This is the ONLY answer!

If you follow this advice you will eventually become proficient enough to feel completely at ease while riding. THIS WILL BE WHEN YOU ARE IN THE MOST DANGER! Don't EVER feel that you have everything completely under control. If you're lucky you'll only have to change your shorts every once in a while! At 62 with 45 years of "experience" I'm still alive and learning every time I ride.

 

Never really had any fear of speed, but very fearful of cars that do unexpected, usually illegal things.

 

I've been riding for a month now and have identified three things I really need help with: 1) countersteering; 2) speeds over 50; 3)Wind
If there's a course that will help with these things, i'm all in.


Otherwise, I find that two lane roads with a passing lane is the best way for me to build up my skills under some control. On single lane roads, I feel pressure to speed up or ignore the line of cars behind me, neither of which is acceptable at the moment.


One question: with countersteering, do you begin with that or do you begin to lean and countersteer simultaneously. It seems like the thing to do is do both at the same time. If you start countersteering before you lean, won't you tend to go in the direction the front wheel is pointed?

 

Been following this thread along, there was no need to post; IdahoHacker, as usual has masterfully been covering it. Listen to his advise

What you're asking with your last post are basic questions and many of those can be answered through a willingness to learn the proper techniques. I know I didn't wake up one morning knowing how to do my chosen profession; I went to school And this is no different. Before you can practice to become a confident and proficient motorcyclist you need to know what and how and why. Motorcycling is not an instinctive activity, it's a learned skill.

Expand your knowledge base through reading the works of recognized training instructors. DVD's are available to aid in taking the written word and seeing the techniques in the real world. Don't be afraid to spend some money on information; it will save your life

We perhaps spend too much time discussing and buying the latest add-on or shiny bit for our bikes but very little time or effort on the most important upgrade of all: Yourself. All the fancy parts and go-fast hardware are meaningless if the nut that connects the seat to the bars doesn't understand what he's doing

I've amassed a large library of books and DVD's on the topic of rider training and education and even after many years of riding I'm still a student, looking to improve further. Start with these; begin to understand the science and technology of riding.






Ride Like a Pro

 

My growing sense is that you're listening respectfully to the advice being given, and then you're going to ignore it and do what you were already going to do. That would be a pity. I'll make one final suggestion, I'll answer your question regarding countersteering and leaning, and then I'm going to bow out of the conversation.

Every time you post, you make it crystal clear how much you need a class. You cannot know, and you do not know, what you don't know. That's the purpose of going to a class; to teach you things that you currently do not know. It is nonsensical to say that you won't take a class unless it covers certain topics, when you are ignorant of many other topics that will save your life. I will reiterate that practice not only is worthless, it will kill you, if what you're doing is practicing the wrong thing and doing it the wrong way. The purpose of practice is to make that movement automatic, so that you don't have to think about it. If you're practicing incorrect movements, you will burn the wrong habit into your brain, and when the **** hits the fan, you will automatically do the wrong thing. You've been riding for a month, without instruction, and you're getting just confident enough to get yourself in serious trouble.

This will be the last time I say this: Take a riders course.

Regarding your question about countersteering and leaning: Your question indicates that you do not understand the topic. Countersteering does NOT make you turn, and it is NOT separate from leaning.

Countersteering is what MAKES the bike lean. Motorcycles do not want to lean. All of the physics involved in a moving motorcycle makes the motorcycle want to do two things: Continue in a straight line, and continue to stay upright. This is what you have to overcome every time you turn a motorcycle, and this is why, if you do not do these things correctly, the motorcycle will not turn, and will go straight into the guardrail.

When you want to go around a curve, you begin to countersteer. This immediately makes the motorcycle start to lean. It happens in that order: First you start to countersteer, and then the motorcycle starts to lean.

Then, when the motorcycle is leaning, it turns. The countersteer makes it lean, and the fact that it is leaning is what makes it turn.

(The physics involved are based on the fact that a motorcycle tire cross-section is not flat where it touches the road, the way a car tire is flat. When you're riding in a straight line the curved surface of the crown of the tire creates a symmetrical, oval, contact patch against the pavement, but when the bike is leaned the contact patch is no longer symmetrical, it's longer on one side than the other. You really don't need to understand this at this point in your education.)

The more you countersteer using the handlebars, the more the bike leans. The more the bike leans, the more it turns. If you're going around a curve and you realize you're not turning enough and you're going to run off the pavement, or, worse, cross the center line, you must turn the handlebars more. You can "push" all you want, but if the pushing isn't physically turning the handlebars more, you're not going to increase your turn.

Good luck, take care, and ride safe.

 

Anyone know any good courses in Northern VA?


Thanks everyone for your advice and input. I will take it all to heart and take a course. And thanks to you Idaho for sticking around.

 

Congratulations! Here's the one, main point I want to stress: You WILL have fun, and more than you think you will! Really!

 

http://www.mscv.org

https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/drivers/#m_course.html

After a quick google search I found these two links among others. It looks like you have several options in your area. It might be worth starting a thread and seeing what others in our area have to say about where they've gone and whether they found it a good experience.

 

http://www.saddleupva.com

Here's another. It looks like it won't be up and running for a couple of weeks but a lot of different type classes offered.

 

I did not read every reply but I think the general answer is take a class.

I did not get a motorcycle until I was in my 40s. I never rode dirt bikes or had any friends that rode while I was growing up.

My kids got into high school and I had always wanted to ride so I signed up for the MSF course at the local community college and have been riding since then.

Like you I had fears at speed at first. Lots of empty parking lot time on weekends and picking my routes to get faster.

MSF or your local dealership for a class.