After spending some considerable time lurking and devouring books (MSF Guide to Motorcycling Excellence, Proficient Motorcycling, etc), I decided a month ago to finally take the plunge and signed up for an MSF class. While waiting for the week of the class, I settled on a new F4i as my first bike. Other options were the SV650S (didn't like the early 90s teal) or a Triumph Daytona 675 (too much bike for my skill level). For the record, I'm 33, married, no driving offenses or accidents for over 10 years. I've never ridden any sort of motorcycle, moped, scooter of dirt bike in my life.

After the first day on the range, I found that I really needed practice with the controls. Having always driven manual transmission, high-performance cars, I knew what I wanted/needed to do, but was having a time adjusting to using my hands for tasks normally assigned to my feet. Stalls, pretty poor shifts... all the things someone trying to drive stick for the first time does.

To get me the practice I felt I needed, I left after the first day of range practice, picked up the F4i a day early and drove it the 50 miles home. I've never been passed by so many cars in my life - I must have been the only one on the road doing the speed limit. I spent 2 hours tooling around my neighborhood, practicing clutch control, emergency stops, swerves, turns - everything we'd gone through in class.

I drove the 60 miles back up to the class the next day, feeling much better about what we'd covered the day before. While pulling into the parking lot, I accidentally focused on the range midway through the turn, caught myself heading towards the curb, panicked and ended up locking the back wheel up. The bike tapped the curb, putting a small scrape on the front wheel, a healthy batch of scratches on the lower fairing and sending me tumbling over into the grass. Speed was probably 5-10 mph. Aside from the wheel and fairing, the only thing hurt was my pride. Ironically enough, the first lesson of the day was something about appropriate entry speed, throttle control and angle for turns.

I overnight a replacement fairing and get frame sliders ordered.

Fast forward 3 days and 400 miles. I passed the class (perfect on the written, 97 on the road course - right hand u-turn got me). I've been riding as much as possible in everything from stop and go resort traffic to winding back roads to empty parking lots. While on the road, I'm really enjoying it. But, I'm still not quite comfortable on low-speed turns (<15mph). Turns at normal speeds are fine, though I'm definitely erring on the side of caution while my skill level increases.

So I'm coming home from an errand today (pick up a hole-saw bit to install my frame sliders), and I'm pulling into the driveway @ 5mph when I think "I'm too wide, I may run off into the grass" - and somehow manage to lock the back up again and lowside it. The bike slides 4 feet into the grass, scratching up the OTHER fairing but this time also managing to nick the front turn signal and stator cover. Parts have been ordered, once again. I'm going to have the scratched fairings sanded and just painted black - good practice set.

I'm always in full gear - was the only way to get my wife to agree on the bike, so both times, I was fine physically but pretty disgusted mentally. I love riding, but the two drops in such a short period of time is disheartening. After picking the bike up and riding it into the garage, I said something to the effect of "I'm done - I'm not meant to do this" to my wife and she (who's not comfortable with the whole concept of bikes in general) strongly disagreed saying that it just takes practice and time.

When it's good, it's better than any car I've ever had - the feeling of being "connected" to the machine is like crack to me. My "cage" is a 911 cabrio - it's mostly sat collecting dust since the bike arrived, as the driving experience with it pales in compar

 

My advice. Return the 2" cones they are a waste of money.

Go buy a bunch of tennis ***** and cut them in half. Spend the money you save on gas so u can ride more

 

LMAO @ Lowcash. Good idea though....

Don't get discouraged because you dumped the bike twice already. Instead of looking at it like "I'm done, I wasn't meant for this" Look at it like this,

"Glad I have enough brains not to try riding beyond my capabilities like some idiots"
or
"Glad it was a minor low speed dump and all that was hurt was some material things and my pride"
or
"Ok that didn't work, I'll remember this for future riding"
or
"Ok I made a mistake, a common one to new riders. At least I have the sense to wear proper protection and make the effort to learn the correct operation of my bike"
or
"Low speed turns be damned! That's it! I am going to show you, I'll perfect these and we'll see who is boss!"
or
"Sweet I get new fairings and an excuse to get frame sliders. We3e3e3e3!"
or
"WOW my woman is too freakin cool! I am going to learn to ride this thing and take her for a ride on it someday. (I can fulfill her "Bad Biker Boy" fantasies)
or
"At least I was out riding and practicing, not being a doofus writing a list of "Think of it this ways" like this whack-o"

Keep at it you'll get better and the better you get the more fun it becomes.
It's a vicious circle of addiction to fun.

BTW I dumped my first ride 2 times in a week also. Low speed dumps, hell one was low speed the other was parked (Incorrectly)
My best advice I can give is take your time learning. I have been riding for about 5 years. I only get to ride about 4-5 Months out of the year because of the location I live in. Washington rain/snow etc.
Point is I am just starting to be comfortable/confident enough to try silly stuff like wheelies. I am approaching learning those same way I did learning to ride. Slowly, and at my own speed.

Welcome to the sport! Have fun, stay safe.

 

Fortunately, the little cones were something only $0.57 each. After ordering two pairs of riding pants (my drops were in jeans - need real pants), I was being as cheap as possible!

Ryan

 

The MSF is a great guide to start with and you're going down the right path. I definately would not replace the fairings right away if I were you. These sportbikes are difficult to turn at low speeds just because the center of gravity is so high, whereas the 250's in the MSF course are much easier to control on slow turns. Just keep practicing, you'll get the hang of it and remember EVERYONE dumps their bike at some point. My philosophy is if you're not improving/honing your riding abilities then you probably shouldn't be riding any more.

 

A couple of questions:

How do you lock up the rear wheel from '5mph'? Are you using the front brake at all there?

A couple of pieces of advice:

(1) Don't look down. Those cones are kind of an aversion-therapy. The purpose of cones is ironically to train you to NOT look at them (and if you happen to and hit them as a result, no harm done). Look out ahead of you to your destination. Try the cones until you don't look at them anymore and are looking at your exits habitually.

and

(2) Look for your exit path when you discover trouble ahead. I notice you had a pretty clear description of what you were afraid of hitting. Watch out for target fixation.

A couple of comments:

I guess you don't need the frame sliders now since everything is scratched up on both sides. You can exchange them for more gas money.

The U turns will come, just keep practicing, ride your rear brake so that you can maintain a steady throttle. And don't look down at the ground, look over your shoulder.

Now your bike has some character. It's been "sucking the marrow out of life", without "choaking on the bone."

When I first tipped my most expensive bike over, I felt as if someone had keyed my Lamborgini. Afterward, I could start playing with the machine. You can start having fun now without worrying. Enjoy.

 

The first time was letting the clutch out too quickly and being in first gear when it was released. The second (I'm guessing) was the front brake, causing the back tire to swing around and stay on its original path. The skid mark from the tire, on both occasions was only about 4-5 feet.

I agree whole-heartedly with your advice. Both times if I'd just looked to where I wanted to go, I'd have been fine. I know that from taking the same turns time after time, at the same speed, from the same entry angle. I believe I tend to visualize the path and track that at low speeds, which is why I think the two happened. I also think the best thing to focus on is practicing where to looking all the way through the turn as it still feels slightly awkward at low speeds.

The sliders are on now, the irony is that I was coming home from getting the tools to install them when the second drop happened.

I'm planning on trying to get in at least 30 minutes a day of practice - even if it's doing consecutive u-turns or tight circles on my own cul-de-sac. It's 100% mental and fixable (I hope) with practice - I illustrated the point to my wife by doing u-turns in front of the house, and every so often one would go wide and I'd run off into the grass.

Ryan

 

Hang in there! Pactice makes comfortable. My first drop involved me not parking it correctly. As i'm walking away I look back to admire my new bike. Just at that time it's falling to the opposite side of the kickstand. I grab it with one hand but the momentum of the bike takes me right along with it. My neighbor is outside and laughs from his porch. It happens to everyone just keep at it. keep us posted.

 

well i'm glad you have a good attitude about wanting to learn and not a know it all noob. good choice on the books. it may be hard to understand since you're still new to riding but it's good to get the knowledge in. my suggestion to you would be to ride with people who are more experienced. don't hit the canyons, but if you have friends that ride you can sorta follow them and see how they ride. you also might want to work on the confidence thing. i know it's tough after going down twice but just don't worry too much and go through with the turn. you'll be fine. and lastly there are advanced msf courses where you ride your own bike. that might be good for you since you can learn how to do the maneuvers with your own bike. you'll get more experience and confidence by using your own bike. you will get the hang of it. i've seen idiots that can ride okay so i'm sure you'll be fine. and i would've saved the cash on the fairings but i guess it's too late. since you're still new i wouldn't worry about the looks of the plastics. maybe you can put on the rashed plastics for now and when you get more comfortable you can put on the new ones.

 

My goal was to do the MSF ERC program early next year. That allows plenty of time to ride and practice prior to it. After that, some sort of track school(s) - I found that it's much easier to justify tracking the bike to my wife than it is tracking my cars. The cost in brakes and tires alone after a weekend at the track on my last few cars is obscene.

One of my neighbors and I have been out twice - he's only got an 883 Sportster, so it's much easier to keep pace with through the turns than someone on another sportbike. Lots of back roads, plenty of twists and turns - I'm much more comfortable at road speeds.

The plastics only take about 10 minutes to switch out, so now I've got a practice set and a riding set. I almost want to say it's a valuable experience - I've lowsided and highsided now and been able to walk away (thanks to full protective gear) with just mild embarassment.

Practice, practice, practice - that's the plan.

Ryan