If you have ever wondered if you should learn to ride a motorcycle and want to learn the basics, you have come to the right place. Every rider at some point had to learn the basics before they got comfortable with it. Below I broke it down into some simple, easy to follow steps in order to hopefully help you feel confident and knowledgeable enough to start riding your own motorcycle.
What You Will Need
- Motorcycle – This one is pretty obvious and if you do not have one yet, you are not out of luck. If you have one already, that’s awesome! But if you do own one yet, you have three basic options.
- You can borrow one from a really good friend or family
- Take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Class. (More info on this below)
- You can go online and try to pick one up for $1,000.
- Temp or License – The first thing you need to do is some homework, head to your local BMV testing facility and pass a written test. After you pass the written, you will have your very own Temporary Motorcycle License! I would recommend you go online and take a few different free practice tests before you go just so you have a idea what will be on the test.
After you get the Temp there is a few things you need to look out for. You will have to check your local laws about this part. In Ohio, if you only have your temps there are a few restrictions you need to keep in mind.
You have to wear a helmet at all times
Cannot ride at night
Cannot have a passenger
Cannot ride on the freeway
After you get the full endorsement (in Ohio) most of the restrictions are removed. During the first year when you have your full endorsement you still have to wear a helmet and cannot carry a passenger. After your first year, there are no longer any restrictions. But you need to check your local laws to see what applies to you.
I think the best way (and easiest) way to get your full endorsement is to take the ODPS Basic Rider Skills Class. It costs $50 and it is a 16 Hour (2 day) course. In this course they will provide you a motorcycle and helmet during the class. They will teach you everything you need to know and at the end they let you take the skills test. If you pass it there, they will give you a waiver you can take to the BMV and get your full endorsement. (This is what I did) To get more information on this Class, click the link above! - Gear – If you ask any rider what gear you NEED, you will get pretty much the same answer… A Full Leather Racing Suit!!! But do you really need all that when you first start? I would say No, but you do need a few pieces of gear to get started. Those pieces of gear include: Helmet, Jacket, Gloves, and Boots. Below I will list what you are basically looking for and what you want to try to avoid.
Helmet – This is going to be the single most important purchase you will make since it is the the single piece of gear that protects your dome piece. For this piece of gear I highly recommend that you go into a motorcycling store like Cycle Gear and have a employee help you find the correct size you need.
Does size really matter? – YES! You want a helmet that fits snuggly, but does not have pressure points on your head for face. The reason you want it like this, is so if you ever go down you do not want the helmet to fall off or twist around your head
How do I tell how safe a helmet is? – On the back of the helmet there should be a sticker that states what the helmet is rated at. The minimum you have to have (by law) is a DOT rating. There are much better safety ratings that you will need if you want to go to a track or just want extra protection for your head. If you want to learn more about helmets, check out this PDF that the Motorcycle Safety Foundation put together! https://www.msf-usa.org/downloads/helmet_CSI.pdf
Can I get a sweet design on my helmet? – In this area, you can go crazy if you would like. The most common colors for a helmet is white or black, but many companies have the same helmet in many color choices and graphics. So pick the one that you feel suits you the best. (I like to get a matte black helmet with a simple design, since it can match practically any motorcycle)
Jacket – If you are just getting started, you will probably only have one jacket to start. If this is the case, I would try to get a multi-season jacket that has a zip out liner in it.
Why? – Your jacket is basically the climate control for your motorcycle. You cannot just simply turn on the heat or AC like you do in a car. So you need to be able to adjust the jacket for hot and colder weather. They do this by having a inner liner that be be zipped in and out of the jacket.
Vents? – Most will have vents in the chest and arm areas to allow air to pass into the jacket and keep you cool. If a jacket does have vents, make sure there are also vents in the back so the air can exhaust out. Front vents are not going to work well if there is nowhere for the air to go after it is in your jacket.
Gloves – This one is pretty simple, you want to make sure they are made out of a material that will protect your hands in the event they hit pavement. Since we as humans tend to reach out with our hands and arms when we fall, these areas are usually the first place to get hurt. So just make sure you get something that is at least middle of the road in price and quality. That price range will be around $40-$50.
What Style of Gloves should I get? – There are two basic styles of gloves. The first is a gauntlet style that covers the wrist and part way up the arm. These offer the best protection and are used a lot on the track. The second is a shorter glove design that looks like a “regular” pair of gloves. These do not offer much protection for the wrist. These are easier to take on and off.
What features should I look for? – The big two features you should keep in mind are ventilation and armor reinforcement. Ventilation is pretty basic, how much airflow do you want and if they are waterproof. Those you can pick based off your personal needs. Armor could be in the palm or knuckles of the glove to help with any possible impact damage. Again, these features are more up to your personal taste and budget.
Boots – This is the piece of gear you could get away with using some work boots until you can afford a actual pair of riding boots. If you do go the work boot route, try to get a pair that covers most of your ankles and is ideally steel toe. I feel the reason is pretty obvious. The thing you may not realize is that the steel toe will help keep the top of your boot from wearing through when you use the shifter.
A old trick you could do to guess how much a person rides is to look at the top of there left boot. If the top of the toe is worn, it means they ride a lot. On the other hand, if the top of the boot is not worn, means they don’t ride that often. (or they might have got new boots lol)
Why get riding boots if work boots work too? – Riding boots will have a few extra small features that are geared towards riding. Some offer a reinforced toe to help them last longer. Others offer better ankle support. And the last big one is waterproofing. Who wants to ride to work, get caught in a sudden rain and have to walk around in soggy socks for the rest of the day? Not this guy!
To see my recommendations to the gear I use, you can check it all out Here.
- Safe Place to Practice – I found the easiest place to do my practicing is in a large open, empty parking lot. This just gives you a lot of room to get use to the controls and not have to worry so much about running into something or someone. If you are not comfortable to ride your bike to said parking lot, find a friend or family member that does ride and take your car to meet them there.
Plus if there is a rider there watching you practice, i’m sure they will point out any mistakes you may be making and help you correct them.
Learning the Controls
This section is going to go over the basic controls of a standard motorcycle. We are going to give a brief description of what each control does and where they are located on the motorcycle.
- Clutch – The clutch is lever on the left handle bar. This control allows you to disconnect the engine from the transmission. In a manual car, the clutch is a pedal that is on the far left by the brake and gas pedal. Letting go the the clutch lever allows the engine and transmission to be connected. When you squeeze the clutch lever (like your brakes on your pedal bike as a kid) it disconnects the engine from the transmission. This is like putting a car into neutral.
- Front and Rear Brake – The front brake is the lever on the right side of the handle bars (looks just like the clutch that is on the left) and the rear brake is the foot pedal on the right as well. It should be noted that the front and rear brake have seperate controls. (Kinda like a mountain bike) These controls allow to to slow down or stop the bike. (duh :P) This is done to allow precise control of the brakes. There will be times when you may only use one brake and not both. But these techniques are outside the scope of this article. Just know there are two brake controls.
- Shifter – The shifter is located by your left foot. This control allows you to “go faster or slower” The technical definition is, it allows the engine to run at a optimal RPM based on a given speed. Unlike a car where you can put the car in any gear (in any order) a motorcycle transmission is set up in a ratcheting system. So, if you are in second gear and want to go into fourth, you have to go through the third gear. The gearing is setup like so: 1-N-2-3-4-5-6. If you want to go up a gear you lift the shifter up with your left toe. If you want to go down a gear, you press down on the shift lever.
- Throttle – This control is located on the right handle bar grip. This allows you to give the engine more or less gas. You twist the grip back towards you to speed up and roll it away from you to slow down.
- Lights and Horn – The high beam, blinkers and horn is located on the left side of the handle bars. These switches allow you to turn your high beam on or off, activate and cancel your blinkers, and honk the horn.
- Power Switches – These two switches are located on the right side of your handle bars. The kill switch will allow you to kill the engine without having to remove the key. And the engine start switch allows you to crank the engine to get it started.
Basic Operations
- Get on the Bike – This part of the bike you would think is so simple it would not need its own section, but I feel it needs a few points made.
- Make sure you have all your gear on and ready to go before you get on the bike. It is much easier to put the gear on while your off the bike than it is while on.
- When getting on the bike you want to be standing on the left side of the bike. It is the side that the kickstand is on.
- You want to hold the front brake and swing your right leg over the bike and get seated and comfortable.
- If you are going to have a passenger, this is the point where they would get on as well.
- Start the bike – Now that you are on the bike, I willing to bet you want to hear the purr of the engine. To hear the sound of our people, all you need to do is the following:
- Insert key into the ignition and turn to the run position.
- Verify that the engine cutoff switch is set to the “On” or “Run” position.
- If your bike is carbureted, set the choke. It is usually on the right side of the handle bar or in the center by the gauge cluster.
- Hold in the clutch with your left hand and press the engine start button with your right hand.
- If your bike is fuel injected you are good to go. If not, you have to let the engine warm up and slowly back off the choke. You can tell if the engine is ready by twisting the throttle. (in neutral of course) If the engine is responsive to the throttle, you are good to go. If it seems to bog down or stall, it is not ready.
- Get the bike moving – Alright, we are on the bike, its running and we are ready to set off. Before we really get going we need to learn where the Friction Zone is.
What is the Friction Zone? – It is the point when you are slowly releasing the clutch, the engine starts to grab onto the transmission. You can tell when this happens when the engine starts to bog down and you can feel the bike start to roll forward.
How do I get rolling? – Follow these steps below so you can finally get down the road:
- Pull in the clutch with our left hand
- Using your left foot, press the shifter down until you can her the bike click into gear. (This is assuming you are in neutral)
- Slowly start releasing the clutch until you enter the friction zone.
- When you feel or hear the engine start to bog, twist the throttle towards you slowly to keep the engine from stalling.
- While you are doing that with the throttle, keep releasing the clutch lever and the bike will start to move forward. Hardest Part Over!
- After you get some speed, pull in the clutch again and roll the throttle forward back to the default position.
- Using your left foot, lift up on the shifter TWO clicks. You are now in second gear. You want to hear / feel two clicks, because you need to get through neutral to get into second gear.
- Repeat those steps to go up and down the gears.
- Turning and Stopping – When turning on a motorcycle, it is not as simple as you might believe. If you are traveling under 10mph, you steer by turning the handlebars left to go left and right to go right. But when you you are moving faster than 10mph you have to start counter steering.
What is Counter Steering? – It is a effect that is caused by the shape of the motorcycle tire in which you have to push the handlebars in the opposite direction you want to go. I promise you read that correctly. So, if you want to turn left, you have to PUSH on the left side of the handlebar.
I know this sounds a bit unbelievable, but trust me it’s true. And if you think it’s going to be a hard thing to pick up, dont worry. After you test it out a few times, it will start to feel very natural and you will start doing it without having to think about it.
The last thing I want to point out, when turning, is where you are looking while in a curve. When you are in a curve you want to be looking at the end of the curve and not right in front of you. The rule of thumb when corning is “The bike is only going to go where you are looking” so if you are looking right in front of you, the bike will keep traveling straight and not really turn. However; if you are looking at the end of the curve, the bike will turn to head towards the end of the curve. If you take the rider course, they will hammer this fact into your brain.
Fun Fact: Your front brake is responsible for 70% of your stopping ability and the rear brake makes up the missing 30%. - Dismounting and parking – After you get to where you want to go, you have to get off the bike. Doing this is simple, all you need to do is the following:
- Back the bike into the parking place (or garage)
- Turn the key to the “OFF” position
- Put the Kickstand Down! (People forget to do this more than you think and more than riders like to admit, Myself included)
- Turn the handlebars to the left and dismount the bike in the reverse order you got on.
- If your bike allows the handlebars to be locked, do this now.
Now you can pat yourself on the back for riding a motorcycle and looking awesome while doing it! If you think this is the thing for you, keep reading below to see what else you can do in motorcycling.
What are my Next Steps?
Get some miles in the saddle – Pratice Pratice Pratice. The only way you are going to get good at doing anything, is to keep doing it. The more time you spend on the road, the better you will get at noticing potential issues and get yourself out of trouble.
For example: I like to pretend that I am invisible and believe that someone will run into me. Because of this healthy fear, I have gotten good at noticing the small tells, that car drivers do, when they want to change lanes or slam on their brakes. It has helped me avoid being hit or running into somebody.
Take Advanced Riding Courses – After you have some miles under your belt and you want to get better, take the more advanced riding classes that ODPS offer. They offer classes for advanced techniques or riding with a passenger. Just read through the class description and see if anything sparks your interest.
Get a bike that better suits your needs – After some time will might start to realize that the first bike you got doesnt fit the needs or riding style you enjoy. Not to say you will hate your first bike, but it might be underpowered or you find out speed isn’t your calling, but distance is.
This is where I’m finding myself. My 1984 Honda Nighthawk 650 is a good motorcycle and doubt I will ever sell it, but I want to get into touring. Not to say it is impossible to do touring on that bike, but there are bikes out there designed to do just that. I have been looking into motorcycles like a Honda Goldwing to fill this desire. I can say that I did not believe I would go down this motorcycling route, but here I am.
If you made it to the end of this article, I want to thank you for reading this and I hope you found it helpful. And I hope after reading through this you feel confident and knowledgeable to get started into motorcycling. I hope to see you on the road!
If you are interested in what Motorcycle and gear I own, you can check it all out on the Bike and Gear page!