Sorry going on a rant...
Okay they introduce themselves, they ask you how long you have been riding. You respond and ask the same and they say "we'll I have been riding dirt bikes for...." Okay stop I don't care how long you have been riding dirt bike, Ive been riding a bicycle since I was six DOES that qualify me to ride a motorcycle, NO! And neither does riding a dirt bike. The terrain is different the obstacles are different, and there are many moving object ready to put you in this earth. So stop trying to add experience and skills to you motorcycle operating ability that you clearly do not have.

 

Never rode a dirt bike in my life. But what I know is that those guys have a bike UNDER CONTROL. Not always the case for harley riders. And I think it's a damn fine basis for a rider, to learn how a two wheeler handles.
What on earth makes you think that you have any skills that they don't have? Just curious.

 

I have rode both they r two different animals. I started riding motorcycles in 1989 regularly and average over 20,000 miles per year (obviously not since 1989 either). Most are just trying to boost there riding experience to look like they have been riding longer than they really have. When I started out my mothers boyfriend practically gave his Harley away cause no one wanted one. When some asked me back then I stated how long I have rode on the road just as I do today. It seem disrespect to me for someone to include well I had a dirt bike when I was 12 now I am 50 so I start back in 1971.

 

I have to agree with the second poster (frenchman). I've been on bikes since I was 12 and over those 35 years I've ridden 2 & 4 stroke dirt bikes, enduros, crotch rockets, metric cruisers and harleys and I can honestly say that I HAVE applied lessons I learned on the dirt that have saved my a$$ on the street.

Riding dirt bikes, you push it to the limit and deal with near-crash & recovery situtations every ride. If you don't think that those lessons help make you a better rider (not better than another person, but better because of the lesson you learned), then you have a warped sense of reality.

 

Now granted, just riding a dirt bike does not set you up to be a good street rider - there are lessons to learn there too.

 

Crashing sucks but crashing in the dirt can teach lessons that could put you in the hospital on the street. Dirt riding gives a rider an advantage that street only riders don't have. Who cares if I've been on dirt bikes since I was 12 and that I got on street bikes at 17. I'd much rather see someone come off a dirt bike and onto the street than someone just decide to start riding street bikes without any experience at all. So now the question becomes, "Does dirt bike experience make you a better street rider?"

 

Sure, dirtbikes aren't the same. They're lightweight. Totally different feel

Different suspension, tires, etc.

Dirt riding might be different, but it's still a start.

I'd say any street rider, regardless of dirt experience, should read the DMV manual for Motorcycles. You'll get info you may never have thought of.

 

Rode dirt bike for approx. 10 years .... enduro (offroad and onroad). Dirt biking encourged me to do mods ... tuned pipes, bigger rear sprockets and lots of wrenching on carbs etc. Valuable experience in that regard. As for handling a bike it was excellent IMO ... just watch them work a bike and get up off the seat and transfer weight forward or back for different situations. First bike was a Bonneville 650 and when I quit I had a Kawasaki 1100L. Street bikes like my RK were a different animal but my experience made it a whole lot easier (only thing I had to practise was slow speed handling). Why you would discredit this experience is beyond me ... anyone who missed dirt biking ... lost out. You make your own twisties, hill climb, mud ride, catch air, etc.
You need to see this thread and see what you missed : http://www.stromtrooper.com/showthread.php?t=46707
Don't you just love it when you meet a fellow biker that feels it is a p#ssing contest?

 

My rant was and is not about discredit dirt rider. My rant is about people who how claim to be riding for years and you later find out they are on there first street bike and do not know how to ride the city roads safely. Some of the stuff you do on a dirt bike if you ever tried it on a street bike you would high-side and be eating pavement. Both dirt and street ride have interchangeable skill, but there is some skills you can only get being on the road. By overstating their experience they not only put them self in danger but everyone they are riding with to, special in a group ride.

 

Never cared for dirtbikes always big V-Twins,but it would seem to me that having that experience couldn't hurt.What do I know?