• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

New rider getting their feet wet

Darkstar

New member
So, hi everyone. As you can probably tell from the title I'm a new rider (taking the basic rider safety course next Thursday). I've been wanting to ride since about middle school, and it took until now and some gerrymandering by my dad to get my mom to cave. It might also have something to do with clocking almost 20,000 accident and ticket-free miles on four wheels.
Initially, my plan was to just ride dads '97 BMW R1100RT until I could go down to Canoga Park and pick up my own ex-LAPD Kawasaki Kz1000P. As luck turned out, though, there was an ex-CHP '02 R1150RT-P with 48k on an eBay classified ad for only $2000 in San Francisco, about 20 minutes from me. Because we're opportunists and we figured the 1150 would be very similar to the 1100 we already know how to work on, he emailed the seller, rode it around, and the next day it was ours.
Some people are wary of ex-law enforcement bikes, with good reason, but we somehow stumbled across a diamond in the rough. Both front and rear shocks have been replaced with Ohlins, and we got a stack of service records about half an inch thick documenting about $3000 in service done, including a replacement final drive. The PO said he didn't like how it rode since he's more used to cruisers. Our bet was that the he wasn't too handy and got sick of the dealer emptying his wallet. His loss. :rolleyes

So here I am, a newbie with some wheels and nothing to do with them.
 
Welcome to the Forum

Congratulations on all those accident and ticket free miles; I salute you and your parents for that. Enjoy your new ride and be extra careful.

DW
 
As an ex RTP owner, I always enjoyed freaking people out when I would pull up behind them. And by the way ,those riders courses, I would recommend them to everyone. BEST OF LUCK!!!
 
Good morning and welcome to the group.

You are going to love riding the RT-P as it is a really nice machine. I want to congratulate you on your decision to take the (MSF?) new rider course as it will teach you things that will literally save your life. Pay special attention to, and continually practice, the "stopping in curves", "quick stops", and "Swerving". At some point in your riding you will absolutely need these skills to avoid a bad situation. The other thing to be aware of at slow speeds is to use rear brake only when maneuvering at less than about 10 mph. If you touch the front brake with the handlebars turned the bike will probably fall in the direction of the turn. Square the handlebars straight ahead before you use the front brake and you will be ok.

The RT-P is a lot of motorcycle for a new rider. It is an easy bike to ride, but is still a handful when you are first learning to ride. It is possible to use it as a first bike if you take it easy and ride around your neighborhood and get familiar with its handling and your skills. Stay off major streets for awhile and work into traffic slowly.

In reality, you might want to get something a bit smaller and lighter to ride for a bit before you tackle the RT. Used 250cc starter bikes are plentiful and you can always get your money out of them on resale. They are also a lot cheaper to fix after you drop them.
 
Back
Top