Rookie Tips
- Practice being smooth not fast. Once you've mastered the former, the latter will come.
- Ride like you're invisible and they're out to get you. It's not paranoia, it's self-defense.
- Cars have a 360 deg. blind spot for motorcycles. Including when you're stopped at a red light... Sit in first gear watching your mirrors until at least one car has stopped behind you.
- Respect your mortality.
- Remember in any physical contact contest between a motorcycle and another motor vehicle, YOU LOSE.
- Pay close attention to road conditions and assume any liquid you see is a hazard.
- Don't ride over your head or faster than you can see. There is *always* someone faster. Let 'em go.
- Ride sober: this is non-negotiable.
- Leave the wheelies and stoppies to the Wal-Mart crowd.
- It can happen to you. And if the experience on this list is representative, it probably will. Learn collision avoidance and how to crash. Always give yourself someplace to go.
- Give yourself a few thousand miles before you start carrying a passenger. Pillions radically change the handling of the bike, especially a 600 designed for one. When you do carry a passenger ride conservatively, remember P = mv (momentum = mass x velocity). The increase in mass will make it significantly more difficult to handle the bike.
- Invest more in protective gear than the cost of your first motorcycle. You will crash at some point. It usually happens in the rookie year(s)