New Rider Sermon #1: 5 Things Nobody Ever Told You as a New Rider, Probably

For those of you who are new to the motorcycle world, there's probably a lot you're still trying to figure out. Do I NEED to use 93 octane fuel for my bike? Can I do X, Y and Z to my new bike? What type of parts do I need to make my bike sound and perform like my buddy's? Well hopefully in this segment of "New Rider Sermons" we can answer some of these questions that have been plaguing your troubled mind, and maybe even enlighten you on some things you didn't realize you needed to know. Without further ado, let's get started

#1- Semi-trucks are the natural enemy of the motorcycle

Something you never notice riding in your car, Semi Trucks kick up A LOT of tiny little pebbles and debris as they're trekking down the highway. See now when you're on four wheels with a windshield, not really a big deal. On a bike? With any exposed skin? Feels like Superman is chucking pebbles at your face at 70 miles per hour

#2- Wear a face cover at night

Okay in a perfect world we would all be wearing face protection and/or full face helmets all the time. But in reality there are those of us (myself included) who occasionally like to feel some wind on their face and will wear a half helmet. There's really nothing wrong with this, until you have to take a ride at night and all those little bugs spot your riding down the road with your big old Daymaker headlight and you start taking nats in the face at 50 miles and hour or so. Just keep your mouth shut the rest of the way home.....

#3 The rain itself is not so bad.

A huge worry for new riders is getting caught in the rain. Yeah it kinda sucks, especially when it's REALLY heavy rain. But once it passes you'll air dry after a while and be good as new. No sweat, plus your bike got a free cleaning. The REAL issue comes when you have any exposed skin. Then what is normal a little droplet of water turns into a needle flying through the sky right at you. The moral of the story here? WEAR SOME SLEEVES DURING THE RAINY SEASON FOLKS.

#4 Buy your second bike first

Something I learned both as a rider and a salesman is simply: Whatever you think your second motorcycle will be, get that one first. I know you're probably thinking that you only need something small "just to learn on", but listen to this hypothetical. Let's say your dream bike is a Fat Bob, with some sweet  Vance and Hines pipes, a hi flow air cleaner a bunch of custom cosmetics, the works. Well you let a friend or your dad or whoever talk you into getting an Street 500 to "learn and get some practice on". Well it's two months later. You've learned, but now you're stuck with this bike you didn't want in the first place cause you still owe seven thousand dollars on it. Thanks Dad.

#5 The REAL reason our bikes are loud as heck

On any given day in the summer you've probably seen a good number of people riding their Harleys down the highway or around the town. Well truth be told you probably heard him before you saw him because of those sick Vance and Hines shotgun pipes he put on his bike.  To you average joe who hasn't been exposed to motorcycle culture at all, you probably think it's just cool and that all bikes sounds like that. Or maybe you're one of those people who just dread 7:00 AM every summer morning because that's when your neighbor starts up his horribly loud motorcycle and wakes up the whole neighborhood. Believe it or not there is a legitimate reason why we all make our bikes annoyingly loud. As the saying goes "Loud Pipes, Save Lives". For those of you who don't ride, think about this. Are you ever TRULY looking for motorcyclist? Or just other cars? See we all know this, most people day to day just forget that motorcycles exist, so just to remind you that we are in fact there, we make sure you can at least hear us coming to make you go "oh crap there's a dude on a motorcycle in my blind spot, I better not switch lanes and crash into him"

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