how long did it take you to get used to your bike before you did twisties and wheelies, or should i say crazy **** lol

 

2 months, then i started progressively going lower and lower till i scraped peg lol. make sure that you go to your local shop and get the bike "fitted" to you aka to your size and weight so that you get the upmost in handling and performance.

 

First week I put 300 miles, by the end of the month I had 1500 miles and was doing twisties and had to stop myself from leaning too much and dragging my knee since I didn't have leather pants with pucks.

Your progression all depends on your riding comfort. If you feel comfortable and feel stable on the bike, keep doing what you're doing. I've found your body and mind will naturally want to test itself and see what it can do on your machine.

Sometimes you've got to keep it in check and do the sensible thing (me wanting to get my knee down after those first 300 miles but NOT doing so because I knew I didn't have enough experience and would likely end up on the side of the road looking at the sky) but sometimes you decide to explore your limits (that feeling you get when you get your first knee down... )and that's when you progress in my opinion.

That's when I felt fully comfortable on the bike.

 

Moved to Riding Skills as in truth this has very little to do with the bike's tech.

Couple things I'd say. On the mechanical side, you have to have complete confidence in your bike's shape. Absolutely ZERO lingering doubts, no worries whatsoever. In the middle of a lean, the last thing you should be thinking is "my rear tire looked a little ratty.". When you wreck and come here blaming a tire you knew you should a replaced, someone will bluntly ask "well why didn't you replace it first?". There's always one.

After that, you should be able to prove that you have a pretty good grasp of the basics (mastery is always ongoing). Throttle control is major. Proving it: pick a speed in your mind, accelerate to exactly that speed and hold that speed. Then do the same decelerating using only throttle. Quick stop... can you?

It sounds like overkill, I know. And the eagerness to get out and do something is hugely tempting. Trust me I KNOW. I've got a shiny brand new 2011 BMW s1000rr which is arguably the fastest stock bike on the road. But if I wasn't able to brake her hard, really hard, I'd already have an insurance claim out when I opened her up... And some a$$hole decided to change lanes suddenly.

 

That's it I'm getting a ZX14R !

Me seriously though - I suppose it took about 3 weeks back on 2 wheels after a long break
before I got the complete swing of things

BTW CueTip that is wholly one of the best newest avatars I have seen in a while too

 

I am still learning and exploring the limits of my bike. Having never really riden much until 3 years ago, I have now picked up both motocross and street riding. As many of you may already know, some of the fundamentals of riding position are very different, especially cornering. Having to switch back and forth on a frequent basis between the two has me thinking more on technique then I did when I rode my motocross bike only.

Also - I have taken enough spills on the dirt and cracked, broken enough bones to temper my gusto on the street.

 

I thought I had a decent grasp of the bike at 6-7 months. I was surely mistaken! 2 lowsides later I realized that it would take many more years to learn.

4 years later I'm still learning new things and the last 2 have been primarily track only.

 

ive put about 5k on my bike in a year. Having wrecked last summer and ending up in the ER with a big fat medical bill slowed me down a bit.

I'm starting to get my confidence back and am able to hit the twisties hard again. No peg scraping yet and havent even tried the wheelie thing yet considering i want to keep my bike upright :P.

I still learn new things every day. I look back a few months and think about how I thought i was a decent rider. How wrong I was. I'll probably do the same thing in 3 months.

Theres a lot to mastering a bike. especially super sports.