SUCCESS!!!

[molly]

I know this is going to seem lame to some of you more experienced riders, but I met a "mini-goal" last night. I wanted to ride to a local restaurant for dinner one night. (Finally mde it last night!) It is only about 3 miles away, but on US highway 17, which is a busy 4 lane highway. (We live on Hwy 17, and getting in and out of the GRAVEL driveway and onto the highway is a B****....but that is another story...) Anyhow, we are getting ready to leave, and DH decides my bike needs gas, so does his. He tells me i need to ride my bike to the gas station before we go to dinner. HUH! The gas station is right next to an intersection where i stalled my Honda Shadow the last time I rode it, could not get it into neutral to restart, and had an emotional meltdown! It also involves crossing some pretty bad pavement and a small "S" shaped bridge!!! Anyhow, i psyched myself up and DID IT!!!! It was early evening, next to the river, and a beautiful ride! I Was so excited when we got home, I couldn't sleep for hours! THe gas station is about 1 1/2 miles from my job, and my goal is to start riding to work, so I am almost where I wnted to be YEARS ago! Previous aforementioned emotional meltdown took me over a year to get over....I know....CHICKEN!! But the cagers behind us at the time cussing us out did not help me at all!!! Anyhow, just thought i would post that I am making great progress! We are leaving now to go to breakfast about 8 miles away, and then hopefully take another ride later on. See ya! I LOVE MY GZ!!!!!

[Easy Rider]

The gas station is right next to an intersection where i stalled my Honda Shadow the last time I rode it, could not get it into neutral to restart, and had an emotional meltdown!

Don't know about the Shadow but, once it is initially started, the GZ doesn't have to be in neutral to re-start. Just pull in the clutch and hit the button.

I've only tested this once and need to do it some more; you might want to do the same.
Do an "artificial stall" by dropping the side stand or hitting the kill switch (while it is in gear). Return stand or kill sw. to normal. Pull in clutch. Restart.

If you are already in 1st or 2nd gear (which you should be if you stalled it), you can take right off, almost as nothing happened. Knowing this should make you feel better.

(We won't mention that this probably would have worked on the Shadow too!) :roll:

[El_Shorto]

Easy's right, you can start the bike up in 5th as long as you have the clutch in, just like a manual transmission car. The bike doesnt care about the gear so long as the transmission is disengaged. After that, shift away. Also, an easy thing to do if you ever have trouble downshifting (which happens periodically on my GZ if I forget to downshift while i'm coming to a stop) is to press the shifter, then let the clutch out just enough to where you feel the transmission engage then reapply the clutch and continue downshifting. Works like a champ.

[molly]

I do not know about all the other bikes out there, but my Shadow WILL NOT go without stalling UNLESS you start out in 1st gear. PERIOD! That is how i stalled it. Was stopped at the light, thought i was in first, but was in second. Stalled the bike, could not get it started again. I COULD have pulled in the clutch and MOVED the bike, but could not start it again until it was in Neutral. Just had an emotional meltdown that day, and did not think straight, just panicked! LOL! Today's rides were fantastic, we stayed out about 2 hours or more. It was great! Definitely the best part of the day. Really gave us some alone time to have fun and get out before having to come home and spend the rest of the day dealing with family problems. (YUCK!) Will ask DH about Shadow starting in gear, but I do NOT think it will. More later............

[molly]

Just asked DH about the Shadow. He says yes, if you pull in the clutch, the bike will start in any gear....BUT it WILL stall if u try to take off in ANY gear EXCEPT first gear. That is why i had trouble at the stoplight that day. AFTER the bike stalled, it would NOT shift to any other gear, no matter what I did. Hope this explains the situation a bit more clearly.

[Easy Rider]

AFTER the bike stalled, it would NOT shift to any other gear, no matter what I did. Hope this explains the situation a bit more clearly.

Yep, kind of figured that was the case.
The GZ, however, WILL start out in 2nd gear without a problem.
With a 16T front, it still works but is trickier.
If you haven't tried that yet, you might want to.......for future reference. :tup:

[Dupo]

First, congrats on your adventure!! Thats exactly what i did when i started riding, was setting goals to accomplish. First it was to get the bike inspected 10 blocks away. Then to the gas station 2 miles away. Then to my moms house 7 miles away. Then to my dads 30 miles away... eventually i was doing 100+ miles a day just riding around. It all comes natural after a while. Keep at it!

As for the Shadow incident ... (the kickstand sensor went in mine, it will only start in neutral now). What probably happened is what happens on mine .. since i have to start in neutral .. is when the bike is off and you want to change gear (mainly for neutral), it gets stuck even with the clutch pulled in. Seems that if its off and in 1st or 2nd, the gear is engaged, and rocking the bike back n forth slightly lets the pressure off the gear so you can go into neutral (or 1st for that matter) easily. Remember that for next time :)

[molly]

Yeah, DH told me i should have rocked it at the time.....But I was busy having a panic attack! LOL! WIll try not to do THAT again......served no purpose whatsoever.

[Dupo]

lol. Ive seen those panic attacks first hand, its not a pretty sight.

My buds all got harleys about the same time and we were going out for our first ride. Well, one guy walks his bike backwards *not* sitting on it. Well, he turned the bars, bike went down. I go to help him, he says he's fine. I turn around and look back, down it went on the other side. Gets it back up and tried starting it ... i swear he pushed every button on that bike. If it had an eject button he probably would have pushed that too. I finally said calm down ... take a deep breath .... now start it. Started right up lol.

[molly]

Yep, I am trying not to let my nerves get the best of me. I HAVE taught myself to chill out at my job, which used to REALLY get me ruffled! I work for the Food Stamp department in Social Services, and you get 15-20 rude, angry clients coming in, and the phone rings off the hook all day while to receptionist is paging you for something else....all at the same time! ARGH! If i can learn to deal with all of that calmly....riding a bike should be a breeze! LOL!

[caroledee1]

I think you'll be able to relax and really enjoy riding once you have ridden for a while. My daily commute allows me to chill and blow off steam. I have ridden for 30 years now and there is still nothing like the feeling of freedom I get riding! Just enjoy it and safe riding to you! :)

[molly]

Oh, I DO enjoy riding alot! I seem to relax and enjoy it more each time we go out. I want to start commuting to work, but I am nervous about it. There are two intersections that i need to go thru that are FAMOUS for people running stop signs and lights. There is little chance for an escape if you get into trouble on either of them. I have scoped them out and thought about what to do, and chances are notning will happen. But I want to know what to do and where to go if it does! I live in a small rural town, not tons of traffic, but those two spots are tricky!

[caroledee1]

I say a prayer every morning leaving home that I'll have a safe journey and give that worry to God. I also watch everyone else and assume they don't see me. Slowing at intersections and just keeping an eye out for the other guy.

[molly]

Just got home from another success! DH and i wanted to ride today (July 4th), but were a little leary of the traffic that might be out there, since i am still a "newbie". We decided to stay on back roads after coming through town, and there was moderate traffic, but nothing too bad. We rode about 20 miles to a little convenience store where we stopped and got lunch....we ate outside next to the bikes, it was such a beautiful day! Anyhow, the town we ended up in is in the next county! I am so glad, as I did not think i could go that far this soon. Thanks to the GZ250, it was a blast! We had a great ride! My confidence is building up alot! We are going to ride back into town (about 5 miles) tonight to watch the fireworks. It will be my first time riding at night, but i do not think it will be a problem. Just thought I would give you all an "update" on my progress. Gosh! I sure am glad i had the day off today. Happy 4th of July everyone!

[Dupo]

Pretty soon you'll be in the next state :cool:

You might get a chuckle out of this .... my newbie blog when i got the GZ ... http://www.dupo24.com/blog/?m=200605&paged=2 (scroll to the bottom and work your way up). Might not feel so 'alone' with your new experiences :)

[molly]

Yep, I have the same trouble remembering to turn signals off......Worries my husband to pieces! Made great strides yesterday, and want to ride every chance i get. The addiction has taken hold!!!!! LOL!