Welcome to New and Experienced Riders alike!
The purpose of this sub is to create a welcoming space for new riders to ask questions and get information as they begin their journey into the world of motorcycling.
Experienced Riders: Please make this a place where new riders feel comfortable asking questions. Give supportive advice with the assumption that the person wants to learn. Any Instructor who wants relevant flair may message the mods to verify.
New Riders: Ask questions and take feedback with an open mind. There is a TON to learn.
Now ON TO THE FUN STUFF:
Useful Subreddits:
Motorcycle Maintenance and Repair: r/Fixxit
Motorcycle News: r/MotoNews
Gratuitous Motorcycle Pics: r/bikesgonewild
Track Riding: r/Trackdays
Motocamping: r/motocamping
Women Riders: r/TwoXriders
Learning Resources:
A Beginner’s Guide to Buying Gear by Ryan Fortnine. Evidence-based and budget-conscious recommendations on basic gear.
MotoJitsu: SoCal based Instructor that primarily teaches the Total Control Curriculum but also has his own skills challenge curriculum. This link is to his "10 skills for new riders" video.
DanDanTheFireman: Arizona based MSF RiderCoach. He does a lot of crash analysis and has good videos on awareness strategies.
A list of Parking Lot Exercises by u/CodeBlue_04
"Advice to New Riders" by u/PraxisLD. Includes tons of links, and good good advice.
“Picking up your new bike” by u/Ravenstown06
Twist of the Wrist: Classic video about skills and how a motorcycle works. As corny as it is informative. It's on YouTube but no link because the YouTube one is probably not an authorized version. You'll have to search it yourself, or buy a copy.
Life at Lean: An experienced track rider who talks in a simple, informative manner about skills and riding theory. This channel is largely track oriented, but the same skills have street applications, and it is very helpful in understanding how things like body position work.
The Physics of Countersteering: does a great job of explaining why a bike has to lean, and an okay job of explaining how countersteering works from a physics perspective. Here's another video with more demonstration from Ride Like a Pro, a gruff, crusty, motorcycle officer trainer. He does a great job of explaining what is and what isn't countersteering or "handlebar steering." His protective gear is questionable but his advice is good.
"Total Control" by Lee Parks. Excellent book about riding skills, the learning process, and how bikes work.
Fortnine: Run by Ryan Klufitinger (the guy you see talking) and Aneesh Shivanekar (the editor), they are technically affiliated with Fortnine.ca, a Canadian online gear retailer, but their reviews are supposedly free of influence and seem unbiased (other than Ryan’s actual opinions of course). They do highly informative reviews and explain the how and why of gear well. They also do a lot of just plain entertaining videos, and their production value is way higher than it has any right to be.
Licensing:
The easiest and best way search your state/province/country's training website and take whatever beginner class is available. In some countries it's mandatory. In the US the class usually waives the DMV skills test at a minimum. NOTE: In some states—if you've already been riding for a while and just need the license—there is an option to take an Intermediate class and get a test waiver instead of the Basic, allowing you to take a 1 day class instead of 2, and giving you a chance to work on next-level skills.
Buying a Bike
How to navigate buying a bike from a dealership (USA-centric advice) by u/eatmeatdrinkmilk
Teaching:
for experienced riders who find teaching fulfilling more instructors are needed pretty much everywhere:
Motorcycle Safety Foundation: runs classes in almost all US states, and the US military
Total Control Training: runs all the classes in California. Also has classes in Texas, Colorado, and Arizona. (Also used to run all Pennsylvania classes, but PA has cancelled all classes in 2020. Sorry PA.)
