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West Coast Canada IV: "Ah yes, 'Guilty Gear' - we have already dismissed that game!"

Superking™

By Superking™
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BagLunch

BagLunch

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Guys who ride motorcycles:

Because it's not possible for me to get re-licensed for car between now and summer, I've applied for motorcycle training. They require that you have a leather jacket, helmet, riding gloves, and boots. Jacket I have, the other three are a no. What kind of gear is suitable for an absolute beginner, and what is the price range I should expect? I imagine that there have to be boots that you can walk around during the day in as well as use for riding (motorcycle riding troops in WW2 couldn't just ask for a moment to change their shoes), but I don't know what they're called/how much they cost/what they should be like.

Advise me.

Saru Kada

Saru Kada

Posted
Posted
Guys who ride motorcycles:

Because it's not possible for me to get re-licensed for car between now and summer, I've applied for motorcycle training. They require that you have a leather jacket, helmet, riding gloves, and boots. Jacket I have, the other three are a no. What kind of gear is suitable for an absolute beginner, and what is the price range I should expect? I imagine that there have to be boots that you can walk around during the day in as well as use for riding (motorcycle riding troops in WW2 couldn't just ask for a moment to change their shoes), but I don't know what they're called/how much they cost/what they should be like.

Advise me.

There isn't really gear "suitable for an absolute beginner", but more just gear suitable for the kind of riding you'll be doing. The "bare minimum" that you would expect to ride around in for a daily commute around town would be jeans, a leather jacket, full-fingered gloves made of leather or some sort of other abrasion-resistant material, shoes that cover your ankles, and of course the helmet is mandatory.

For the gloves, not much to say - no need to go overkill here with armoured racing gloves or anything, you should be able to find a good pair for like $50. Ditto for the jeans and leather jacket; the material these are made of will naturally provide protection against abrasion.

As far as boots go, while it is nice to have comfortable waterproof riding boots if you plan on doing a lot of riding (I own a very nice pair of gaernes that set me back about $200), honestly lots of people will just ride in runners. That being said, as you're just beginning, depending on the intensity of your course you may find yourself randomly dismounting quite often, and the ankle protection will be worth its weight in gold - even hiking boots should tide you over for the duration of your course, as long as you can freely bend your feet along the vertical plane to work the shifter and rear brake.

Finally, the helmet. While it may be tempting to just buy the cheapest helmet that will fit, personally I think the helmet is far and away the most valuable piece of protective equipment in this entire ensemble, and I don't think many people would disagree. So, with that said, why wouldn't you spend the extra money to make sure you've got the best in this category? Expect to drop US $300-400, and look for brand names like Shoei or Arai, who are well-known for their quality and reliability. One thing to note here: there are two categories of qualifications helmets can fall under - DOT (US department of transportation) or SNELL. You can find which one a particular helmet falls under by looking for a little decal on the bottom of the rear of the helmet. There is a bit of debate over which standard is "better" (you can google DOT vs SNELL for some quick summaries) but from personal experience people tend to hold SNELL in higher regard. That being said, the important part here is that if a helmet has neither, it's not even worth consideration (though if you stick with Shoei or Arai like I said, this won't be a problem whatsoever).

Some other advice... you might hear the acronym ATGATT get thrown around, it stands for "All The Gear All The Time", as in "even if I'm just riding my scooter down to the grocery store a block away". While it's a nice standard to hold yourself too, realistically speaking, once you start getting comfortable on a motorcycle you'll probably start slacking off on the gear front. A personal example would be sometimes not zipping up my leather jacket when it's hot outside, which, if you think about it, really defeats the purpose of wearing the leather jacket in the first place, because if I happen to get in an accident and land on my chest that flimsy t-shirt I'm wearing underneath is not going to be doing anything for me. That being said, I kind of treat it like the whole bicycle/ski helmet debate - there's no doubt whatsoever that it's safer to wear gear than not, but everybody is free to live their life how they choose, and if you're enough of an adult to freely choose to smoke or do drugs or whatever, you're enough of an adult to ride with as much or as little gear as you please. That being said, you can look up pictures of road rash if you want to dissuade yourself from ever riding with less than the bare minimum.

Closely related to this is the SQUID - Stupidly Quick, Underdressed, Imminently Dead. This would be a prime example.

Finally, if you're going to be buying a motorcycle that's not just a scooter or something, the majority of people will tell you not to start on a powerful bike (usually 600cc+ is the given starting point), while you might hear some personal anecdotes about "oh I started on a litrebike and I did just fine" or "man I started on a 250cc and traded it in months later because it was too weak". It goes without saying that regardless of how much attention or care you take, it's that much easier to screw up on a more powerful bike - for example, it's pretty much not physically possible to roll-on wheelie a 250cc, and you really have to be going out of your way to clutch wheelie it in 1st gear. If your hand slips while on the gas of a 250cc bike you're going to end up with scuffed fairings and a blow to your pride. On the other hand, if your hand slips while on the gas of a litrebike, you might end up with half a ton of metal on top of you. So yeah, keep that in mind when you're doing your research for your first bike.

Speaking of which, what would you be looking for? A scooter, sportbike, cruiser, offroad, tourer?

BagLunch

BagLunch

Posted
Posted (edited)

Speaking of which, what would you be looking for? A scooter, sportbike, cruiser, offroad, tourer?

Whatever I can rent cheaply and drive on the road. I'm not exactly going to be racing it or doing anything extreme; it's just for me to get around.

You can actually get decent leather jackets for $50? Where/how?

Unfortunately I don't have my hiking boots here... I'll just have to pony up for a new pair.

Also CAEEEEEEEEEEEEESAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR http://i.imgur.com/fOf3C1r.jpg

Edited by BagLunch
Saru Kada

Saru Kada

Posted
Posted

ahahahaha white long

Whatever I can rent cheaply and drive on the road. I'm not exactly going to be racing it or doing anything extreme; it's just for me to get around.

You can actually get decent leather jackets for $50? Where/how?

Unfortunately I don't have my hiking boots here... I'll just have to pony up for a new pair.

Also CAEEEEEEEEEEEEESAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR http://i.imgur.com/fOf3C1r.jpg

I said you can get gloves for $50, but if that's what you meant to type, I picked mine up at a local motorcycle shop

as far as cheap goes, make sure whatever you get has enough power to get on the highway if there will be one on your regular route, as most anything under 200cc isn't quite going to cut it

geogaddi

geogaddi

Posted
Posted
fuck road bikes if you gonna stunt, trial bikes are where it's at

the road bike makes it all the more baller, i mean, the balance point and control required to maneuver is kinda in its own category; when was the last time you saw nigs flipping and shit on a tire 1/4 the size of stunt bikes

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