Have you always wished to learn how to ride a motorcycle? Here, in this post, we’ve decided to put together a step-by-step guide to safe motorcycling. It may be noted that while motorcycling has always been an exciting activity, it’s of prime importance to ride with respect and caution your bike deserves; such an approach to motorcycling will not just ensure safety for yourself and for other road users, but it should also make biking a whole lot more fun. We are guessing that you already know what motorcycle type you’re interested in, and probably you’ve already taken baby steps towards getting comfortable on the saddle — we urge you to have a good read of this rather basic guide on how to ride a motorcycle.
How to Ride a Motorcycle Video
While the following guide should give you a good idea about how to ride a motorcycle, here’s a quick video tutorial to complement the textual tutorial
Step – 1 Before you start . . .
You need to always remember that motorcycling is a serious affair and before firing up the engine, you are required to ensure that your machine isn’t in need of immediate maintenance. Published by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, ‘T-CLOCS’ is a check-list of things you always need to pay attention to :
- T – Tires & wheels
- C – Controls (levers, pedal, cables, hoses)
- L – Light (battery, headlights, turn indicators, etc.)
- O – Oil (fluid levels)
- C – Chassis (frame, suspension, chain, etc.)
- S – Stands (center/side stand)
Step – 2 Gear Up!
Remember, a motorcycle crash can leave you seriously injured. Hence, it becomes of utmost importance to always make use of full riding gear while riding. Your riding gear should include – a certified motorcycle crash helmet, biking gloves, armour, riding jacket and riding boots. Rule of the thumb is to spend at least one-tenth of your bike’s purchase-cost on buying safety gear.
Step – 3 Know Your Machine
Getting on a bike can be a rather Herculean task for most first-time riders. Position yourself on the left side of your motorcycle, grip the handlebar and gently lean against the tank.Transferring all the weight on the left leg, swing your right leg over the bike and gently perch yourself atop the seat.
Next, get acquainted with your bike’s ergonomic. Make necessary adjustments to the mirrors and get acquainted with the foot-peg placement. Also, spend a good time with understanding the switch-gear.
In the next few steps, get acquainted with basic controls (read: throttle, clutch, gearshift pattern, levers) of the motorcycle.
Step – 4 Start Your Motorcycle
Once you’ve familiarized yourself with your bike’s basic controls and functions, it would be safe to turn on the ignition. Almost every bike on sale today comes kitted out with an ‘electric start’, which eliminates the need of kick starting your bike’s engine. Also, do remember to disengage the ‘engine kill’ switch and slot into Neutral before you decide to ‘thumb start’ your bike. Next, use your right hand’s thumb to push the start button.
As your motorcycle’s engine roars to life, allow it to idle for a minute (you might need to extend this time in unfavorable weather conditions, such as that of extreme winters). Refrain from revving the engine during this ‘warm up period’. Most motorcycles come kitted out with an engine temperature gauge that can be checked to ensure that your engine isn’t too cold to perform at its optimum levels.
Step – 5 Hit the Road!
With everything in place, make sure you have retracted the kick-stand (if applicable) and get ready to roll! Depress the clutch lever, slot into the first cog, release the clutch in a gradual fashion, and feel the bike move ahead. A slight twist of throttle will help you gain forward momentum. You need to depress the clutch lever and hold the throttle at a constant when shifting to the next gear.
You need to ‘counter-steer’ to deal with the turns. Basically, counter-steering involves pushing the handlebar on the side you wish to turn. For example, when turning right, you’ll be required to lean ever so slightly to the right and push the right grip of the handlebar away from yourself. Sounds complicated but you aren’t likely to take much time to get used to this procedure.
Stopping a motorcycle might be actually trickier than putting it into the motion. Remember to engage the clutch while hard braking, lest you’ll stall the bike. Also, avoid depressing the brake lever too hard to avoid skidding on the either end.
As we said, it’s all much simpler in practice than in theory. Before venturing out on to the public roads, you really need to head to an open space, such as a vacant parking lot, to get acquainted to the art of motorcycling. We urge you to keep all these pointers in mind before you decide to have a rendezvous with your shiny new motorbike.
So, what do you have to say about our quick guide on ‘how to ride a motorcycle?’ Do share your views by penning them down in the comments section below.
Pics – motorcycles.about