A
Anonymous
Guest
Hi everyone, my name is Renae and my boyfriend and I are breaking up after our first year and he just gave me his motorcycle, I think just to get me off his back. I found this site while looking for advice, it looks like there is some geat knowledge here so I just thought I'd stop in and say hi.I don't know much about the bike but I think he said it was a gs1115 or something like that. It's a pretty motorcycle and it runs very well but I think it might be a little bit too powerful for me. I've ridden smaller bikes on the farm growing up in Texas in the 90's, but never a bike such as this with all the lights and gages and all, and I really think it was set up to ride where there is more cement, in the dirt and gravel the wheel just wants to spin. Being near 6 ft tall and weighing 135 pnds I always did well in the dirt and I was always complimented on how well I rode with all the guys so I'm really no stranger to motorcycles but this is something else. When we got together last year, he bought the bike knowing it needed fixed. He would go to the garage every night after work and spend the entire weekend working on it. He borrowed the money for it from me and had never paid me back. As I said I think he gave it to me to get me off his back. He did finally get it running and took it out for a short ride, but he has never really wanted to ride it anymore, So he just gave it to me. He told me some of the terminology like slipping the clutch, leaning over the bars, riding the brakes, hanging on tight, then told me bigger bikes are supposed to idle faster than farm bikes, whatever that means, and then turned me loose on it. I've been riding it but it's a real beast to control so if you don't mind, I have some questions about it. First off how do you steer this thing with the front wheel off the ground so much of the time. I'd never rode a motorcycle this fast before in my life, but I think I'm learning quick. When I start it up it goes right up to the 7 on the right gage, sounds awesome, but the problem is he never gave me much training on it. He showed me how to slip the clutch, how to use the choke, and how to ride the brakes. My biggest problem is when I release the clutch the front wheel becomes hard to keep on the ground, this is also where the hanging on tight really comes into play. I hold the brakes like he showed me but if I change gears it just wants to pick up the front tire again. I'm about half afraid to get it past gear 3 because it just wants to go too fast. I'm afraid that my brakes will wear out pretty fast at this rate. How often do you replace the brakes and how expensive is it? When I'm slowing down for a red light or stop sign, every time I change gears and let out the clutch it wants to wheelie again. I've seen a few motorcycles running around on the back wheel but they go by so fast that I have not been able to notice the correct way to do this. The hardest part is getting used to the front wheel slamming down on the road when you pull in the clutch. It hits really hard, sometimes I think it might knock out my new filling in my tooth, then the minute I let out the clutch it wants to raise back up again, so I pull the clutch back in and it slams down again. Maybe I'm missing something but this is more scary than fun and I'm having trouble making it look graceful. Can someone give me some tips on this, I'm almost tiring of people pointing and laughing at me simply because my tire slams down so hard. Next question, should I maybe check out a smaller bike or just keep working on my style. He bet me I would be willing to give it back to him and forget the loan within 2 weeks. Well 2 weeks is fast approaching and I really hate to hear I told you so, so if any of you guys can advise me I would really be thankful.
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