No pictures, I just wanted to talk about my experiences with my first day of motorcycle ownership.
On Day 0, I had gone with a very experienced riding friend to take a look at the eventual motorcycle I would own: a 1984 Honda VF1100S Sabre V65. It’s an 1100 CC motorcycle, but at a price of $900, it was cheap enough that I could pay cash and own the pink slip on the bike, and thereby keep my insurance rates incredibly low ($75/year). Spent several hours doing all the paperwork and chores to be able to ride legally in Utah.
I had spent several preceding weeks reading instructions, watching videos, and making sure I knew the relevant laws and best-practices regarding riding a motorcycle. But I recognized the same feeling that I’d had prior to trying to fly my first airplane: an unfounded confidence that I would be fine without practicing.
So I broke out my mountain bike during the week my wife was away and spent some time getting used to riding on two wheels again. I loved it; I was reminded why I’d bought the bike in the first place. I had read about counter-balancing and counter-steering on a motorcycle, and realized I did this naturally on my mountain bike. My experience with many years in a stick-shift car had also taught me the necessity of having a soft touch on the clutch to ensure smooth acceleration.
Day 1: My friend drove the bike back to my house, we had a few words regarding operation and what all the switches and buttons do, how to shift properly, and then I took him to lunch at a local Irish-themed restaurant to thank him.
Once I got home, I got over my fear, and sat down on the bike for only the second time. I re-acquainted myself with the controls: clutch, front brake, rear brake, gearshift, neutral, first gear, horn, lights, emergency kill, choke, turn signal… all good. Turn the key. Beep the horn. Play with turn signals. Fiddle with high/low beams. Verify turns signals are all in working order. Break out the PSI indicator and make sure the inflation matches the recommendation in my owner’s manual. Check the suspension… hmm, looks like the left front fork has a bit more oil/dirt than the left. Need to plan a fork pressure/leak check, maybe before I hit highway speeds.
Back it out. Turn it around. Face toward my gravel cul-de-sac down the driveway. Full choke. Squeeze both levers. Go to neutral — all clicks down, half-click up. Huh, neutral is easy to miss. Try again. OK, press start. 30 seconds on full choke, 60 seconds on half-choke, then no choke.
Eased it into first. Remember to brake with the back wheel for slow-speed maneuvers. Begin a gentle left circle around my cul-de-sac.
I’m not breathing.
Stopped the bike. Killed the engine. Paused. Took several deep breaths. Went back into the house, got a drink of water, talked with the wife.
Went back and got on again. Now let’s do right-hand circles. Remember to use the rear brake in slow-speed, not the front. Don’t dump the bike! Let out the clutch a bit, hey, look, it straightens itself out just like the book said!
OK, my circles are getting better and tighter. My cul-de-sac is fifty feet wide. Feels big enough to do figure-eights. OK, right-hand figure-eights are fine. Left-hand? OK, try it slower. Use the rear brake and feather the clutch to keep RPMS up while making a really tight turn.
The gravel is pretty slippery in a tight turn. Probably best not to try to go any tighter until I get some experience on asphalt.
Took another break. Total time on bike: 90 minutes so far. Unfortunately, I live on a cul-de-sac attached to a main road. The only way to get any asphalt driving is to cross the highway. Well, nothing to be said for it.
Rode to the intersection. Chickened out, duck-walked to turn around because I wasn’t confident of my U-turn ability yet. Went home. Had dinner. Waited for rush-hour traffic to die.
Tried again later. Chickened again, went back to my cul-de-sac and practiced not stalling out the bike when moving into first gear. Finally got up the gumption, waited for a HUGE gap in traffic, and crossed to the 25MPH neighborhood streets across the way. Kept the speed down to around 15-20MPH, played with the speed bumps, found a parking lot. Practiced hard stops and starts. Imagined an obstacle, practiced a weave, realized I still suck at it and won’t be ready for the highway for a while yet.
Left the parking lot, found the right road back to my house. Virtually no traffic, easily rode back and parked it in my garage.
Total time riding: 3 hours. My hands ache. I’m very sweaty from my thick leather jacket and gloves.
Stayed up until 1AM reviewing motorcycle safety and instructional videos. Watched crash videos and analysis. Realized that there are a bunch of ways cars can kill me that aren’t much under my control. Resolved to work more on SEE techniques, swerving, and hard braking tomorrow. Riding an 1100CC motorcycle is decidedly different from riding an human-powered mountain bike.
Today is tomorrow. Stuck at work, and all I want to do is go ride 🙂
You seem to be bringing an
You seem to be bringing an attitude to this that will lengthen your life. I’m glad of that. Didn’t mention boots…got ’em? And that’s a real riding jacket, right? Not something from Wilson Leather?
Key things I recall from the MSF course were “look where you’re going” in a turn–in other words, toward the center of the radius, not the road in front of you; and what to do if you’re in a panic situation–squeeze both and push both feet down. Simple to remember.
Have you learned how to pick it up yet? I had a 900cc in college and I didn’t really know how. That made for a lot of unnecessary work sometimes. If you know what you’re doing, a 5′ woman can pick up a Goldwing. Or so they say.
I have to admit, switching to a convertible has been much more relaxing, even if it’s not quite as exhilarating.