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Submitted by: Jesse

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I agree with Rene. Sit on your bike (at home, somewhere away from traffic) and very slowly release your clutch while in first gear. DO NOT RELEASE ALL THE WAY. Wait until you feel the bike start to pull just a little bit. This is your friction zone. Repeat this a couple of times until you are fairly comfortable knowing where your friction zone starts. Right where this zone hits you want to give it a little bit of throttle. After practicing getting to the friction zone a few times then pulling the clutch back in, move on to giving the bike a little throttle and moving down the road. I recommend going only to second gear, then stopping and starting over again. DO NOT resort to just giving the bike more gas. You need to be comfortable with finding your bike's friction zone so that you are not just riding around town, gassing the heck out of your bike because you can't change gears properly. It's not safe and frankly, I prefer that women on bikes keep in mind that they represent other women on bikes. :) I've taught multiple people to ride and I always start them out in the yard. I ask that they walk the bike across the yard (both feet actually walking the bike) using only first gear (catching the gear and then stopping, starting over again. Shortly after this, I move to shifting up to second gear and stopping shortly after you hit second, starting over again. One quick note: Don't downshift to first gear. 2nd-5th are ok to downshift to but 1st gear isn't comfortable to shift down to and that's just not really it's purpose. 1st gear is for starting out. Keep in mind that the gas/clutch ratio is a give-and-take sort of thing. As you are releasing the clutch, you are slowly giving it more gas. While practicing your friction-finding exercises, you should get a feel for how much gas you need to give. Don't be afraid/worried about stalling out. It'll happen, but you want to get that out of the way at home, not while on the road with traffic. Hope this helps and good luck from a fellow lady rider! Ride safe!

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Submitted by: Rene L.

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Hi, Sounds like you are doing well overall. I'm a fairly new rider myself, so I can only offer something from the MSF class that might be useful. Sounds like, in addition go learning to give a bit more throttle when you are taking off from a complete stop, it might be a good idea for you to spend a little time practicing (at home) getting more familiar with your clutch friction zone. If you took the class you will probably remember that exercise from the first day on the bike. If you did not, it is just sitting on the bike practicing with the bike in 1st gear and your feet on the ground, squeezing the clutch and slowly letting it out just enough to find the friction zone that allows the bike to move slowly by just letting out the clutch. When you find it, squeeze the clutch again and then slowly let it out. If you drive a car with a clutch it is similar. I don't think this is such an unfamiliar problem for new riders. With a bit more practice you should be fine. Also, might be a good idea to control your "oh my god, I am coming to a stop" kind of thinking, will zap your confidence. Try telling yourself that if you make a mistake, you can just correct it. Good luck! Have fun and ride safe!! Ren'e

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Submitted by: Jacee

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Give it more throttle. Anyone who has ever driven a clutch car has been told not to rev up the engine as you may blow it up. That is not true with a motorcycle (not entirely). The only caution about revving a motorcycle is to never rev it way over redline - you could blow up the engine. But I'm not talking about that kind of revving. Here's the key: Make sure you give it plenty of gas as you let the clutch out slowly. Also, "blip" the throttle just before you take off to have a ready supply of gas for take-off.

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