i watched a video on youtube about how to ride a motrcycle. Ive never riden a motorcycle but i am soon with my cousin. i just wanna have a sense of what to do to get riding. so now i know that to start it make sure ur in neutral. start it up. press on clutch and shift into 1st and slowly let go the clutch with some throttle. and on to 2nd gear and onto3rd and so on. but im not sure how to stop. I saw how you Downshift. but what if im driving in the street and i all of a sudden have to stop imediatly? i was guessing if your at like 4th gear. just let go of the gas. press on the throttle, and brake, and while ur breaking u can just press the gear all the way up to 1st, and keep the clutch reving so the bike wount stall. while ur at a complete stop at like a red light. Am i right? The guy in the video just forgot to show how to stop. he said that u could accually stop the motorcycle by downshifting but he never showed how to just stop.
Inkjax is right. Riding a motorcyle is serious business. You could kill your self and hurt other people and do serious damage to a nice motorcycle. The motorcycle dealers in my area send new riders to the local junior college for riding lessons. That seems to work well. They let you ride a lightweight motorcycle like a Honda Rebel in their parking lot. Most people are able to pass the motorcycle road test after completing the riding course. All that being said, the answer to your questions. PULL the clutch lever to disengage the clutch. Press DOWN on the gear lever with your left foot. This wil engage first gear. Gentley release the clutch lever while twisting the throttle lightly. When you reach 10 miles per hour, squeeze the clutch lever as you ease up on the throttle, lift the shift lever with your left foot, gentley release the clutch lever as you twist the throttle open. Repeat this procedure as you reach another 10 miles per hour increment. Some bikes have 4 speed transmissions. Most have 5 speeds. Some have six speeds. When slowing down, concentrate on smooth deceleration and stopping in time to avoid hitting something (or being hit). If you must stop suddenly, just pull the clutch lever, brake to a stop, and keep pressing down on the shift lever until the neutral lamp lights up. You may need to partially engage the clutch to get the transmission to shift down another gear. Oh, and don't bet your life on the neutral light. Sometimes it lies. So ALWAYS release the clutch lever slowly and be ready to pull that lever if the bike is not behaving the way you think it should. Good luck and keep the shiney side up!
The best way to stop in a hurry is to just pull the clutch in with your left hand and concentrate on braking with both the rear (right foot) and front (right hand) brakes. To stop normally you can just begin applying brake and when your engine RPM is down to a bit above idle speed, you can pull the clutch in, push the shifter down one gear, and release the clutch gently. On a dirt bike you can shift without using the clutch just by blipping the throttle, but I found that that doesn't work as well on a street bike because the bike is heavier and the tire has more rotating mass. When downshifting it might chirp the tire and upshifting will be fairly harsh.
Well you shouldnt need to keep revving if the bike is running right, and you should probly practice alot before you get in traffic. Downshifting is better for slowing down than jsut stopping, but you have to be careful that you dont go too low on the gears compared to the engine rpm. If you do you can lock up the rear wheel and lose control. What kind of bike are you going to be riding and where? You should use both brakes just dont put too much pressure on the front one. If you do let off and reapply slowly. Really think you should practice somewhere out of harms way before you get to ocarried away riding out in traffic. In fat a license is required to even make that legal. Inkjax has it right, get on a dirtbike out in the open and practice and dont get yourself into some mess you cant handle.
