AgBQ-00 said:
Riding a motorcycle made me a hell of a lot more considerate and conscientious driver. It really is a matter of realizing that you and only you are responsible for your safety going from place to place. And you get really good at spotting trouble from a long way off.
AgBQ-00 nailed it. I did about 58k on bikes in 7 or 8 years of riding, a lot of that commuting from Dallas to Grapevine followed by tons of mountain riding in CO and a couplet rackdays. No crashes but plenty of close calls. You need to become the most prejudiced person on the planet when it comes to who you'll be next to on the road. '08 Nissan Altima with temp plates and oxidized paint? Stay the hell away from them!
If you're getting anything sporty, do yourself a favor and book a trackday. Nothing will help you improve faster. You will eventually get surprised on the street and be in a bad situation. Knowing what you are capable of and what the bike is capable of can save you. I've had plenty of times I came around a blind corner and a good clip, and had to get on the brakes because there were rocks or bighorn sheep, or, my personal favorite, some dip**** that thought doing a photoshoot with his ****box Chevy truck was an appropriate use of a public road.
I got some crap a long time ago on here for saying being able to use the front brake in a turn is a needed skill. Despite the insistence of some people, who probably use their front brake as a get-back whip mount and nothing else, that it's impossible to turn and apply the front brake at the same time, that skill made the instances above a minor annoyance (or really cool in the case of the sheep) when they could've been a wreck.
Shameless bike photos since COVID pushed the unwashed masses outdoors and I switched to dirt:
My Tuono 1100. Dream bike, every bit as good to ride as I wanted it to be, but Aprilia has pretty crap quality and will do everything in their power to get out of honoring their warranty.
Steet Triple R 675. Amazing bike, put ~43k on it, including going from Dallas to Austin to watch MotoGP at COTA 3 years in a row, with a 500 mile Hill Country loop each time.
