We all love driving. You might have just started, or have been enjoying a lucrative road career for decades. The get behind the wheel and hit the open road, wind passing through your hair and some good music providing your soundtrack is like no other feeling in the world. You likely know this if you’ve visited our website in the least.
There might come a time where you feel like purchasing a motorcycle to continue chasing this feeling. Driving around the streets of your hometown on two wheels can feel immensely thrilling, and give you a sense of more fine-tuned control over the automotive. Once you have your license, it’s important to understand that there are many driving attitudes that can carry over from your history of driving on four wheels. There are also some changes that you might not have envisioned. We’d suggest that locking down this mindset is the most important thing you can do, as it will help you stay safe on the roads for the longest time possible.
Regular, Frequent Maintenance
Motorcycles have more of a chance of breakdown than vehicles. This is because the compactness of the engine and the general complexity of the parts leaves more fine-tuning potential than you might be aware of. It’s also not apparent for the laymen how a motorcycle works. It takes diligent practice to know how to change the oil level, how to replace a tire, and to try and stop that mystery spluttering that you can hear but are not sure of.
Not only this, but regular stops must be taken to ensure that your bike is functioning optimally. It would be maddening if you had to pull over almost every 50 miles in your car and look under the hood to ensure everything is working as intended. For bikes, this is almost a guarantee. However, thanks to the diminutive components, it’s a little easier to inspect everything at least.
We’d at the very least recommend you know how to maintain chain tension, charge the battery, check and increase coolant levels, change the oil and filter, maintain the adjust cables, replacing spark plugs and feel for changes in the finesse of your steering. We’d also recommend knowing what brands are worthwhile, and which of those are more aimed towards the hardcore user. WIt the right secured bike loans to get you started, you’ll likely be looking at gaining a really exciting model.
Hyper Awareness
You might have thought you were aware as a car user. Get ready to have your senses widened, and your scope expanded. There is almost nothing more intensely exhilarating than riding a bike, and one of the main reasons for this lies in how open you are in the road. Knowing that one bad mistake could seriously leave you hurt allows you to open your mind and drive with a sense of complete care and control. You’ll likely be observing parts of the road you never have done before, and keeping a lock on junctions and corners that might impede you.
There’s a whole different perceptual framework when driving a motorcycle. Not only is this because of the size of your motorcycle, but also due to the attitudes of other road users. For example, you might notice that they like to tail you a little closer, or risk overtaking you even on busy roads. This can be dangerous, so it always pays to bring your best self to the entire proceeding. This means only driving when fully awake and alert and ready to stay incredibly engaged with the road. It means finding your right of way but also being prepared for those who would wish to impede it. In the early days, we’d also recommend sticking to quiet roads, even after becoming qualified. This will help you gain a keen road sense that you can then build to busier intersections more safely.
Body Control
It’s likely you have never driven a car and needed to lean into your corners. You might have done on particularly tight angles, but this will have had no effect on the actual outcome of how your vehicle turned. However, bikes are the complete opposite. If you hope to drive your bike sitting straight upwards and only turning the handlebars to move, you’ll have a bad time. The ability to lean into corners is important, but only slightly of course, this isn’t a motocross event. Put simply, there is a whole host of keen kinaesthetic awareness that you need to employ, feeling for small grooves in the road and also being mindful of the body weight of your passenger.
This is the best biggest step up from going four wheels to two wheels, but with enough practice and diligence it will come. We’d recommend taking on the advanced courses at your driving school to begin executing this flawlessly.
With these tips, you are sure to transition from four to two wheel drive, and keep luxurious (and safe) driving careers with both.
