Motorcycle Safety & Driveability: auction sold bikes, waste of money, new bike

Question
Hi William,

I was wondering what is the best way for me to learn quickly until i get some experience to ride on the road with traffic,The reason i'm asking is because i'm paying off a car i bought from a dealer and can get me a bike at a auction with me going with him since he usually don't mess with those but since i'm keeping business between the both of us he will purchase one for me while i pay it off monthly and was also wanting to know what to look for to make sure the bikes i look at aren't junk and are a waste of money. Thanks

Answer
Tim,

Thanks for the questions.

Sorry to tell you there are no "easy ways" or shortcuts to safe riding in traffic. The "best" way to prepare yourself is to take a class in basic riding skills from the MSF. You don't need a bike to take the class, they will provide one for you. It takes a whole weekend to take the class, but it's worth it. You can find times and places at www.msf-usa.org.

After you take the class, the best way to get experience riding in trafic is to go out and ride in traffic. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I just want you to understand there is no substitute for experience when you are talking about riding motorcycles. You need to take the class to get the basics (which entails much more than I could explain to you over the internet), and then roll up some miles on the road. That's how all us "old pros" learned to stay alive on our bikes.

As for what bike you should get, I'll need a lot more information. What kind of motorcycle do you like or want? Have you ever ridden a bike before? How tall are you? How much do you weigh? What kind of riding will you be doing: commuting, touring, sport riding, cruising, or some combination?

As for "junk bikes", there are no brands available in the United States that I would label "junk". The quality and performance of any NEW bike you buy is going to be good. As for a USED bike, that's a different story- it depends on how it was taken care of, how it was ridden, if it's been crashed and so on. If you have certain models you are interested in, let me know what and how much they are and what shape they are in.

Thanks for writing,

Bill Roberson