Washing you bike

Big sponge
Lil sponge
Toothbrush x 2 (stiff as you can find)
Chamois (shammy)
Spot free dish soap (soap is soap, I find the specific ones that cost 12.00 work just as well as dishsoap, so feel free to buy it)
Liquid glass wax

Bug & Tar remover. This stuff is magic. It does precisely what it says and doesnt strip clear/paint.
WD40. This is ALSO an amazing bug and tar remover. It is a crazy solvent.
Castrol purple super clean cleaner/degreaser *This will remove the grease from your chain, whether or not this is desired. Make sure you lube your chain afterwords. Dont get this on your fairings.

Wheels
First thing you do is spray the castrol on the dry rims/rear suspension. This crap is aggressive as hell but removes all of the pain in the ass of cleaning wheels and the stuff you cant reach. On the rims you will want to do them one at a time and do them fast. It WILL eat your paint if left on too long.

Spray what you can reach, move the bike forward, spray the rest of the rim.
Move the bike back, run a damp sponge around it, move the bike forward, do the same then rinse. I know it sounds conveluted but I promise you, it removes all of the work, and they gleam. If you stay on top of them you dont even need to rub them with the sponge. I can't say enough about this stuff. It cleans all the lettering on the rims, everything. Don't leave it on longer than 30 seconds. Make sure you rinse the sponge thourougly.

Rear suspension
Spray on the castrol, let it sit for 30 seconds. Hit with a toothbrush in disgusting areas that do not immediately dissappear. Again this will clean like magic and make that rear spring stand out. Rinse the toothbrush.

The rest
Wet it. Use the bug/tar remover (or WD40) in spots as necessary, including undertail. Wash tha bike. Use one toothbrush on hard to reach dirty stuff.
Use a chamois

Wax
Remove the seats. Damned wax discolors it. Wax the bike. Remove the wax when its dry (I know... hard to believe but true). Use the remaining tootbrush to get it out of all the screws/crevaces.

Tires
Leave them the **** alone. It isn't a car, you armorall your tires you are going to fall down and hurt.

Chain
Nobody is going to agree with me on this, which is fine, I use WD40 and run the chain through a rag I am holding to remove what would fly off. WD40 is a great lubricant and has the added bonus of both cleaning and sealing the crevaces from dirt. Chain always looks new, never rusts, doesn't get gunky.

Handling Characteristic

To stabalize a motorcycle, you need to achieve the proper weight distribution, which is around 60% on the rear, and 40% on the front. Obviously, the only way to achieve this is by accelerating. Therefore through the transitive property, acclerating will stabalize the bike. Proof of this would be like riding a dirt bike, or going over a set of crappy tarmac at the track. If you go over it while you're off the gas, it's going to shake you up, you'll lose time, and end up changing your line to go around it. Where if you accelerate over it, you and your bike could care less about it. This goes for any bike.

Understeer usually comes from the front being unable to properly handle the load that is being applied to it. For example, when you go into a turn too hot, you get off the gas, and run wider. Where if you get on the gas, you'll tighten your line right up. Works every time. Now all of that can be fixed and applied by adjusting the suspension to your weight. Preload and spring rates are the biggest factors here because we're dealing with slow speed suspension travels. Not high speed damping that you fix with shims.

Now when you're racing, it a little different. There's the right line, the wrong line, and the race line. While you're racing, you don't always want the safest mostest bestest bike happiest version around. You want the fastest. Done. And sometimes you achieve that by staying on the brakes through most of the turn as opposed to accelerating through the entire corner like the bike would want you to do. That's why the lines are so different for a 125 and an M1. Just fastest ways around the track. Its kind of like..... in Gran Turismo...Apricot Hill. The chicane. Who in the heck acually makes both turns for that fricken thing when you're going for the win? Nobody. You just fly over it taking sand and rocks with you. Your car doesn't like it, and you do to a degree chance majorly screwing up. But its faster. But racing aside, I say just learn to accelrate through the turns man. Jeremy McWilliams once said "Just stay on the gas. As long as you're on the gas even a little bit, you won't crash." Get all your braking done before the turn, turn in, and as soon as your at your happy lean angle, accelerate slowly through the turn, or at least keep a constant throttle. Those are way better than staying off the gas and engine braking through the turn. You'll run wide, unsettling your suspension, and all around risking crashing.

What do steering dampers do?

Under some operating conditions, motorcycles suffer from oscillation problems. This has been established through usage and through measurement programmes. Corresponding theory is well established. The main lateral oscillations are weave and wobble. In straight running, the weave mode is well damped at moderate
speeds, but becomes less so as the speed increases. Motorcycle natural frequency rises from zero at very low speed to somewhere in the range 2−4Hz, depending on the mass and size of the bike, the lowest frequencies corresponding
to the heaviest motorcycles. The only properly documented wobble oscillations involve moderate speeds, although there are many anecdotal accounts of wobble at high speeds. Theoretical results indicate that the torsional stiffness of the
motorcycle frame at the steering head determines whether a machine will be prone to wobbling at medium speeds (compliant frame), or at high speeds (stiff frame). The frequency of the mode does not vary much with speed, being governed primarily by the mechanical trail, the front tyre cornering stiffness and the front frame steer inertia.It is normally in the range 6 − 9Hz. Stiff framed machines, being prone to wobbling at high speed, often depend on
a steering damper for satisfactory wobble mode damping.
Normally, however, a steering damper will destabilise the
high speed weave. In cornering, the above lateral modes

Tips on how to be safe and stay alive

a) Ride with your brains, not with your balls

b) If something doesnt feel "right", back off, probably something is wrong

c) No points give to the fastest one on its way to the grave

d) Its easier to avoid getting into trouble than getting out of a bad situation.

e) Know your bike, work on it if it is possible, learn about it.

f) Hear your bike! She is the one on top of the pavement, she knows!

g) Cages are out there to kill you, they won't use turn signals, all of them have blown stoplights and all of them leak some slippery fluid. Never trust a cage, don't let your guard down!

d) After a blind turn, there is always somethign waiting for you to crash. Never outride your sight!

Last one, and most important:

ENJOY THE RIDE! If you are not enjoying it, it is time to stop and take a break.

MSF Information

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader for the following documents (Available here: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html):

So you've decided to get a motorcycle or perhaps you are a veteran rider wanting to touch up your skills. The following are documents curtousy of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF):

Safety Tips:
"You and Your Motorcycle: Riding Tips" booklet
"Motorcycle Operator Manual" booklet
"Sharing The Roadway" booklet for non-motorcyclists

Quick Tips
"If You Ride A Motorcycle" Quick Tips
"Ten Things All Car & Truck Drivers Should Know About Motorcycles" Quick Tips
"Carrying A Passenger" Quick Tips
"Preventing Motorcycle Theft" Quick Tips

Cycle Safety Information:
How Helmets Work
2004 Equipment Requirements
2002 Licensing Information
2001 Crash Statistics

MSF Curriculum Materials:
Basic RiderCourse Handbook (Non-printable)


This should be all the information you need to get you going and riding safe. Thanks again to the MSF for providing this great information. You can locate your nearest MSF location here at: http://www.msf-usa.org/ or call (800) 446-9227 for the RiderCourse nearest you. For any questions you have feel free to post up on the forum. There are many riders more than willing to address your questions and concerns.

Helmet for new rider

1) Make sure the helmet has the appropriate safety ratings. In the US that's
DOT and Snell.

2) Make sure it fits you well. Different brands and styles of helmets are
differently shaped, to fit all our differently shaped heads. Try several
helmets on, and make sure to keep them on your head for at least a few
minutes to see if you notice any pressure points developing. When I say "a
few" I mean at least 5. Ten or fifteen would be better.

My first helmet fit awful, but I didn't know any better. It was only truly
uncomfortable after about 20 minutes, with a tremendous pressure point at
the top of my forehead. If I'd spent more time with the helmet on at the
dealership, and if I'd known at the time that not all helmets are shaped the
same way, I probably wouldn't have suffered with that helmet for such a long
time.

A helmet should be a very snug fit when new. Not uncomfortably so, but
almost. The liner will pack down with time, and if the helmet's not tight to
begin with, you can be sure it'll be loose later, which is no good.

Other than those two major points, the rest is up to you. Do you want vents
and other gadgets? Do you want flashy colors or graphics? How much do
replacement shields cost? Are tinted shields available if you want them?
You'll probably go through a few shields over the lifetime of the helmet,
depending on how well you take care of them.

I'd say go to the local moto shop and try on as many different ones as
you're interested in. If nothing seems to fit, find out what other
manufacturers you haven't tried and then see where you can find them in your
area. Don't settle for an ill-fitting helmet. Trust me on that.