Trying to help my friend get into the sport | GTAMotorcycle.com

Trying to help my friend get into the sport

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sesamestreet

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I have a friend who recently bought a CBR500 from another friend, he jumped on it because I can vouch for the previous owner in terms of care and maintenance and he had a baby on the way so price was great.

Anyways, after getting his M1, he failed the M1exit through the humber course. Watching him ride I knew his issues lay in terrible throttle control and being green around shifting a standard vehicle. Turning was also difficult because he was choppy on the throttle.

Anyways, I spent a few hours with him doing drills around a parking lot and he's much better now. Smoothed out the throttle and now he can shift smoothly. It finally clicked that a bikes throttle is much different then that of an auto car in that you can't just let off of the throttle and coast like you would a car.

Anyways, he's got a couple of weeks to retake his test, I was wondering if anyone knows anything that can help this guy.
 
sesamestreet said:
I have a friend who recently bought a CBR500 from another friend, he jumped on it because I can vouch for the previous owner in terms of care and maintenance and he had a baby on the way so price was great.

Anyways, after getting his M1, he failed the M1exit through the humber course. Watching him ride I knew his issues lay in terrible throttle control and being green around shifting a standard vehicle. Turning was also difficult because he was choppy on the throttle.

Anyways, I spent a few hours with him doing drills around a parking lot and he's much better now. Smoothed out the throttle and now he can shift smoothly. It finally clicked that a bikes throttle is much different then that of an auto car in that you can't just let off of the throttle and coast like you would a car.

Anyways, he's got a couple of weeks to retake his test, I was wondering if anyone knows anything that can help this guy.
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yeah, leave him alone...seriously.
If you fail the M1 exit, then you probably should not be riding...just my 2 cents.
That is an easy test to demonstrate BASIC control on the ROADS and failing that is a good sign that you should not be on 2 wheels.
 
Sounds like he should run through the course again if he is serious about riding. Trouble shifting, trouble with the throttle and trouble turning... not much more to riding other then being aware.

Not sure what the course is like these days, but when I did it back in 1996 they thought like you have never ever touched a bike in your life. That helped me a lot because I had never ridden a bike before or had driven a standard car. Sounds like he needs a lot of time in a parking lot with an instructor to keep going over the basics till it is something he does not even think about.
 
He should try MTO of Halton Peel aka MTOHP, they teach real well, I did my course last year with them had many ppl with us that had never been on bike neither drove std. car, I did course cause its cheap on insurance but they genuinely provide good practice and try their best to make you clear that m1exit test successfully.
 
-D- said:
yeah, leave him alone...seriously.
If you fail the M1 exit, then you probably should not be riding...just my 2 cents.
That is an easy test to demonstrate BASIC control on the ROADS and failing that is a good sign that you should not be on 2 wheels.
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I agree wholeheartedly and have never been less than honest with him about his skills, but he seems determined and wants this pretty bad. He has shown signs of improvement since failing the exam sunday.
 
When I did my m1 course the people that had never driven standard had a hard time. It definitely helps. Its hard enough learning how to ride a motorcycle, I imagine itd be alot harder if you had to learn what a clutch is at the same time.

But I still know a couple bikers that have never driven standard and do just fine.
 
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Practice, practice, practice? Build muscle memory. Put in the time. Repeat. I taught my 10yr. brother to ride my 750. Rigged a throttle stop and told him don't touch the shift lever. Rode around the parking lot like that for hours and hours over a few days.
Oh, I should add....I let him coast down the hill with out engine running first.
 
Interesting that he bought a 47HP 500cc bike instead of a lighter, kinder, gentler 24HP 250. Although the 500 is "LAMS" compliant, I think a 250 would be more appropriate for someone with his level of initial skill.
 
inreb said:
Practice, practice, practice? Build muscle memory. Put in the time. Repeat. I taught my 10yr. brother to ride my 750. Rigged a throttle stop and told him don't touch the shift lever. Rode around the parking lot like that for hours and hours over a few days.
Oh, I should add....I let him coast down the hill with out engine running first.
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You have a 10 year old brother?? ?

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Adjust his clutch leaver - Most likely the clutch disengagement point is too far... it should be adjusted for a new rider to as soon as he starts opening his fingers the bikes starts moving. New riders have the tendency to let of the clutch really slowly at the beginning and then let it go fast at the end, if the clutch is not properly adjusted, he is letting it go faster at the point when the clutch starts disengaging making his starts and slow speed riding choppy.

This is magic for all new riders.
sesamestreet said:
I have a friend who recently bought a CBR500 from another friend, hjumped on it because I can vouch for the previous owner in terms of care and maintenance and he had a baby on the way so price was great.

Anyways, after getting his M1, he failed the M1exit through the humber course. Watching him ride I knew his issues lay in terrible throttle control and being green around shifting a standard vehicle. Turning was also difficult because he was choppy on the throttle.

Anyways, I spent a few hours with him doing drills around a parking lot and he's much better now. Smoothed out the throttle and now he can shift smoothly. It finally clicked that a bikes throttle is much different then that of an auto car in that you can't just let off of the throttle and coast like you would a car.

Anyways, he's got a couple of weeks to retake his test, I was wondering if anyone knows anything that can help this guy.
Click to expand...
 
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If you want to help him before he goes back for another course/test, why not set up a mock test and have him run through it a number of times?
 
Oh and given he is having issues with throttle control, shifting, cornering, etc....FRAME SLIDERS. Better safe now, than sorry later, esp with his own new-to-him bike.
 
-D- said:
yeah, leave him alone...seriously.
If you fail the M1 exit, then you probably should not be riding...just my 2 cents.
That is an easy test to demonstrate BASIC control on the ROADS and failing that is a good sign that you should not be on 2 wheels.
Click to expand...

While that is a bit harsh it could be true. Not everyone's brain is wired the same. Why did Wayne Gretzky score thousands of points while his brother only get four? Same DNA and coach.

There is Rossi at one end of the spectrum and a bunch in the middle but there are ones at the bottom that really shouldn't be riding.

Does OP's friend have the ability to eventually learn or will he be a greater than acceptable risk to himself or others?

How can we judge that and who has the right to dictate that to him?

It would be interesting to see how he would fare just leisurely riding a modest dirt bike around a cow pasture for a few days.
 
You're right nobbie. Not everyone is the same, he's a smart guy but motorcycling needs things like attention to detail, body-awareness and spacial awareness among others.

I really stressed to him the benefits of smooth gradients in the throttle and maintaining constant throttle as opposed to just ON/OFF as he and I'm sure many others have developed that habit due to driving auto cars with no engine braking. After 3 hours in a parking lot he was way more comfortable. By the end he was able to turn and shift into third. I think maybe with serious practice he can do it.
 
Some people struggle with one or two specific things when beginning that hose them up on the rest of the riding experience. For most, it's the clutch and throttle combination (as is the case with our OP), and we all know that if you can't operate both smoothly and effectively on a motorcycle it can really destroy the rest of your riding, even if said rider is 110% on everything else and is actually a good rider.

I wouldn't automatically discount him as a rider simply because he's struggling with that part. Practice, practice, practice - for some people it just "clicks" at some point and once they suddenly get that part, everything else falls quickly into place.
 
conundrum said:
If you want to help him before he goes back for another course/test, why not set up a mock test and have him run through it a number of times?
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That's sorta what we're doing. Having him go around a bend in a parking lot and stuff. I just don't know how tight those bends are, been a while since I did them. But we're doing more today.
 
PrivatePilot said:
Some people struggle with one or two specific things when beginning that hose them up on the rest of the riding experience. For most, it's the clutch and throttle combination (as is the case with our OP), and we all know that if you can't operate both smoothly and effectively on a motorcycle it can really destroy the rest of your riding, even if said rider is 110% on everything else and is actually a good rider.

I wouldn't automatically discount him as a rider simply because he's struggling with that part. Practice, practice, practice - for some people it just "clicks" at some point and once they suddenly get that part, everything else falls quickly into place.
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I think it actually clicked by the end of our session Monday because he was actually turning smoothly and shifting smoothly. But like you said, practice practice practice!
 
sesamestreet said:
I think it actually clicked by the end of our session Monday because he was actually turning smoothly and shifting smoothly. But like you said, practice practice practice!
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Exactly. I've taught a few people the basics of riding motorcycles over the years, and taught many people to ride horses, and with both (especially horses, your motorcycle at least doesn't have a brain of it's own and sometimes decide it has other plans ;) ) it's simply a matter of time and practice. Not everyone will become highly skilled professionals at either, but most will get to the point where they're capable of doing it safely, and with more and more experience the skills get better and better.
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