[Tfug] I seem to have picked up a "motosickle Padawan" :)

[Matt Jacob]

Assuming that the weather forecast is good, which appears to be the case 
as of this morning, I'll ride the bike to Happy Hour this Thursday and 
then all of you can make fun of me attempting not to drop the bike in 
the parking lot. Any chance of rain and I'm taking the cage. :-D

But seriously, it's fun. It's a lot of fun. If you've never ridden a 
motorcycle before (I hadn't), you might want to consider it given the 
current fuel predicament. It cost me $15 for a full tank of the 
high-octane good stuff yesterday, and that should last me about 250 
miles or so before filling up again. Learning the controls isn't as hard 
as I thought it would be, but it's not as easy as an experience rider 
makes it look, either.

I think Jim lost count after about 20, but that's how many times I 
stalled it on the first day in the parking lot. By the second day that 
number was down to 4, and today it was 0 on my way to work this morning. 
So, yeah, there's a bit of a learning curve if you've never driven an MT 
car before, but the mystical clutch isn't as scary as I once thought. 
Having to ride and survive in traffic is a good motivator, though. :-)

Thanks again to everyone who replied to my original question. There's a 
lot of good advice in that thread that should be of use to other newbies 
like myself.

Stay safe out there, and if you're driving something with > 2 wheels, 
remember to keep an eye out for those of us crazy enough to want to get 
around without a protective shell around us.

We now return to your regularly scheduled Linux. :-)

M

Jim March wrote:
> Matt is progressing nicely on two wheels.  We did about three hours on 
> Saturday of "parking lot work", getting him smooth on the clutch, 
> working on balance and steering, braking and the like.  The drill was, 
> I'd drive my bike to his place, leave it there, drive his bike to a 
> local high school with him following in his car :).  His first time in 
> that lot (read: on his bike at ALL) involved rolling it downhill, engine 
> off, to sort out how steering and braking feel are all about without a 
> motor involved yet.
> 
> After a couple more hours of parking lot practice today he was a lot 
> smoother on the gearbox.  He was also starting to get the 
> counter-steering feel down pat.  So we headed back to his place, grabbed 
> my bike and he did his first few miles on actual streets today.  Doing 
> pretty good.
> 
> His big stumbling block was a lack of experience with shifter and 
> clutch.  On the positive side he's got previous experience in cars for 
> enough years to know how traffic flows, which is a key survival trait 
> for two wheels.  The bike he ended up with is helping too, a Suzuki 
> GS500 in good shape.  It's stable, corners well and the power output is 
> mild...not just peak power being low (two valves per cylinder, air 
> cooled, two cylinder) but the power it does have hits in a very 
> controllable, smooth fashion.  No "spikes" in acceleration as the RPMs 
> rise to a certain point.
> 
> Upshot: I think he's gonna make it as a biker :).
> 
> We should BOTH be at the next Charlie's on two wheels - and that means 
> each on our own.
> 
> Jim
> 
> 
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