I'm in the proccess of training the wife to ride over the past month or so. She's enthusiastic and fearless so it's been a challenge. She took the course and got her permit. I bought her a 1200 Custom, she didn't want anything but a Harley. It's a big bike for a beginner but she's doing pretty good with it. To start out we did about seven trips over to the high school parking lot and practiced starting/stopping + shifting for about an hour at a time. This would be good advice for you rather than just hitting the road with traffic. I could tell after ther sixth session that she was getting comfortable with it because she wasn't nervous anymore. Then we started riding around about a square mile block out here in the country. Then we did a fifty mile loop around local towns with me in the lead trying to pick roads with easy intersections. Then we did a 150 mile trip to the coast on Sunday and had a blast. She's still learning and needs to practice the hill stops and slow speed manuevering but she's getting better everyday. I hope some of these things we've done will help you out. Best tip I can give you is look where you wnt to go and the bike will go there. If you get in a bind and don't know what to do, pull the clutch in and stop.
Be safe and good luck.

 

one of my son in laws has an 883 around 6 months now only has 500 miles on it. I never push him to ride that will be up to him I do 2-300 miles most week ends when and if he decides I will be there for him last thing I want to do is push him and he go out there and get hurt. like some said its up to you go with your gut feeling. Be safe and good luck whatever you decide.

 

The obvious thing would be to start on a smaller bike, say a 250. It seems you have a very adverse fear reaction that is more than just nerves. You don't say what you are afraid of, dropping the bike, getting hurt, dying? You need to understand your fear and decide if it is something you can come to terms with (by gradually riding the bike and gaining confidence) or if it is a deep rooted fear of riding, which you feel you may never lose. If it were the latter I would just sell the bike and stay with the things I enjoyed, much more to life than just riding a motorcycle. Good luck.

 

That's a really good one. Is it possible to just sit on the bike, with no intention of even starting it and really ask your inner-self what worries you? Can you categorize it, like Monochrome is saying? Maybe you can take it step-by-step, from sitting on the bike to starting it up, to rolling it down your driveway and see what feelings or gut reactions surface? An example would be, that you feel fine starting it up. Feel good putting it gear, but when you get to the street, does a wave of anxiety pounce? What triggers it?

And as others said, if you can't make that connection or it's not worth it to you, then it might be the best thing to not have the bike. But don't let the time the bike has sat, your past feelings or any advice stop you from possibly exploring the deep seated fear that you have.

I sincerely hope that you can meet them and possibly even overcome them. Your risk-tolerance is of great value here. Just about every fun thing I do (mountain bike, horses and motorcycles) have some kind of serious risk to it. The horse made me very anxious at first. My girlfriends 1,200 pound, nervous thoroughbred, who was alarmed at every weird noise or being challenged by other horses had me white-knuckled on him at times, but he got trained and now he's a pretty docile boy and I'm comfortable riding him. Let us know how it goes either way.

 

I would think the first dive you took you were a little jittery. The first sail a little nerve racking but a little time you were comfortable with it..Start slow and work your way up IF you want to ride...

 

I think it's so cool when a hubby and wife ride together and they each have their own bike.

 

My mother rode b*tch all her life. She took the MSF class, got her license, dad got her a little 500 Suzuki, and she just couldn't do it. Probably put more gallons of gas in it than miles on it. They sold it and that's the end of the story.

 

My 2 cents....
Keep the bike, then beg, borrow or buy another 125 - 250 motorcycle and take it to a large empty parking lot and just putt around making the bike do what you want it to do. Do this several times and then venture out on some back roads and ride where you don't have to deal with traffic and other distractions and just try and enjoy the ride. Also, keep your rides short and go home with a positive experience (and wanting to do more). You might have to do this for several weeks as you build confidence, it all takes time. After a while when you are comfortable with the small bike you can do the same thing on your Sporty.

My wife was a "cautious" rider for quite a while. It took a 100cc, then a 250cc and then a Honda 600. She insisted on baby steps when moving up in bike sizes but it built her confidence and that was the important thing. That time frame was about a year before she got a Sportster. A year after the Sporty she cut loose and got a Lowrider, then a Fat Boy and now a Road King. She'll slam down a 600 - 700 mile day through rain, hard wind or whatever now.

I hope you stay at it and good luck. Keep us informed.

 

Only u can decide what is right for you. Start with figuring out where the fear is based. If it is real, then go with it...if it is imaginary (and only YOU can know that) then work, slowly, to overcome it. Lots of good tips precede this so I will not repeat them.
BE SAFE!

 

STUPID POST to a serious question, what goes around.

100% On, We ride because it is fun. Like when you are a on a close reach healing over dipping a rail not eveyone can or wants to do do that. You realize and respect the machine. Take it back and don't look back. But if you do, sorry to see you leave the board so soon.