Wee Willy
It's bad, you know
Well, I just had an interesting experience with my son this weekend. He's home from architecture school and has recently been talking about giving up his cage (Mazda 3) for a MC. I suspect it's a testosterone thing...bikes being chick magnets or some such. He's spent alot of time on ATV's (years) but has never ridden a serious bike, either on or off road. So, thinks I, here's a great chance to strengthen the bonds between father & son. We'll go out to some deserted stretch of southern California road and let him try to ride Big Black. "You're kidding, right" I initially asked myself. Well, he should be able to do OK. He's plenty stout, big enough to handle the size and knows how to shift, brake, etc. and the controls are all the same as the ATVs...ought to be a snap. He'll learn a lot and will appreciate the trust I have in him. These were my thoughts. 
So off we go to a pretty secluded spot of road, he and I and his 12 year old sister who wants to see her big brother ride the big bike. I swear but she just wants to see the accident...
I tell him that the bike has a jumpy throttle response when you first roll it on and to be careful. That it has more horsepower than his car and weighs about 1/5th as much...that gets a grin. That it has lots of low end grunt and to get the feel before letting her run hard. Then I hand him my mesh jacket and give him the keys. The next 20 minutes were tense. :blink:
As he worked through the first few "laps," both I and his sister noticed his careful approach. Indeed, she said "he looks wobbly" or something like that. He did look a bit overwhelmed but I stuck with the plan because I might just be too cautious. Deep end of the pool and all that. His turns to reverse direction on the two lane road had me cringing. He was carrying a bit too much speed through them and they were coming up wide. Indeed, they were only inches from the edge of the road as he straightened out.
And it was on about lap 5 when it became clear to me what was happening. Turns out, he was not pulling in the clutch prior to turning. Indeed, he was riding it through the turn in gear and was simply trying to manage what the bike was doing TO him. The resulting display is sometimes called a helmet fire in test pilot speak. He's a bit overwhelmed by the fact that he's on stage & trying to manage a tough problem. He's getting close to task saturation; too many unfamiliar things to do all at the same time. On this next turn, I was going to stop & point out to him what his problem seemed to be, but Sir Isaac got there first. On this turn, he goes wide off the road and now panic sets in (mostly on his side). Accompanied by his sister's comment of "uh-oh" he has both feet down madly trying to sort through the controls to stop the handful of bike but he's now just along for the ride pretty much. He very nearly succeeded though. Nearly. :bye2:
What happened was a slow motion ride into a bunch of scrub and basketball-sized rocks on the side of the road, followed by a tip over. In all, he managed it pretty well, but I was sure there would be plenty of scars left over from this learning (leaning?) experience. I slowly walked over trying to remain outwardly calm ("see, I told you so" my inner demon lamented). I helped him get the bike up and back onto the road without much comment other than "she can be a handful sometimes" or something similar. Little sis is saying something like "wait 'till I tell everyone." I then tell him about the clutch thing and motion him to keep ridin'. So for the next 15 minutes he sorts through his injured pride, his uncertainties and gets the hang of things. It ended up being a pretty good day. We both had a beer when we got home and celebrated his loss of virginity. :yahoo:
Bottom line, we both had a fun adventure, the bike only had a minor scratch on the slider (that's what they're there for after all) and all else was good. Don't know if I'm ready yet to see him out on the road riding an R1 (that's what he wants...) but maybe he'll join us on something suitable before too long.
Cheers,
W2
So off we go to a pretty secluded spot of road, he and I and his 12 year old sister who wants to see her big brother ride the big bike. I swear but she just wants to see the accident...
I tell him that the bike has a jumpy throttle response when you first roll it on and to be careful. That it has more horsepower than his car and weighs about 1/5th as much...that gets a grin. That it has lots of low end grunt and to get the feel before letting her run hard. Then I hand him my mesh jacket and give him the keys. The next 20 minutes were tense. :blink:
As he worked through the first few "laps," both I and his sister noticed his careful approach. Indeed, she said "he looks wobbly" or something like that. He did look a bit overwhelmed but I stuck with the plan because I might just be too cautious. Deep end of the pool and all that. His turns to reverse direction on the two lane road had me cringing. He was carrying a bit too much speed through them and they were coming up wide. Indeed, they were only inches from the edge of the road as he straightened out.
And it was on about lap 5 when it became clear to me what was happening. Turns out, he was not pulling in the clutch prior to turning. Indeed, he was riding it through the turn in gear and was simply trying to manage what the bike was doing TO him. The resulting display is sometimes called a helmet fire in test pilot speak. He's a bit overwhelmed by the fact that he's on stage & trying to manage a tough problem. He's getting close to task saturation; too many unfamiliar things to do all at the same time. On this next turn, I was going to stop & point out to him what his problem seemed to be, but Sir Isaac got there first. On this turn, he goes wide off the road and now panic sets in (mostly on his side). Accompanied by his sister's comment of "uh-oh" he has both feet down madly trying to sort through the controls to stop the handful of bike but he's now just along for the ride pretty much. He very nearly succeeded though. Nearly. :bye2:
What happened was a slow motion ride into a bunch of scrub and basketball-sized rocks on the side of the road, followed by a tip over. In all, he managed it pretty well, but I was sure there would be plenty of scars left over from this learning (leaning?) experience. I slowly walked over trying to remain outwardly calm ("see, I told you so" my inner demon lamented). I helped him get the bike up and back onto the road without much comment other than "she can be a handful sometimes" or something similar. Little sis is saying something like "wait 'till I tell everyone." I then tell him about the clutch thing and motion him to keep ridin'. So for the next 15 minutes he sorts through his injured pride, his uncertainties and gets the hang of things. It ended up being a pretty good day. We both had a beer when we got home and celebrated his loss of virginity. :yahoo:
Bottom line, we both had a fun adventure, the bike only had a minor scratch on the slider (that's what they're there for after all) and all else was good. Don't know if I'm ready yet to see him out on the road riding an R1 (that's what he wants...) but maybe he'll join us on something suitable before too long.
Cheers,
W2
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