So you want to start looking at riding motorcycles, maybe for commuting to work or for recreational purposes. There are two stages every new rider feels when learning to ride.
1. Just learning to control the motorcycle. A lot of new info for the rider to absorb and vehicle control is first the priority to improve rider confidence.
2. Understands the motorcycle controls and having confidence at basic turns and stops, starts. Now adding road rules, signals, positioning and safety head checks when riding so you can prepare towards your learner licence.
This article focuses on learning to ride a motorcycle from scratch and breaks down the steps for someone who “1 Just learning to control the motorcycle” to be confident enough so you can start practising for your licence assessment in your region/country.
This information is also backed up by video demonstrations found in the “Absolute Basics” YouTube playlist.
Motorcycling is the only accessible transport to the masses that makes you smile a whole lot more once you are confident in controlling the vehicle.
We assume for the purpose of instruction the motorcycle is on flat ground so it doesn’t roll away on you while learning the basics. Also, ride with a helmet on and wear gloves.
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Learning to ride a motorcycle should be a fun and safe process, not a prohibitively expensive process.
Thanks, Luke Douglass (MAH).
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Based in Christchurch, New Zealand
1. Controls, the anatomy of a motorcycle
Anywhere in the world you will find a typical motorcycle that was made within the last 20 years has the same physical controls layout.
Sitting on a motorcycle facing forward:
The left side of the motorcycle is for clutch and gears.
The right side is for throttle and brakes.
This layout is essential for simplicity, one side of your body does one task, the other does another… You are either braking or accelerating on the right side controls or you are changing gears on the left side controls, all functions work together in a co-ordinated way, that is what you are going to learn!
Left side handlebar grip with the clutch lever, left foot has the gear lever and left foot rest
Right side handlebar grip is the throttle tube and the front brake lever, the right foot has the rear brake and foot rest.
There are other switches and features on a motorcycle, but for the purpose of learning how to ride the motorcycle we are not going into detail on how ignition, clocks, or the switch gear operates.
(Read the owners manual!)
The gearbox operation
Most motorcycles gears will be in this order starting at the most bottom gear lever position is 1st gear.
5th
4th
3rd
2nd
Neutral (a half click between gears 1st and 2nd)
1st (Most bottom position)
For absolute learners, you will only be using 1st gear and maybe 2nd gear once you are ready to progress further.
2. Sit on the motorcycle, no engine use
How you get on the motorcycle is your call but either standing beside on the left and get a leg over or stand on the left foot peg and then get your leg over the seat… How you get onto the seat is for you to figure out what works best for you.
Once on the motorcycle, assuming you have a learner friendly motorcycle underneath you, both feet should touch the ground.
While holding the handle bar grips retract or raise the side stand with your left leg and then balance the motorcycle between both legs.
Once you are comfortable balancing the motorcycle while stationary you can start to tip the motorcycle a little bit to the left and back to the right. You are trying to get a feel for the weight shift side to side underneath you while stationary.
Just do this incrementally more each side (tipping left and right) until you find a limit to your own comfort pulling the bike back to it’s centre balance each time.
What we’re showing here is knowing what that weight feels like now while stationary, this weight actually becomes five (5) times worse when we don’t follow instruction later on once you are learning to start, stop and turn a motorcycle.
3. Feel the controls, no engine use
Time to feel the controls and how they interact with you as the rider.
This time sit on the motorcycle with the side stand down on the ground. Put the balls of your feet up on the foot pegs and be holding the handlebar with two hands.
Practice the left side controls seperate from the right side controls
Idle hands/fingers important notice
If you are not braking, or changing gears - keep your hands on the handlebar grips at all times!
Cyclists coming to motorcycling are more prone to leaving idle fingers on handlebar control levers.
The left side controls
Left Foot
The ball of your left foot should resting on the foot peg and then it is lifted slightly to reach forward and under the gear lever to either lift up or to push down the gear lever.
Put your foot back on the foot peg when not using the gear lever!
Left hand handlebar grip
The only control job for the left hand is using the clutch lever, so when gears need to changing or the motorcycle is about to a come to a stop, only when using the clutch needs to be used should the left hand fingers reach out from the handlebar grip to grab and pull in the clutch lever to dis-engage engine power to the rear wheel.
When new riders that leave idle fingers resting over the clutch lever they will develop a bad habit of riding the clutch when tired and combined with right hand poor habits will create a situation where a unsafe operation of the motorcycle may occur.
The right side controls
Right Foot The ball of your right foot should resting on the foot peg and then it is lifted slightly to reach forward and push down on the rear brake foot lever using your toes/ball of foot. Put your foot back on the foot peg once brake action completes every time.
We do not want a bad habit of dragging the rear brake lever by not putting your foot back on the foot peg when not using the rear brake lever!
Right hand handlebar grip
This right hand grip contains the throttle tube and in front of the throttle is the front brake lever.
You must not rest your fingers on the brake lever, you hold the right throttle grip gently to so you can use the throttle effectively.
Only when you need to brake, we will then roll the throttle tube naturally forward towards to the brake lever as then will we reach our fingers out to pull the brake lever in.
Doing so reduces the engine power and allows you to brake effectively.
When new riders leave idle fingers resting over the brake lever will tend to develop a very bad habit of not rolling off the throttle completely and whiskey throttle events are likely to occur.
Bar end is the dead weight item on the end of the handlebar.
Holding the throttle grip only = excess movement when learning.
1. Rest the outside of your palm on the bar end weight
Special Note: How to hold throttle!
Much of the motorcycle’s stability and control “feel” can only be enabled by managing the throttle smoothly.
How?
Your little pinky finger and the palm of your hand lightly pinch the handlebar bar end. This feels a little like holding a ice cream cone side ways. (See images below)
Why?
The bar end does not (and should not) freely rotate like the throttle grip does so by pinching the bar end lightly it allows you to add or remove throttle smoothly without excessive/reactive hand movement as you are generating a resistive movement instead of free movement.
How you hold the throttle makes all the difference, you can be smooth and steady using the bar end for control or rough and reactive which can be disastrous to yourself and others.
The more tired your brain is when learning, the more likely you make mistakes and the bar end pinch method helps slow down tired rider throttle actions.
Unlike a car, motorcycle acceleration is more sensitive at low speed as the the motorcycle weighs less than a car so it doesn’t take much to pickup some speed. Best we control the speed with this simple technique!
2. Wrap your hand lightly around the throttle grip but pinch the bar end with the palm and your little finger.
This is the ideal position to control the throttle at low speed. (Most speeds!)
Safety switches
There are fitted to most motorcycles a few safety switches to stop the motorcycle engine from running.
Side stand down safety switch
Unless the gearbox is in the neutral position you cannot start the engine with the side stand in the down position.
Clutch safety switch
If the motorcycle is in gear when starting the engine and the side stand is in the up position, you need to pull the clutch lever towards you to allow the engine to start. (ie stalled or starting engine up in 1st gear, side stand up)
Engine kill switch
If the motorcycle engine kill switch is used, the engine will not start until the switch is put back into the “run” position,
Tip sensor switch
If the engine was running and the motorcycle tips over (rider error, accident etc) the engine will turn off and you cannot start the engine again until you turn of the motorcycle using the ignition key barrel. Turn back on the ignition key barrel and then re-start the engine.
4 Using the clutch - engine on
Time to start using the clutch, sitting on the bike and start motorcycle engine with the gearbox in neutral position.
Once the engine is warmed up for 30 seconds, time to practice.
Three items to learn about the clutch
a. Stalling on purpose
Get used to how it stalling feels.
b. Finding the friction zone,
Feel the clutch begin to grip and then stop.
c. Using the friction zone
Feel the friction zone and then committing to move forward.
Note stage C means practising brakes and stopping upright and motorcycle balance. We’re only talking about moving a few meters at a time on stage C.
The whole point of this method is to incrementally develop good handling skills and trust in your new throttle, brakes and clutch controls.
4a Stalling on purpose
So with engine running and gearbox in neutral, side stand up, both feet down and both hands holding the handlebar grips left and right, now pull and hold the clutch lever in towards the handlebar grip.
Using the left foot put the motorcycle into 1st gear while holding the clutch lever in (balancing motorcycle on the right foot)
No throttle added, engine only idling - let the clutch lever go quickly
The motorcycle will shunt forward a few centimetres and the engine will stall on the spot.
Repeat this stalling a few times, get used to that feeling
Once you know how it feels when you stall you can be less nervous on that item and focus on the next stage B “Finding the friction zone”.
(If for some reason you feel the need to add lots of throttle and release the clutch quickly, you will have caused a whiskey throttle event and damaged something, either yourself or the motorcycle.)
4b Finding the clutch friction zone
Getting ready as previous (Engine on, gearbox in 1st etc)
No throttle added, engine only idling - let the clutch lever out very very slowly until your feel the engine start to slow down a little more than before and then pull the clutch back toward the handlebar grip before stalling the engine.
The motorcycle will start to feel like it will move but it won’t, if you let out the clutch to far it will stall again.
Repeat this friction zone feel, get used to that feeling
Once you know how it feels when it is not stalling but feels “grabby” - that is the clutch friction zone
Now add a small amount of throttle, the engine will now be above idle - let the clutch lever out very very slowly until your feel the engine start to slow down a little and inch the actual motorcycle forward a little bit and then pull the clutch back toward the handlebar grip.
The motorcycle will start move and it will move slowly but it won’t move forward to much, if you let out the clutch to fast it will stall again.
This is the friction zone, we use this to engage the motorcycle engine to the rear wheel.
4c Using the clutch friction zone, commit to moving forward
Getting ready as previous (Engine on, gearbox in 1st etc)
Small amount of throttle is added, engine is now above idle speed - Let the clutch lever out very very slowly until your feel the engine start to slow down a little more than before but as the motorcycle has not stalled so you can now choose to commit to moving forward for a few meters or pull the clutch back in to refocus and retry.
Once you commit to moving forward past the clutch friction zone
1 Do not add more throttle once moving, leave it as is - adding more throttle now could create a bad outcome for any beginner rider.
2 Release the clutch lever completely once moving forward, put left fingers back onto the left handlebar grip (same with right side, no fingers on the brake lever!)
3 Put both feet up on the foot pegs.
After a few meters have passed, reach fingers out and pull the clutch lever towards the handlebar grip to dis-engage the engine power and simultaneously roll off the throttle and pull in the front brake lever to stop the motorcycle and both feet on the ground once stopped.
Repeat this over and over until you are comfortable and your feet are on the foot pegs every time when moving.
This is the opportunity to work on not using your feet as brakes!
Only brakes stop motorcycles, not your “flintstone feet” (Yabba Dabba doo!)
Keep repeating the clutch and smooth throttle control until confident.
While you gain trust in using the clutch, throttle and brakes doing starts and stops in straight lines there are a few things to add to your day:
1. As you are practising, stop after 30min and reset yourself for 10min as you can undo good learning by rushing and over doing it.
2 The brain needs water, refresh when you stop for a rest.
3 Maybe one hour a day is enough, maybe if you have a motorcycle take a break, one hour off, one hour one if you are keen.
4 Learn to relax your hands, relax your arms so the elbows have a slight bend in them, use your legs to hold on to the motorcycle tank or body work. Stiff arms and death grips = Tired and sore bodies and possible headaches… you have to relax the body to ride with ease.
5 Turning a motorcycle
So at this stage you havent really developed a sense of how to reliably turn a motorcycle while moving, so here we go.
A: Slow weave or zig zag side to side
Riding from the road’s left side ride straight then move to the right side of the road, ride straight, then move back to the left side and ride straight and repeat.
B: Complete u-turn
It is actually the same as A, but you are just making a longer manoeuvre to complete 180 degree u-turn.
C: Circles
Same as B, but more!
Most important, just like learning the clutch, do not add more throttle during any turn but additionally do not remove throttle or use the clutch until the turn has completed. Keep fingers on handlebar grips through any corner while learning!
It is important that at this point you should now know the minimum speed the motorcycle prefers to roll forward under engine power without being wobbly, vague or any engine chugging/hopping, this is normally around 8-10kph with clutch fully engaged and fingers on handlebar grips.
What you must do in every corner:
You must set your speed before turning and keep speed as-is during the turn.
Look where you want to go, and not down at the road just ahead of the front wheel.
When you want to go right, you will push the RIGHT handlebar grip forward and the motorcycle will start to turn in the right direction.
When you want to go left, you will push the LEFT handlebar grip forward and the motorcycle will start to turn in the left direction.
FACT: You will not feel any weight of the motorcycle when turning as instructed unless you do any of the the following items:
Remember stage 2, feeling the weight of the motorcycle when stationary?
If you roll of the throttle, use the clutch or use the front brake in any slow moving corner, the motorcycle when slowing during or attempting to stop in any turn manoeuvre will convert forward moving momentum into sideways directional momentum - It is quite possible you will drop the motorcycle.
5a Weave side to side
Moving in a straight line at a safe stable speed say 10kph we want to move to the other side of the road (ie heading south, change to the other side but still heading south)
While moving forward, push the right handlebar grip gently until the direction of travel is changed, as you near the other side of the road, push on the left handlebar grip until the direction of travel has straightened up.
Then move back to the other side of the road, push the left handlebar grip until the direction of travel is changed and as you near the other side of the road, push on the right handlebar grip until the direction of travel has straightened up.
This is a basic weave or zig-zag
5b U-turns
Once you are confident in weaving side to side…
Moving in a straight line at a safe stable speed say 10kph we want to complete a right hand u-turn. (ie heading south, but we need to go north)
While moving forward, push the right handlebar grip gently until the direction of travel is changing and keep holding this input on the handlebar grip until the direction of travel has turned 180 degrees.
To straighten up once u-turn completed push the left handlebar grip to stop the right turn manoeuvre and travel straight.
This is a basic u-turn
Note: You need to know that while the motorcycle is under smooth and controlled engine power, it will never fall over.
It is only when you change speed, dis-engage engine power or panic brake mid way through a corner task is when things will go wrong for new and novice riders.
Set your speed before entering a corner or turn manoeuvre and by understanding how to make the motorcycle enter a corner (aka turning) via handlebar inputs and committing to the task - Everything will work out as expected, you will turn the motorcycle with style.
5c Circles
Once you are confident in completing u-turns…
Circles are just longer u-turns, you just need to be looking around with your head about 90 degrees ahead of where your motorcycle is facing to keep the circle radius.
As soon as you look at the road in front of you, your circle will run wide.
You can’t come to a complete stop until you are moving straight and upright.
Practice circles in both directions of travel, left and right.
6 Supplementary turning using back brake
Once you start to get a understanding how to get a motorcycle to corner smoothly and completing weaves, u-turns and circles with steady throttle control and handlebar input… Now try adding some back brake when turning with your right foot control.
Enter a u-turn and keep your throttle as-is, by adding a little back brake to the manoeuvre you will make u-turns tighter and smoother without feeling unstable or loose.
The same applies for circles, add a little back brake and the circle will be easier to control
Never roll off the throttle to slow down in turning manoeuvres, instead use the back brake to smooth out the turn.
Note: Never stomp your rear brake lever, always be smooth and add pressure.
7 Gears and brakes
At this point you should be able to start and stop a motorcycle using 1st gear using engine power, and be using the clutch in a co-ordinated manner
You can practice using gears on longer straights as you will need room as changing gears implies more speed is applied. Change the gear, then release the clutch the same way you learn to start the motorcycle, smooth and slow.
Rolling in 1st gear, bring in clutch lever and then roll off throttle, left foot use gear lever and click it up to 2nd gear, release clutch lever slowly and add throttle slowly. Repeat for additional gears and speed zones.
If you need to come to a stop, pull in both the clutch lever and the front brake lever at the same time while you are in a straight path of travel. Put feet down when stopped… As you get better with practice you will be able to change down to 1st gear before a complete stop and only one foot down (the left one) while your right foot is using the rear brake.
Front brakes do 85% of all effective braking when stopping, rear brakes should be used with the front brakes so you create good rider habits early on and put the left foot down at complete stops leaving the right foot on rear brake foot lever.
This one habit will help later on when doing hill starts and more advance control scenarios.
Summary
It takes an absolute new to motorcycles learner between 5-10 hours to get basic habits sorted and have some rider confidence operating the required controls at low speeds.
Once rider confidence has begun to form, then you can start looking at licence test requirements and practice the tasks to succeed at acquiring your learner or permit motorcycle licence.
There are best ways to do certain things, but the primary goal here is the be safe and in-control.
There are no mysteries or magic when riding any motorcycle, it is all rider skill set - Luck is not a skillset.
