Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

So You Want to Ride a Motorcycle? Story by K. C. Brintnall Photos by K. C. Brintnall and Brick Price Ever sin ce I found out I didn't know how to ride a rna torcycle, I have wan ted to learn how. Most p eop le are aware of whether they know how to ride o r n ot, but 'since I alway s assumed I co uld ride, it w as qui te a re velation to find ou t I co uldn ' t. When I w as ninetee n , a friend wh o was leaving fo r a su m mer in Europe left hi s trusty Honda 90 in m y car e. Havin g n o cl u tch, the bike was eas y enough to learn to opera te, and after an intense two-min ute train ing pro gram I was full y prepa red t o take on th e busy streets of Los Angele s. My brief rid in g career was not withou t inciden t, h owever. At one po in t I m an aged to lay it d o wn in a city in tersection an d pe rfo rme d a beau tiful drama tic slide th ro ugh three lanes of traffic an d into a gas station wh ere the high octane pu mp bro ugh t me to an abru pt hal t. I Was unh urt an d the b ike was still runn in g, so I co n tinued on my carefree way , co ngra tu lating myself on my su pe rb riding skill. When my friend came to pick up his bi ke , however. · he was somewhat less than p leased. , "Wh a t th e hell di d you d o to i t?" he rem arked angril y, and s tormed off int o the sunset. I was cru she d , esp eciall y since I had been nice eno ugh to keep all the p ar ts t hat had fallen o ff (Cheap Japan ese junk !) in a paper bag for him . I wrote him off as unapp recia tive of my ad vent urous spirit an d let it go a t that. ~I y Mome nt of Truth came a few years lat er wh en I st art ed d atin g an avid dirt rider. A grou p of us had go ne o ut fo r a d av o f ri di ng in th e de sert an d durin g a ' break my frien d asked if I co uld ride. I assu red him haughtily that of co urse I cou ld rid e and confide n tly mounted his Yam aha DT -IA. I had a little tro ub le to uc hing th e gro und, bu t t hat didn ' t b o~er me nearl y as mu ch as th e funny li ttle ~ ar stickin g o u t near th e left h and gnp. "What's th at ?" I inquired demurely. He replied th at it was th e clutch , and I n odded sagelv . . After cons idera ble effo rt I m an aged to ge t th e b ike sta r ted , nudged it in to fir st, gun ned the th rottle, po pped the cl u tc h and fell over . I was abou t to mumble so me thi ng abo u t h ow I alway s did tha t to test th e bal an ce o f th e bik e, wh en I heard a whirrin g so und behind me . Turnin g aro und, I d iscovered that ' one o f th e o the r riders h ad cap tured th e wh ole in cident o n movie film. With as mu ch dign ity as p ossib le, I go t ' up and marched back to th e van, where I st ayed huddled fo r the rest o f th e day. Now that I kn ew I co uld n ' t ride, I wanted very mu ch t o learn how . A few months later. wh en I was o u t. with a group of friends wh o rode, I bravely remarked to a f rien d th at today I wan ted to learn to rid e. H e look ed a t me with some app reh en sion. UI don' t kn ow ," he said. " Last time 1 was o ut here some girl was trying to learn to ride an d the bike fell over on her . T he footpeg wen t right through her leg and the y took her away in an ambulance an d everything. She w as b leeding " something aw ful " I re turn ed quie tly to th e van an d ass umed the pren atal p osition. _ . For some une xplainable reason, I still wan ted to ride, so when I was assigned to cove r the Yamaha " Learn to Ride" Safet y Pro gram I was o verjo yed. They seemed t o believe the y co uld teach anyone to ride wh ich gave me r~ n:wed hop e. Best o f all , they were gtvmg a special sessio n f or t he press at th e Am bass ador Ho tel in L.A ., which me an t th at th e class wo uld no t b e fill ed -wi th fourteen year-old hotshoes, The special class wo u ld be th e perfect test for them and for me . If th ey co uld teach me to rid e, th ey really co uld teach anybody t o ride. The morn in g o f t he class, I decked myself ou t in appropriate rid ing gea r : boots wit h hard sales and reinfo rced toes, gr ubb y jean s, and a Bu ff alo Breath ru gb y j ers y . I even b or rowed a mudspalttered helme t from a frien d. Walkin g thro ugh th e Ambassa dor, I go t a fe w fis hy loo ks from th e o ld lad ies with th e expe ns ive luggage, but I figured on ce I go t into th e room \ v·ith all the ot he r av d bikers tha t I wo uld fi t right i in. Wrong. When I arr ived , the roo m was filled with dozens of nattily dressed ad agen cy t yp e s wearing naltspr,,: yed just-the-right-Iength hair. S tr ategica lly p laced around the room were assorted livin g Barhie D olls. o ne of wh om was nice enough t o offer to h an g up my helmet and introduce me to another lady from the press. . The other lady was a very n ice pers on fr om a bi -monthly , cam per magazin e who didn't se em to know mu ch about m o t o rcy cles except that a friend of he rs had o wned o ne o nce. When I anno un ce d p ro udly th at J was with Cycle News (I h ad been given a b ad ge t o th at effect b u t had cleverly pinned it to the leav es of one of th e p las t i c p o t t ed p lants th at were decorating the pl ace ) she gave me a rat he r blank look. I expaJined to her th at Cycle New s was a ro ck grou p and out bi ggest h it had been "Leader of th e Pack" and that seemed t o satisf y her. About the t ime m y co nversatio nal partner and J di sc overed th at , . asi~e fro m bein g women, we had nothing In commo n , we were rescued b y the Y a m a h a ;\l o t o r c y c l e Divi si on Vice-President, Terry Tiernan , wh o p ro ceeded to te ll us abo ut Yamaha's " Learn To R ide" Safe ty Program. Si nce m o st mo torcycle acci den ts occu r during the fi rst few weeks that a pe rs on is rid ing, th e Yamaha p eop le ,felt it wa s im p ortant that th e perso n Just lea rn in g to rid e a bike be given so me instru cti on in safe ridin g pro cedures so that they can have at least a fightin g chance o u t o n th e ro ad. Ther efor e, th rough out the next year th ey will be offering weekend riding sch ools in numer ou s c i t i e s t hroughout the country . T he sch ools are offered fre e t o an yo ne w h o wish es t o attend , and in clude twel ve h ours of familiarization wi th mo to rc ycles, instructio n on riding safety, and suggestions for proper pro t ect ive cloth ing whil e rid ing. Also in cluded is a perso nal th irty-m in u te session with a trained instruc tor during wh ich th e person act ually learns to ride a mo torcy cle. Yam ah a is so impressed wi th th e success they have h ad so fa r with their sa fety program tha t th ey are inv est ing close to a millio n d oll ar s on it in the coming year, so it see ms to me to be more th an a "Don ' t Kill th e Cust ome r" Crusad e. As Ti ernan was sp ea king, so me guy with a m ovie came ra wa s gett ing th e wh ol e speech on film, wh ich was esp eciall y st range since he didn't have an y so und eq uipmen t so he's goi ng to en d up with a 15-minute film of Ti ernana moving his mouth. 1 assume it will all w ork o u t. Finall y we mi grated o u t to t he Ambassador h otel p arking lo t so we co uld see th e " Lea rn to Rid e" program in acti on. Our learning bi ke turn ed ou t to be a Yamaha 80, which didn't impress me t oo m~ ch since I ,ca ul? alr ead y ride a 9 0cc bike but at least this on e h ad a cl u tc h . The fi rst p er son the ins tructor taugh t to ride was a yo ung man wh o ca ught o n very quickly and w as soon rid ing like an ex perience d rider. As it turned o ut. he .... '" en u; . c ..., ~ w Z W ..J U >- U Eager Florida youn gsters learn wh ere the con trols are prior to startin g their motorcycles in Yamaha's " l earn to R ide" School. T ennis shoes do not seem like the hot set-up, A t last we got th e b ike started an d I was un de rway . I w ob bl ed a bi t a firs t, b ut he was h olding o n to th e bi ke so I wasn 't t o o w orried about falli ng over. By th e ti me he le t go of the bi ke and let me try i t o n my o wn I was feeling co nfide n t and gave it a little m ore thro ttl e, but he dis couraged t oo mu ch speed (How fas t can you go in first gear?) So I co nc en t ra ted on my turns where we re, at best, a bit erratic. I1 y th e en d of th e te n mi nu t e sessio n I was execu ting p assabl e le ft turns (Although I d id try to stick m y left o u t Rober t -st yl e on o ne o f th em an d almos t ran over my Ioor.] but m y right t urns were less th an perfect. Maybe I should co ns ide r trying Half-mi le. A l tho ugh I didn't feel th at th e shor t ridin g sess io n taugh t me how to ride, it did re ne w my courage and confide nce so that I fel t re ad y t o learn ho w to ride, wh ich I feel is almost as important, After my lesson , a few more of th e ladies t rie d th eir lu ck on th e bi ke while th e dudes in the d ouble-kn it su its stood aro und an d wat ch ed cond escendi ng ly. I was quite d isappoin ted th at th e Yamah a peopl e d idn't insis t th a t some o f the men try to rid e the b ike , bu t sin ce the wh ol e ep iso de was being ph o t ographed they ap parently decided it would n ' t have b een as " cute" to t each a man to ride, despite th e fa ct that a lo t m <;"e m en than women buy an d ride moto rcycles. F a llowing th e riding exhi bi tion d rin k s w e re serve d u pstairs and everyone stood aro un d ta lki ng to p eople th ey alrea dy knew. I was just trying to sneak o ut the do o r wh en so me man corn ered me. lOI wa s watching you learn to ride ," he said . " You 've .rid den b efore, haven't yo u? " I tol d him I hadn' t. Somehow my ex perienc e o n th e Ho nda seve ral years ago didn't seem worth men ti oning. "Well then ," he persist ed," How d o yo u kn ow all tha t motorcycle lin go ?" "I wri te," [ exp lain ed. "I th ought you had ridden before," he replied sm u gly. "I can spot 'em a mile o ff," " Not ride. Write ." I repeated . " Righ t! " he ex claime d, gave me th e thumbs up sign, and walked away . Feeling a little numb a fte r that exc hange , I grabbed th e Yam ah a press b ooklet, sn atched m y mudd y h elme t off th e coat rack, and bea t a nasty retr eat. (Co ntinue d on p. 41) was. A girl stan d ing next to me told me that he had been riding for several ye ars. So m uch for th at. Xext th ey "taugh t" a gi rl t o ride and sh e , t oo, d id exce p tio nally well bu t J found o u t later she \.. ·as a trail rider. T hei r ne x t gu inea pi g was a youn g w om an \vr h o o bvio usly w as in e xpe rienced. Alth ou gh she was terr ified a t ' first she made a valiant attem p t and d id so well th at she received a round o f ap p lause a t the en d o f th e sessio n . T hen it was my tum. Havin g co vere d the J oel R o bert Motocross S chool the week before, I figu red I could no t only ride th e bike wi th style bu t ma yb e even give the in stru cto r a few p a in ters. T he in st r u c tor was a ca l m , co n fid ence-in sp irin g young man named Jim Evans wh o see me d unruffled by m y attempts at b ravad o. He explained wh ere all the ca n troi s wer e o n the bike and wh a t they did. lI e th en sugges te d that if I ever go t into grouble o n th e bike I sh ould alwa ys pull in th e cl u tch . When I to ld him th at so un de d pretty un safe t o me, he replied th at it was a little unsafe but th at it sure sto ppe d th e bike. I coun tered with th e remark tha t Robert never used th e clu tc h . "Use the clutch," he replied sternly . J used the cl u tc h . Before I start ed, he also rem inded me not t o pull on th e fron t brake to o hard, or I might get in to troub!e. " It 's ca!led an endo; ' I reminded him . lI e smiled but I sensed m y brilliant wit was wearing a little thin. .... '" "> g a. " Use the c1utchl U se the clu tc h !" " T hat's not wh at Joel Ro ber t wou ld do ."

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