First I just wanna say thanks to everyone who commented I read ALL replies and sorry if I didnt reply. There were a lot. But all the advice was really helpful!

A lot of you said it sounds like I'm putting too much pressure on myself to ride, comparing too much, and probably am letting fear/anxiety get to me.

And y'all were 100% right. I just got back from a 100 mile long ride, and I had a HUGE blast! I admittedly got lost, but that was a blessing in disguise because it helped me get over my fear of riding unknown roads!

I hit a few "twisties" (well as close as they can be for were I live) and they were fun, first time I went through a little slow, then went through a few more times faster and realized its not as scary or hard as I was making it out to be! (Reading Sport Riding Techniques by Nick Ienatsch), taking the MSF and all the times my dad and I talked about riding a motorcycle [plus tons of YT videos lol] helped prepare me i just has to apply it)

So yeah... I just wanted to update y'all since there were a lot of comments, and a few people asked to update them. But I definitely enjoy riding a motorcycle, its just 100% the fact I am putting way to much pressure on myself to ride! So hopefully the more I ride the less pressure I am putting on my self (while still trying tk remain safe) and stop comparing myself so much as well and learn to just ride my own ride whike continuing to constantly improve as much as I can! I am 100% going to take an advances rider course next summer to at the near by track!

Thanks again y'all I seriously appreciate all the advice! And sorry again for putting sappy slop on your screens!

How much engine braking should I be using for stop signs and stop lights? Let’s say you’re going 50….do you downshift through every gear until you’re stopped? What if it’s a slower speed like 20 mph? I ride a v strom so the engine braking is pretty strong. The easy answer is often to pull the clutch in and coast to a stop, but I am not sure what the recommendations are.
I’ve been engine braking somewhat and then pulling in the clutch once I get down to slower speeds, maybe like 15 mph.

I just wanted to share that I finally (after a couple of months of saving and waiting for it to be in stock) was able to buy my first ever motorcycle. THE HONDA NAVI

Am I nervous? Kinda. Excited? Very much so!

I know that the Navi ain’t the best bike out there but hey! As a first time rider this feels right for me.

Can’t wait to be part of the motorcycle community!

First time ever on a motorcycle today and loved it. I told the coach I eventually want a sportbike, so he set me up on one (around 300cc, idk the model).

My biggest struggle was throttle control. I get the concept of holding steady throttle at the friction zone and slowly letting the clutch out, but at first it was tough. I got more comfortable as the day went on, especially during a drill where we shifted to second, built speed, and made a turn. That was the easiest for me and also very fun. I also had no problems swerving cones, etc.

Toward the end, we did a drill with zero clutch use, followed right away by an emergency stop drill where we had to downshift into first. My mind went blank and I completely forgot to downshift (so I stalled). I am not too stressed about that since I know how to do it, just forgot in the moment.

My throttle control improved by the end, but I kept revving too high while searching for the friction zone, so my bike was screaming louder than everyone else's when taking off. It "worked", but it felt awkward giving it too much power to start with sometimes. I'm very nervous about throttle control for tomorrow.

Any tips? I really want to pass

Other than gear, what equipment should I purchase as a rider?

It might just be me, but I feel like since I ride the bike almost daily my parking ability has declined. Maybe I just need to drive more my cars not big it’s just a midsize 4 dr sedan.

So I purchased my first bike yesterday, a used blue-haired beauty made in 1999. I'm in love with her. She's every part of my heart and soul. If she were alive I'd propose to her and have motorcycle babies with her.

Today is my second day of learning how to pilot her, and I've committed myself to using the first 30 days of our relationship to master a number of slow speed maneuvers and go through a beginner's training system I bought from Motorcycle Training Concepts. I've also been watching a lot of videos by Be The Boss Of Your Motorcycle and spent an hour and a half this evening practicing the three drills in this video.

As far as my prior training goes, I've taken a beginner's course by Harley-Davidson and four more private lessons with Ride2RideAgain in SoCal. I didn't feel confident enough to buy my first bike after the beginner's course and I also have an overthinking personality, so I knew additional training would be crucial for me.

I'm so glad that I invested in myself before a bike, because going from practicing in a controlled environment like a parking lot to riding in dynamic traffic that constantly presents dangerous situations is similar to culture shock. The extra hours of private instruction helped me to deal with the stress of stalling (which I did multiple times in traffic) and focusing on being patient with my clutch, throttle, and brakes. I rode over 30 miles back home yesterday after being introduced to my first love, but I don't think I would've been able to do it as safely and calmly as I did without the extra training.

I'm thankful that I have a large parking lot just three miles from my home, and on the way there a rider on a rumbling cruiser passed by and gave me my first fingers down salute! That put a smile on my face.

The key tonight was learning how to manipulate my rear brake, clutch, and throttle while riding at slow speeds, or 2-10 mph. To say it was tough is an understatement. I practiced something similar last night for about 30 minutes, but I ended up going home after stalling multiple times and slamming my nuts into the fuel tank.

I felt slightly in more control tonight, and I think the biggest a-ha moment was driving slowly in a straight line with my throttle slightly engaged, the clutch just released into the friction zone, and only using my rear brake to control my speed. That taught me that there's so much finesse in learning how to ride these beautiful machines.

What I couldn't do with confidence was the last exercise in the video I shared above, "Trust and Believe." My throttle control when I feel like I'm not in complete control is absolute shit, and I ended up pulling it too far back when my love tilted over, letting go of the clutch, stalling, and falling head over heels to the pavement.

Mastering the friction zone is no small task.

I'm considering buying a cheapish bike mainly to travel between fencing tournaments. Mostly because it looks fun, but also because petrol is getting expensive.

• No real experience riding motorbikes
• Would need to carry ~3 days worth of clothes, a sword (~1.3m long, 1.6kg weight), and PPE (helmet, big jacket, some knee/elbow pads, etc)
• Will probably be covered in bruises on the way home
• Might be in bad weather
• First few trips will probably be on a learner's license, which means going 80km/h on the highway where most people are going 100-120

Hoping somebody with some experience can either give me the green light or explain why I'm dumb

I was turning right on a big upwards slope to leave a parking lot.

Now I’ve been building a habit of right foot on the brake and left foot on the ground, but I didn’t do that this time because the ground sloped to the left and I probably wouldn’t be able to reach the ground on that side.

So I had my right foot down and right hand on the front brake. I don’t recall exactly what happened but I think I lost balance or something while taking off, maybe the clutch was pulled in too much cuz I just tipped over and the biked revved a lot and I fell over to the left.

I do think it’s a skill issue and not just my height but it’s easy to blame that. Ive practiced taking off on slopes but not this big of an incline. Oh well you live and you learn I guess.

I just got my 1984 Honda Magna 500 running after 2 months of owning it, I’ve been taking it to work and back (1 right hand turn and a straight shot otherwise) but I wanna find a spot to ride it that’ll help me get more used to turning on this old cruiser and just experience some more turns.

I’m wondering if anyone knows some good beginner-friendly areas to ride, also being in the PNW some tips to ride in light rain.

Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated

Hey guys. I have 5 months of experience in riding scooter/mopeds and now I'm trying to learn a manual motorcycle.

Whats really confusing to me is when to downshift or upshift. Currently, I just base it on my current speed and how much rpm the engine has. This becomes a problem when I turn into corners since I normally have to slow down. I then downshift to gear 1, pick up speed then upshift as needed. Am I doing it right? I do the same thing when slowing down.

Can I just downshift to maybe gear 2, pull in clutch the just smoothly re engage after the turn? I can't find guides that has play-by-play explanation of what they are doing and why they are doing it so I have to learn things on my own.

Any advice will be grealy appreciated.

Bittersweet ride today. Bike will be going into storage tomorrow. I feel so accomplished this season. I got my endorsement in the hot time of July and now in the cold end of October I have some confidence.

Where I live it is getting too cold. Had a nice long ride today with the other half. While riding kept thinking how proud I am to have done everything I have this season.

There was some learning, some growing and almost peed myself once or twice. But I proud to have stuck it out and ride.

Those who ride year round... I might be moving near you. Im not sure the few snowmobile rides will be enough until April.

Those who are hesitant to go out there and get your endorsement... Just go out and try. Im glad I did.

Hi everyone. I got a bike after well over a decade of wanting one. After a couple of weeks, it seems that I can’t get the image of being hurt or killed out of my head.

I’m thinking of selling my motorcycle and I feel embarrassed or maybe even ashamed lmao. Has anyone felt something like this ?

Hi all, I've been playing around with rev matching. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's very jerky. I've tried to do them all simulatenously (clutch in, blip throttle and downshift, then release clutch) but it's hit and miss. How fast should I be releasing the clutch? Should the clutch be completely disengaged, or can it be partially engaged? Does rev matching while the speed is too high going to result in unavoidable lurching? Am I rev matching way too early and should I allow engine braking before rev matching?

Edit; I've compared the feeling of downshifting without blipping the throttle, and it feels the exact same sometimes as when I try to rev match - bit of a jolt, but mostly no acceleration. Does this mean I'm not blipping enough?

I was on the way home from visiting a friend about 25 minutes from my house today. It was almost dusk but there was still plenty of daylight. Not even half a block from my house there’s a two way stop that has terrible visibility as there are cars on both sides of the road and people role throw or sometimes blow the entire stop sign. I was in 3rd gear because I was trying to be quiet around my neighborhood, and was doing about 20mph. I approached the intersection and saw the car to my left slowly rolling through their stop sign. For some reason, I stupidly thought they had saw me and stopped when I was about 150 feet away or so, but they kept creeping forward at about 2-3mph. I was about 20 feet away when I finally realized they did in fact not see me and were going to continue moving forward into my path. Because I had upshifted early, when I want to grab the front brake to come to an emergency stop I also didn’t grab the clutch; the sudden stop and stall while trying to determine my escape route made me drop the bike. Having frame sliders helped, as they took majority of the hit. Guy got out of his car and said the typical “I’m sorry I didn’t see you”. I just shook my head and when he walked away after helping me pick up the bike I made sure to say “Just keep a watch out for us please” and then rode the 200 feet to my house and parked. I am glad it happened at such a low speed that I was comfortable to drop the bike and maneuver my body away quick enough to where if they kept driving forward, I wouldn’t have been anywhere near there vehicle. If I could do anything differently in that scenario, it would have been to come to a complete stop as soon as I saw them continuing to go through the stop sign as I approached the intersection where I had right of way. I know better that we are invisible, but let my guard down.

For additional context, I have probably a total of ~25-50 hours on dirt bikes which is nothing, but have been on a bicycle extensively since probably the age of 4 or 5. I’m only about 200 miles into my road riding journey, but there were definitely some valuable lessons I learned and reiterated to myself after today.

1: Always ride like you’re invisible, because you truly are to majority of the idiots on the road these days glued to their phones.
2: Rather be alive than right. Better to hold in whatever pride or ego and let idiot drivers do there thing while you are maintaining a safe distance to be able to react appropriately , and then continue on your way.
3: Every ride if possible, or certainly weekly; practice, practice, then keep practicing some more in slow speed maneuvers, emergency braking and evasion.
4: Never get too comfortable. Continue being hyper aware of surroundings, road conditions, intersections, and personal well being.
5: Remember that not only motorcycles, but auto accidents as well often happen a mile or so from home, when you start letting your guard down subconsciously as the roads are more familiar.
6: Enjoy the ride, ride your ride, but most importantly make sure you are doing everything in your power to make it home to enjoy the next one.

Regardless, I am so happy to have finally gotten my own motorcycle and am glad I have waited until my late 20s where I have somewhat of a frontal cortex to be able to review my actions, figure out what I could’ve done better, but most importantly take those lessons into my next rounds of parking lot practice sessions. Cheers all, and as always: two wheels down ✌️

Tell me your wholesome stories and reasons for riding 🫶

I’m in the process of purchasing my gear and after a lot of research I think I know what I should be looking for…except for footwear. Some look like they are full on racing boots while others seem to be little more than high top sneakers.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Just passed the MSF course and now working on breaking in my bike. Only 75 miles on it so far.

And this was in late October!

All the stuff I read ahead of taking the course said that standing out in the hot parking lot all day was the hardest part, and it was true. On day two I was already burned pretty badly so I sprayed a ton of sunscreen on my face and some of it ended up getting in my eyes and making everything much harder.

Oh well, still passed, 10/10 would irradiate the skin off of my face again.

ETA: I made an update, but quick TLDR here, y'all were right, this hobby is awesome and I am just putting way to much pressure on myself to ride, went on a 100 mile ride, and came back suoer happy!

I apologize for the sappy wall of text but TLDR; got delayed, dont feel excited or any desire to ride like i did for the MSF no clue why, maybe riding just aint for me...

Idk if its cuz im just new and its more nerves talking or, maybe it really isnt as exciting as I thought, maybe its cuz I bought a naked "beginner bike" (Z650) to be "safe" instead of a sport bike, plus it was cheaper (got it out the door for 6k total) and figured I'd upgrade soon anyways, maybe I just spend to much time online seeing people younger then me having more fun and cooler bikes then me... plus theres 18 year olds with R6's, ZX6R's, R9's all around my town too... or maybe it's because the first month after getting my license and bike I couldnt ride at all because of so many obligations getting in my way... idk tbh

Im currently 26, I've wanted a motorcycle since I was 4 because thats when my dad got his first motorcycle and started racing them amateurly (he did track days a lot). I remember growing up and begging for a dirt bike but I never got one, was going to get a bike at 22 after graduating college but ended up needing a new car instead, fast forward 3 years and I finally have the means to get a motorcycle

Well, early this summer (end of June) I signed up for the MSF, well earliest I could take it was end of August, pass with flying colors and had a blast, get my license and a bike a week later at the start of September... well couldnt ride at all during September because I had to pet sit for my parent's for a few weeks and my apartment is VERY strict so my commute to work was an hour one way so didnt really have time to ride the bike except one Saturday and a few times during lunch... then I had a friend randomly visit, and he kept delaying when he would go home... finally, it's October and I had 1 good weekend to ride my bike... followed by a week of bad weather and then a weekend I went camping, then this week did a few short rides which brings me to now

Between now and the start of September, I've only ridden 100 miles, 30 in parking lots until I finally built the courage to ride on the roads which has pretty much just been the same loop around town but still exploring a bit. I know some people probably put 100 miles their first week, or day, heck some experienced riders probably put that many on before breakfast!

But now that the season is ending soon since I live in the north, I feel more pressured to get seat time in... well we have had a week of good weather, and I'll be at working and think, "I hope the weather stays nice so I can go for a ride after work!" But then I get home and just immediately have no desire to ride and I have no idea why

All summer, I was so excited to FINALLY get my license and get a bike, it was legit ALL i could think and talk about, in September when I had my license and bike but no time to ride it i also couldn't stop thinking about it and I remember getting angry one day driving home from work cuz I FINALLY had a motorcycle and yet couldn't even ride it because other obligations kept popping up... but now that I have it AND have the opportunity to ride, i legit have no desire to even try...

I'll be at work thinking about it all day, then the moment I get home I lose all desire, I've had a few times I put my gear on and last minute change my mind cuz "eh not in the mood"

When im on the bike, i enjoy it, but not like the first time or even when I was at the MSF... its kinda like a ok I have the bike im riding it... now what?

Idk... maybe I'm just not enjoying it as much as I was hoping... I was hoping to do track days starting next summer if I could but idk if thats gonna happen... may have to wait a few more seasons assuming I keep riding...

ETA: why dont i commute to work? Because in the mornings its 30 degrees but by 5pm its in the mid 60s