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How easy is it to learn to ride a motorbike?

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  • 30-07-2009 10:31pm
    #1
    shamblertine
    Closed Accounts Posts: 888 ✭✭✭


    Compared to say learning to drive a car?

    And what are the most difficult things about riding a motorbike? I'm interested in learning but one of my concerns is that I'm quite a slim guy and that on a very windy day I think I might become unbalanced. Would I be right to worry about this or is it very unlikely to be blown off balance on a bike?


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    #2
    KTRIC
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,463 ✭✭✭KTRIC


    A very strong wind, during a bad storm will mess about slightly with your steering on a bike but only as much as it might with a car.

    Bikes will naturally stay upright when moving and travel straight due to the laws of physics. The most unnatural thing to a motorbike is turning which as a rider you are responsible for.

    Get yourself some lessons and then decided if you like motorcycling. Most find they love it and you might even find your car becomes a secondary form of transport ;)


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    #3
    Blazer
    Registered Users Posts: 17,418 ✭✭✭✭Blazer


    Driving bike is easy enough. Doesn't matter how light or heavy you are.
    What is hard is once you're on the road is judging cars..your awareness needs to be far higher than driving a car etc.
    Motorbikes tend to be travelling faster than cars and as such and plus the fact they're smaller car drivers underestimate the distance and speed of them and pull out in front of them. And when that happens it's so long world..hello heaven or whatever.
    Also because motorbikes are so light and powerful there's a huge temptation to speed on them and not realise how fast you're going.
    If you are a careful driver by all means go ahead.
    If you're a risk take, speedster don't bother..you won't last long.

    I'd love to have a motorbike..driven them before and brother and cousins have them..all very powerfull and extremely fast bikes.
    Yet I know in my heart and soul I'd be too reckless and speed on them so I've to skip em :(


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    #4
    EvilMonkey
    Registered Users Posts: 1,823 ✭✭✭EvilMonkey


    Its easy to get started, get some lessons, see if you like it (you will :)) dont worry about wind. You will find you never stop learning the more you ride the more you learn.


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    #5
    DonkeyRhubarb
    Registered Users Posts: 534 ✭✭✭DonkeyRhubarb


    The mechanics of riding are easy. I thought myself to ride.

    Reading the road takes some time though and you always improve. If I could start again, Id get training from the outset and practice on roads that Im already very familiar with.

    But again, the mechanics are easy, just take your time.


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    #6
    Greenmachine
    Registered Users Posts: 5,063 ✭✭✭Greenmachine


    Wind can be a factor for sure. But don't let it put you off. Get some lesson from an ADI instructor under some different conditions to familurise yourself with them.


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    #7
    oneway
    Closed Accounts Posts: 39 ✭oneway


    I went back to college this year and the car had to go.

    I got a 125 scooter and am only annoyed that I didn't get one years ago. I'd only driven on on the islands in Greece, buit after a day or two I was fine.

    I got a 125cc - fast enough for city traffic but light enough to handle. Was glad of the bit of weight in the winter. In the wind, I felt safe.

    The 125 is fully automatic - it's called a "twist and go" 'cos that's how it drives. Electronic start with kick-start as fall-back.

    I've a full A1 license, so 125 is the max I can drive fully-licenced.

    Might get the full A test and move up in a few months.

    Happy days


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    #8
    jameshayes
    Registered Users Posts: 3,772 ✭✭✭jameshayes


    KTRIC wrote: »
    A very strong wind, during a bad storm will mess about slightly with your steering on a bike but only as much as it might with a car.

    err.. .I dont think so! I'm a skinny'ma'link and the wind fooks me about like no'ones business! The M50 is a nightmare if there are gusts. The only thing that you can do is be prepared for the gusts - and manage your driving around the wind.

    It is an issue - but not one to turn a person off driving... Give it a go & see how you get on.

    The hardest part about riding is learning how to anticipate other road users moves - staying alive.

    (but the best fun you will ever have with your pants on)


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    #9
    n.catenthusiast
    Registered Users Posts: 286 ✭✭n.catenthusiast


    jameshayes wrote: »
    err.. .I dont think so! I'm a skinny'ma'link and the wind fooks me about like no'ones business! The M50 is a nightmare if there are gusts.

    I'd a thought the deciding factor would be the weight of the bike rather than the weight of the rider. And while obviously heavier people ride heavier bikes i don't think the fact that your skinny would have a huge impact.

    Unless your ridiculously emaciated, most people could handle the weight of a mid range bike, which can handle most winds.


    Agreed through the M50 can be particularly nasty. Even, I would imagine, for the more 'heavy set' gentleman. ;)


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    #10
    RosieJoe
    Registered Users Posts: 3,483 ✭✭✭RosieJoe


    n.catenthusiast wrote: »
    Agreed through the M50 can be particularly nasty. Even, I would imagine, for the more 'heavy set' gentleman. ;)

    M50 northbound just just before the Carrickmines turn off is great fun on a windy morning. No wind protection at all and getting blasted out of it, took a while to get used to it :D

    I found learning to ride a bike was far easier than learning to drive a car. Car driving experience helped me because I could concentrate fully on the bike itself and not everything all around me ( remember how bad it was starting off in a car not knowing what to do, what to look out for, where to go etc.). Then you just need to learn how to better read your surroundings and potential hazards, all at speed ;)


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    #11
    Idleater
    Registered Users Posts: 6,236 ✭✭✭Idleater


    jameshayes wrote: »
    err.. .I dont think so! I'm a skinny'ma'link and the wind fooks me about like no'ones business! The M50 is a nightmare if there are gusts.

    erm, what bike have you got? A heavier more powerful bike is much more stable than a light underpowered one.

    I think that the more relaxed you are on the bike the less impact the wind (and other variables) has on you.

    I tend to control the space around me and drift left and right in my lane in cross winds and best of all when overtaking high sided vehicles in crosswinds.


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    #12
    KamiKazi
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,201 ✭✭✭KamiKazi


    I've got a Super4 and I'm not a small guy but the wind on the M50 still pushes me around a fair bit, especially the open sections from junctions 14-16


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    #13
    navigatoroneill
    Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭navigatoroneill


    Learning to ride is grand - just do it somewhere safe. I did 30km on my first bike in my estate before going out on the road.


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    #14
    P.C.
    Registered Users Posts: 2,782 ✭✭✭P.C.


    KTRIC wrote: »
    Bikes will naturally stay upright when moving and travel straight due to the laws of physics. The most unnatural thing to a motorbike is turning which as a rider you are responsible for.

    I still don't know how my bike goes round corners. :o:confused::D

    It goes around them, and sometimes very fast, but I am never quite sure how. :D

    One day I will figure it out. :p


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    #15
    ogriofa
    Registered Users Posts: 353 ✭✭ogriofa


    I'd agree with nearly everything here. Good advice.

    Defo get lessons early on. Maybe not at the very start. You get much more out of lessons if you are able to manouvre the bike around before you go.
    As someone said, the mechanics of a bike are easy, they really are. Its learning how to read the road, the conditions and the other drivers is 99.99% of it. Can't stress this enough.

    I got up and took off straight down the street. Went through most of the gears, all within 2 mins. Sounds like Im bragging here, I certainly amn't.
    When I learned how to drive the car, I'd be sitting on the couch at home watching TV, pretending to shift the gears (left foot down, left hand forward, left foot up and right foot down...) It gave me a physical memory of the process. I did exactly the same thing for the bike. The week leading up to the bike I was "riding" the couch!

    Also, if you know somebody with a scooter, id defo try and get a go in some industrial estate somewhere. It'd give you a real sence of a motorbike.

    Good luck with it, its dangerous, but if you dont act the mick you should be ok.


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    #16
    zzr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88 ✭✭zzr


    there is no substitute for experience the more you ride the better [thats what she said to] everytime you get on a bike you will learn .
    getting the throttle and clutch right is the hard part and control your speed and the golden rule never assume the other road user is going to do what you think.


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