NEVER!!!!!!!

Greg, how about a bit more detail on that bike you used in the course? My wife is considering a dual purpose ride. I was thinkin how cool would it be for the wife to have a dual purpose, the daughter to get a Ninja 250 & then with the Zuki in the garage, if I wanted to ride out in back O the house or go play Ricky road racer I would have bikes that would do it. & When we wanted to ride together, well,, there's 3 bikes. I wonder about the little 200, tho. How big a dude are ya Greg? My wife's 5'8 & about 160 ish. The bike pretty peppy? Seem like maintenance would be easy enough? Anything about it put you off? Qualities? Talk to me , man,,  

phasender wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:


Advanced Training?!! Go back and take the beginners course and pay attention. Ask questions. This may sound condescending but you have repeatedly "Bitten off more than you can chew". Riding in the rain and cold is not for someone with six months of experience on two different bikes. Learn your bike, how it rides and brakes.
For what it's worth... I dropped (any definition) my bike alot in the beginning. Even broke off the turn signals a few times. But I learned from my mistakes. Please take your time and pace yourself. You will get better the more you ride. Good Luck

Thanks for the advice all. It looks like consensus is: I'm not the worst rider in the world and all these accidents happened because of bad riding conditions, BUT, given my skill level, I should avoid bad conditions, AND, if I don't learn from my mistakes, I'll end up dead.

I definitely think I've learned from my mistakes and internalized lessons like:

1. don't over squeeze the front brake, especially when it's wet
2. be really gentle on the turns when it's wet
3. stay away from railroad tracks, or at least hit them head on.
4. Even small cracks/potholes can be deadly when it's wet or icy.
5. Don't get distracted by pretty girls walking by.

No one offers lessons in Chicago in the winter time, but I'm going to sign up for an MSF course when it opens up. As for why I want to take the advanced instead of the basic, the beginner class I went to was pretty much a "this is a motorcycle" class. Even though I'd never ridden before, by the end of it, only one guy in the class could handle the bikes better than me. I don't mean that I think I'm good, just that this class was focused more on which hand is the clutch, how to shift gears and pressing to turn than on handling a bike in road conditions.

I thought it was an invaluable learning experience,  but the class didn't really address any of the situations I encountered. Well, except the railroad track thing. That was just stupid. I'm hoping the advanced course teaches more about riding in difficult situations.

phasender wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:


Honestly, I just don't think that you get it.

If you are content to be "not the worst", then you'll still drop it like it's hot.

Brown, you spelled it wrong!
     [color=Red][/color]INVISIBLE

Honestly, I don't think I said I was content with my skill level. If I was, I wouldn't have posted here like I did. All that I meant by saying "I'm not the worst" rider is that after 4 months of daily commuting on my bike, I'm not so horrible that I should quit riding completely and never touch my bike again. But, that I should avoid riding in adverse conditions.  Also, given my skill level, when I take a class this spring, I think I'll get a lot more out of it on the open road.

Savage_Greg wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:

My bad, I think I didn't make myself clear. I DID take an MSF basic course. I don't know if it was the "basic" course that you're talking about, but it was a 4 day course, 4-6 hours a day, and at the end of it, I got a card with with an upside down triangle, "MSF" and my name printed on it. I think we're talking about the same thing here. I definitely learned a lot, it WAS a challenge, and I passed.