anybody want to teach me how to ride a Harley?

Question

I think I'm having a midlife crisis.

My avatar was wrong.
I'm not a guy. (I'm not in the picture either, just thought it's funny)

Answer 1

Best thing you can do is take a motorcycle riding course. They start you off on something small to get a feel and show you how to properly ride safely. I personally knew how to ride myself before taking the course but I learnt alot of new techniques which I use everyday.

Have fun and ride safe! You won't regret it!

Answer 2

Go to an HD Dealer and sign up for the motorcycle safety course. They will teach you how to ride and do it safely. They supply the bikes in several dif. sizes for you learn. Then if you think you are still interested in riding buy yourself a bike. Oh and if you take this course you get an insurance break also. Depends on your dealer and/or state for the price. KS its $300ish. Going ot a private class is about $50-$75 an hour and it takes several classes. So cost will be about the same either way. I think the dealer puts on a better class. jmo

Answer 3

To be honest, Harleys are overweight, old style motorcycles, this means hard to drive.

Start with a lighter japanese motorcycle (600 cc) gives enough performance for first timers, with much less weight. You can even start with 250s

Dont jump into high performance or heavyweight bikes, before learning to drive very well (and make emergency maneuvers without lossing control of the bike), most people who do so suffer BIG accidents.

Answer 4

get a 883 or 1200 sportster. u'll have alot of fun with a bike that's alot lighter than the big twins, get much better gas mileage than the big twins......and u can laugh at the old man tryin to play catch up in the twisties on his big twin. and if ya happen to drop it in the parking lot, u wont think u'll need a crane and a chain to pick it back up.

Answer 5

Go to the nearest HD store when they are having a rally. There are always some guys willing to help. Try it. Costs nothing and you will have fun. Good Luck.

Answer 6

go take the safety course in your state all states have them in Illinois it costs 20 dollars don't go to Harley they will charge you 400 to take the same course with the same instructors

Answer 7

Well, first off you should have some experience on something a little smaller. The smallest hog they have today is the 883. I have heard of stories where people just get on one and ride fine, but many more where the poor slob fell over making their first turn.

Before you leave the lot make sure you have the mirrors adjusted so you can see as much as possible without turning your head. In an emergency situation you may have to move quickly without taking your eyes off the "target". You need to be able to see what is close on both sides so you can squeeze into a safe spot. You don't want to do that, just to get crunched by some other cage. This goes for any bike.

If you are dead set on a hog, the first thing to remember is that you need to be straight up and down, and have the handlebars facing straight ahead when you start or stop. (This is for a beginner people! I know some of you can have the fork at lock and take off or stop. I'm not bad at the parking lot rodeo myself.)

This makes the bike much easier to control, and it's easier on your legs and nerves until you get used to having 650+ pounds between your legs. That's the go part. The only reason I mentioned that first is you have to be able do do this part before you can do the important part.

Stopping. Your hog will have two brakes, front and back. It's much easier to go well than it is to stop. In the beginning, never try to stop with the bike not straight up and down, and the handlebars pointing straight ahead. You WILL go over. It's hard on the legs, the turn signals, the handlebars and levers, and sometimes the paint job until you get the hang of it.

Back to two brakes. I know people that say they never use the back brake since 70% of you braking power comes from the front one. Well, I do the opposite under normal riding conditions. I use the back brake, and downshift. I keep my throttle hand free of brake lever in case I need a quick twist of the wick to avoid some bubblehead. Learn both brakes when you start riding, and you won't have any bad habits to unlearn later. (I have found that I can lock up the back brake pretty easy by dropping my size 13 on the pedal too hard. That's what you save the front lever for. An emergency. If you lock up the rear, it will slide to one side. Not a good thing unless you know it is coming.)

Once you have the stop and go down pat, then you can go play in the parking lot of the local giant store that is closed on Sundays. (Although that happens less and less now.) The good thing is they will have some part of the lot that is not overpopulated by cages, and you can use that. First thing to get used to is avoidance manuvers. This is easier to learn than emergency stops. Just go around. You can lean WAY over if you are moving and the pavement is not wet. (As long as your tires are warmed up a bit. I have "Dunflops" on my ride, they are pretty tame, but don't last much more than 12,000 miles.)

Try some quick "C" moves. You lean way over in a safe direction, twist the wick like you mean it, then when you pass the idiot, you zip back in. The move looks like a big "C" shape if you did it correctly. Don't forget to make sure you don't get tagged by some other putz when you need to swing out. (More on this later.) When you are happy that you can get around around some dipstick, then you practice the emergency stops.

Get on both brakes evenly. If you slam on the front brake, you will have less traction in the rear. Plus locking up the front in anything other than a straight line stop is an invitation to go nipple surfing. If you have to go around, you will still have traction at the back if you don't get on the front brake heavy. Using the rear brake will keep you from having to panic grab the front brake. That leaves you with more traction. Traction is everything when avoiding buttheads.

Mirrors. I can't say enough about mirrors. Don't get boxed in. Check your mirrors every few seconds to see if you have a spot you can dart into. You won't always be able to stop if you follow too closely. (I don't, but I have idiots that think that big open space between me and the cage in front is reserved for them. That's when I break out the finger, and pass. I can do that now.) Always know where you can go, and what you will need to do to get there. Head for the sidewalk if you must. Bent forks are cheaper to replace, and less painfull than broken limbs.

And now a few things for when you know what you are doing. A hog tail-light is very small compared to what a car has. Most of the cage drivers are used to seeing billboard sized brake lights. In the city, I use hand signals to augment my lights. The fact that I wear what I wear in the avatar probably helps. And speaking of the avatar, here comes a bit more info you probably don't want to hear.

Protective equipment. Yes. Leather jacket, M/C boots, long pants of heavy denim, at least a half shell, and some gloves. (Hand wounds bleed something awful, plus gloves will keep your hands from getting numb from the vibration.) I wear all the stuff in my avatar pic year around. Yeah, even in 95 degree heat. Sweat can be washed off, road rash is forever.

I'm sure I left out a few things, hopefully the rest of the yahoo's will fill in the blanks. If I raised any questions, I do IM and e-mail from my pic. Just a thought. Don't make a mid-life crisis an "end-life" crisis. But a bike is fun. And safe if you learn you stuff.

Answer 8

I think a lot of guys here would love to teach ya how to ride a pony.... lol lol

kiddin

Answer 9

Try this web site to get started.

http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/Content/Pages/Rider_Education/rider_education.jsp?locale=en_US&bmLocale=en_US

Answer 10

first my son you need to buy the harley

then when you do have your harley

you sit on the harley

this is the first lesson for free