New Rider Questions

[Yankees1212]

Rode around town and much more comfortable with right hand turns. I have to work on left hand turns a little bit. My downshifting is a little off and it's not so smooth but I'll keep practicing.

I had one incident today where I was accidentally in neutral starting when the light turned green. I somehow stalled in shifting back to first, and when I stopped, people were honking behind me! I kept my composure, restarted the bike and got going but the fact that people were honking kind of angers me

[GS_in_CO]

I kept my composure, restarted the bike and got going but the fact that people were honking kind of angers me

They probably thought you were texting.

As long as they aren't running you over it's ok. Happened to everyone.

[Sundog65]

I'm no veteran rider but I can tell you this isn't the last time you'll experience something like this. You will have people tailgating you, pulling right up on your tail at a stop, cutting you off when they pass you (remember, keep the left lane position when another vehicle is on your left), lots of stuff. Nothing you can do except be aware of what is happening, what you're doing and how you're feeling. For obvious reasons, riding angry is much more dangerous than driving angry.

So take a deep breath, remind yourself you're not the Jackass Whisperer (you can't fix the jerks) and go back to enjoying your ride!

[blues2cruise]

I was with a friend one time who said to me....."Take of briskly"....we were in the right lane which diminished....we wanted to get ahead of the slow poke...
So...I took off "briskly"...but he was way behind....When he caught up, I said..."You call that brisk?" He had been in third gear....I got to razz him about that....he's a veteran rider...

It happens to all of us from time to time where we think we are in first and we're not.

I've had people honk because I took a couple of seconds to look left and right before I started...there are impatient people all over....

[dr_bar]

So...I took off "briskly"...but he was way behind....When he caught up, I said..."You call that brisk?" He had been in third gear....I got to razz him about that....he's a veteran rider...

Good thing I reminded you of this today... LOL