Learning to ride is best left to the pros
If you're serious about a motorcycle, get the training you need from the experienced experts
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Today we start a five-part Learn to Ride series written by veteran motorcycle rider, and journalist, Costa Mouzouris. Over the course of the next month and a half, Costa will take you through the basics of becoming a safe, smart and well-equipped rider.)
If you're planning to buy your first motorcycle, there's an important step you absolutely must do first: learn to ride it. YouTube will supply enough evidence of people learning to ride motorcycles the wrong way. But you really shouldn't need to see footage of people popping clutches into parked cars to understand that riding a motorcycle is neither easy nor without risk. Motorcycling requires co-ordination, dexterity, and balance — and that's just to get the darned thing moving.
A rider training course is designed to give you the basics of riding a motorcycle while also building your skills so that you have some basic skills and experience before you venture out into traffic. In most provinces, a rider training course is mandatory to get a motorcycle endorsement on your licence. Even if it's not, it makes sense to enrol in a certified training course if you're a new rider — a long riding career depends on it.
Even if you've never even swung a leg over a stationary motorcycle, a proper riding course will get you rolling on two wheels within a couple of hours. As a longtime certified riding instructor I almost can guarantee this. But that doesn't mean you're ready to hit the road; it will take lots of practice to program your brain to perform the multi-tasking needed to safely control a motorcycle in fourwheeled traffic.
When someone rides a motorcycle for the first time, all of their focus is on operating the motorcycle — twisting the throttle with the right hand while also operating the front brake with the same fingers, applying the rear brake with the right foot, and learning how to manage a sequential gearbox with the left foot. The needed co-ordination doesn't come without its pitfalls; new riders often will look at their left hand, rather than the direction of travel, when releasing the clutch. And all of these skills don't yet include things such as operating turn signals, horns and mirrors, and, of course, balance.
To ride safely, focus must move from the motorcycle to the riding environment, and only practice will enable this. Experience will eventually make managing the various controls instinctive, thus freeing up brain power for the important task of maintaining situational awareness. Because of the vulnerability of riding a motorcycle, you need to look where you're going, and be aware of what's going on around you.
It is only when a riding instructor sees this transition of focus that a student will be deemed ready for the road. It's also what an evaluator looks for during the testing required.
All provinces use a graduated licensing system, which gradually lifts riding restrictions as time passes and experience increases. The number of graduated licensing levels varies by province, but restrictions may include access to limited-speed highways, curfews, carrying passengers, reducing the number of demerit points allowed and, crucially, zero tolerance for the consumption of any alcohol or drugs.
This last point is something you should practise even when you're fully licensed, because your skills and reaction time need to be as sharp as possible. A minor mishap in a car might mean a trip to the body shop; on a bike it could be a ride to the hospital.
The minimum age for getting a motorcycle driver's licence is 16 across the country, though some provinces include caveats. Prince Edward Island, for example, requires 16-year-olds to have had accumulated 275 days of driver's education. The best resource for inquiring about rider training by province is the Motorcycle and Moped Industry Council website (mmic.ca), which includes links to each province's licensing requirements. Testing also varies between provinces, but most will have a visual test, a written knowledge test, and practical tests on a closed course, or on the road, or both.
Your first step to riding is to visit your province's licensing page and download or buy a rider training handbook. Some provinces offer it for free, some require a fee. The knowledge test is based on the information within this manual, so study it well. After you've passed your vision and knowledge tests, sign up at a certified rider training school, found either through the provincial websites, or the Canada Safety Council (ridertraining.org).
Once you begin your training, feel free to share your existing riding experience with your instructors, but don't exaggerate your experience, as it takes a skilled instructor about 15 seconds to determine if a student has the experience they boast. If you do have some experience, such as from riding dirt bikes, be patient. Training begins at the most basic level, which may include being pushed on a bike with the engine off, which reveals one's level of balance.
Don't try to impress the instructors or other students with your skills. Your instructors will have seen it all before, and being cocky has been known to lead to embarrassing encounters with pavement in front of impressionable new riders with phone cameras and popular social media accounts. If you really want to impress those who will be grading your progress, stick to performing the required exercises as perfectly as possible.
Approach rider training with an open mind, and understand that not everyone learns at the same pace. Don't compare your skill level with that of others around you — it's irrelevant. Everyone is there to learn to ride, and even experienced riders will learn something.
If you drop a bike, chances are you will be unscathed physically, because most closed-course tip-overs happen as the bike comes to a stop. Just get back on and continue to practise.
Before even registering for a riding course, get a bicycle and learn how to balance. Without this fundamental skill, learning to ride a motorcycle, even the relatively low-powered versions used in riding schools, will be very difficult. If you have never ridden a bicycle, you might want to take some one-on-one riding lessons first.
Certified rider training will give you the tools you need to make motorcycling both fun and safe. Trying to learn riding from a friend, regardless of their riding background, might teach you bad habits like never using the front brake (by far the more powerful of a motorcycle's two brakes), or the ancient art of “laying her down” to avoid a collision, or any number of other stupid riding myths, all of which could be dangerous for a new rider. Seriously, this is one arena where you don't want to become YouTube's next viral sensation.