Quake3World

So anyone can drive a car without sitting behind a wheel ?, to drive it properly they're gonna need to learn with experience through series of lessons. If you want to drive it on public roads you will need to demonstrate an appropriate level of competency and thus, you can't just jump in a car and expect to drive.

Whatever you did to become accustomed to a car / bike, wether you learnt on your own or with your father or whatever, was a lesson. If someone had to explain clutch control to you, or even if you figured it out for yourself - that was a lesson. So you can't just jump in a car / on a bike and expect to be able to drive just because you've rode a push bike / driven a go kart. You need to build your experience through learning a lesson.

This talk about not being confident on a bike, how in the fucking hell can you be confident if you havn't learnt anything ?

YourGrandpa wrote:

Κracus wrote:And Gwamps I don't mean to rain on your parade either, I just think you're giving out pretty stupid advice and I really do hope nothing bad happens to you on your bike but for real, be careful out there.

I wanted a small bike as my first road bike to learn what I didn't know I didn't know. Quite a few lessons learned that if I'd had a bigger bike I might have been in real trouble. I'm not 100% sure what my next bike will be as there's newer and more amazing bikes coming out every year. Right now I have my eye on a kawasaki H2 as my next bike but who knows, it's still a few years away before I get to that point. I know I'll never own a cruiser like Gramps tho, I just don't like the sitting position on them.

I didn't give advice. I made a half joking comment and voiced my opinion on the term lesson as it applies to riding a motorcycle. But I know the thing to do around here for most is to disagree with everything I post, no matter what. I'm okay with that. Will they be okay? Who cares?

The H2 is still a relatively small bike and I don't like that riding position either. Enjoy.

Oh so a 250HP bike capable of out accelerating a Bugatti Veyron is a small bike to you? Jesus dude what are you smoking?

Also, I'd like to point out that I don't, in fact, disagree with everything you say just because you said it. My opinions are my own and I, more than most on this board, can state that I'm not a bandwagon chump. I do however strongly disagree with your stance on bike courses. I didn't need a course to ride a street bike and I'm fairly sure I would have passed the test just fine on my own but I still see value in taking the course regardless, aside from the insurance discounts I get for having taken the course. I'm also not talking about the bicycle vs motorbike comparison you did in fact make earlier.

I am curious though, all kidding aside for real, how many miles have you put on your bike since you got it? I imagine the roads and weather down south are much more accommodating than the 4 seasons of mess I get. I'm not asking to make fun of you either, if you don't ride a lot and like to keep a nice polished bike in your garage that you take out a few times a year that's your prerogative and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. The real reason I ask is because you only really get an idea of the things you don't know about by putting the miles on and maybe you do, maybe you don't.

A course is like getting a few extra miles on without actually doing it. You'll gain experience you WOULD have learned the hard way otherwise and there's nothing wrong with that which is why I feel like you're being a bit obnoxious in suggesting a real man doesn't need a course.

YourGrandpa wrote:

Eraser wrote: Nonsense. If you're learning yourself, you'll only learn your own bad habits.

I could also say that anyone that can watch a YouTube video can learn to play the guitar, and I'm sure that's true for the basics. Strumming chords to your favorite Beatles song, sure. But you'll learn terrible technique because there's no one there to tell you what you are doing wrong. You'll never be a good, let alone a great guitar player. It may have worked for a handful of people, but those are exceptions to the rule.

Besides, how are you going to get hands on experience in traffic without proper rider's license? You can't here in the Netherlands, unless you're with a certified instructor of course.

Did you even read my post? Because now you're just arguing to argue.

No not at all. If I understand clearly, you are of the opinion that you don't need lessons to learn to ride a motorbike. I'm arguing that, even though you'll be able to find rare anecdotal evidence in favor of that claim, in general you'll learn it quicker and better if you have a licensed instructor with you to teach you.

Maybe it's a cultural difference as well. Here in the Netherlands, driving/riding exams are really strict. I believe it's nearly impossible to pass them without having proper lessons before. It's not just about the technique of driving, there's a lot more involved there. Now I don't know how accurate my impression of US driving exams are, but the way Dutch people generally look at US driving exams is basically that if you can reach the end of the street without killing anyone, you'll pass.
Also, here in the Netherlands, especially in the west part of the country where most of the large cities in are (Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, all packed relatively tightly together) there's just no deserted rural roads where you can practice all day. I start off at a large parking lot and even there you'll have to be careful not to get hit by cars that enter/leave the lot, even in the evenings. But obviously, that doesn't give you any traffic experience. Our highways are among the busiest in the world. There's not a moment in the day where they aren't filled up with traffic and even at night it's still pretty busy. Try riding on a Dutch highway in your car with cruise control enabled. You won't last for a kilometer before you'll be forced to brake again.

So yeah, I'm of the opinion that, at least here in the Netherlands, driving or riding lessons are a must and one cannot go without.

A certified safety/instructional course is always a good idea and is required where I live.

So you did or didn't miss this part of my previous comment?

We don't refer to state certified and/or state required instructional driving/riding courses as"lessons". "Lessons" are typically thought of as someone with an unknown amount of knowledge/experience giving someone else with even less knowledge/experience remedial instruction. Unless of course you qualify the lessons with additional information regarding the instruction you received, which you didn't.

Now look, I said I was half joking anyway. Are you going to be okay or do we need to go over this in greater detail?

Memphis wrote:I was told I'd initially suck at quadding, having riding experience. Sure enough, my leg instinctively dropped for balance and almost got chewed up in the rear wheels

Once I'd figured I could angle the fucker at 89 degrees and not tip over, it was a blast though and one could merrily going for mad air at full throttle

I've jumped my street bike once (unintentionally going 110km/h) but I've never jumped a quad. That must be fun