I’ve been riding for only a couple of weeks. For years I would see the MSF students at the college I drove past and always thought about signing up. Then I moved to Texas (from MD) where there are bikes everywhere. I found the local MSF school and went to their web site a few times a day for perhaps 2 weeks. I was always too nervous to sign up. Finally, I gave in and thought why not try it and if I didn’t like it, I would at least know. So, I took the BRC over 2 days in February. Cold, rainy and a little ill. Otherwise it went fine. I called my wife early on the second day and thought I was going to fail the riding test. I actually did pretty good. So, now I have my BRC certificate and promptly went to get my endorsement.
Now it was time to look for the bike. I read a lot, searched online and decided on a Virago 250. My brother in law kept telling me to get at least a 750cc…something about the torque. I disagreed and am glad I have my small cruiser to train on. But I got ahead of the story. I spent the next several weeks on craigslist and Ebay looking formy Virago. If I found one too far away I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to ride it home. I ultimately found a 2003 Virago with 4000 miles about 2 hours away and the seller trailored it to my house!!
Next, I rode around my small street. I have a circle to practice on. After 2 weekends of doing this and feeling what it feels like to run out of gas and use the fuel knob, I said either go out into the street or sell the bike. So, I rode out into the neighborhood. Had fun. Almost no traffic. A squirrel ran out in front of me and once I put my left foot down at a stop sign right on top of slippery cardboard box and almost fell off. But otherwise no problems. I love my bike and really enjoy riding it. My issues to practice:
1. Cancel the turn signal
2. Better braking/downshifting prior to turns
3. Smoother starts and smoother turns from a stop
4. Keeping the balls of my feet on the pegs, not my heels.