Riding with the wife
 

So far, so good. She is really good on the road, but it is at stops, and slow maneuvering that has got my confidence shaken. We rode yesterday, and I had to stop for gas. Next thing I know, I look over, and she is on her side. The old forgot to put my kickstand down routine. I helped her up, no scrapes to her or the bike, but I said, that is a habit she cannot develope. ALWAYS, be aware of your kickstand (up or down!!). Then, we stopped to get a soda, and I was backed into a space and she is headed straight towards my front tire. Next I hear her reving the **** out of the throttle. I know she is flustered and had lost complete faculties of the levers...I'm just waiting for her to let off the clutch and run me over. Fortunately, I see her take her hand off the throttle, and she never let go of the clutch. I guess that is a good sign, but those two instances shook me a little. I want her to be a good rider, but I am concerned for her safety. I am trying to teach her the best I can (until her MSF), but now I am having second thoughts. What do you guys think?

RE: Riding with the wife
 

Hvae her just clean the bike for you...one must learn to walk before they can run.....

j/k

Practice practice practice.....

maybe take her to an empty parking lot and work on jus the slow manuvering(sp) and stop and go over and over and over till she feels more compfortable with which hand/foot does what....
have her start at 1 point then tell her to stop at a specific point/line in the ground....
make a few slow moving turns

i used this technique teaching people to drive 5spd cars......get into first get going shift second then stop
and keep doing this

RE: Riding with the wife
 

Patience, some people get it quicker then others as well. Just keep encouraging her, but dont push too hard. You dont want to make her feel preassured, if she feels that way it will make her more nervous. Keep up the encouragement and you will both be taking trips together in no time.

RE: Riding with the wife
 

haha..."this hand wax on, this hand wax off"

anyway, i agree w/ everyone else, take it to a parking lot and get her to do some slow stuff

RE: Riding with the wife
 

WOW that scared me reading it lol. Id stick with a big school parking lot and try to set up an obstacle course with some cones or something

RE: Riding with the wife
 

Actualy, a stutdy taken a few years ago, (Hurt report, taken in 1981), showed that people that were taught by family members were worse off than people who taught themselves. People who teach themselves have a .90 risk rating while if you are taught by friends or family its a 1.56 risk rating . That is concidering 1.00 is normal risk. Thats .66 extra risk if you ask me =X. Compare this to professional training (MSF) its a .46 rating. I dont know if its all relevant now, but just some numbers for you to think abou and look at.

People are most at risk when they're taught by family, without any license, between 2-3 months of riding experience, and while riding a 250-500cc motorcycle. (All bassed off the hurt report statistics) I'd make sure to get her in the MSF course ASAP. I dont know anything about teaching someone how to ride, so i have no professional or solid advice there, as i am still learning how to ride myself. I'd just keep an eye on her and answer questions and give simple pointers. I know it gets overwhelming when i talk to guys about different techniques, such as countersteering and the like. Then when I try to do them, and I end up paying more attention to the technique than I am to the road and other drivers, and thats scary. Now I when I ride I have one thing set in my mind I concentrate on that skill.

RE: Riding with the wife
 

Kinda funny. It's only uphill from here right?

RE: Riding with the wife
 

I kind of had the same thing with my wife. She took the MSF and then didn't ride for quite a while before we got her a bike. Then we were going to ride up to the gas station. I thought, geez... it's only a couple blocks, lets go. She was kind of hesitant. Ended up she dropped it at the end of our driveway. No harm done to her or the bike. So after that, she took the MSF again and then I rode her down to the high school parking lot and let her ride around in there. She did drop it a time or two, but I told her not to worry about it, parts are replaceable. We did this for several days and I'm not really sure why she dropped it, but it was almost always when she was going 1 - 2 MPH.

After that, we just slowly started riding around and I kept her out of any kind of traffic and told her the most important thing is that she "ride her ride" and not worry about what anyone else was thinking, including me. She's pretty good about that anyway, she could give a sh!t about what anyone else thinks about stuff.

So long story even longer, she finally got some self confidence and last summer even rode to work by herself quite a few times and the crowning glory was going to Deals Gap and her riding through there several times. She was beaming.

Just take it slow, encourage her, and make sure she knows you're more worried about her safety than you are about the bike getting scratches. ;) Once she takes the MSF, she will feel tons more confident -- at least my wife did.

RE: Riding with the wife
 

i say keep at it cause she has a great bootay!!!!!!!!

RE: Riding with the wife
 

Thanks, Fats...and Tahoe...you have no idea! :D