Learning a motorcycle is a dream come true as you cross your teenage years. The freedom of steering handle in your hands and the wind flowing by is worth it too! However, we all at some time or the other question the reality, is motorcycle easy to learn?
Learning Motorcycle riding is easy if one already knows how to ride a bicycle. If the rider is not familiar with bicycle riding, then it will take some time to learn motorcycle riding.
Meanwhile, the answer also depends on how your idea and confidence shapes up towards the learning process. Just like any other skill, motorcycle riding is a combination of different steps in the correct order.
Hence, I chop out the perfect plan for you to make your motorcycle learning sessions easy. Combine these with the correct safety awareness, and you will soon be ready to roll!
The Motorcycle Learning Curve
The starting days of motorcycle learning are going to give you a few headaches. It mainly involves your ability to balance your body parts and create a connection with the motorcycle. Your focus should be to tune your mind with the events that lead you to complete control.
You can divide these learning lessons into smaller portions to focus on one area at a time. This way, you do not end up taking too much to learn in a single fold.
#1: Motorcycle Balance
If you are wondering the answer to how is motorcycle easy to learn, start with balancing! As a kid, our dad’s giving us a hard time with the bikes to balance them steady is common.
Motorcycles, just like any other 2-wheel drive, need your body balance. The important thing is the ability to distribute your weight without putting your foot down. It is only going to come with one trick of the entire lot: practice.
The more I carry my motorcycle and go along the task, the higher will be my confidence. In the end, balance becomes a natural part of our conduct while driving any vehicle.
#2: Learning Coordination
Motorcycles differ from lighter vehicles in their transmission design. These beautiful machines have a clutch and gear system to transfer the power for driving them.
Your next challenge is to tune your hands and feet to act together. By nature, the control of the clutch is crucial when shifting gears or even when braking.
Hence, the more you ride, the better your fingers get at responding to the changes. It comes with your feet shifting quickly between gears to give the right speed for riding.
#3: Applying Brakes
Unlike cars, motorcycles have a tricky response to our braking actions. The front wheel of most motorcycles has a disc arrangement to give quick braking. However, as a new rider, familiarity with this system will not be good enough.
The automatic bikes have drum brakes for both wheels, making them easy for riding. Similarly, cars have an equal distribution of braking power and arrangement too.
Your motorcycle learning becomes easy if you balance the front and rear brake in the right way. The rear brake always leads the way with marginal use of the front one. It helps you to stop effectively without going off-track or sliding off in any way.
#4: Gear Shifts
The most necessary element of decoding how is motorcycle easy to learn is the gear factor! Not only the clutch but also the speed ratio is critical for our understanding.
While on steep slopes, the up and down relation has high importance. The lower gears give you a low-speed range but higher raw power. Hence, choosing medium gear give us a better option on upward climbs.
In this manner, gear shifts become necessary while you learn motorcycle lessons. Remember, the motorcycle can accidentally stop if the gear shift is not in the right way.
Check out our article on – at what speed should you change gears.
The Right Motorcycle Learning Method – More Practice!
The art of motorcycle riding needs you to come up with a plan that has safety and sense. The learning sessions only get as effective as you plan them. Moreover, following a sequence also gives you step-wise training instead of risky direct methods.
#1: Straight Road Lessons
The first part is to take your motorcycle through straight roads as much as practically possible. At this stage, your focus on turning becomes secondary. Hence, you get to concentrate more on the balance and coordination part.
The speed control on straight roads is also better than what you get on tricky tracks. Choosing a straight road helps to fine-tune the basic ideas for motorcycle learning.
#2: Turning Practice
Motorcycles by design have a large front with a handle and a heavy tank. It means your turning radius is much more than the other drives. Unlike cars, there is not much scope for any power steer or lowering of radius.
Hence, practicing the turns will give the right confidence. I suggest a mixture of quick and sharp turns to judge how your eyes respond to the challenge.
#3: Traffic Practice
The whole idea of knowing why is motorcycle easy to learn is the benefits it gives you. One of the biggest benefits is their ability to cruise through traffic, unlike cars.
However, traffic practice becomes important before you step out with these powerful machines. A simple mistake can be an injury cause for you or the person on the other end. Hence, go for multiple lessons through busy rods in your locality to gain the necessary confidence.
#4: Riding With A Pillion
As a learner, a person in the back seat is quite a big challenge, to be honest! The pillion can disturb your balance with the way they sit or any movement.
This something I had a major problem in my initial days of riding. I am a skinny guy and most of the pillion riders in my motorcycle were a bit heavy to me to handle. As a result, I struggled with balance specially when in lower gears.
Regular practice with someone at the back helps to deal with these changes.
The main help comes at the time of braking or turning with a pinion rider. The person will fall over if the brakes or turns are too sharp, disturbing your balance.
So, pick your best friends and test their friendship vows in the days you learn 2-seater driving!
Correct Safety Awareness
If you are learning cars, small accidents or mistakes will mostly result in banging or damage. However, motorcycles have that extra risk during the learning stage due to their physically open nature.
Any unbalance or accident makes you fall over in different ways, exposing you to risk. As much as we try, such mishaps are a surety at some of the other times during the learning!
Hence, a proper set of safety rules and precautions will save you from large damage. Your focus should always be to save your limbs and head by following every possible rule.
Protective Equipment
Remember, using safety equipment is not for escaping penalties but to save yourself. These tools look small but have a large role to play when there are small or big mix-ups while riding.
- Using a helmet while motorcycle riding is an essential and legal safety idea. The falling over action involves banging of head on the floor or any surface in some way. With a helmet in place, the impact is almost zero, saving your head at all times.
- Knee pads help to reduce the burns and cuts you get on your legs. These can be because of falling or even rubbing against something while riding. Or even while knee scraping. In the early learning days, knee pads give you the confidence you need to learn safely.
- Elbow pads are the go-to item for a professional motorcycle rider. You will go to terrain that has challenging tracks and elbow pads are the safety net you need.
- Hand gloves help you to keep the blood flowing and cut down the handle vibration. This will help you to ride for long hours on tricky roads without any trouble.
- Closed footwear is important to protect your feet while riding the motorcycle. This also gives you good control while changing gears or braking often in traffic.
Speed Judgement
The fastest motorcycles reach as much as 276 mph with designers promising to go further. However, your needs for riding a motorcycle are always different. A race athlete or professional has the right idea and years of experience going behind them when hitting such speeds.
During daily driving, your ability to control speed is important. This gives you enough time to have the brakes or balance yourself under surprises. Safety is the main focus while riding these machines.
Trusting a Motorcycle
The cost of a motorcycle is the biggest reason for choosing it as a travel partner. It saves almost 80% of your front investment on a car and saves largely on fuel too.
All these factors combine with the ease of learning to force you into buying one. After all, a dream bike is a way you get to explore places where nothing else goes.
Happy Riding!