First time Rider and Owner

[geezer]

dee dee where you live? it gets better

[Water Warrior 2]

DeeDee it does get better. Mostly you are unfamiliar with the controls and are a might nervous trying to sort it all out. Don't get stressed out and panic. Just take a breath and relax. The bike is a patient friend and will wait till you are ready to continue.

[alanmcorcoran]

I second what the other Alan said. If you aren't familiar with a clutch, you have an extra level of learning you have to do on top of the balancing, the throttle, the brakes, etc. In the class they start with people just duck walking the bike for a while and then spend a few hours just in first gear. I don't think we ever got past second gear. For those of us that had already ridden a bicycle and were familiar with shifting (from cars) it didn't take long to get moderately competent. The people that had the most difficulty in the class were the two girls that had never ridden a bicycle and had only minimal experience driving an automatic car. They had a lot more to master in the short time of the course, and one did not make it. The key here is: TAKE YOUR TIME. Baby steps. There is no rush. Just work on one thing at a time and allow ehough time for the magic of the brain and repetition do it's thing. If you are falling off, you are probably trying to do too much too fast.

[DeeDee]

thank you, you have really answered a lot of what I and doing and feeling, I know I can do
this I think I just get impatient. The riders course was a big help too. But I was one of those
ladies who never grew up shifting a car so his all is harder.. I know it will come, thank you for
all your tips. Ride Safe! DeeDee

[DeeDee]

Originally Posted by geezer

dee dee where you live? it gets better

Hi, I live In Minnesota,

[tcrave]

How high is it idling? Is the choke on or off? Check your throttle cables, and I know this sounds stupid, but check the kickstand and the kickstand spring.

To explain, my bike stalled on me while I was driving and it had plenty of gas. I couldn't get it to restart, so I put the choke all the way up and it started up. If the choke was on, it idled too high, but still ran, if I turned the choke down, it would die. After playing with the idle screw a bit, I turned the idle a little higher up and it was fine. You might just have the idle set too low.

Check your throttle cables, make sure they are not stuck and are working properly.

Check your kickstand and the kickstand spring. I know its a wierd and long shot, but these bikes have a killswitch on the kickstand to where you can't go anywhere if the kickstand is down. There have been plenty of times that my bike died when I tried to take off, only because I forgot to flip up the kick stand. You say you were riding the bike already, so thats not the problem, but I am wondering if maybe the spring is loose and when you hit a bump or something, the kick stand comes down just enough to kill the bike?

Also make sure your gas switch is on the "on" position and not "PRI"...and make sure there are no leaks.

[tcrave]

Oh, and I have the exact same color as you! Mine is just a year newer, half as much miles, and doesn't have saddlebags. And mine has a few scratches from the previous owner laying it down.

[tcrave]

oops, didn't see the second page before I posted, sorry.