What he said. And as stupid as it may look, give serious consideration to wearing a reflective vest when riding at night, especially on rural roads. You can never make yourself too visible to other drivers/riders.
I think the best investment safety-wise I ever made on my bike was installing a headlight modulator. You can tell from the reaction of onlookers that they notice you right away - especially people coming out from side streets, which is one of the most common ways MC riders get whacked - people pull out in front of them, even though their headlight is on. And don't worry about the "small bike - big bike" issue. I went straight from the 250cc on the range in my motorcycle training class to my 1100cc Yamaha, and had no problems. I can say that the first 500-1000 miles were scary at times, but once you're confident with your bike and what it can/can't do, you'll be fine. Just ride like you've got a bullseye on your back, stay within the speed limit, and give yourself plenty of space and you won't have any problems. Dan --- On Tue, 7/7/09, Wonko the Sane <don.b...@gmail.com> wrote: > From: Wonko the Sane <don.b...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT for motorcycle guys: cheap '83 Honda Nighthawk CB650 > questions > To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Date: Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 8:36 PM > I hate to do three posts in a row -- > but what you wrote about first getting > experience on lower-cc bikes equates to the course you are > going to be > taking. > > These instructors are dead-ass serious about motorcycle > riding. They won't > pass you unless you demonstrate the skills necessary to > ride safely. I know > a couple of the Iowa instructors, and they are very serious > about having > someone demonstrate the skills necessary to be certified to > ride safely. In > many ways, they remind me of Pensacola flight instructors. > If you don't meet > the standards, you don't fly/ride. > > On more thing (as Columbo would say), please do wear a > helmet. When I > crashed in 1976, the first thing to hit the asphalt after I > did a complete > flip -- or so the witnesses told me later -- was the back > of my head. I put > an ugly crack in the back of my helmet but suffered no > brain injury, and not > even so much as a headache. If I'd been riding without the > helmet, my head > would have been like a watermelon thrown onto the asphalt > at 65 mph. Ugly. > > I wear a full-face black Shoei. > > D. > > > On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 4:18 PM, Alex Chamberlain > <apchamberl...@gmail.com>wrote: > > > > > I am indeed going to be taking the local equivalent of > the Motorcycle > > Safety Foundation class, which is not required but > strongly encouraged > > here in Oregon before you can get a motorcycle > endorsement on your > > license. It includes 12 hours of hands-on > instruction, and the class > > website says they use a variety of bikes but all are > 250 cc or > > smaller. > > > > > > > -- > The young officer thought it very odd that his captain > seemed to trust and > confide in his chiefs more than his wardroom, but mustang > officers had their > own ways. > -- Tom Clancy, Clear and Present Danger. > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090707/c505a3ac/attachment.html> > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
