So my partner's son has now been bitten by the bug, and we picked him up a nice little 2009 250r. Been out for our first lesson and he did pretty well for his first time on the bike. Biggest thing as with all novices is braking and turning. I kept the lesson to 40 mins, and kept it pretty simple. I covered the following areas: 1. Bike seating and being comfortable on the bike 2. Clutch and throttle control 3. Braking 4. Cornering - look there, go there 5. Head Checks 6. Lane Positioning GoPros work really well for rider feedback too!
Safety over legality, always. It doesn't matter if you say "Legally I had right of way" from the back of an ambulance. 2+ tonnes of moving steel vs you on a ~200KG bike - whoever's bigger has right of way when it's crunch time
My biggest mistake when I was learning to ride was definitely using the rear brake too much, which caused a lot of unexpected slips and lock ups thankfully my first bike had ancient cable operated drum brakes so it was far more forgiving than a bike with non abs disc brakes would have been.
Do not consider it a mistake using the rear brake....manufacturers put them on the bike for a perfectly good reason.
I drag the rear brake sometimes if I'm going through a downhill corner, helps to control the speed through the corner and maintain the line I want I always use the rear brake in slow maneuvering, helps to stop the front of the bike from diving etc Things I learned through trial and error lol
i definitely still use the rear brake (mainly when going slowly or in a tight turn), but when i say that, i mean i would primarily use it rather than my front brake or engine braking every single time i had to slow down, the main issue being that i needed to abruptly stop or slow down, i would instinctively stomp on the rear brake and often lock up before realizing my mistake
You will get max braking with a good balance of both brakes, nothing wrong with chirping the rear tyre braking hard at both ends, if your on the front brakes & she breaks grip there's nothing you can do. Get a feel for where the rear breaks grip & your brain will remember in an emergency, it might just save you. The other thing I see learners & P platers doing is getting down low in corners, scares me sometimes how low they go & leave their body up above the bike. Lean the body off the bike & keep the tyre patch large, you don't have to be like Casey but just a little bit goes a long way
I think it should be a law that you have to be parallel with or lower than your bike in a corner.. Hahaha
