3 Common New Motorcycle Rider Mistakes

Thanks Kevin, great to have a refresher. God bless and stay safe.

Thanks so much, I really appreciate this information, as a 'just starting' 67 y old I find your teaching methods are very easy to understand and extremely helpful. :)

Thank you Kevin. Ad yes I'm one with a lot of experience who did a very embarrassing move some months back. I was making a U turn from a stop in front of the CHP yard and and looked to the right where the officer was going into the yard. I darn near blew the whole U turn and just missed hitting the curb. Thank you for these reminders that we need to keep sharp and not change good habits into bad ones.

Another trick (that you might have mentioned before )is covering the front brake and clutch at all times with 1 or 2 fingers. I do it just because of my dirt bike experience. I find myself doing it almost all the time even open highway.

Ride with your wrist in a "broken" position.

Great info! I'll try to put it to good use.

Cant ride right now because of my parents but binge watching ur vids till i turn 18 lul

Thanks again!

You probably said 'in a turn look where you are going, you need to turn your head'..... right? so he turned his head..... right. lol.

As always Sir thank you, another great video. I apply your teaching everyday!...ALWAYS learning and practicing. Thank you and God bless.

I guess the thumbs down people are the ones that ride without gear and think they know better than Kevin.

I feel like the BRC is only helpful if you do have a little practice riding, rather than coming into it as a new rider. In order to do the exercises, I needed to be able to do smooth inputs and operate the controls without having to think about them. That comes from spending some time just getting the feel of the machine, not jumping into exercises that are timed.

Yet another excellent video, Kevin. Our riding season is pretty much done on the Canadian east coast. I’m looking forward to your videos through our winter. Thank you.

Hi Kevin. Another great tips n tricks video.
I'm not sure if you've covered it but one of the things lots of us struggle with as newbies, is hill starts.
Sure, many new model high capacity machines have hill hold that makes this a little easier, but for the vast majority, this is not the case.
The co-ordination of brakes, clutch, throttle and body position is something that I cant recall being demonstrated as, I suppose, most car parking lots are flat.
Ride safe.

Hi Kevin, New “Pandemic” rider myself and came across MC Rider as I was randomly browsing through riding tips / videos. Excited to join the group today and as new rider lots of scenarios to learn and practice but your narrative is simple and easy to follow . I was able to take the basic rider course last month and now watching learning from your videos. Great job!! ,

Your "point your nose" point is very important. It's amazing that if you point your nose in the direction you want to go, the bike will follow, just like magic.

Great video Kevin hope to see more in the future.

Kevin, thanks so much for all your advice. I am a returning rider. I "gave up" motorcycling 7 years ago after 10 years of riding. I've taken a lot of your advice, including not starting out on a bike that's too advanced for my skills. At 38, my budget is much higher now than it was in my 20s, although I had a much bigger bike then. I chose a very small bike to ride while I return. I like it so much, I may not trade it for years. My motorcycle skills are average-intermediate. I don't worry about u-turns, swerving, throttle control, and things like that. My road strategy is what needed work, and after watching hours and hours of your videos, I know it is improving daily. My driving is even improving as a result, and I've avoided a serious car accident as a result of yout videos (I slowed at a green light, looked left, and someone blew a red light).

I have been riding 30 years now on 3 continents North America, Europe, and Asia and still find myself watching videos and taking classes to get better or relearn what I have forgotten. NO matter how good you think you are as a rider there will be tons that you do not know or do. I would love to see more people that do not even ride start to take at least an intro course so that they understand how dangerous they are to riders.

Thanks Kevin, great vedio.....still learning

I saw a neighbor bought a motorcycle with an incredibly wide rear tire. I thought about it, and wondered what the actual amount of contact that tire has with the pavement, considering the rounded profile? Could this affect handling negatively? This might be an interesting topic on safety? What do you think?

Never wanted to learn from a rider who wasn't a certified coach. Didn't want to pick up their bad habits. Passed both my 3 wheel and 2 wheel MSFs with flying colors and hopefully no bad habits.

I started riding a couple of weeks ago. On my second time out I dropped my bike because of the second item on the list, I accidentally opened the throttle in an emergency brake. The training centres here are open again but they didn't stress wrist position very much.

😂😂😂❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Only God knows how much i love you and your channel ❤️. Much RESPECT to you ❤️.

Useful as always

This may be silly, but knowing how to drive a manual transmission helped me understand the technique of riding a motorcycle a little better, especially slow maneuvers and friction zone.
Thanks for everything Kevin!
Ride safe everyone.

Hi Kev! Much love from Manila, Philippines Thank you for another great video. We take a lot of things for granted as motorcycle riders. Whether an experienced rider or just starting to ride. We get caught up in the ride or tend to rely on our perceived knowledge of riding a motorcycle and thinking that that's enough. We learn by repetition and constant practice and we get better and better as we go. I love videos like this coz it serves as a reminder to some of us who have been riding for sometime or even for a new motorcycle rider. An educated rider is a safe rider and it makes the ride more enjoyable. You sir are a gem. And im hoping to see more content of this nature from your channel. You take it easy and i hope you and your family are doing alright. Stay safe and more blessings to you.

I rear ended because I looked at the choke while pressing on the lever and didn't saw the car in front of me came to a stop fairly abrupt. That was a shitty day I learned from.

Two comments come to mind. When training truck drivers we were always told "aim high". This is the same as not looking down but made it easier for me to visualize. The second is when I took my motorcycle license test in California a long time ago, I couldn't get through the serpentine course without dabbing my foot. The CHP rider there told me to let the clutch all the way out and use the rear brake against the throttle to control my bike and speed. That's what they used to get through the course with Harleys. It worked for me then. The friction zone which you talk about is a different approach. But using both the clutch and rear brake together seems to work. Also depends on the gearing of the bike. If you can go 60 in first gear you might not be able to go slow enough with the clutch all the way out to negotiate a u turn or serpentine course.

I still have problems with the friction zone. Intellictually I know what it is but in practice I need more practice. Any suggestions as to what I can do to improve my friction zone skills?

Thanks Kevin. Another good one. My son has recently decided to start riding (again) and has been watching your channel. So glad. Keep up the great work.

I agree with the second one. I am a new rider and ride a Suzuki s40 the speedometer and neutral light is on the tank. I find it uncomfortable and un-safety when I want to check my speed and gear selection. Hopefully I can survive longer enough to change bikes where my dash isnt so low on the bike.

Thank you, Kevin. 💯👍

good video I always find these pointers useful. thanks buddy

Great video. I remember when I first began riding as a teenager and used to do that very thing with the throttle. Even adjusting my brake to accommodate my bad habit. I had a good friend who quickly broke me of that though and now looking back I have no idea what I was thinking. Been riding 20+ years and feel like I learn more every day.

Is using the clutch to much bad for the motorcycle like wear and tear

Just getting back into motorcycles after a 30-year break, and turning 72 years old in a couple of months doesn't make it any easier, but my 3rd ride on my 2001 BMW R 1100 S this afternoon was embarrassing as I stalled the bike leaving the service station after my first fuel top-up, and not sure why, maybe the handlebars were not straight as I was about to make a left turn exiting the service station, but the end result was that the bike was leaning over to my right side, and for about 30 seconds I struggled to try and keep the bike from falling over, but I could not lift it upright and my strength was slowly ebbing away, and I realised that I could not hold it any longer and just went down with the bike, fortunately, a truck drove in a few seconds later and the workman (looked like a tradie) asked if I needed any help, and I said yes thank you, and together we lifted the bike up, he said these are heavy bikes and that he has a Harley so he understands, he said it looks like there is no damage to the bike, so the only damage is to my ego, I checked the bike after and there are a few scratch marks on the bodywork just below the seat where it touched the concrete driveway, which makes me feel sad, but I wonder if I could have saved the bike during that 30 second struggle if I had turned the handlbars to the right? anybody care to comment?

Great video. Just found your channel. Pretty good info, even for a seasoned rider.
Re wrist position vs throttle grip: I ran with the style you suggest in the video for well over a decade and loved it. Then I got Carpal Tunnel in both wrists. Now if I have my wrist bent for too long my hand will go numb. I almost lost control during an Icon Butt run a few years back because of it. So I have to keep my wrists in a neutral position. I'm still getting used to it and catch myself with a bent wrist all the time when I notice my hand getting tingly. During emergency stops I quickly & slightly release the throttle grip and then reacquire the grip so the throttle goes back to idle via the throttle return spring so I can grab the brake lever & decelerate at the same time. My wrist position doesn't change. I know its not the best idea to even slightly release the grip during an emergency stop, but I can't think of a better solution. Any ideas? Thanks.

Stay awesome

No matter what you do...No matter who you are..,.No matter where you are, you will learn something New every day.

I been riding 50 years and I still watch you and other motorcycle instructors you never know it all. The only formal instruction I had was at a police motor office school I went to the mid 80s for my PD. It was only a 40 hrs class and we spent more time on proper traffic stops on a motorcycle than riding.

I make up my own exercises in parking lots. I seach for things that feel hard and make me uncomfortable, and practice those things. When I first started, I never thought I could do figure eights in four spaces. But. I'm progressing. The low speed exercises have helped my street riding tremendously. More confident, and more enjoyable riding.

The only people I don’t ride with is the one who can’t ride and is always trying to be the teacher because I’m here to learn and grow so when someone is like this they are holding you and them back plus I don’t want to be the one that finds them in a ditch:)

Teach thanks for the class, good lesson... Gby!

This is very helpful as I have made too wide of a turn to too slow recently. Thank you Kevin.

How should I position my feet on the pegs? Balls of the feet? Arch? Heels? Covering the clutch and brake?...etc
Thanks

I've been teaching my son till we can get him in a class and initially I told him to look in the directionof the turn but every time he wasn't looking far enough he would only look so far the complete the look with his eyes the rest of the way. So I remembered what you said and I told him to point his nose at the point he wanted to end up at. Then we did an exercise with him standing there. 1rst he looked like he always did and swore he could see enough till a buddy of mine slapped the side of the helmet and he said did you see me lol. Well fter that he points his nose and admits not only has his turning has gotten cleaner but he sees things from his side a whole lot better. He realized my buddy could've been a car but he also began to realize he really did go where he could see.

My hubby and I were heading north from Fallon, NV running about 70+ mph. I was riding my 1990 Sportster 1200 with my feet on my front pegs. We came to a wetlands area and a small coyote ran out from the side of the road. I was grabbing brake, downshifting furiously and working to avoid the critter. Hubby was on inside in the lead and the coyote ran between us. It then doubled back right into my front tire. I ran over it with my rear tire. My handle bars were going back and forth from the coyote hitting my front tire and the bump from it with the back tire was significant. I stayed upright. Hubby asked if I was ok, uh, yeah, as my lip quivered. He took off and so did I, praying Thanks to our Lord all the way to a gas station near Reno. Hubby thought we were doing about 40 when I hit the critter, or it hit me. Nothing better to keep me from falling apart after that than to simply roll the throttle on leaving me to catch up, doing the clover leaf-or the on ramp to the freeway heading back to Reno-and negotiate the ribbed Nevada freeways with my narrow tires.

I had to learn to negotiate my rock driveway, speed bumps and pot holes before this happened. I figure that and riding horses all my life (balance) are what saved me. The coyote did not survive.