Teaching a friend the basics

[subxero]

So the other day one of my close friends came to me and said that they were going to take a beginner licensing coarse in 2 weeks. They had never really be on a motorcycle before so i asked them if they wanted to practice some basics on a small dirt bike in a very large field and they said sure.

So i suited them up and put them on the KLX125. After probably about an hour of just going over the controls, what to do in certain scenarios if something went wrong i had them work on just feeling the friction zone of the clutch getting them to super slowly release it until the bike wanted to inch forward then pull the clutch back in. After that we worked on cracking the throttle with the bike in neutral for a bit then we tied them together. Taught them to release the clutch slowly until they could feel that the bike wanted to start to move forward and then to give just the tiniest bit of throttle and continue to release the clutch every so slightly until the bike had enough power to move then to hold the clutch and throttle at that position ease forward for maybe 5 yards then pull in clutch and let off throttle and coast to a stop.

We practiced this for quite some time until i noticed improvement in clutch and throttle control. Then i had them travel a little further and apply the rear brake to stop, did that then moved to front brake to stop, then both together again only traveling short distances at slow speed 1st gear. After they got comfortable with braking we moved to shifting which also proved to be the hardest thing for them to get. They kept hitting neutral on the way to 2nd and would get flustered and then mess up with the clutch and throttle trying to salvage the shift. shift from 2nd to 3rd went better but still not that good. After some time with shifting i was trying to get them to practice everything they had learned. I would have them do a big loop, shifting up in straights down into the turns then come to a stop and brake, down shift at same time. It was a lot for them to handle at once but they got a little better. When all was said and down we spent ~ 4 hrs practicing that day. There were obvious signs of improvement especially with take offs which is great!

Fast forward a week and we met up again this time at a different location and i put my friend on my cousins old cr230f... i think thats what it is. So it was a much higher seat height, and a little more power. Picked up pretty much were we left off they had not forgotten much if anything. Still some issues with shifting but getting better. His class starts later this week. 2 days in the classroom and 2 days in the parking lot with the bikes. Not sure what kind of bike they will put him on but he should have a little bit of a head start now anyways.

Through out the whole learning my friend did not fall once which was great, he did wheelie by accident a few times but that gave for a good laugh.

So their first time on any type of motorcycle, I think they had fun and gained a little confidence which hopefully helps him out. He is looking at the ninja250's and the cbr250 as well. 300 is a little out of his price range. I told him the cbr's are ugly as sin JMO He will probably end up with what he gets a good deal on.

[KawiKid860]

Make sure ya point them here regardless of what make/model they get. This site is a huge asset for beginners.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by subxero

........Through out the whole learning my friend did not fall once which was great, he did wheelie by accident a few times but that gave for a good laugh.

[rasta]

Good stuff. I remember during the MSF course I took, one of the things they drilled into my head at the beginning was; if you ever get scared, just pull in the clutch. People tend to do some weird things when they get scared like grab too much brake or even inadvertently opening the throttle more.

[subxero]

^ agreed, I have seen lots of crashes on dirt bikes from whisky throttle and then people trying to grab the front brake. It takes a while to get used to having the throttle where you hang onto the bike. There is a lot going on when riding a motorcycle and to expect someone to get it all in 10 minutes is unrealistic. It takes years to fine tune some skill and concepts. People generally don't start hanging onto the bike with their legs until lots of saddle time so for a new rider trying to control the throttle and hang on with their hands at the same time seems very hard... cuz it can be especially on a bike with lots of hit.