This is your first bike? Then if I were you, ,I wouldn't worry about it being as good as all the other bikes that are out on the market for sale. Don't worry about what some ex-professional racer writes about the bike in a magazine. Don't worry about what some complete stranger is going to think as he pulls up along side you at a red light three weeks from now.
You have one task, and one task only that you should be concentrating on. And that is learning how to ride a bike, safely in traffic, without risking your life, or those of others.
When a person gets their first bike, they tend to have a hard time balancing fun and safety. There's a very strong relationship between the two, and if you cross the line too far on one side of the line, you are neglecting the other, and there are concequences to that.
New riders have a hard time keeping theirselves in check. They have a bike, and love the feeling of twisting the throttle, and having the bike pull them off into the horizon. Unfortunately, they haven't yet learned how to harness the handling and braking abilities of their new toy, and to be quite honest, those are the ones they should master first. Anyone can go fast. Not as many can go fast and brbing the bike down to a halt when danger pops up unexpectedly.
The MSF course that you already took is a good intro for how to counteract the easy stuff that comes up on the roads, but its up to you to keep practicing those skills they introduced you to. You don't learn something by doing it once. You learn something through constant practice.
With your bike there should have come a little booklet that basically shows you what the DMV skills test contains. Oddly enough, that's the same exercises that you did in the MSF course. Go to your nearest mall, and practice them at least once a week. If you spend even just 30 minutes a week practicing those skills, you'll beable to boost your riding abilities quite alot quicker than if you didn't.
And if you live in the NYC area, I can tell/show you some great places to practice higher speed cornering skills.
BC.
I didn't do it, I swear.
And even if I did, what makes you think I would admit it to you?
You have one task, and one task only that you should be concentrating on. And that is learning how to ride a bike, safely in traffic, without risking your life, or those of others.
When a person gets their first bike, they tend to have a hard time balancing fun and safety. There's a very strong relationship between the two, and if you cross the line too far on one side of the line, you are neglecting the other, and there are concequences to that.
New riders have a hard time keeping theirselves in check. They have a bike, and love the feeling of twisting the throttle, and having the bike pull them off into the horizon. Unfortunately, they haven't yet learned how to harness the handling and braking abilities of their new toy, and to be quite honest, those are the ones they should master first. Anyone can go fast. Not as many can go fast and brbing the bike down to a halt when danger pops up unexpectedly.
The MSF course that you already took is a good intro for how to counteract the easy stuff that comes up on the roads, but its up to you to keep practicing those skills they introduced you to. You don't learn something by doing it once. You learn something through constant practice.
With your bike there should have come a little booklet that basically shows you what the DMV skills test contains. Oddly enough, that's the same exercises that you did in the MSF course. Go to your nearest mall, and practice them at least once a week. If you spend even just 30 minutes a week practicing those skills, you'll beable to boost your riding abilities quite alot quicker than if you didn't.
And if you live in the NYC area, I can tell/show you some great places to practice higher speed cornering skills.
BC.
I didn't do it, I swear.
And even if I did, what makes you think I would admit it to you?