[Kehau D.]

I'm new to all of this! My husband surprised me last Thursday with an '05 Suzuki Boulevard S50 as a belated anniversary gift. The only other time I'd ever operated a motorcycle was when I took the MSF Beginner course last year; the Military base we're at offers it to spouses for free and I had a weekend to kill so I figured what the heck. Since then, I've treasured the memory of that weekend, even obtaining and continuing to renew my Motorcycle permit knowing that no one had a bike I could even practice on...until now! It took him a while to find something for me as I am a tiny person, standing a whopping 4'10" tall! I've sat on some Hondas [hubby has a '95 Honda PC800] and Yamahas [the course put me on a Yamaha Virago 250] before and they are short enough for me but either the width of them had the exhaust pipes hitting my legs or the pegs were too out of reach for me. The weekend schedule hasn't given me much time to practice like I've wanted to but we did take it out on the back roads [I live in Southern GA] today and I had an absolute blast! My biggest problem right now is taking slow turns, especially turning from a complete stop; I'm taking the turns way too wide, which hubby tells me is not uncommon for beginners and I should improve with more practice and confidence. I was afraid at first that the bike being an 800 may be too much for me as a beginner but hubby states that I would've probably outgrown something smaller than that pretty quickly. I think he just wanted to get something that was comparable to his bike.

I have to say that I am LOVING my new bike and that I'm actually riding!

Aloha,
Kehau

 

[DrBob]

Congrats! The S50 is a GREAT bike. Your hubby is right: most beginners have trouble with low-speed turns, either because they are nervous about leaning the bike over enough out of fear of dropping it, or because they are nervous about the bike stalling and them dropping it.
Practice makes perfect Find an open parking lot, and ride around in circles and figure eights, starting off big and loopy and then getting them tighter and tighter as you learn how far you can lean the bike at various speeds. At very low speeds, pull in the clutch to slow down, rather than using the brake, and let it back out to speed up: you will not have to worry about the bike stalling. Practice, practice, practice...one of those "ride like a pro" vidoes would be a good investment also.

Bob

 

[Louis]

:welcomes:

 

[Ride-or-die]

yes my friend welcome to the site. exactly what bob said about low speed cornering, its actually easy when u are at a reasonable speed as the bike becomes more stable, but this will come with time

 

[stp1971]

Welcome!!!

Probably one the best advantages you have is living there near Moody AFB,, there are alot of open roads to practice on and wide open stretches to get used to the way the bike feels. ;-)

I live about thirty minutes west of Atlanta and I have riden down to see my friend that lives in Macon. We have riden down around there several times. There is a dealership in Macon called Capitol Cycle that gave me some good deals on riding gear.

Go in there and just ask them what is the best price they can do on it and you will find that alot of times they can adjust that price. I save about 20% on my jacket and gloves.

Enjoy it,, the weather for it is here,, now if you can just keep those knats out of your teeth!!!!

 

[Gixxerdale]

:welcomes: Congrats on the new bike! Sounds like you got a keeper! :bluethum:

Might as well keep the husband too, since he got you the bike and all! :biker:

Enjoy the ride!

 

[SuzukiGirl1]

Welcome!!! YEA...another girl rider on the board!!!

Congratulations on your new bike, I know how excited you are right now! My Boyfriend got me my first bike (GS500) as a gift, which definitely made my "best gift ever" list!!

Don't beat yourself up about the wide turn from a stop problem, I had the same problem, and turning right seemed to be the worst...but you will get it.

Just remember to look where you want to go, that is the biggest trick. I found that I kept worrying about going to or over the middle of the road when turning right from a stop, so I kept focusing on it without realizing it. Start looking towards the edge of the road by the curb and you will turn much sharper. Also, don't be afraid to give it some gas to get going either. I found that I was sometimes not giving it enough, which makes you more likely to have trouble with the slower turns.

Good luck, keep us posted on your progress!!

 

[oldgeezer]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new bike.

A great investment would be the Ride Like a Pro video/DVD. It teaches you to use the friction zone in the clutch. Once you've got the hang of that, low speed stuff is a snap.

 

[trini0]

:welcomes:

 

[Kehau D.]

Thank you all so much for the vote of confidence! I've been practicing like a fool all I can since I last posted. I've got the turning down and it's the whole "looking" thing for me. I HAVE to look where I want to be and voila, I'm there! I need to get those tight figure 8's down though, I know that's going to be done in the next MSF course I'll be taking.

Unfortunately, I did lay my bike down today. I didn't flat out drop it but I did hurt my ankle in the process of laying it down. I had just stopped, I lifted my left leg up to put the kickstand down, the bike leaned and I just couldn't hold her up so I ended up just laying her down but not before getting my left foot out of there until just after the last minute. I stretched it for about 10 minutes and it's fine now, not even swollen. Hubby warned me though that should that happen again, he'd prefer I just drop it. He says he doesn't mind spending money to fix my bike rather than having me break my leg or worst. The windshield has a few scratches on it now so I guess I've officially made my mark on it now. The wierd thing is that now that I've done that, I'm not so nervous anymore.

Books and videos...thank you so so so very much for the titles. I'm going to Books-A-Million this weekend to see if I can find them!

Aloha,
Kehau

 

[YellowJacket]

Ride Safe & Have Fun!

Welcome aboard the board and congratulations on the new ride. I also ride an S50. Great bike! I dropped mine in the driveway the second day I owned it. Snapped off a rear turn indicator and bent the right foot peg. Fixed it and painted the hole thing yellow. Don't worry, everyone either has dropped one..... or will drop one if they ride long enough. Ride safe and have fun.

 

[Pinhy]

4-10?!?! holy cow!! i wanna see pics! haha

edit: on the cycle that is...!

 

[boulevard1104]

I have the same bike myself, bought mine in November 04. I'm also a 15 year veteran of Air Force, never been to Moody though. I would offer this suggestion about your difficulty with slow speed turning and tight turning. You should have heard this from the instructors at the MSF training school, but the bike will always go where you are looking. It is easy to want to look down at the ground when turning instead of keeping your head up and pointing in the direction of the turn. The more you turn your head, the easier it is to turn the bike, even tight turns. The other problem with turning is clutch/throttle control which will become easier with practice and learning your particular bikes functions. Hope it helps. I think the Boulevard is a great bike and I ride as often as I can around Central Florida.
Don

 

[Bluejeans]

Welcome!!! A girl on a cruiser! Yay! I have a Savage, one step down from yours. For me to master the turns, I had my mantra..."Turn your head, turn the bike". My problem was not from a stop, but turning when I didn't have to stop. If I could stop first, the turn was a breeze for me. But if I had to turn a corner while moving, I would panic and swing wide.

Glad you got it. I dropped my bike the second day too. I scratched my windshield and the windshield mounts scratched my tank near the gas cap. That broke my heart...but I'm over it now and loving my bike.

 

[inspiron]

Think of those scratches as "personalization". That give your bike a personal touch, and makes it YOUR bike. I "personalized" my current bike after about a week - some small scuffs on the engine case and right-side exhaust. No real damage, but a constant reminder

Most important is to lear how to correctly lift your bike back on the rubber. Doing that wrong can cause more damage to your back and to the bike. Nexus242 posted a thread with some pictures a while back about the propler way to lift your bike - basically put your lower back against the seat, one hand on the lower handlebar grip, and the other on the grip under the seat, then push up with your legs, keeping your back straight.

 

[Trapper]

http://www.msgroup.org/DISCUSS.asp
Picking up a bike.

#75

 

[stp1971]

Ride like a PRO III shows you how also,, I have already applied it.

Most important is to lear how to correctly lift your bike back on the rubber. Doing that wrong can cause more damage to your back and to the bike. .

I ordered that video "Ride like a Pro III",, it shows you how to properly pick up a "Big" bike and it even shows that a 110 pound girl can pick up a 750 pound bike.

I have watched the video and it is very informative,,well worth the money.

[email protected] --- that is the website,, super nice guy,, he even emailed me back twice to make sure I was happy with the video. Once to thank me for the purchase, and the second time to make sure I liked it.

I have been practicing it,, Suzukigirl I believe told me about it and I imediately ordered it. When I was ran off the road,, I used that bike pick up technique.