Is a touring bike really all that wrong for starting out?

[lighthiker90]

[QUOTE=Y2K;675354]
You can avoid places with heavy traffic in unfamiliar surroundings,not a good place to be for a newbie.
QUOTE]

I have considered traffic as much as possible when planning. But you are quite correct, it will be unfamilar and out of my control. At least I will get to drive on the same side of the road I am accustomed to. Stepping out into traffic in South Africa with a manual transmission on the wrong darn side of the car, driving on the wrong side of the road, where I can't comprehend the street signs made me appreciate beer that night. Not something I would do on a bike.

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[Y2K]

. For me personally an oh crap moment at home vs an oh crap moment far away holds no difference. I have had oh crap moments in countries where I didn't speak the language. I got by just fine. I have seen others completely loose it.

Well I'll tell ya,an "oh crap moment" on a motorcycle is a whole different can of worms and can cost you dearly,maybe even your life.
Have you been across North Dakota and Montana? it's far between places to get help and there's many many miles with no shelter of any kind,no overpasses or even trees.
Have you ridden a motorcycle in a torrential downpour,thunder lightning and golf ball sized hail?
Have you been caught in a snowstorm in the Rocky mountains?....this can happen even in July or August,it's happened to me before.
Have you hit a deer on a motorcycle?,I have and had more close calls than I care to think about but I can tell you first hand the first time you round a bend leaning hard into a corner and come across a huge bull elk in the road you'll have a serious "oh crap moment".
These are all things that can be challenging for an experienced rider and there are more like a tire blowout and an engine seizing up or a wheel bearing failure etc. etc. etc.
For a beginner anyone could spell disaster,bad enough if you're close to home but out in the wilds of the Northwest prairies or deserts a real bad deal.

[AfterDarker]

Lighthiker, this whole thread is that of a classic "gunner". Common slang in Australia, and often attributed to Yanks.

Maybe in the US this translates as gonner. As in, "I am gonner do this" and "I am gonner do that", but somehow nothing much actually happens. As, ahem, in your case.

Time you actually got a motorbike, as you will learn more in the saddle than on the keyboard.

Don't kill me for saying it.

[lighthiker90]

Thanks Y2K and Afterdarker. I won't quote the text because it is too long, and I won't kill ya either. No offense taken at all.

Nobody knows how they will react to an oh crap moment until it happens. Nobody, myself included. SWAT teams train for years under highly stressful situations in order to prepare them for oh crap moments. They get it right almost all of the time. Occasionally when they encounter something never experienced they make the wrong choice. You simply never know until you have that experience.

My bonus check is due in a couple of weeks. Providing darn snow leaves I will have a new ride then

Thank you all for your input. I realize my personality and ability to cope with stress does not make me a better rider. Nor am I naive enough to believe that by sticking to my engineering roots that reading, researching, and learning from other experinces is a subsititute for my own.

Incidently I am looking forward to riding in the rain. The hail - not so much.

[Y2K]

Thanks Y2K and Afterdarker. I won't quote the text because it is too long, and I won't kill ya either. No offense taken at all.

Nobody knows how they will react to an oh crap moment until it happens. Nobody, myself included. SWAT teams train for years under highly stressful situations in order to prepare them for oh crap moments. They get it right almost all of the time. Occasionally when they encounter something never experienced they make the wrong choice. You simply never know until you have that experience.

True but the survival rate for one who has basic instincts developed with training and experience are far greater than for those without.
Better to develope those instincts before heading into the fire than trying to learn as you go,SWAT teams don't learn those basics on the jop either since you used that analogy.

[lighthiker90]

True but the survival rate for one who has basic instincts developed with training and experience are far greater than for those without.

I can't disagree with that at all. There is no substitute for experience. I think my point got lost somewhere along the way.

Example - If I ride around the block 1 time each day for 100 days, I have 100 experiences with that block route. If I ride that same block route 100 times in one day I still have 100 experiences with that block route. Those 100 experiences are 100 experinces to prepare for an oh crap moment no matter how you slice it. Now, if I rode the block 100,000 times I might be better prepared for an oh crap moment.

No doubt my ride will be gaining experience along the way. But that could be said about every ride for every one.

[Easy Rider]

Those 100 experiences are 100 experinces to prepare for an oh crap moment no matter how you slice it.

Maybe we need to agree to disagree but those two situations are NOT equivalent.

The rider changes each day, the conditions change each day, even the bike might change a bit over time.
And like I said, often the brain needs to see a pattern over time, not just in a single day or a single hour.

Do a little research on repetative training or trained reflex action or "muscle memory" if you want but my traning and experience tells me
that trying to cram too much traning into too little of a time often is counter-productive........for most people.

[Y2K]

Maybe we need to agree to disagree but those two situations are NOT equivalent.

The rider changes each day, the conditions change each day, even the bike might change a bit over time.
And like I said, often the brain needs to see a pattern over time, not just in a single day or a single hour.

Do a little research on repetative training or trained reflex action or "muscle memory" if you want but my traning and experience tells me
that trying to cram too much traning into too little of a time often is counter-productive........for most people.

Yup,no mater how calm cool and collected you are if you don't have the ability to react instinctively you will be in trouble if something happens,you can have ice water in your veins but in an oh crap moment on a bike you have no time to think about what you're going to do,you have to react faster than your brain can process the information.
That can only come with a lot of practice,but hey it's your neck if you want to risk it, you can't say you weren't warned by those who have been there and done that.
For the last time, my advice having had over 40 years of road riding and well over a half million miles under my belt in all sorts of weather and terrain is to put off such a big trip for at least a year and spend a Summer riding daily to build some basic skills.
Even a year of riding everyday is still not much experience but at least it's some.

[AfterDarker]

And lighthiker when you do finally get the bike, whatever it is and wherever you go, enjoy the ride and good luck to you.

[flash6052]

I agree w/ slozomby & skibold. learn on what you're planning to tour on. take the saftey course. I also own a Suzuki C90 . 1500 c.c.s.comfortable and relativley inexpensive. It'll make the trip on the back roads or the Interstate.

[lighthiker90]

I agree w/ slozomby & skibold. learn on what you're planning to tour on. take the saftey course. I also own a Suzuki C90 . 1500 c.c.s.comfortable and relativley inexpensive. It'll make the trip on the back roads or the Interstate.

I just sat on a C90 this weekend. Quite nice. Not sure about the gas tank size. I don't know why the tank got smaller when going from the C50 to C90. At the moment is it between the C90 and a Honda VTX1300.

[spikebike]

I myself have only been riding for about 3 years now and I am still on my first bike which is a Sportster. After my first riding season I was already looking for a larger bike. My ole lady also ride and she is only 4' 10". Dealing with her height and trying to find the right bike I have learned that there are no set rules. You should find the bike that fits you the best. The biggest thing I have found with riding is the more comfy you are and the better you fit on your bike the more you will enjoy riding. Shannon sat on close to 100 bikes before we found the right one. Take your time and take a few bikes out on a test ride. Only you will know if you can handle the bike or not. Best of luck to you and I hope this helps.

[Easy Rider]

Shannon sat on close to 100 bikes before we found the right one.

AW, shucks.
After such a good post, you should at least tell us which bike she ended up with.

Edit: Never mind. Found the other post.

[AfterDarker]

Lighthiker are you still with us? have you actually got a motorcycle yet?

[AfterDarker]

Seems that Lighthiker has left the building.
He was a true Gunner after all.