As you have seen by my recent posts I bought my 1st bike last week. My only riding experienceto date was a MSF course I took 3 years ago. MSF was all in a parking lot so I never took a bike on the street. While it is true that I have my M1 license, it is more true that I don't know what to do with it. The FZ6R sat in my garage for the past week and although I was tempted to experiment I didn't want to harm the bike or me without some training
Enter Moto Mike... I found him on Yelp and he seems to help a lot of people learn to ride in San Francisco. He teaches you real world riding lessons on the street. He starts you off on one of his bikes too so no need to worry about dropping your baby doing figure eights... His training is 8 hours and it takes place over a weekend with 4 hours on Saturday & 4 hours on Sunday.
For the days leading up to my lesson I was checking the weather and it kept saying Sunny all weekend. Good thing the weather guys know what they're doing because as I drove to Mike's on Saturday the roads were nice and wet and the rain was falling. No worries I figure - one needs to know how to ride in the rain anyways.
I get to Mike's place and he tells me to get on the back of his Nighthawk 250. He says "Don't worry, you won't fall off unless you jump and please don't jump." Um, ok - let's go. We ride in the rain to a parking lot in the Presidio. Mike is really knowledgeable and he is giving me a lot of great information on the ride over.
In the lot he goes over what I need to know about motorcycles. He also showed me how to get familiar with the size and feel of different bikes with some simple drills to try before starting to ride. I do the exercises he tells me to and than he says he wants me to do the same exercises with him as a passenger. I thought this would be really difficult but it wasn't very different from riding alone.
Next we leave the parking lot and he teaches me how to ride on the street. The whole time he was on the back of the bike giving me pointers - very helpful and confidence inspiring.
Day 2 - His bike and mine. On Sunday I took his Nighthawk again and he rode my FZ6R. He had me do more drills in the Presidio to warm up and review Saturday's training. After that we hit the road again. We did more on street riding and then practiced riding and stopping in dirt, through grass, and over curbs. It's really simple if you know how to do it. Next we do some work stopping and starting on hills. I thought this would be a lot harder than it was. It's really fine.
He asks me to follow him and I oblige. Next thing I know we're on the entrance ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge. This was really cool because I didn't even have time to psych myself out. I ride across the bridge and it's great. Why did I wait so long to get a motorcycle??? We take the Sausalito exit and head into town to a coffee shop.
After our break he teaches me how to ride the FZ6R in a parking lot. I was amazed at how smooth and perfect this new bike felt. It fit me perfectly and did whatever I asked of it. Also, it was not intimidating at all. I learned proper throttle control and the bike felt great. It has a ton of power but it is very smooth and manageable.
Back to San Francisco over the Golden Gate but this time I ride the FZ6R. What a difference between that and the 250. Into town, riding down Lombard St and he talls me to switch bikes at a traffic light. OK. Next thing I know he tricked me again... We're riding down the twisty portion of Lombard St. I never would have taken this on my own. We go down at a slow pace and it's very easy. At the bottom we switch bikes again, do a little more work on the street before finishing at Coit tower.
What a great instructor. I now feel totally confident with my motorcycle. I'm looking forward to more safe riding and having a blast on the bike. And I am thrilled that I bought the FZ6R.
Enter Moto Mike... I found him on Yelp and he seems to help a lot of people learn to ride in San Francisco. He teaches you real world riding lessons on the street. He starts you off on one of his bikes too so no need to worry about dropping your baby doing figure eights... His training is 8 hours and it takes place over a weekend with 4 hours on Saturday & 4 hours on Sunday.
For the days leading up to my lesson I was checking the weather and it kept saying Sunny all weekend. Good thing the weather guys know what they're doing because as I drove to Mike's on Saturday the roads were nice and wet and the rain was falling. No worries I figure - one needs to know how to ride in the rain anyways.
I get to Mike's place and he tells me to get on the back of his Nighthawk 250. He says "Don't worry, you won't fall off unless you jump and please don't jump." Um, ok - let's go. We ride in the rain to a parking lot in the Presidio. Mike is really knowledgeable and he is giving me a lot of great information on the ride over.
In the lot he goes over what I need to know about motorcycles. He also showed me how to get familiar with the size and feel of different bikes with some simple drills to try before starting to ride. I do the exercises he tells me to and than he says he wants me to do the same exercises with him as a passenger. I thought this would be really difficult but it wasn't very different from riding alone.
Next we leave the parking lot and he teaches me how to ride on the street. The whole time he was on the back of the bike giving me pointers - very helpful and confidence inspiring.
Day 2 - His bike and mine. On Sunday I took his Nighthawk again and he rode my FZ6R. He had me do more drills in the Presidio to warm up and review Saturday's training. After that we hit the road again. We did more on street riding and then practiced riding and stopping in dirt, through grass, and over curbs. It's really simple if you know how to do it. Next we do some work stopping and starting on hills. I thought this would be a lot harder than it was. It's really fine.
He asks me to follow him and I oblige. Next thing I know we're on the entrance ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge. This was really cool because I didn't even have time to psych myself out. I ride across the bridge and it's great. Why did I wait so long to get a motorcycle??? We take the Sausalito exit and head into town to a coffee shop.
After our break he teaches me how to ride the FZ6R in a parking lot. I was amazed at how smooth and perfect this new bike felt. It fit me perfectly and did whatever I asked of it. Also, it was not intimidating at all. I learned proper throttle control and the bike felt great. It has a ton of power but it is very smooth and manageable.
Back to San Francisco over the Golden Gate but this time I ride the FZ6R. What a difference between that and the 250. Into town, riding down Lombard St and he talls me to switch bikes at a traffic light. OK. Next thing I know he tricked me again... We're riding down the twisty portion of Lombard St. I never would have taken this on my own. We go down at a slow pace and it's very easy. At the bottom we switch bikes again, do a little more work on the street before finishing at Coit tower.
What a great instructor. I now feel totally confident with my motorcycle. I'm looking forward to more safe riding and having a blast on the bike. And I am thrilled that I bought the FZ6R.
That was scary in a car when I was there back in April. You're brave my friend. Good to hear you got the help you needed to get comfortable on the bike. It's funny you mention the Persidio. When we were there, we stayed in that dumpy little Travelodge just a couple of hundred yards from the front gate.