Starting Out on the Flat Foot: Seven Steps to Learning How To Ride

by Stacy on June 27, 2007

You’re ready.

Maybe you just spent the entire weekend watching an American Chopper marathon on the Discovery channel. Maybe you were out taking a Sunday drive and rode past a bunch of motorcyclists out on a group ride. Maybe you’re tired of talking about wanting to ride but not taking any action.

Do any amount of research and the first suggestion for new riders is “take a riding class.” That’s excellent advice. But after that, it’s a crapshoot. Some say buy a bike. Others say buy some gear. But a brand new rider can’t be expected to know which bike would suit them best, or how to buy the right gear for their situation.

Here’s my attempt at defining the steps a new rider should take once they’ve decided that they really are ready to ride. This is what I would do if I had to do it all over again.

  1. Register for a beginning rider training class.
  2. Do a little homework.
  3. Get your first set of gear.
  4. Take the beginning rider training class.
  5. Get your endorsement.
  6. Buy a bike.
  7. Ride, ride, ride as much as you can.

Each of these steps will get an entire post to themselves in the near future, but for now, here’s my reasoning in a nutshell:

The rider training class is the single most important step you’ll take when learning how to ride a motorcycle. Yes, even more important than actually buying a motorcycle. Craigslist is filled with almost-brand-new bikes that haven’t even hit their first service inspection. You’ll take advantage of that later, but for now, resist the urge to run out and buy a bike until you’ve gotten your endorsement.

Step 2 (“Do some homework”) and 3 (“Get your first set of gear”) are specifically intended to help you get the most out of the rider training class. For instance, it’s worth taking a few minutes to study where the basic controls are on a typical motorcycle. The class will go over basics like this in the classroom and at the riding range, but it’s also throwing a ton of other information at you in a short period of time. I’d rather spend my braincycles getting the riding techniques down than learning where the clutch is.

Getting your first set of gear doesn’t have to mean running out and buying a thousand dollar’s worth of Aerostich gear. I’d recommend buying at least a helmet and a true motorcycling jacket if you can. At the class, the last thing you want to worry about is poor-fitting gear, and having your own helmet and jacket means you won’t be.

Once you’ve completed the class, you’ll know if you want to keep riding or not. And when you know that you want to keep riding, you’ll know it’s time to start thinking about getting that first bike. And when you get that first bike… well, it’s time to ride, isn’t it?

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