HOLY SHIT!

I rode with a newbie once. He skidded through a stop light because he only used his rear brake (and he was going WAY too fast for the road). He was lucky nobody was coming or he'd have been done. I asked why he wasn't able to stop, because I was (yes, I was going too fast too). I discovered he wasn't using his front brake because he was afraid it would flip him. I showed him I could stop using ONLY my front brake, without lifting the rear tire off the ground. He tried it and was amazed.

What's the best advice I can give newbies? Don't panic. Look where you want to go, trust your tires and your brakes. If you are looking at the object you are afraid of, you will hit said object. If you look where you actually want to go (which is to the side of said object), you will miss the object you fear. Your tires will do more than you can imagine. Obviously, don't just grab a handful of front brake, but you must use it as it provides most of the stopping power of your bike.

PRACTICE,PRACTICE,PRACTICE!!! Find someone with experience and the patience to mentor you. Go out ALONE or with your mentor and ride familiar stretches of road or in deserted parking lots to hone your skills. Take the time to really get familiar with the controls and what they do,down to the turning signal switch! Try to understand how the machine works and the basic principles involved;countersteering,brakes,suspension,drive train,etc. For god's sake get someone to help you learn how to maintain your bike and READ THE OWNER'S MANUAL!!! If I see another 600 with a rusty chain dragging the ground, bald tires,and brakes squealing at every stop sign!
Btw,I don't agree with learning on the track as that's how my '95 FZR1000 got totalled. Some newbie doing 40mph in a 80-100mph blind corner! I found out later that this kid have only owned the bike a couple weeks.....

1. Take the MSF
2. Wear your fucking gear
3. Practice x3
4. Study
5. No matter how good you think you're getting, you're still really slow

yup changed my mind because I grew up around the NMB area and dragstrips stretched.slammed,chrome which I still like but I want a performance machine before I start working on a trailer queen but now i'm hating life my bitch is still fun but I think a 600cc with upgrades and soft rubber my skill level will improve even more but a new bike is not looking so good with these house payments I have now that I didn't have before but i'm gonna just stack my chips and pay cash on a nice used 600cc beast there are a million on craiglist and ebay but may take me till the end of the summer to get the loot

:spam:

Never really got advice when I first started riding. When I started getting more and more serious about getting fast, I did a lot of reading on form, shifting and other things. Met some good guys in Vegas who helped me out a lot too.

So my suggestion would be to read and learn as much as possible.

Ride within your ability and know your limits. Don't ride to show off, ride for your enjoyment. And pretty much anything else that your Local Safety Course says.

6. practice
7.practice
8.practice
9. fix your bike when NOT if you fall
10. practice
11. when you think youve mastered something... practice more.
12. upgrade equipment/gear
13. practice...

Take the MSF course.
Read books like Proficient Motorcycling (Very helpful to me when I was just starting)
LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO!!!....this was the most effective advice for me, and saved my life once when an SUV was completely in my lane in a curve once, and I was only riding about a year
Wear gear! This gal thinks guys in leathers and a helmet look much cooler and sexy than guys with a t-shirt and backwards baseball cap! (Helmets are voluntary here in PA)
And what took me too long to discover? How much fun track days are!!!

Well, that's why I'm here. I think the most important thing for me personally is that I know that there is a lot I don't know.
(I had to re-read that a few times to make sure it made sense.)
A lot of what I learned doing track events in a car has transferred over to the bike: look ahead, look where you want to go, check your mirrors, get all your braking done before you turn, etc. Being able to read a turn and know my turn in point, apex and track out has helped considerably on the bike where in car, your margin for error is far more forgiving.
I started to be on of the fastest cars in my run groups and then one day I let a semi-pro drive my car and then I learned how little I knew about car control and how much I had to learn. :lol:
So, since I am a bike noob, I know that there is always going to be a lot to learn, even once I think I know what I am doing.