Hi and welcome to the Eliminator forum. Great choice! If you are looking for riding fun and pleasure with a bit of thrill when called for, you will enjoy riding your Eliminator. As you start riding add traffic and speed as your skills, confidence and comfort level grows. Parking lot practice the things you were introduced to in the MSF course. Street ride close to home; pay attention to driveways, cross streets and cars turning in front of you. Have that escape path ready to execute! Good luck.

 

Hiya! Thank you so much. I really appreciate the input and advice! Talk soon!

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

Thank you :3 !

 

Welcome to the forum! My biggest advice is to ride your own ride. Find a good parking lot and practice the skills learned in the MSF course. Building slow-speed control is the first step to gaining confidence at road speeds. The skills will enhance your riding abilities. I still practice a bit every couple of weeks, even after years of riding.

 

One more thing to be mindful of when you are practicing and/or riding. Check your grip tension on the handlebars; no death grip! Relaxed forearms and shoulders as well. Not a big deal on a 20 minute ride across town but if you start riding some day trips in your local area, 2+ hours in the saddle with a lot of tension in your forearms and hands will be physically exhausting.

 

This is super helpful! I have found this is a problem for me, pain in my hands/wrists. Thanks for the reminder that it's probably due to tight grip 😅.

 

When it comes to maintenance, it can get costly buying spray can chain cleaner, especially if you ride a lot. Get yourself a gallon jug of kerosene, a regular spray bottle and if you are worried about the kerosene damaging the chain O-rings, it shouldn't but you can add like 1/4-1/5 of fresh engine oil to the spray bottle with the kerosene. It works fantastic for cleaning, and you spend way less overall. $4 of kerosene can last you the same amount as several cans of chain cleaner for the same result

 

I use No. 2 pump diesel. A bit smelly but it has enough solvency to loosen the built-up grime (I also use one of the 3 sided chain brushes) and being a light oil it won't dry and crack the 0-rings. Once clean, apply your preferred chain lubricant.

 

Nice bike. May I ask what you paid for it?

I'll give you one advise that I doubt they teach at MSF. It's not easy to do with a new Elim 450 SE
Protect the bike by engine brackets + sliders + pads for the gas tank + handle bar protection, then, during low speed practice, INTENTIONALLY drop the bike! Drop it a few times, till you get over the fear of dropping that beauty (usually, if well protected, nothing happens to the bike).
Once you no longer care if the bike drops, you will advance rapidly in learning how to ride like a pro.

 

Hiya!
I bought my bike for $5000, 2000 Miles on it. It came with a non-stock exhaust and the wind shield (the seller did give me the stock exhaust though).

I actually SUPER appreciate the advice, haha- it's like you've seen me practicing! I recently put SW Mototech crash bars on the bike but, I feel like I am even more cautious to drop it now 🤣. It's caused me to mess up because I keep getting in my head about it, lol!

 

Yep, the cage and sliders are a good way to protect your motorcycle from drops. But remember when practicing low speed turns and even coming to a stop at a traffic signal, the front brake is really not our friend. When the handlebars are turned and we apply too much front brake, our motorcycle will have a tendency to "tuck" or fall into that turn. Hence, we drop the bike. Next time out for some practice, work some slow turns with front brake only, rear brake only and then using both; feel how your motorcycle responds.