Bicycle Practice For New Riders

[JustJosh]

Greetings moto brothers on another rubber!

I commonly share the phrase: "Going fast is easy, going slow is hard" and "Slow is pro" in that handling a bike in low speed situations (like parking lots, especially if the bike is on the heavier side) is significantly more difficult than say, changing lanes on the freeway or going from 20-80mph in a straight line. Having started out my motorcycle career with an MSF safety course, I feel like a lot of the essential skills such as S turns, tight figure 8s, NOT looking at the ground when you feel like you're about to fall over, exercising general focus control, low speed counter steering, etc; are things that could be practiced on a bicycle.

Have you ever deliberately practiced "motorcycle techniques" on a bicycle? What skills do you think would be good/helpful for a soon to be rider or new rider to practice on a bicycle that would carry over to riding a Motorcycle?

Thanks in advance for your input! Keep the rubber side down out there

 

[Lurch]

The thing I got my daughter to do when first riding without stabilisers was look at a spot in the distance and ride towards it, and to always keep her head up looking at that spot. Not sure what else I'd carry over beyond observations offhand.

 

[O8ride]

I still want to see Lurch on a BMX.

 

[Lurch]

Umm...

 

[TheDutchTexan]

You will be missing the #1 thing. Mass. A bicycle weighs nothing, and as such will do anything you ask it to without much effort. But, it will help you find balance. If you can't ride a bicycle you can't ride a motorcycle. So it is step 1.

 

[PistnRods]

What Dutch said.

I'd like to think all the bike riding I did as a kid helped but haha. Riding the bike isn't the hard part, it's avoiding the idiots on the road that is.

 

[MrJoel]

The bike for balance is about it. I learned how to find the balance point for wheelies on my bicycle, and for stoppies. Other than that, not much transitioned. everything is happening so much faster and you have idiots who are more concerned about what text just came over than what white line they just went over. The weight of the bike causes much different braking feels as does the seating position and how that translates into steering.

 

[PistonVlog]

I definitely think being proficient on a bike is beneficial to progressing to a motorcycle.

Quote a lot about being safe on the road is about confidence, holding a road position and not just fading into the hedgerow. This can be developed if you ride a bicycle on the road as being smaller you have got to make yourself as visible as possible.

It also massively helps with balance, even though a motorcycle is a lot heavier it still makes you understand "the sweet spot" where the balance is, once you have that it can be transferred to anything.

I for one believe that the hours I spent on a bike as a child helped when I got onto a motorbike.

 

[Meifesto]

You will be missing the #1 thing. Mass. A bicycle weighs nothing, and as such will do anything you ask it to without much effort. But, it will help you find balance. If you can't ride a bicycle you can't ride a motorcycle. So it is step 1.

My old teacher always said that people with no bicycle experience are the worsed to start with.
Need at east 4 or 5 lessons to start balacing.

 

[Clint Love]

Barring differences in weight and center of gravity, I think it would be useful. It will get you used to the feel of being supported by two spinning discs and not being afraid to fall down. Like someone else said, too, learning to look up when you ride, going toward a point of aim and looking through your turns are all stuff you can learn on a bicycle. Plus it's a lot cheaper to wreck a bicycle.

 

[Shaney_G]

Even better, get a pit bike. You can practice all the same things you would on a full size bike, and unlike a bicycle you retain all of the same controls (throttle, clutch, brakes) that a full size bike has.

 

[ride512]

When I signed up for my MSF course one of the requirements was "You must be able to balance a two-wheel bicycle before riding a motorcycle in this course.". I think my time spent riding a bicycle helped but I still struggled with the figure 8. It took me a few months to translate that urge to put my foot down to I need to adjust my balance or give the bike more throttle. Anyway like others have said it's a mass thing.

 

[BlackMamba]

When my friend was learning i took him down to a carpark and got in on my bike found some logs and sticks and made him a corse to go round