Oh, Ladies?

OTB · 08-09-2010, 03:23 PM

So, I've spent a lot of the summer giving private motorcycle coaching to folks with fear issues; 'cept a disturbing pattern has emerged:
A. All of the folks who answered my ads were female.
B. All of the folks having issues had large displacement (750cc and up) FIRST bikes.
C. All were of petite (under 5'4") stature.
D. All had dropped said bike MULTIPLE times at starts and/or stops before contacting me.
E. All had sailed through the MSF course on 250cc bikes and had approached having their own bike with gleeful anticipation...until the dropping started.
F. All of the bikes were set up properly for said riders;i.e they had been lowered or were naturally lower so that the riders could flat-foot it; tippy-toeing was not the issue.
G. All had SEVERE issues with clutch/throttle coordination on their own bike, but had non during MSF (250cc) training.
H. All had severe difficulty holding/maneuvering there bikes in an "engine off" mode; i.e. backing the bike out of a parking space, shoving the bike around the garage, ect.

I am going to make some crass generalizations based on this limited (about 16 or so) sample, keeping in mind that I wasn't around for the initial time when the problems developed, so I have to go on what I've been told by the individuals which may or may not be factual but there are enough similarities to draw some conclusions.

Each of these ladies was motivated, and were accomplished (many in the nursing/medical/emt field...go figure) and were not bashful wallflowers...they WANTED to ride. Each was willing to do what was required to get there. I had MANY responses to the ads I ran, but only a few folks actually carried through to do the training/coaching.

All got into trouble (in my opinion) because they chose, large, heavy bikes as first bikes. It wasn't that the they couldn't handle them, it's that they went from small and easy to handle bikes in 8 hrs of training to large, heavy bikes without the opportunity to build muscle groups and train their bodies in using leverage and balance rather than strength. I suggested that while they may have wanted to skip the "stepping-stone" bikes, they may have made it harder for themselves getting the "goal" bike as a first bike

I'll go into more detail as I have time, but just want some feedback into how it went for you and do you wish you'd done things differently?

08-09-2010, 03:23 PM	#1
OTB The Man Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: CrabTown USA Moto: 00 Bimota DB4 Posts: 823	Oh, Ladies? So, I've spent a lot of the summer giving private motorcycle coaching to folks with fear issues; 'cept a disturbing pattern has emerged: A. All of the folks who answered my ads were female. B. All of the folks having issues had large displacement (750cc and up) FIRST bikes. C. All were of petite (under 5'4") stature. D. All had dropped said bike MULTIPLE times at starts and/or stops before contacting me. E. All had sailed through the MSF course on 250cc bikes and had approached having their own bike with gleeful anticipation...until the dropping started. F. All of the bikes were set up properly for said riders;i.e they had been lowered or were naturally lower so that the riders could flat-foot it; tippy-toeing was not the issue. G. All had SEVERE issues with clutch/throttle coordination on their own bike, but had non during MSF (250cc) training. H. All had severe difficulty holding/maneuvering there bikes in an "engine off" mode; i.e. backing the bike out of a parking space, shoving the bike around the garage, ect. I am going to make some crass generalizations based on this limited (about 16 or so) sample, keeping in mind that I wasn't around for the initial time when the problems developed, so I have to go on what I've been told by the individuals which may or may not be factual but there are enough similarities to draw some conclusions. Each of these ladies was motivated, and were accomplished (many in the nursing/medical/emt field...go figure) and were not bashful wallflowers...they WANTED to ride. Each was willing to do what was required to get there. I had MANY responses to the ads I ran, but only a few folks actually carried through to do the training/coaching. All got into trouble (in my opinion) because they chose, large, heavy bikes as first bikes. It wasn't that the they couldn't handle them, it's that they went from small and easy to handle bikes in 8 hrs of training to large, heavy bikes without the opportunity to build muscle groups and train their bodies in using leverage and balance rather than strength. I suggested that while they may have wanted to skip the "stepping-stone" bikes, they may have made it harder for themselves getting the "goal" bike as a first bike I'll go into more detail as I have time, but just want some feedback into how it went for you and do you wish you'd done things differently? __________________ http://www.decreasingradius.net/