Mentoring New Riders

Gents
I'm mentoring a new rider 44 yrs. old and my 16 year old son.

When I was a new road rider, I was living in June Lake Ca and was commuting to Mammoth lakes Ca for work on Hwy 395.
I had a 1976 CB Honda 750 with a Windjammer Fairing.
I met this old-time road rider named Bill Leehner, thank God, and we commuted together for the summer and fall of 1979.
He was a ski instructor and a natural mentor for me.

Here are a couple lifesaving things he drilled into me at the ripe old age of 20!

1.When you think you're going into a corner too hot, which we did almost everyday BTW, Get to the inside of the seat and call out loud, PUSH PUSH PUSH. On the inside grip of course
and hang onto to it and don't freeze up.
This calling out loud push, has saved me MANY times.

2. We practiced max performance stopping alot. Granted with the single disc front I didn't have huge stopping power, this is something I still do every month and several times in the spring dust off.

3 Practiced max performance stopping with a lane change to say like to miss a rock or animal.

4. Practice quickly putting you head down and chest on your tankbag if a bird looks like it's going to hit you in head.

5. Inspect your bike completely and put a wrench on every fastener you can reach, at least every month or weekly if on a tour. Once you do it a few times, you can do this easily in 15 minutes.
I've found embedded debris in my tires and loose fasteners several times.

6. Look twice when changing lanes or pulling out on a road, make sure its clear.
Remembering Ardie Kellerman Million-mile rider who was killed when she pulled out in front of someone.... after a million miles..

7. When riding into a scene where a car could pull out in front of you if they, don't see you, put up an arm and wave to them, make sure they see you, can't do this in a city, but in the countryside, highly recommended.

8.Be aware of the fact that a helluva lot of accidents happen within 10 miles of home, for some reason.

9. If it hasn't rained for a while be aware that when it starts raining the first 20 mins it can be really slick as the oil floats on the rainwater. Slow way down.

10. Don't ride if your mad or upset, or been drinking or high.

Along the above is all of the MSF school fundamentals.

Anymore tidbits of wisdom to pass along before the en..

Nick

11. Always expect drivers to do what they aren't supposed to do (i.e. pull out in front of you, change lanes in front of you, etc). When the time comes that they invariably do something stupid, you're ready on the brakes or for evasive action. In fifty years of riding, that has saved me more times than I can count.

nickrides said:

1.When you think you're going into a corner too hot, which we did almost everyday BTW, Get to the inside of the seat and call out loud, PUSH PUSH PUSH. On the inside grip of course
and hang onto to it and don't freeze up.
This calling out loud push, has saved me MANY times.

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Or as Fast Frank says: Lean or die.


Ps -> the first thing I say to a new rider on their first ride (which is typically in a very large parking lot, or if on a dirt bike, an open field) is “this is the clutch lever. If anything bad is about to happen, pull this in first.”

mentor new riders

The first thing I say to a new rider is take a MS Safety Course before you hit the open road. You will learn more in a closed environment with good coaches, and observing you, than on the open road. And after you have ridden for 6mos. or so take a track course to learn all the fine things on handling and body positioning. And then always take courses , because you can always get better.

I live this every class I teach...

The last bit of advice I give the students before they leave is practice your braking and swerving.... that's what is going to save you out there!

I have lots of other tips and tricks, but like you already have heard..... take a class. As much experience as I have, I continue to take classes...... You're never too old to learn something!

crows123 said:

The first thing I say to a new rider is take a MS Safety Course before you hit the open road. You will learn more in a closed environment with good coaches, and observing you, than on the open road. And after you have ridden for 6mos. or so take a track course to learn all the fine things on handling and body positioning. And then always take courses , because you can always get better.

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Taking courses and continuing the education and practice is the best.

I returned to riding in 2009 after a forty-year hiatus. I had my permit from when I first rode at age 16, but at 60+ I wanted some good instruction. I took the MSF basic course first, and two years later took the one-day on-road course at the BMW Performance Center in Greer, SC. The MSF was pretty basic, but the BMW course was great instruction, especially regarding braking and swerving at speed. Since those two experiences I've managed about 100,000 miles on two RTs, with only one close call due to my own inattention riding up the DelMarVA Peninsula.

+1 for continuing rider education!

Look where you want to go, keep your head and eyes up and on a swivel.

Heavy counter steering when too hot into a corner is a must have skill.

Buy an old dirt bike and ride lots of single track. Learning to somehow avoid rocks and trees at speed while both wheels are sliding will teach skills useful for avoiding crashes on the street. If nothing else you will learn crashing often hurts and you will soon settle on riding within your ability regardless of terrain.

Take high performance street riding courses on a track.

Seriously. You want to find out what you and your bike are capable of in a safe environment, not when that logging truck is coming up the middle of the road. You want to run repeated threshold braking and evasive maneuver exercises with a coach and develop a sound understanding of the physics of motorcycle dynamics.

How many believe we shouldn’t move around in the seat or don’t keep our eyes level with the horizon, as examples? I’ve hear$ both of those from people that were “mentored” poorly.

Being mentored can be a great way to learn someone else’s bad habits and poor skills. It’s a life or death sport and requires disciplined study, imho.

I’ve taken CLASS a half dozen times, but I’m sure there are similar opportunities with other organizations.

kbasa said:

Take high performance street riding courses on a track.

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I can’t say this is bad advice but for some reason the guys I have known to crash have often taken similar training. Perhaps they only BELIEVE they are superior riders because of it? I honestly don’t know, but there does seem to be a correlation. There is something to be said about NOT routinely pushing the performance envelope on the street.

OldCamper said:

I can’t say this is bad advice but for some reason the guys I have known to crash have often taken similar training. Perhaps they only BELIEVE they are superior riders because of it? I honestly don’t know, but there does seem to be a correlation. There is something to be said about NOT routinely pushing the performance envelope on the street.

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I agree of course, but it helps to have some notion of where the edge of that envelope is, when the totally unexpected happens.

Training gives one some experience in the various aspects of riding,

Emergency braking, obstacle avoidance, counter steering and learning more push on the bar when you're going into a turn too hot, etc.

The training is no guarantee you'll never panic no matter what you were taught/know

OldCamper said:

I can’t say this is bad advice but for some reason the guys I have known to crash have often taken similar training. Perhaps they only BELIEVE they are superior riders because of it? I honestly don’t know, but there does seem to be a correlation. There is something to be said about NOT routinely pushing the performance envelope on the street.

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Crashing sucks, but I'd rather learn how hard I can brake in a parking lot or how far I can lean my bike over when I've got acres of run off free of trees, etc.

I might think that I'm riding well, but having someone critique specific skill sets is invaluable. FWIW, I do the same thing with my car.

Skills are one thing, judgement is another, IMHO, but having good skills can help one get by marginal decisions sometimes.

But, IMHO, we are never going to grow our skills until we have an opportunity to explore our bikes beyond what we would normally do on the street.

brownie0486 said:

Training gives one some experience in the various aspects of riding,

Emergency braking, obstacle avoidance, counter steering and learning more push on the bar when you're going into a turn too hot, etc.

The training is no guarantee you'll never panic no matter what you were taught/know

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Which means we should be practicing reinforcement of those "outer limit" skills until responses are second nature and to me that means "track day".

We're never going to get that by only riding on the street unless there's Something Horrible getting ready to happen, are we? How often during regular riding do we practice threshold braking or rapid changes in direction?

People not getting trained and then not keeping those skills current gets people killed, IMHO, so I'm a big fan of ongoing training. I used to run into people back in New England who skied and rode bikes. They'd take ski lessons every first day of skiing, but not for motorcycles, so I'd ask them why not? Which activity do you do more often and does it have the potential get you killed?

I don't think people ever actually thought about it once they'd passed their license test.

kbasa said:

Which means we should be practicing reinforcement of those "outer limit" skills until responses are second nature and to me that means "track day".

We're never going to get that by only riding on the street unless there's Something Horrible getting ready to happen, are we? How often during regular riding do we practice threshold braking or rapid changes in direction?

If I'm not heading out for a multi day trip, not meeting up with others for a group ride [ and sometimes even then ], I motor 1/2 mile to the church parking lot [ and I have the pastors permission ] and do some avoidance drills [ those drills are weaves in and out every 12 feet at 15 mph ], emergency braking, 18-20 foot left and right circles etc. Only takes 5-7 minutes, then I'm ready to head out on a ride. So in my world, quite often, might even say regularly

People not getting trained and then not keeping those skills current gets people killed, IMHO, so I'm a big fan of ongoing training. I used to run into people back in New England who skied and rode bikes. They'd take ski lessons every first day of skiing, but not for motorcycles, so I'd ask them why not? Which activity do you do more often and does it have the potential get you killed?

I don't think people ever actually thought about it once they'd passed their license test.

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Training or practice after you've taken the training?

brownie0486 said:

Training or practice after you've taken the training?

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YES to both.

And then more of both. Practice is most useful when we get external critiques, IMHO.

Every single time I've been on a track, whether car or bike, I've learned something about my own limits and the limits of the vehicle.

kbasa said:

YES to both.

And then more of both. Practice is most useful when we get external critiques, IMHO.

Every single time I've been on a track, whether car or bike, I've learned something about my own limits and the limits of the vehicle.

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I use the police motorcycle standards and training for leo's for practice. I don't need to be shown those again, just practice them to keep them fresh.

As an example, emergency braking requirements for the boys in schools is 62 feet at 20mph. They also have the 40mph emergency braking but I foget the distance allowed for that drill.

18-20 foot circles, no different if someone is watching or not, you can do them or you can't. But having taken the training, most can meet these guidelines in practice.

Weaving in and out of cones set 12 feet apart at 10, then 15, then if you're well versed at this, at 20 mph.

I practice often in that church lot, not to see if I can do the skills, but to keep them sharp, the parameters are already established in the police motor officer courses. I find if I do 5-7 minutes in the church parking lot before heading off for a ride I maintain those fresh out of school skills.

I'm not interested in track days.

The only place you should ever be at 100% of your ability is on a track or a closed course. On the road you should never exceed 80% of your ability that leaves room for those unexpected happeningds