So, while my wife and I were on our week-long driving trip up and down California, along with a ton of rented motorhomes, we also saw couples on adventure bikes enjoying the twisty roads.
It's at this time that my wife will throw out the comment "Ya know, it does look fun. Maybe I wouldn't mind riding." She has always said that she'd rather learn to ride her own bike than ride on the back of one of mine. And, since she's been forced, on a very few occaisions, to move one of my bikes around in the garage to get to something, she finds my bikes huge and heavy. So, she'd want something small with a low center of gravity.
I got the sense that this time, she sounded more serious. My mind started swirling, and at our hotel stop that night, I started scouring Craig's for bikes like Rebels. Then, I backed up and thought about it.
I told her that the first thing we should probably do is teach her to drive my car, so she can get the feel of working a clutch on something that won't fall over if she gets nervous. Then, if she's comfortable with that, get her into a basic riding course, which will probably put her on a Rebel or something similar, to see how she does. Plus, she'd be able to get her M1 endorsement without a riding test (per CA regs)
Then, if she's still interested in moving forward with a bike for her. Who knows, maybe this time it will really happen. If she loses interest, It'd be nice to have a small bike parked at my Mom's place to tool around in her area.
Interesting indeed Gin60.
My spouse first rode (drove) a motorcycle 35 years ago - an '83 Honda CB650SC. She has only been a passenger since then.
Last weekend she wanted to ride (drive) again!
So I plopped her on a Honda scooter and she did quite well. The key for her was no clutch to manage and no "grabby" brakes of a larger motorcycle.
Hmm, seems to be a smart plan to buy a second bike for myself...pretending is for my wife.
Thanks for sharing
I agree that knowing how to drive a manual shift car is a huge benefit to learning to ride a motorbike.
Peter, the Bonneville is the second bike for pretending it's for my wife. However, she thinks it's huge and heavy.
So...
I would think about her driving persona and how it might translate to a riding persona.
Mrs. Stichill is a somewhat over-cautious, tentative driver. She's that person who uses the accelerator lightly, drives at or below the speed limit, and taps the brakes in reaction to any external stimulus or change in conditions. The whole drive occurs at 0.75x the "normal" speed of execution. I think she would be simply too cautious and be unable to operate the bike as deliberately and/or aggressively as it needs to be in order to stay safe and in control of certain situations. On a bike, going slower or getting lightly on the brakes is not always the safer action. Would her abundance of observation and caution make her a safer rider? In some regards it would, but I think the ability to act decisively with determination is also a necessary trait to have for safe riding.
Like GO I would recommend something like a Honda 150 scooter.
(07-07-2021, 05:58 AM)The ferret_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Like GO I would recommend something like a Honda 150 scooter.
The later model Honda PCX150s are a crazy, stupid-fun and hugely economical scooter offering with incredible storage for its size. A strangely smooth single and quiet, 100 mpg (U.S.), 13.5 to 14.4 hp little beast (depends on model year). The most "hop 'n' go" a two-wheeled dino-burning vehicle is ever going to offer.
(07-07-2021, 05:53 AM)Stichill_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I would think about her driving persona and how it might translate to a riding persona.
Mrs. Stichill is a somewhat over-cautious, tentative driver. She's that person who uses the accelerator lightly, drives at or below the speed limit, and taps the brakes in reaction to any external stimulus or change in conditions. The whole drive occurs at 0.75x the "normal" speed of execution. I think she would be simply too cautious and be unable to operate the bike as deliberately and/or aggressively as it needs to be in order to stay safe and in control of certain situations. On a bike, going slower or getting lightly on the brakes is not always the safer action. Would her abundance of observation and caution make her a safer rider? In some regards it would, but I think the ability to act decisively with determination is also a necessary trait to have for safe riding.
Your wife sounds like my wife , could they be identical twins separated at birth ?
yessssssss create another one of us. do iiiiiiiit. it's your duty.
MSF is the right way to go...especially in California. Learning the concept of manual transmissions in a car is also a great start, but i submit to you another great tool to infect other humans with the parasitic mind worm known as motorcycling:
SCOOTS.
almost every major city in America offers daily or half day scooter rentals somewhere in town. Go rent 50cc scooters and toodle around town all day. get lunch. go see some sights. whatever. Scooters are slow, safe, ultralight, and have no pesky manual transmissions to complicate matters. If you can ride a bicycle you can ride a scooter even easier. But despite being so far from the real thing they have a unique quality that is only found in one other place: in the saddle of a motorcycle. They're liberating. fun. they lean, they have all the same physics as a bike with a fraction of the danger. What I have found is that every person i've met who was on the fence about riding motorcycles was 100% hooked and determined to see it through the moment they first rode a scooter. It's an irresistable pull. the scooter is the gateway drug.
GO said it too, but my assessment is not that a scooter is the end goal, but the best possible tool to bring her over the line towards get a fully fledged shifting snarling motorcycle. put that lady on a scooter NOW and she will not be able to stop herself from heading to the MSF.