Where do you get your skills from?

[diesel]

Although there are others, Abate of Colorado is probably the major training provider in Colorado. Ben Hochberg is director of training for Abate of Colorado. If you're seriously interested you can contact the ABATE of Colorado office at 303-789-3264 or alternately contact Ben directly at BenHighMountain@aol.com

[1980GS1000E]

I got my skills from riding as a messenger in NYC during the '80s.

[Russ' GS1000E]

Pardon the detour, but that is one sweet looking 'E'

[nisom512]

this thread = required reading

30 years of road riding - Sport, commute, tour, cruise
- City, desert straight, mountain twist
> 130K miles of Aprilia, Suzuki, Victory, H*nda, Ducati, HD

5 years of dirt bike Trail Riding - CR250
15 Years of SCCA Auto Racing - Spec Racer Ford
6 Years of Auto-X - mostly RX7

Plenty of Magazine reading - even a few Brit Rags

Are you just telling us your experiance?



Any who all this advice is very good ride a bicycle in the winter so you can practice balance on bat terrain. this would resemble riding your motorcycle on loose gravel, and in rain if you have bad tires.

Other than that and other advise you have already received from other here
All you can do is is ride and try things that make you uncomfortable.

[omaharj]

Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well by David L. Hough


Sport Riding Techniques: How To Develop Real World Skills for Speed, Safety, and Confidence on the Street and Track by Nick Ienatsch


Soft Science of Roadracing Motorcycles: The Technical Procedures and Workbook for Roadracing Motorcycles by Keith Code

Total Control: High Performance Street Riding Techniques by Lee Parks

Twist of the Wrist: The Motorcycle Roadracers Handbook (Vol 1) by Keith Code

A Twist of the Wrist 2: The Basics of High-Performance Motorcycle Riding by Keith Code

Ordered but not here yet ..

Ride Hard, Ride Smart: Ultimate Street Strategies for Advanced Motorcyclists by Patrick Hahn

Keith Code gets to the core of motorcycling. ESPECIALLY TOTW 2. All these have a lot to offer. Hahn's risk assesments are confidence builders. Mriddle has a good library. I got TOTW from Dink and downloaded it to my computer. I MAY be able to e-mail it to someone.

[BB~]

It has been said more times than I was able to count here but I will say it again. Get off the blacktop and find some dirt. I was one of those little brats with a honda trailbike out in the dunes and riding up the side of every mountain I could find. Once you think you understand how a bike is going to handle you will feel alot better. Once again practice, practice, practice, and then do a little more. You want to get the the point of thinking what line you are going to ride rather than how you have to move to ride A line.



40% of riding is knowing what should happen,
40% is knowing how to handle what is happening,
19% is watching what the other people are doing,
1% is hoping the cops didnt see what you just did .

[Russ' GS1000E]

Are you just telling us your experiance?

Well, yes, as this is 'where I got my skills from'.
Did I mis-interpret the intent of the thread?

Agreed, dirt riding and track days would seem the quickest path to cycling skills, but no need to hurry....

[Roostabunny]

Ride on dirt - even with your GS, but better with a dirt bike.

On dirt you develop an invaluable feel for traction and braking. And it's fun.
http://www.ratbike.org/docs/481.php

If you can do this (with a dirt bike, that is), I highly recommend it based on two experiences.

1.) I raced bicycles back in the day, and mountain biking made me a much better road rider because it teaches you to connect broadly with the riding surface and your surroundings rather than focusing on the bike and your front wheel. It also teaches you about traction under less-than-ideal conditions.

2.) Speaking of traction, I was riding with a friend who was on a shiny new FJR1300 and he spun the rear tire on some gravel while pulling onto a mountain highway. Bonehead move aside (the rest of us saw that gravel and silently wondered inside our helmets what he was thinking when he hit the throttle on that monster) I believe that his years of competitive dirt riding were the only reason he stayed upright. He ripped the knee of his jeans on the pavement and rode away while a less traction-savvy rider would have laid that big bike down or worse, regained traction too suddenly and high-sided.

[Flaggo60]

Ride on dirt - even with your GS, but better with a dirt bike.

On dirt you develop an invaluable feel for traction and braking. And it's fun.
http://www.ratbike.org/docs/481.php

A lot of the really good roadracers cut their teeth on dirtbikes-Kenny Roberts springs to mind.

One of the greatest dangers I feel I as a rider have trouble coming to grips with is how far can I lean it and still hold traction. I know a lot of nasty accidents are caused when a rider doesn't avoid an obstacle/situation because he/she was afraid to lean the bike even further to make the correction. Its a head thing. You gain confidence doing this in the dirt, and usually at slower speeds that teach the skill. It take a lot of guts to practice this with a street bike. Some of the racing schools have a bike set up with outrigger wheels to catch you if you lose it. This teaches how much those expensive bike tires really cling.

Similarly, riding in the dirt teaches you to do the opposite of your natural inclination to get around a tight slippery corner, by opening the throttle to power yourself around, rather than getting on the brake.

[kerrfunk]

Resurrecting an old thread cuz it's worth it for those of us who haven't been riding long. And it's probly worth it for those who have, too.

I started riding in October 2008.
Took the MSF-Basic Rider Course in April 2009, got my M license.

I just took the MSF-Experienced Rider Course today (September 2009).

It was a little early for the ERC, though I don't regret going. By "early" I mean the ERC is pretty much a theory and skill refresher. Nothing particularly new.

It was nice to see the variety of bikes, instead of the state 250s that have their mirrors and signals chopped off.
Today there were about 3 GSXRs, a CBR600 or two, a bunch of Harleys, a BMW, a Kaw, a Buell Blast, a Vulcan, and a few other bikes.
And there was a beautiful looking 1976 Honda Super Sport 400 four with about 6,000 miles on it. Seemed the guy was the third owner. First owner fell off. Second owner stored it forever. Check out the (wiki picture) of its exhaust:


My bike made it halfway through the day before it decided not to start anymore. Overheating. I finished the day on a Honda Nighthawk. Somebody want to tell me how to replace my coils, and what to replace them with?


Anyhoo, I finished, I got the card to prove it, and I could see taking the ERC (Easy Refresher Course ) again in a few years. And maybe a thing or two recommended from this thread. It'd be nice to have a road class.

[Ponderosa]

Feel

I have been riding close to forty eight years now, most here have it right, start on dirt, get the feel of how certain terrains/conditions effect traction, stability, braking, acceleration, and other aspects of riding. Remember each bike has different characteristics, handling, braking, traction,, ect... I like to use the term "feel"...

Remember the two rules while riding on the streets/highways, ONE, the other guy does not see you, TWO, he sees you and doesn't care!

I could get into weak sides, strong sides, turning points, looking through turns, and evasive techniques, but it would be useless unless you could practice with me watching. The best thing you can do is keep up with your courses, even take some high performance (track) lessons, the guys teaching these courses have seen many moons of riding, listen, learn...