Your Pappy should have taught you this.

[chinoy]

But as he didnt we will try.

Making this post kinda makes me smile that our Bangalore RDD crowd are pretty mature for the most part. Kinda good ole hardcore bikers. Sadlly not all of them but pretty much all.

We somehow dont need to discuss this kinda stuff.
But after meeting up with so many youngsters and hearing about all the stuff they get up to. Somehow felt they needed some proper giduance in the basics of what makes a good biker.

A kinda guide to serious biking. Lessons you hopefully dont have to spend the next 30 years learning.

1. Lending out your bike to others or borowing a bike from some body not done.
You do not ride another guys bike. You do not ask to ride another guys bike. If you do its considered quite serious.
Its something very few people do. And if an when they do it. It happens for at most a short test run.

There are exceptions to this rule.
1. A tuner riding his customers bike to better tune it. Or give advise on the engine setup / tuning / brakes some inputs to improve the bike. Or find any faults with it.

2. A person with an intent to buy the bike. i.e. you have the money in your pocket and are looking out for a bike to buy so you have a trial run.


You heard the saying bikes and wifes give them to anybody else. A lot of wisdom. Pased down thru generations of hard core bikers. THe Parsee Bikers i know live by this rule. DOsent matter if they are 90 or 18. You cant find a more fanaticl person when it comes to cars or bikes than some Parsees. Most of them make a lot of sence.

Look at Doc do you think he lets anybody touch his bike., same goes for Arun, Gerad, Leaprd, Criss, Anand and a whole lot of other guys.

In fact the 4 years I owned the VF NOBODY ever rode the bike.
And a lot of guys did want to have a spin on it. It dosent matter what bike I own. Nobody gets to ride it. TIll Im selling it. And to date have only sold two bikes in some 8 years.

Treat this as champter one of the so you want to become a serious biker. Learn the global etequite to be one.
Feel free to add to this. I will over time.
Ps: If your under 30 maybe your not ready to post just yet.

My Next post is going to be on saftey and riding gear.
(Dam where Arun and Anand when you need them most man)

[sven]

don't ask to borrow tools.
if one is offered up , use it and return it asap and returned in better shape then lent/ i.e. clean . if if damaged in your care replace with same or better quality.

don't follow these guidlines and dont expect to ever get tools lent to you.
kid next door( he's my rider for my drag bike) just learned this lessen. kid owes me a 13 mm craftsman deep well and a 12" extension.

[chinoy]

You allways wear the best riding gear protection you can.
You shouldnt even bother making it to a meet if you dont have a helmet.
And that too a good helmet. If you dont you run the risk of being ridiculed by the others.

Geting your picture taken without proper riding gear or a helmet is shamefull. Simplly cause it sets a bad example for the youngsters.

I understand its all about posing. And a helmet hides your face. But sacrifice that posing if not just to set a good example.
People are normally more intrested in the bike than seeing your face.

If you think riding arround in your shorts and a t-shirt without a helmet is cool it only proves how far you have to evelove nothing else. And it labels you a squid.

A Suid being the lowest lifeform of bikers. The kind who dont wear protection. Race on the roads and genrally just dont get it.
All most all riders including my self go thru these pahses. Our excuse was there was nobody there to guide us any better whats yours. ?

So the evolution is from Racing on roads filled with regular Trafic.
Racing on deserted Roads.
Taking it to the Track (Which is the kinda Ultimate Evolution for a biker).
We all go thru it.

If you are at a meet. As a RDD member it becomes your responsibility to ensure that ever rider has a helmet on and is not endangering himself or others. This is responsible riding.

Your are judged amongst your peers not by how many wheelies you can at the trafic light. But how many accident free riding years you have.

On the saftey gear use your common sence. We obvioully dont recomend full leathers in the blistering heat to ride a moped.
Be praticle and safe.
Wear gear apropriate to the speed you drive.

THere are some special guys who can ride like madmen and get sway without falling off. Let me assure you that the odds that your going to be so good or lucky are slim at best.

[Guest]

Dunno if this is relevant to the topic but been seeing a lot of it going around in various circles and thought I would post up.

Be HONEST and TRANSPARENT in your dealings with biker friends. Especially where money is involved. If this procuring and selling parts/bikes - new or used - is your business then a profit margin is obviously justified. If on the other hand its not, its considered extremely poor form making money off your "friends" - most often without the other person knowing it. Remember, nobody is a fool ..... and the truth comes out sooner rather than later.

Cheers, Doc

[vivekjayasheel]

I could get the part about safety, tools and not making money off your friends, but what is this thing about not riding each other's bikes?

For me it is a blend of "how much I like him" and "how slim are his chances of riding my bike into a tree". If the guy measures up on both parameters he is most welcome to ride my bike(s). For example, I like my wife's brother a lot but giving him a bicycle, leave alone an RD, is like giving a sword to a monkey. So he doesn't get to ride my bike. On the other hand there are lotsa guys I like less, but enough to lend them my bike nevertheless, because I know for sure they'd be responsible, aware and careful enough not to ride it up some unsuspecting jaywalker's arse.

I dont see what the big thing is about letting some guy get his jollies. The best kind of pleasure is to see some bloke who's never ridden an RD before, take it for a spin and come back grinning and shivering LOL.

The kind gentleman who's now set up shop next to Doc's place, was nice enough to let me ride exotic machinery that cost like 12 times my house when I barely had a license, and that OPENED my eyes to what motorcycles really should be. Otherwise I'd just be another ordinary bloke who thought that the Bajaj Boxer / Hero Honda Splendor was the best thing to happen to the biking community.

Of course having said that, I generally never ask someone if I can ride his bike unless the bike is really worth my time (the only guy I asked recently was Nav and that little bitch was SURE WORTH THE RISK OF REJECTION LOL).