First off, only crazed loons ride on the street. It is an existential threat every last second you are out there. If it's not other cars and trucks and other bikers actively seeking out a way to cause a collision, it's your own loss of concentration, day dreaming, over estimation of your skills or just poor judgment. Add to that debris that moves, animals or debris that just wasn't in that tight corner the day before. You can be sitting at a stop light. You can be moving around a parking lot. They'll come for you in your sleep if you're just even thinking about riding. How abut a flat tire at 60 mph? Bugs and other small flying stuff are projectiles at speed.
It's hot in the summer. It's cold in the winter. It's cold when it's not really cold once you get up to speed. There is a lot of gear to put on and maintain.
Everyone that cares about you will be worried about you riding, if not actively, then in the back of their minds, all the time. If you get maimed and/or killed, the "I told you so's" in your family will be working over time at your funeral or bedside.
It sucks getting caught in the rain which is even more gear. You can't carry much. Learning to carry a passenger is a whole other level of responsibility and doubles all the above worries and concerns and THEY might try to kill you.
And it is one of those things people say is the most fun you can have with your cloths on. And it is that much fun every time you swing a leg over. You''ll want to go out for French fries and bring them home. One at a time. You'll do grocery shopping a little bit every day and look for more excuses to go back. You'll start thinking of how to skip airline travel and carry all your luggage. Everything you do with a car or pick up or tractor trailer or an RV, you'll try or at least think about doing it with with your bike.
If you've never ridden before, I think you really gotta have a heart to heart with yourself. If you are the kind of person that takes instruction well and have good self control and are reasonably coordinated, it is totally possible to learn how to safely ride and, possibly, never lay your bike day or worse. But, even if you have the perfect disposition for riding, the threats never go away and never take a break and never lessen over time. It's like guard duty; you have to be on duty all the time, you have to do right, be right, all the time. The bad stuff only has to get it right once.
For me, riding dirt bikes for several years before I got on a street bike made a HUGE difference in my mind set and my skill level. Crashing in the dirt is a great teacher as is almost crashing. I just know if I learnt to ride on the street I would have had a crash by now and, for sure, laid my bike down more than a few times. For me, dirt bikes were an absolutely necessary step in the development of my skill level and mind set and understanding of how motorcycles work. And don't work.
I bloviate for two reasons. One, it's what I do. Two, I LOVE riding but it is flat out going to kill you if you give it a chance and it may kill you even if you do everything right. What happens to your loved ones if you get killed or maimed? Do they need you? This is a decision to be entered into deliberately and seriously because once you start, you probably won't wanna stop so, you gotta get good at it, quickly, and stay good.
thanks Mom
n If you worry about balance, you should stay home
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