MY first on-road ride.... - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

Mavrik_Choppers · 09-07-2007, 05:26 PM

After just recently getting my license and passing the basic skills course, I decided that I should take some time in my parking lot to practice on my smaller bike. (Honda CB550) Going over the skills that I had learned and practiced so hard in my safety class was getting tiresome. I took a break and hit the exercises even harder in the afternoon.

I never realized how much fun it is riding a bike in a parking lot. Just you and the bike going over your limits again and again and again. Truly something I will continue to do no matter what I ride.

After a couple days of practicing and making sure I was honed to best of my ability, I decided it was time to ride a bike home. Now I have several. Most of which were either down for service (my CB550 needed an oil change and was waiting on a filter to arrive) or being placed in a position in my shop so as to not make it easy to remove. Finally I decided on riding my Ducati 900SS home for the evening.

The time was 11:30PM and in reality I was the only one on the road. The cool night air rushing in from my open jacket zips was my savior as I rode a lonely stretch of highway home.

By the time I got back to, civilization as it were, I was stopped at a red light. Waiting my turn and as I let out on the clutch and rolled on the throttle I killed the bike. Truly an embarrassing thing. To make matters worse I restarted the bike and did it again. Finally realizing that there were differences in a wet and dry clutch.

Now I am no expert. Especially when it comes to riding a motorcycle. Building them and working on them is a whole different animal. But I was under the assumption that a dry clutch would be, as well as effective as, similar to a wet clutch only more grabby... so to speak.

Boy was I wrong. So the following morning I rode with a light touch on the clutch and a more attentive hand on the throttle back to my parking lot for a little practice starting and stopping that 900SS.

As far as that goes I'm still a little off I think. And would appreciate any advice as how to remedy my apparent inability to operate a dry clutch as well as a wet. Thanks for reading.