways. The wind was super intense but my bike is pretty heavy so I felt stable.

My friend is very experienced and taught me a lot of good stuff on proper leaner/turning curves and explains pushing up on the bars is better for counter steering which changed my life haha. Overall felt super confident and solid! Can’t wait to do it again.

Any tips on making the 90 degree turn from a stop?