Courtesies to my brother, a recap of today's half-hour biking.
Actually, to sum it all up, in one line, biking is all about a careful manipulation of thrust/pressure on four limbs -
Right hand on the accelerator and brake (for the front wheel)
Right leg on the brake (for the rear wheel)
Left hand on the handle and clutch
Left leg on the gear control
Step1 : Make sure the Petrol is pointing towards ON. (trivia)
Step 2 : Insert the key and turn it towards on. (trivia)
Step 3 : Check if the gear is on neutral. Start the bike, I kickstarted..see!
Don't exert pressure on the clutch or the accelerator while starting. Well, you could try, but the gaadi won't budge.
Step 4 : Change gears to GearI. While changing, hold on to the clutch.
Step 5 : THE TOUGHEST FOR A BEGINNER
After the gear is changed, hold on to the clutch. Increase the accelerator (as in rotational movement of the wrist) and release the hold on the clutch simultaneously and proportionately (or is it proportionally?)
Troubleshoot : The bike might stop with a jerk.
This only means that the release and increase were not proporti0nal.
Either
1. You did not release the clutch fully.
2. You did not increase the accelerator enough for sustained motion.
Remember : Don't aim for a smooth, zooming flow initially itself, it's important to get a feel for the motion of the bike, let the gaadi move a few inches slowly and that means you have control.
Step 6 : If you have travelled the first few yards smoothly, after overcoming balance problems and simultaneous control, you'd probably want to change gears.
Everytime you change gears, reduce the accelerator a little, hold on to the clutch, and change gears.
The changing gears technique might differ from bike to bike.
And then you can keep riding on and on...
DAYI I had trouble getting to start, failed at Step 5 a couple of times, 1/5 times I started the bike, did it move forward! Will practice tomorrow.
Strategy for tomorrow : Look ahead in front of me, and not at my feet for the gear, or at the clutch. And of course, move 3/5 times after starting.
More lessons as I learn...
Yours
Very nice. Driving a car is pretty much the same. Only when you want to change gears, it is safe to take off your foot off the accelerator, and press down clutch. And when you start off a car, you hold down clutch, change to gear one, and slowly release it. As you release it, the car starts crawling forward, and you slowly take off your hold on the clutch and press down the accelerator. Then you press down clutch again (no foot on accelerator) and change to gear 2.
ReplyDeletePretty exciting and shocking to hear about your biking! Don't hurt yourselves! Do your feet reach the ground when you are just holding the bike, like on a red light? And isn't it too heavy?
I'd still prefer driving a car over biking. It scares me!
The bike that I rode was a Splendour and it is very light. I could even kickstart but other bikes are usually heavy.
ReplyDeleteI could reach the ground, my legs were mostly there.
hey seriously try bikes, and learn how to ride 'em.. anyways i don't think ppl back home will entertain u over it.. but always its the most comfortable thing to ride.. u have it totally under ur control.. and wud feel gud on the road...
ReplyDeletehey thanks a lot for the support, i am not sure if it will be my mode of commuting, but all the same, as a hobby yes!!!
ReplyDeleteReally nice post. And look at me, I am not even past the 6-gear bicycle....
ReplyDeleteBy the way, madhusudan here, in case you don't recognize my wordpress ID.
hoi....
ReplyDeleteso its biking time....cool!!!
by the way ,is kick-starting easy??My dad told me once that you needed a lot of muscle power...in your legs(i think).and also that one needs to wear shoes so that the 'starter'(dunno what it is called)want hurt you when it jerks back.
so how is progress ?
Kick starting is not easy, it depends on the bike engine. The bike I rode is Hero Honda Splendour, I was told that it's relatively easy. But, again, the bike was already balanced everytime I kickstarted. So, the actual hands-on experience is missing.
ReplyDelete