TVB wrote:AWinn6889 wrote:I will swear up and down that I have NEVER counter steered my bicycles, not the mountain bikes or the road bikes!
And you'll hear the same thing from motorcyclists who are just as certain of it... but who still do it unconsciously.
Riding a scooter
is different from riding a bicycle, and it takes time and caution to get used to those differences. But to say it's "nothing at all" like it is overstating the case, because despite the differences in speed, mass (and mass distribution), and rider posture, they are fundamentally alike. Someone with a lot of bicycle experience comes to a scooter with a lot more applicable skills (leaning to turn, using front and rear brakes, swerving around potholes) than the average car driver does.
If you're uncertain about making the transition, a motorcycle course is certainly a good idea. With all the pedaling I've done I didn't feel a need for it, and it wasn't required, so I didn't take one. Instead I took my time getting comfortable with the scooter* in empty parking lots, then on quiet side streets, and worked my way up to riding in traffic. I'm only a data point of 1, and your mileage may vary, but in over 12K miles it's worked out fine for me.
*Following a white-knuckle 5-mile ride home from the scooter shop, that is.
The difference between the motorcycle and the bike and the scooter and the bike is the same though, the center of gravity, the suspension system, the wheel size, the wheel base, the speed at which you travel, and the amount of lean that is necessary and proper for turns. Unless you are a high speed road racer on a bicycle, the angle at which you "lean" is incredibly less than you would on a motorized two-wheel vehicle. The center of gravity is much higher on a bicycle, because in most, if not all, cases, YOU weigh more than your bike... on scooters and motorcycles, the opposite is true. Therefore counter steering is much more important/prevalent/necessary on a motorcycle or scooter than a bicycle. You have to force the large mass underneath you to lean, as opposed to making your bicycle lean with your body.
Based on what you said about your experience taking "my time getting comfortable with the scooter"... the safer choice would be to take the MSF course before you even purchase your own vehicle, especially if you are not completely sure about it (like the OP). Not only does it teach you the proper way to ride, lean, accelerate, brake, etc, it teaches you the smartest way to avoid obstacles, other vehicles, and just plain be safe and aware while you are on the road.
When my boyfriend bought his Harley, he did essentially the same thing as you, with the exception of riding it home. We had my uncle get it home for us. Thankfully our apartment at the time was right behind our local Lowes, and we have quite a few friends with motorcycles that were willing to ride it there and teach him how to ride after Lowes was closed for the night. After a couple days he was riding on the smaller, quieter streets in town.. and a couple weeks after that we were taking the motorcycle on long rides up to Lake George (on the highway) and farther north.
The reason he did not start with the MSF course was because they were completely booked up until the middle of August (and he bought his Harley on my birthday, at the beginning of June). He felt "well, it's not required, but the road tests for the motorcycle licenses in this area is booked up through next spring... so I might as well do it and get the waiver for my license upon passing the course." So he took it, of course on the three hottest, most humid days of this year, and told me that he was sure glad he did. There were things that he learned there that he never would have known by self-teaching, or trying to learn from our friends and family.
Even my step-dad, who had been riding dirt bikes and motorcycles since he was maybe 8 years old, said that he learned "some pretty good stuff" from taking the MSF course last year. He also said "I really never did realize that I was counter steering, my dad never had an actual term for it, he just told me how to do it... but now I know what you're talking about when you say those words, and it makes perfect sense!"
...a smart rider is a safe rider. Jus' sayin'.
No power in the 'verse can stop me.
