8 New Year's Rider Resolutions for 2017
With the dawn of a new year, many feel the need to make this one better than the one that just ended. Here are a few resolutions to make 2017 your best year ever.
1. Ride More
No one ever lays on their deathbed wishing they had taken the bus more. If you are the type of person who only rides on the weekends, then consider Friday the weekend and begin riding to work. If you only ride on special occasions, find more reasons to consider occasions special. If you need a reason to ride instead of taking the car, realize the ride itself is a good enough reason. If all you ever do is ride around in town, plan a weekend to get way out, far out, and not come back until the next day after a good long ride.
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2. Take Someone for a Ride
According to the Federal Bureau of Bogus Statistics, approximately 66% of people in this country have never ridden a motorcycle, not even on the back. You can do your part to make the world a better place by trying to change that. Don't be shy, if you have friends at work, or the gym, or at your church, who have never been on a bike, offer to take them for a spin. In this country, it can be very awkward for a man to ride on the back of another man's bike but think about it as doing a good deed for charity. We all benefit if more people ride because they look out for bikes while driving and help counter bogus discriminatory anti-motorcycle biases and rules, even if they end up buying a Honda.
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3. Let Kids Climb on your Bike
This one can be hard because kids can be sticky and scratchy, but if you let a child sit on your bike for a few minutes, chances are they will remember it for the rest of their lives. We all started somewhere, and if you remember back, it was likely with that cool uncle or neighborhood dad who had a bike and let you sit on it and make motor noises. The chance of a small child knocking over a bike that outweighs them by a factor of 10 is pretty slim, especially if you help them get up there. If you park your bike outside, chances are they have already been on it when you aren't around anyway.
>>Join the conversation about New Year's Rider Resolutions right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum!
4. Teach Someone to Ride
Even more than taking someone for a ride, teaching them how to ride makes the world a better place for riders. All you really need is an eager friend, an empty parking lot, and a bike. This resolution is tough to accomplish if all you own is a big twin, but at the very least you can let them sit on it and explain all the controls? If you are going to become a dedicated evangelist for the two wheel lifestyle, you may have to invest. A small bore dirt bike is great to teach the basics on and can be a fun weekend play bike as well.
>>Join the conversation about New Year's Rider Resolutions right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum!
5. Learn to Ride Better
If you have been riding for a long time and lot of miles, chances are you think you have it down. But even motorcycle cops, who ride all day every day, take refresher courses periodically to unlearn bad habits and practice good ones. The Motorcycle Safety Federation offers refresher courses for more advanced riders, or you can't jump into the deep end and ride a track day. Typically sport bikes make up the whole field at a track day, but you can ride literally anything, from a Goldwing to a 250cc learner bike. The person in the picture took his Harley-Davidson Street 750, and Panhead Jim went to the Keith Code Superbike School on a Sportster. Or take a class in flat track, or Supermoto, or riding off-road, from a school that lets you wreck their bikes.
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6. Support Your Local Indy Shop
Sure, you can get things cheaper, and sometimes faster, by ordering them online, but if you don't support your local independent shop they aren't going to be there when you are in a bind and need them. It used to be there were dozens of small shops in any decent sized town, but these days it is just hard to make a living working on bikes. The big Harley dealerships make as much money from T-shirts and accessories as they do actually selling and servicing bikes, the indy shops don't have that advantage.
>>Join the conversation about New Year's Rider Resolutions right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum!
7. Race Something
You may think motorcycle racers are highly trained pros on specially prepared bikes, but not everyone fits that description. There are plenty of places you can race a nearly stock bike against other amateurs and have a blast. Most local drag strips have test and tune, or street legal nights, where you can run against the clock or your buddy in the other lane and see just how quick you really are. Small dirt tracks are famous for having Harley night, or hooligan night, where any street legal bike can race the oval. Riding on the street is fine, but there is just something special about racing.
>>Join the conversation about New Year's Rider Resolutions right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum!
8. Stay Safe
There have been way too many high profile celebrity deaths this past year, and they really overshadow all the friends and family we have all personally lost. Help your fellow bikers out if you see them in need of basic maintenance to make their bike safer. If you see someone who you know is in no shape to ride, don't be afraid to step up and stop them from making a mistake that may be their last. Stay safe out there and live to ride another day.
Happy New Year everyone!
>>Join the conversation about New Year's Rider Resolutions right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum!
If your resolutions include improvements or maintenance the how to section of HDforums.com is here to help.
