Why do you want to learn how to ride a motorcycle?
This is an important question that you have to ask yourself before ever getting on a bike. Why do you want to learn how to ride? Is it for the right reasons? If you start off with the wrong mindset before ever even owning a bike, you’re going to be fighting an uphill battle. Meaning, if you are worried about trying to look cool in front of your friends or be able to show off, then it is going to make it increasingly difficult for you to worry about what really matters most: Safely learning how to ride a motorcycle.
Make sure you’re doing this for yourself.
Riding a motorcycle can be a great way to meet new people and enjoy the road with others. But, first and foremost, it is an individual’s lifestyle. Riding takes a lot of time and effort (not to mention, money!) You won’t see many self-taught weekend warriors heading down to Deals Gap and successfully navigating through it.
What am I getting at here? Experience is key when it comes to riding and if you are going to be waiting around for your buddies all day just so you can get out and ride, you might want to re-think why you are riding. Group riding is great, but it shouldn’t be the main focus of why you choose to ride.
The most obvious wrong reason to ride is to look “cool”. If you want to learn how to ride just so you can look cool in front of others, then look elsewhere. Riding is not for you. Go buy an expensive four wheeled machine and brag away. Two wheels are a lot less forgiving to those who aren’t serious about learning.
Another common one is when a significant other already rides and the person who is usually the passenger decides that they want to learn how to ride. This ties into the idea that riding is an individual’s lifestyle above anything else. If you go in thinking that it will be great riding with your significant other but never think about the vast majority of the time that you will be riding alone, you will end up being unpleasantly surprised. My current bike was previously owned by a woman who bought the bike to ride with her husband but sold it as soon as he stopped riding. She had only put 350 miles on the bike. Great example of someone who didn’t learn how to ride for the right reasons.
The bottom line is DO IT FOR YOURSELF. Learn how to ride because you WANT to learn, not because someone else tells you that you should or because you think someone else would want you to. Motorcycling can be a dangerous hobby, but for those who truly want to learn, it can be the greatest hobby on earth
