10 Tips on How to Ride a New Bike

How would you feel when you gotta new bike for yourself and you are first getting on her. On top of the world? Well, that’s how I usually feel when I get new ones.

But to ride a new bike is never as easy and simple as throttling up your old machine to which you are used to. So, I thought of coming up with 10 tips on riding a new bike.

1. Never throttle up your new bike very high as soon as you bring it out of the showroom. For best fuel economy to derive from it, keep riding at the lowest speed possible in the top most gear and this is to be done not for the first 2k or 3k kms, but for the first 10k kms. Yes, I mean it. You’ll get the best(est) of the fuel economy possible on that bike.
2. Don’t strain the engine too much. The ideal fact to follow is keep checking the odometer that you never cross 5k rpm. There was a friend of mine during my engineering days (and that wasn’t a long back. Just before a year and a half), who bought a new Honda Unicorn. He made the bike strain so much from the initial moment he kept his hand on her and guess the mileage the bike returned him back. It was 22kmpl! Should be one of the lowest in India, I guess for a Unicorn.
3. If the reason for purchasing your bike is totally performance dependent, like using for racing purpose or so, you can throttle her high right from the initial day of purchase. This case is entirely different from our regular usage.
4. Don’t take her for long rides initially. Avoid this atleast for the first 3k kms.
5. Do not worry about the fuel economy your bike returns you initially. It would deliver its actual mileage only after the first service. So, don’t start hating your bike during the first few months itself.
6. Service your bike regularly as long as the free services are available (atleast). The first three services are very important to derive the best performance from her.
7. Do not overload your bike. Remember, this has got nothing to do with the pillion rider.
8. Do not allow multiple people to use your bike. Difference in handling can lead to heavy differences and fluctuations in performance. Use it single-handedly.
9. Kick start your bike everyday in the morning. Apart from protecting your bike from the regular problem of cold starting, this action would also enable your bike to have a long life of the electric starter.
10. Lastly, if you are a first-time rider, ride safely with confidence taking all precautions.