What Glock Man says pretty much nails it. Situational awareness, always be thinking and evaluating where you are in traffic and what you'll do if someone does something dumb, think ahead and watch you six. Have fun, soon it will all be second nature.

 

Ride it everywhere and often. Need a pack of smokes from the mini-mart a mile down the road. . .take the bike. Dropping off videos at the store. . .take the bike. Ride it everywhere you can. Try to stay off the busy streets for a little while. All the stop and go will help with your clutch control and turning from complete stops.

 

Congrats!!like what they all said, practice practice and more practice , pay attention,always have extra space that you can move in to ,that MSF class is really helpful to me, I remember all the basic things they teach to be safe on the road..have fun!

 

Be careful of the winter sand and salt still on the roads...easy to lose it on that. Usually takes a few more days of really good rain and traffic to get rid of it.

 

Took the MSF class last June, been riding since July. The Harley will be a much smoother ride but will, for obvious reasons, feel heavy in slow maneuvers. I always try and remember that EVERYONE IS OUT KILL YOU.

 

Ride. A lot. Everyday and everywhere you can. Don't bother finding secluded areas or parking lots. Get used to riding in the places you're gonna ride the most. That way you'll learn the habits and nuances of traffic and other drivers. Riding around in an empty parking lot teaches you how to ride in empty parking lots. Don't know about the rest of the folks here bit I spend exactly 0% of my time in empty parking lots. Congrats and good luck.

 

lots of good advice form everybody. just remember that it will take you a long time to really get to know your bike. I am in the procces of getting used to my rigid frame sportster. I make it a habit to give my self more room than necessary between me and the car in front of me to give me extra time to slow down. I used to ride like an *** hole on my supermoto doing wheelies and cutting traffic all the time, power sliding around every turn in the city. my point is, don't try to screw around on a bike that you aren't used to.

when you ride a new bike give yourself extra time everywhere you can until you get used to it. I know its fun to go fast, just relax and enjoy the ride and STAY ALERT.

 

Got my licence last year. Number one thing for me at least was to get used to the weight of the bike especially going from a 250cc trainer. Riding a lot helps so much with everything. I basically rode just for the sake of riding. Pay lots of attention to surroundings as usual.

 

Know exactly how you're feeling. I actually rode my 1200 sportster to my classes, then got on a little Rebel and man was it different. Been a little over a year now and Im just starting to know my bike. Like everyone said, ride all the time, think all cagers wanna kill you, and most of all ENJOY!!!

 

It never hurts to take baby steps, ride it around the residential areas and when you are comfortable with that go out on the boulevards. I would wait at least 5 or 6 months before heading out onto the Freeways everything that will happen on the boulevards will happen on the freeways only at a faster speed. knowing how to ride is a big difference than knowing how to react, take your time and if you have the cash the Advance course is far superior than the regular one. Good luck and Congratz.