Tips for Motorcycle Riders: the Basics
A life long learning
You are never finished with learning, when it concerns motorcycle riding. Whether you have just begun to ride or are riding for ages, there will always be a lot to learn (or to get rid of bad habits).
Remember that motorcycle police officers have to come back twice a year for training their riding skills. That is not with the goal of getting better all the time, but just with the goal of keeping their riding skills at a certain level and dislearn bad habits!
So, for us humble motorcycle riders, it is necessary to train and be aware of our habits all the time...
On this site, we collect tips on all aspects of motorcycle riding.
Here, you find the basics: what can you do to enhance your own safety, how do you ride a corner, how can you improve your attention to the traffic around you, how do you learn to brake hard without skidding, and how do you know beforehand whether the motorcycle garments you see in shops will indeed function as you expect?
The pages are illustrated with photographs. From time to time, we add a new page.
The tips are presented in a sequence that seems a logical one to us.
Your motorcycle riding gear probably has been made to enhance your safety, you always ride with a helmet, and maybe your motorcycle has ABS. You would almost forget that those measures can only make a small difference in how safe you are, compared with the influence of your own riding behaviour.
Motorcycle riding means that you take full responsibility for your own safety, for instance by learning to anticipate on mistakes of other people on the road. Anticipating mistakes of other people and reacting with the right behaviour is totally different from only thinking that you were right and the other was wrong...
On ths page about safety with respect to motorcycle riding, we try to give some advice on how to enhance your own safety.
To 
Safety for motorcycle riders...
The most important aspect of riding a motorcycle is looking ahead. Being able to look ahead, being able to notice what's important, is a vital element of motorcycle riding.
It would seem that that's something everybody is capable of, but you will notice
that there is much to learn about looking ahead.
You ride towards where you look, so to learn cornering well, you will have to look in the right direction.
On traffic, you will have to learn to notice far more than you usually see.
Whether safety or speed appeals most to you, you will have to work on your looking skills. What's there to see? How can you practise your capabilities? This page tries to formulate an answer.
To Looking and motorcycle riding...
The essence of motorcycle riding is cornering: many motorcycle riders agree with that. You may keep enhancing your cornering skills for the rest of your life, and you will probably never reach full perfection (well, maybe with the exception of Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa).
What kind of mistakes are often made in corners, and what is the reason for those mistakes? What can you do about it? What is the perfect line, and how do you find it? When do you brake, and what is the right speed for a corner?
Reading about cornering is, of course, not enough: you will have to practise, practise, practise.
Here some tips on how to do that
To Cornering on a motorcycle...
In the Netherlands, beginning motorcycle riders are taught how to brake. In many countries, starting motorcycle riders have to find out how to brake well themselves.
But even when you did receive lessons in braking, it is advisable to keep practising, especially when you change bikes.
This page summarizes how to brake in different circumstances and on different motorcycle.
How do you brake in case of an emergency stop?
And how can you achieve the shortest stopping distance?
And which difference does the kind of motorcycle you ride make?
And how and when do you use the front and the rear brake?
To How to brake well on a motorcycle...
When you want to buy a new helmet, motorcycle jacket, trousers, gloves or boots, what are the requirements?
What are the different materials and what are the differences?
How do you protect yourself against cold, heat and rain?
This page tries to sort some things out.
To Clothing for motorcycle riders...
