Scooter or Motorbike for a Learner.

Can anyone here inform me which is the better choice for a P-plater to learn
on?
Thanks,
Linda.

 

What are your aspirations or intentions for current/future riding? If
they don't extend much past a bit of urban commuting, then a scooter is
probably your thing. If you are looking for what will be your primary
means of transport, or you want to venture further, then you'll probably
be leaning towards a motorbike. If you really don't know what you want,
it might be worth renting one of each for a couple of days and seeing
which one you like better. There's nothing wrong with making your
decision based on the one which comes in the colour you prefer.. you
won't be the first person to base a bike buying decision on that.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

Thanks Nev,
At present just commuting to & from work but hope someday to master a
larger, more powerful machine such as yours with safety.
Linda.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 23 Aug 2007 00:42:13 +1000

If you want to ride a larger capacity bike later, then I suggest you
go for a motorcycle.

If only because gears are something you should get trained in how to
use...

Scooters are great utility commuters but they don't handle at all like
a motorcycle.

Zebee

 

I've never met a bloke who liked black bikes and gear as much as you,
Nev.

I've got a nice fluorescent black safety vest here that you can have,
only $50... :-D


BTH

 

<emphatic nod>

Specifically, compared to regular bikes, the smaller scooters, at
least (or at the very least, the PGO I scammed a go of recently), are
unstable as all feck. Short wheelbase, small wheels, high unsprung
weight, high centre of gravity and a tail-heavy weight distribution,
so it only makes sense that the instability should be there, but it
was still a bucket of ice water to the crotch to experience it.

 

Was there an implied "unlike you" in there somewhere"?

Theo

 

I must admit tho I hate getting the scooter as a loaner, its main
redeeming feature is that it's fun to ride .. in a really bizarre way.
Definitely vastly different to a bike though, that is for sure.

That said I can recommend a Hyosung Gt250 - cheap light economical and a
decent bike to boot.

 

Scooters are terrifying! Eeek, those tiny little wheels! (And you
know, I reckon they seem really tall....)

Zebee's spot on, Linda - if you eventually want to be riding a
motorcycle, then that's what you ought to learn on. If you wanted to
be an ice-skater, you wouldn't learn how to ski - you'd learn to ice-
skate, right?

I always wanted to ride a motorcycle, but when I started learning I
used to fall off heaps - more to do with fear and lack of confidence
than any "physical problem" - and one day, the instructor at Stay
Upright, clearly exasperated, said "I thought we might try you on one
of these today, betty", and put me on a bloody scooter. I had never
wanted to ride a scooter anyway, and couldn't see the advantage anyway
as a learner-vehicle - it was no less tall than a bike, and all of a
sudden they'd changed the location of my brakes etc, which just
confused me! I said as much - "I've got used to a clutch and gears,
and now you want to stick me on something where the clutch is the
brake? Come on, you KNOW how hard it's been for me to learn THIS
much!!!! And besides, I don't WANT to ride a scooter - I want to ride
a motorcycle!" Fortunately he saw the error of his ways...... sheesh!

There's a perception that scooters are an "easy option" - but I think
that they're only "easy" insofar as they don't have the gear-change
thing, and I don't think they should be part of the two-wheeled
"progression" to a motorcycle. It's not as simple as the diff between
manual/automatic cars...

betty

 

ITYM "the difference between a golf cart and a sports car."

--
Bob Milutinovic
Cognicom - "Australia's Web Presence Specialists"
http://www.cognicom.net.au/
telephone (0417) 45-77-66
facsimile (02) 9824-2240

 

bikerbetty wrote:

The gear changing thing, if you think about it, can be quite challenging
for complete beginners.

It requires the more or less simultaneous controlled movement of both
hands and one foot, while struggling to balance and point a large lump
of machinery.

Some people can do it quite easily, others have problems learning all
the bits and pieces at one time.

Thus the logical approach is to try and remove some of the new stuff to
be learnt, so the pupil can concentrate on learning and mastering the
other stuff first.

Normally, instructors at pre-learner courses will try and talk folk into
going the "proper" motorcycle way rather than doing the scooter thing,
but they will occasionally offer a pupil who is having problems, the
scooter option to help out. They aren't being sarky, honest.

Also, within the confines of the training range, and at the speeds being
used there, scooters are more maneouverable than motorcycles.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Hrmm; I can see your point, but I wouldn't put it that way. With a
dirtybike, the instability comes from the terrain knocking the wheels
off-line and generally trying to get the bike pointing in a direction
other than where you're trying to go. The bike's dynamics, what with
the big wheels and the wide bars and the ability to get weight right
over the end of the bike which needs it, actually *help* in correcting
that.

With the scoot, it felt like the evil little blue thing was actively
conspiring with the road surface in an attempt to put me on my arse.

When I first jumped onto a dirtbike, I felt reassured by it. Not so
with this particular scoot. I'd be keen to try something bigger and
higher-spec, though...

 

wrote:

Ah, well, that means it had character!

Seriously, I think the biggest problem for bike riders trying scoots is
to get used to not having something between the knees to grip onto.

I know I feel very "perched on top" rather than firmly attached to the
machine...even on a postie bike.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Somebody once told me that putting an orange between one's knees took
away that awful feeling of insecurity generated by the "omigod there's
nothing to grip!" realisation. I thought they were having me on, but
perhaps they weren't!

betty

 

heh heh - you're telling me!

Understood (and HOW!) - I had that problem with driving a car.... so I
got my licence in an automatic, then, when I felt comfortable in
traffic etc etc, learned how to drive a manual. Gawd, what a triumph
THAT was! The clutch/gears thing didn't faze me when I was learning to
ride a bike, coz I already had that bit sorted in my head, from

I didn't think he was being sarky - I thought he was being silly,
though! ;-) Knowing how difficult I find the mastery of "physical
tasks involving coordination" <grin> I DID think that after I'd become
accustomed to the gears on the bike, trying to get me to ride a
scooter, and introducing a whole new lever configuration, was going to
make things worse rather than better! It wasn't the clutch/gears biz
that I had the problem with - it was the art of keeping the bike
upright! I think the weight and height of the bike was what daunted
me, and the scooter seemed even taller and heavier (and therefore
scarier) than the bike!

One of the first questions they asked us at Stay Upright was what kind
of car we drove, because they said that people who drove manual cars
would have the concept of gear-changing under control, which would
make the transition to a motorcycle easier than for someone who had
only ever driven an automatic car. Made a lot of sense to me. I think
the OP said she was a P-plate driver - so perhaps the question for her
should be "do you drive a manual or an automatic car?" before pointing
her in the direction of something two-wheeled???

betty

 

I think you're getting confused with the Catholic Church approved
contraceptive pill Betty. The woman has to hold it between her knees. Not
sure what she has to "grip".

Theo

 

Dunno about the orange...a slab of beer can often help.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

bikerbetty wrote:

I obviously wasn't there when you were learning, but, what often happens
is that folk can understand, in their heads, the
clutch/throttle/gearshift procedure, but still need to look at the
clutch lever, or, worse still, the gear lever when they try to change
gear. This usually results in serious wobbles or even gravity attacks.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Oh, it was probably heart-stoppingly entertaining for everyone who wasn't
me!

but, what often happens

I did that on my very first ever driving lesson in a car - my stepfather was
too pissed to drive, and got me to drive his column-shift bloody big ute
home (I was just a widget of 16 & 9 months...) - at night....

He explained, in a slurry way, which pedal was which, and told me where the
gears were. Fark, it was a scary introduction to driving - and I kept trying
to stick my head under the dash to identify which pedal was the clutch......
That's why, many years later when I'd recovered from the trauma <snigger>, I
learned in an automatic!

By the time I got to do it on a bike, it wasn't an issue.

I used to have 2 or 3 gravity attacks every lesson (holy dooley, what an
unco!) but they were coz I was terrified of the throttle, I reckon - that
damned runaway throttle was the cause of my expulsion from the first Stay
Upright course I took <snigger>. Oh, that and crashing the bike.....oops!

betty

 

Make it a 240 and you've got yourself a deal

--
Bob Milutinovic
Cognicom - "Australia's Web Presence Specialists"
http://www.cognicom.net.au/
telephone (0417) 45-77-66
facsimile (02) 9824-2240