Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks.

I’ve been riding my scooter for about 10 years now. It’s saved us an absolute pile of money in commuting (MUCH cheaper than public transport) as well as time (as I’m not beholden to a bus or train timetable) but the poor thing is on her last legs. She’s done more than 26,000km with some serious hills to challenge her little 50cc motor and now it’s starting to tell. She’s developed a rasping noise that I think is telling me that the bearings in one of her wheels is about to go and that’s a pretty major repair. Her tires are wearing out (these are the original ones she came with) and her headlight has blown AGAIN. All this adds up to a scooter that is more expensive to repair than she’s worth to sell or trade. So it’s time to upgrade.

Tash and I said that when we got rid of the scooter we’d get me upgraded to a full motorbike licence, gears and all. So when the noise started in the scooter, I went and got my motorbike learner’s permit. Here in QLD, if you have an open car licence, you can apply for your motorbike learner’s, do a course called “Q-Ride” and if you pass the course, you get your motorbike provisional licence (which, like a car licence, you stay on for a year). There’s no waiting time. You can go in and get your bike L’s and that afternoon do your Q-Ride course and pick up your P’s the next day. One issue for me though: I’d never ridden a bike with a manual clutch before. Scooters have gears, but it’s all automatic. I don’t want to get an automatic bike licence, that’s just lame. It’s the full licence or nothing for me. So I had to get some training in riding a manual bike.

A few phone calls and I found Morgan and Wacker’s training centre. They do Q-Ride courses but also have a Gear and Clutch course to get you used to a manual bike. Nice. Best bit is it’s only about 8mins down the road from home. Sweet. I booked in and did the course yesterday. I wasn’t too nervous until I got on the bike. It was a big, 650cc BMW. Nice bike. I chose the 650cc as Tash and I are looking at getting me a 650cc cruiser bike. Once I got on, I realized I needed to learn a LOT more than I thought I had to. My feet have had nothing to do on a bike before but now they have to brake (right foot) and change gears (left foot). Plus I now have to remember that my left hand is the clutch instead of the rear brake. Thankfully my right hand is still the front brake. The clutch was trickier than I thought it would be. I’m not ashamed to say I stalled the bike a few times before I got the feel of it but I’ve realised I need to work hard on building up the strength of my hands. The clutch is heavier than I ever expected and you use it A LOT. The biggest lesson I learned: RIDE THE CLUTCH! At low speeds, you control the speed of your bike not with the throttle, but with the clutch. THAT takes a bit of getting used to. After 90mins of riding, doing slaloms, slow riding (as in less than 10km/hr) and tight figure-8’s I got a much better handle on the clutch. I hope I’m ready for my Q-Ride on Sunday. I think I am.

But I’m still nervous. I might be ready to ride around the training circuit again, but I’m not sure if I’m ready for traffic yet. Still we’ll see. I’ve just got to remember I have a clutch and a foot brake. Then once I’ve gotten my licence, it’s off to shop for a new bike! This is what I’m hoping to get:

Quite an upgrade from my little scooter. Sweet.