Manual and Automatic Transmission

[cbassoc]

Ok, I have a scooter that I love to pop around town with on short trips. It is an automatic, small 150cc which I do not want to give up. However, I am really wanting to get a bigger bike with manual transmission ALSO. I have been told that it is really hard to keep riding an Automatic Twist and Go AT THE SAME TIME as riding a manual clutch bike. I am being told that you get confused when riding having to continually remind yourself which one you are driving.

Any thoughts? I can't imagine it is any different than driving a 5-speed car and also having and driving an automatic car.

btw: I am a very new rider, under a year on my scooter.

[Johnj]

Hi Gregory and welcome to the forum. I find riding a scooter completely different then riding a motorcycle. How about a picture of your scooter or bike or both.

[jstark47]

I rode a scooter (Honda Reflex 250cc) for 9 months before getting a regular motorcycle, and continued to own the scooter for a year afterwards. So I regularly switched back and forth between them.

Your primary braking control, the front brake, is under the right hand in both. I think my biggest goof was occasionally squeezing the "clutch" on the scooter, putting on a lot of back brake that I didn't intend to use. Since the back brake has less braking power than the front, this goof up never caused me a serious problem, like dumping the bike. (I also drive automatic and manual transmission cars, so maybe switching is something that would come more naturally to me.)

The biggest issue for me was not the transmission, but the overall feel. A step-through frame, where you sit on the bike, and your feet are flat on the floorboards, is very different from a motorcycle that you straddle, with foot pegs that you can weight.

[pchast]

I had the same experience when swapping between ours before the 250 sold.

It should not be a major problem for you. Just take a minute with each ride to
review your controls again.