Hello to all,
I left Vietnam at a relatively young age so I did not have the opportunity to ride a motorcycle. This is my second visit to HMC in less than one year so I figure I should give this motorcycle business a kick. I drove extensively back in Canada for work and for personal recreation. Then again, the traffic jam on Toronto's 401 or 400 Hwy is nothing in comparison with what I see here. Several nights ago, my cousin picks a quiet spot around our neighbourhood so I can begin my motorcycle lesson. I found the vehicle a bit clumsy to manage when I was making my turns. Also, it is relatively heavy to push around. At one point, I squeezed the gas handle in the wrong direction and I found myself only meter away from the street vendor. This exercise of attempting to ride the motorcycle starts with my aim for transportation autonomy. Surprisingly, this experience breathes life into a long forgotten childhood memory of learning how to ride a bike from my parents and my older brothers. This experience of nerve couples with the joy of learning new things generates endless rounds of laughter so it is not a matter of “if” but “when”. I plan to have another round of training tonight. I would like to hear from you if you have any motorcycle stories or techniques to share. Thank you for your participation.
Re: Motorcyle
Hi Red, well done for getting on the bike. I'm currently teaching my other half, having been riding bikes since I was a child it's interesting teaching someone who has no idea.
But she is learning fast and listen to my advice.
Best bit of advice i give you online is too remember keep all your movements smooth. Riding a bike is not about being the fastest, speed will come with time and confidence. But Smooth accelerating and braking will make you a better rider much faster.
Take your time and ride at your speed not anyone else's :-)
Thank you for your reply.
laidbackfreak wrote:Hi Red, well done for getting on the bike. I'm currently teaching my other half, having been ridding bikes since I was a child it's interesting teaching someone who has no idea.
But she is learning fast and listen to my advice.
Best bit of advice i give you online is too remember keep all your movements smooth. Riding a bike is not about being the fastest, speed will come with time and confidence. But Smooth accelerating and braking will make you a better rider much faster.
Take your time and ride at your speed not anyone else's :-)
Thats a good pointer. Although I dont have a licence to ride, but I did ride a few times in my grandfather's home in Malaysia, only on small roads. Im afraid to go on main roads.
Hopefully I will have confidence in riding on HCMC.
I do have a car licence, but as chinese saying goes:
Bike is "human shield metal"
Car is "metal shield human"
laidbackfreak wrote:Best bit of advice i give you online is too remember keep all your movements smooth. Riding a bike is not about being the fastest, speed will come with time and confidence.
I completely agree with the comment on smoothness. Above all that is the most important thing to master when riding motorcycles.
I'd also recommend you find a nice big area to practice (if at all possible in VN), as to a certain extent, fast is actually easier than slower. Not really fast, just 20km or over instead of crawling along at under 10km/hr.
You need a bit of speed so the bike will want to stay up and you can experience moving and braking. Too slow and you'll be very wobbly at start and it'll be hard to learn much as you'll always be focused on fighting shakes. Going slow is actually a lot harder and turning is very different as well. When slow you feel the weight of the bike more when you turn the handlebars. With a bit of speed the bike wants to stay up and feels much lighter, and you no longer turn the handlebars when you want to change directions, rather you "push-steer" or lean to go where you want.
For a scooter, I'd personally practice go/stop to get used to the speed, then master low speed maneuvers and get used to the weight of the bike, and then speed up again to get the hang of push steering and leaning.
Good luck, they can be a lot of fun!
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