QuestionI am 65 years old and I just purchased a new Honda Goldwing 1800
motorcycle. The last time I rode a motorcycle was 40 years ago, and, at the
time, I had no trouble learning to ride it, albeit it was a much smaller bike.
I did not anticipate the difficulty of handling the Goldwing. I had an
experienced Goldwing rider take the Goldwing to my house, actually we
stopped at a large uncrowded parking lot on the way, where he turned the
bike
over to me for a little experience.
I mounted the bike and felt quite intimidated by its weight. I managed to
conquer my apprehension and got the bike rolling in first gear. My next
immediate concern was how to stop it. Since I had both feet off the pegs, the
only brake available was the front break. My initial application of this brake
caused the bike to shift weight and it became hard to control.
Still determined, I got the bike rolling again, still in first gear, but this time
things went terribly wrong. Somehow, I rolled on a lot of throttle and the
bike lurched forward. Panicked, I took my feet of the pegs to try to stabilize
the bike and then grabbed a handful of front brake. At that point, the front
wheel locked and the bike and I went down. Although the bike was
unscathed, I banged up my elbow, which was quite painful. I was through
riding for the day and asked my friend to take the bike to my home, where it
now sits in the garage.
I tried riding the Goldwing on the street next to my home, but I find that I am
fearful of falling off again, or worse, hitting something, even though there is
little traffic on the street.
I am having great difficulty overcome my fear of getting back on the
Goldwing and getting it underway. I can't get into a basic motorcycle course
until mid September, but I still need to overcome my fear of the bike. Your
advice would be most appreciated.
AnswerHi Walt,
I am glad you asked this question. There are too many riders in exactly your position falling down and getting hurt these days.
My advice:
Sign up for the Basic RiderCourse class pronto, even if it means you have to wait until September. The course will give you ten hours of practice riding on a smaller training bike, which will go a long ways to building your confidence.
Buy or borrow a smaller bike (250-500cc) to ride for a year or so before moving up to the 1800. The Gold Wing is a terrific motorcycle, but it is huge and heavy and it's going to take you awhile to get your druthers back. I recommend trading the Gold Wing in and buying something like a 250 Nighthawk.
This is a mistake made by many, many people these days, and it's showing in the fatality numbers. Your body, sorry to say, is not the one you had when you were 25. Your balance and coordination, hand-eye coordinations, endurance, flexibility, eyesight, muscle-memory are all different now and it's going to take longer to get "back in the saddle" so to speak. Rather than jumping right back in where you left off, you need to take your time and build up to it.
You need to get totally comfortable on a bike again, learn your limitations, and get your riding muscles back in shape before you take on the mighty Wing. Do so with a small bike and you'll develop skill much quicker and you'll be far more comfortable and confident.
Large bikes have a tendency to mask control errors and handling problems and make you feel like a better rider than you are. This leads to a kind of overconfidence, not knowing what you don't know. Overconfidence is a bad, bad thing on a motorcycle.
Be humble, start small, and commit to learning it all over again, and taking your time doing it.
For additional help, I recommend you check out the book "How to Ride a Motorcycle." In it there are strategies and exercises you can do on your own, practicing in your own neighborhood at your own pace, that will help you develop your riding ability.
Good luck and ride smart,
Pat
