Topic: My first ride... (on pavement)

[fmctm1sw]

Finally got my 350F registered and fully legal.  I know, nothing says "goober" like being 35 years old and having a learner's permit.  Found out my front tire has a flat spot in it from sitting to long.  Nearly shook my glasses off my face    Two questions now...

1]  Rode by a guy and he put his left hand below the hadlebars as he rode by.  I assume he was waving?  I was too apprehensive about taking my hand off my own handlebars to do anything in return...   

2]  Am I a goober if I take my helmet everywhere with me (like into the store, restaraunt, etc...)?

Thanks, still tying up some loose ends (front brake work and will need tires).  Wow, it was fun.

[InfraRedSVTF]

That guy was waving to you, that is a fairly common thing among riders. I also carry my helmet with me, unless I am walking a long distance, or something like that.

[mkramer1121]

The helmet hooks under the seat work wonders, especially when the seat locks down.  Great for a quick jaunt into a store depending on your neighborhood.  If I'm at a bike show, the hook works well there too as you're with a number of like minded individuals.  If want to take it with you, get a backpack and stow it inside.

[LoopsAndLogic]

I'm with mkramer1121.

 I never leave my helmet hooked to my bike. I've got to many teens in my part of town. You know!!

Just a helpful tip, don't take your hands off the bars and don't beep your horn instead.

  The horn beeping was a sad and sorry mistake that I learned the hard way. 

Many laughs, and a lot of snickering from girls

LL

[mkramer1121]

I've also head nodded or flicked my fingers up in a wave while I left them on the bars.  If you are in control of your bike, a quick hey won;t hurt anything.  Its also how you signal if you don't have any signals, you use your arms.

[fmctm1sw]

Its also how you signal if you don't have any signals, you use your arms.

I keep forgetting turn those off too...   

[OldSchool_IsCool]

Well FM, My Goober year was at age 44, so don't feel you're alone!  I take my helmet with me.  Michigan requires helmets so a lost or damaged helmet means I'm calling for a ride or thumbing it home.  Yes, it's quite common for cyclists here to wave, even the Hardly riders!

[mkramer1121]

APTech on the forums here also forgets to turn his signals off...but only when riding with me.  We even invented a hand signal that means "hey, turn off your blinker"....he never understands what I"m doing, and has to pull up next to me to ask....and it was his idea...

[dustyc]

Hey I'm 35 with a learner's.  You're only a goober if you worry about these things.  Do what you're comfortable with and to hell with what people think.

Yeah they're waving because you're another biker.  It's up to you if you wave back.  I usually wave back if I can manage it.  I don't wave to scooters.  I guess I'm a prick that way.  I definitely wave to old Hondas. 

Don't pull some of the douchebag maneuvers I've seen like passing another bike in the same lane.  We're supposed to be looking out for each other out there. 

[mark]

Okay, I'll 'fess up too.. 44 with another learner's permit. If your State Govt.(or local A.B.A.T.E.) has a safety course, DO IT!! I'm going to. If for no other reason than not having to do the drive test on my bike in the DMV parking lot.
But there are plenty of reasons, and we're going to school to learn them.

I haven't seen any scooters around here, so I'll figure out whether to recognize it when I do see one. Most of the Harley riders wave back. Got a big grin and a thumb up from one the other day. Some of the crotchrocket kids wave back. Wingers usually have their hands full.. My buddy Henry rides the other old Honda.

I'll be damned if I'll leave a $280 eggshell hanging off the bike anywhere!


Happy trails.

[dustyc]

We were actually talking about the wave the other night at bike night.  Some of the ideas thrown out were a cardboard cutout hand mounted on a spring with a suction cup base that you could stick on the left side of your tank.  A cutout on a hinge attached to the sidecover that works like the stop sign on the side of a schoolbus.  And my favorite was wearing a big foam hand for the wave. 

You definitely need to be able to take your hand off your grip for switching to reserve.  I think riding one handed and no hands is something you should practice.  You never know when the need will arise.  For example I was going 70 or so and looked left to change lanes when the wind caught my visor and opened her up.  70 mph wind isn't very good on the eyes, so I had to take my hand off the grip to pull the visor back down.  At this point(2 months on my learners) 70 with one hand is still nervy, but I remember being terrified to take my hands off at all.  And the curves I took at 40 my first week out I'm now taking at 70.   

Ride within your limits.  Push yourself to expand your limits though.

[rhinoracer]

The hand below the handlebar is the coolest of all the waves, with one or two fingers extended. You have to time it perfectly not too soon and not too late you hold it for a couple of seconds til you get a response a couple of yards before you ride by his/her side. If you can master it you'll be the coolest goober in your part of town .

Also, nothing screams seasoned rider like carrying your helmet in your hand like it's not even there, no backpack, no carrying bag.

Oh, and congrats on your first ride! Welcome to the club.

[Gordon]

My helmet gets locked to my bike when I'm at work, but I park in a secure underground garage.  I also lock it on the bike at our local bike gatherings, but I bring it with me pretty much everywhere else.  It makes a decent shopping basket when I'm at the store picking up a couple of things. 

As for the wave, it's two fingers below the handlebar out on the highway, and two fingers raised above the clutch lever in city traffic. 

[Frrrrunkis]

I just got my 400 registered and tagged this week, I've driven it nearly 80 miles within a 20 mile radius of the house already. Reading this thread is reminding me of some of the exact same things I'm doing, afraid to take my hand off the handlebars to wave at someone (where I will move my hand to the end of the grip and stick my fingers off the side), forgetting to turn the turn signals off, walked in the store the other day with my helmet still on, and so on. I've been putting the death grip on my handlebars, until my hand starts to hurt and I relax it a bit, reaching to turn the turn signals off, and hitting every button and switch BUT the turn signals. But this weekend of riding two or three times a day has been a load of fun. That little 400/4 just sails along the road smooth as silk, and after being used to riding on the back of my Dads Harley, it makes it seem even smoother.

[my78k]

Wow...I rode about 30 kms today on the highway at 150km/h with just the right hand...I ALWAYS wave at other riders...but I am an overly social guy  . Also, as a point of interest if the rider taps his head he usually means there is a radar trap "ahead". or he may do sort of a motion of putting his hand down and waving downward (meaning slow down). Saved me today from blowing through a radar trap when a courteous HD rider did that (slowed from 130 or so to 90 in an 80 zone and avoided a ticket!)

Dennis

[Frrrrunkis]

Wow...I rode about 30 kms today on the highway at 150km/h with just the right hand...I ALWAYS wave at other riders...but I am an overly social guy  . Also, as a point of interest if the rider taps his head he usually means there is a radar trap "ahead". or he may do sort of a motion of putting his hand down and waving downward (meaning slow down). Saved me today from blowing through a radar trap when a courteous HD rider did that (slowed from 130 or so to 90 in an 80 zone and avoided a ticket!)

Dennis

someone was doing the downard motion to me when I was in my car, doing 5 under the speed limit a few weeks ago, I just looked at him like he was insane, I did see a cop car ahead, but it was parked in a driveway with nobody in it

[OldSchool_IsCool]

You definitely need to be able to take your hand off your grip for switching to reserve.  I think riding one handed and no hands is something you should practice.  You never know when the need will arise.  For example I was going 70 or so and looked left to change lanes when the wind caught my visor and opened her up.  70 mph wind isn't very good on the eyes, so I had to take my hand off the grip to pull the visor back down.  At this point(2 months on my learners) 70 with one hand is still nervy, but I remember being terrified to take my hands off at all.  And the curves I took at 40 my first week out I'm now taking at 70.   

Ride within your limits.  Push yourself to expand your limits though.

Speaking of practice, I've gotten into the habit of pretending manhole covers are "road debris" requiring evasive maneuvers to avoid.  I do this when appropriate, not in really bad conditions or heavy traffic where someone might consider me to be a Super Goober!  There is one section of road between the house and work where I'm pretty much in a slalom for about an eight of a mile! 

[paxtonpony]

I keep forgetting turn those off too...   

We all do from time to time.  My habit is to turn them off after I exit a corner whether I turned them on or not.  I also do it from time to time just riding down the road because I used to leave them on all the time.  Just make it a habit, this way you're not looking down to check them.
As for the wave, it sounds like you need to relax some.  The bike will roll where you point whether your hands are on the controls or not (centrifugal motion of the wheels).  Unless I'm stopping and have a hand on the clutch and the brake I always wave whether they give it back or not.  If I have my hands full I at least nod.
Sit up, relax and enjoy your rides.  Don't feel like a goober, always ask questions.  Alot of us got into (or back into) riding late in life also.  It comes with being at an age that we can afford a nice bike AND insurance.  It's always good to find some friends your age that like to ride, you'll learn quite a bit from them. 
Last but not least, take a motorcycle safety course!!!!  That builds your foundation for how you ride. 

[DJ_AX]

Depending where I am..

At work I just bring my helmet in.
Most of the ghetto Detroit places that I go ...
I've got a beefy chain that I run through my rear wheel, lift bar, and helmet (full face) which hangs on the rear blinker. I lay the padlock on top so it's easily seen.
'course my 750 is still heavily in the Rat stage so it all fits.

Wave... I wave back whenever I can... but the few times I have waved first I feel like a goober cause they didn't wave back.

Thing about the wave that bothers me is ... one time I ran out of gas on a back road, and too many of them wavin' MF's just rode by while I was pushin'. WTF?

Nice farmer helped me out though in the first mile, and really wanted to by the bike too! Thanks for the gas but... naaaa... see ya...

I'm a 2 year vet. at 40.92yrs old heh heh...
I do have in about 20,000 miles so far though.

She just loves to go go go 

[Butchbaby]

  Now that I've read all your posts I feel a little better, I'm 45 and got my permit about a month ago. I rode around my neighborhood for a few days and I was holding on so tight my hands hurt. I wouldn't take my hands off the bara but the more I ride the better its getting.

[smccloud]

just enjoy having your own bike and riding it.  as for my helmet, it goes with me.  then again, i need a 10mm socket, extension, and ratchet to get my seat up as the lock broke and i can't find parts for it

[paxtonpony]

  Now that I've read all your posts I feel a little better, I'm 45 and got my permit about a month ago. I rode around my neighborhood for a few days and I was holding on so tight my hands hurt. I wouldn't take my hands off the bara but the more I ride the better its getting.

Ya.  I was doing that too.  I took alot of baby steps to get to where I'm at now.  I think my first ride on the highway was my first big scare.  I got off at the first exit, the wind blast and everything was pretty overloading.  There's so much more sensation when you ride (which I think becomes the addictive part later on).  It's really hard to take everything in. 
Take your time, go a little farther everytime you go out.  Find a street with a higher speed limit.  Always stay on roads you know.  Know your danger areas and stay away from them or pay attention.  And always stay in your comfort zone.
Riding motorcycles is the most addictive thing ever invented.  For the life of me, I can't remember why I stopped 17 years ago.  Maybe fear after my accident (was totally unhurt, just scared the hell outta me), maybe it's because I joined the military and went overseas.  Who knows.  I'm back and with a passion!

[smccloud]

  Now that I've read all your posts I feel a little better, I'm 45 and got my permit about a month ago. I rode around my neighborhood for a few days and I was holding on so tight my hands hurt. I wouldn't take my hands off the bara but the more I ride the better its getting.

Ya.  I was doing that too.  I took alot of baby steps to get to where I'm at now.  I think my first ride on the highway was my first big scare.  I got off at the first exit, the wind blast and everything was pretty overloading.  There's so much more sensation when you ride (which I think becomes the addictive part later on).  It's really hard to take everything in. 
Take your time, go a little farther everytime you go out.  Find a street with a higher speed limit.  Always stay on roads you know.  Know your danger areas and stay away from them or pay attention.  And always stay in your comfort zone.
Riding motorcycles is the most addictive thing ever invented.  For the life of me, I can't remember why I stopped 17 years ago.  Maybe fear after my accident (was totally unhurt, just scared the hell outta me), maybe it's because I joined the military and went overseas.  Who knows.  I'm back and with a passion!

idk which is more fun to me, my motorcycle or my guns.....................

[Swede]

When I started riding a few years back (before I had my 550) I would scoot around town on my Honda 90 Trail bike.  I was a bit confused by the whole waving bit at first (mostly because who in the hell would wave at a Honda 90) especially when it was a Harley rider  .  I was pretty surprised at how many people would stop me to ask about the bike.  Anyway I wave when I can and I always take my helmet with me.

[smccloud]

When I started riding a few years back (before I had my 550) I would scoot around town on my Honda 90 Trail bike.  I was a bit confused by the whole waving bit at first (mostly because who in the hell would wave at a Honda 90) especially when it was a Harley rider  .  I was pretty surprised at how many people would stop me to ask about the bike.  Anyway I wave when I can and I always take my helmet with me.

i had a guy on a brand new interceptor (i think) pull up to me and say nice bike and the way he said it almost sounded like he wanted to trade bikes.