Learning to Ride

Okay, so I haven't blogged for quite a while. There're lot of reasons for that, but that's the subject of my Theory on Blogging blog, due out any day now.

The sad thing is, despite the fact that it's been so long since I wrote my "I'm getting a cool new bike " blog, I've actually only just got it. It took a long time, and was quite a mission to sort out all the issues, but it was worth waiting for! Here's a picture of v1 and v2 to compare:


So now the challenge is learning to ride. I've been riding for about 6 years, but on a little 100cc automatic scooter (v1, above). Now the new bike is only a 125cc (yes, believe it or not!), but it's got a lot more power and more importantly, is not automatic. Considering that the last time I had to use a clutch was in Driver's Ed 10 or 11 years ago, I find that I've got a lot to learn. So here's my basic riding tutorial for absolute beginners (with more questions than answers, at this point, since I've only ridden it twice):

• Everyone assumes that you know the basics, when you probably don't. Phrases like "slip the clutch" and "you're riding the clutch" don't really mean much, but are presented as the solution to all your problems :-)
• The best bike website I've found: http://www.flamesonmytank.co.za. They've got everything you need to know, from cleaning your bike to necessary riding skills. A bit more biased to touring and serious riding (as opposed to plain old commuting), but a truly excellent site. Go there as soon as you've finished reading this blog!
• The biggest problem with learning is that you're not really moving fast enough to use your gears realistically. You should be in first only for pulling away, and then only for long enough to travel a couple of meters; and for stopping (again, change down to first only when you're just about ready to stop). You don't need to change down to first for going round corners, or anything like that: except, of course, when you're learning.
• Balance hasn't been a problem for me. I thought I'd feel terribly wobbly riding at such low speeds, but it didn't even occur to me while I was on the bike. Maybe it's the bike; maybe it's because I'm used to the scooter; I don't know. But I'm not complaining :-)
  
  
  • Okay, now for some technical details. When pulling away: open the throttle slowly, and slowly release the clutch. At a certain point, you'll feel it take, and you'll start moving forwards. Don't release the clutch yet! Give it a little bit longer, until you're moving; then release the clutch.
  
  
  • When changing gear, you need to close the throttle, pull in the clutch, change gear, then release the clutch and open the throttle (kinda in one motion). It sounds really easy, but it's quite difficult to coordinate. I find that I'm so focused on changing gear that I forget to close the throttle, so my revs go right up and it sounds ridiculous :-) And if I do close the throttle, the bike sort of lurches with the sudden reduction in speed, so I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong there.
  
  
  • If you feel like you're revving and not going anywhere, you're in too low a gear and you need to slow down or change up.
  
  
  • If the bike is lurching along, you're either not holding the throttle steady or you're in too high a gear; you need to change down (or speed up? I'm not sure, but I'd think so).
  
  
  • Don't try to pull away in 2nd, it doesn't work too well. I'm told it should work, but I've also been told it's not good for the bike.
  
  
  • To brake without stalling, you need to pull in the clutch. I'm not sure whether this is true if you're just slowing down, or only if you brake to a stop.
  
  

• From what I know about gears and clutches (which isn't much), the clutch disengages the engine from the gears. So you need to pull in the clutch when you're changing gears (so that the gears aren't moving when you change them), and when you're not moving (if the engine is running but the wheels aren't turning, you'll stall). This sounded a lot more profound in my head, but maybe it'll help someone out there anyway :-)

• There seem to be a lot of things, gear-wise, that aren't too good for the bike, but I haven't really sorted out yet what just doesn't work and what is actually bad. At this stage I can't really avoid doing the bad things, anyway (it's not like I'm doing them on purpose!), and I'm sure most of them can't do too much damage in the short time that I'll be learning.

So that's my experience in learning to ride. I'll post more as I learn it; if you know more, or see something I got wrong or missed, please add a comment!