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Ask An ExpertAnswers to your motorcycle questionsHave a motorcycle question that you just can't seem to get an answer for? If the staff of Cycle World doesn't know the answer, we know who does! Each week we will select two to three question submissions to answer. The questions and answers will be listed on this very page for the whole World Wide Web to see. Got a question? Click here. ARRESTED DEVELOPMENTDear CW, I'm 17, living with my mom, going to high school, have a clean driving record and want to get a used 600cc sportbike. My mom says as long as I'm living under her roof, no way. How can I change her mind? I can't really move out. — Aaron P. Dear AP, Seventeen is an excellent time to begin learning the fine art of Compromise. Whenever two conflicting viewpoints are in tension, the best way to keep all conflictees happy long term is to come up with an (initial) solution somewhere in the middle. Once you've shown you're willing to soften your own stance, the other parties — ok, well maybe your mother at least — might be willing to bend also. Instead of getting on a sportbike right off the bat (which is, we agree with mom, a bad idea), why not show your mother a few scooters online? There are some pretty sporty scooters out there. Check yourself out a Piaggio Fly 150 or Kymco Super 8 150 or Yamaha Zuma 125. Once you've ridden a scooter successfully for a year (and have also taught Mom how easy and fun it is to ride, in a big parking lot, wearing a helmet and gloves at all times), your shot at a real motorcycle and continued good health will have grown tremendously. And if you do it right, your mother will probably even take the scooter off your hands for top dollar. Good luck. IFS AND BUTTSDear CW, My boyfriend wants me to ride on back of his CBR1000RR. I don't really like to. Number one, he's kind of scary on the bike, I can feel it every time he tenses up, and he tenses up more than I think is safe. Before the Honda, I'd only ridden on back of Harleys, where nobody ever got tense. Also the CBR is so skinny in back it makes my butt feel tremendously huge. I am serious. I love the BF but the CBR, not so much. He loves the CBR maybe more than me. Is there a graceful solution? No, I don't want my own bike. — Natalie M. Dear Natalie, At CW, we often roost in where angels fear to tread, but women's butt sizes are an arena even we will not enter except to advise you to avoid horizontal stripes and white chaps before Labor Day. (And to suggest that if your BF is fashion-forward enough to ride a CBR-RR, then chances are your caboose looks pretty good also.) The safety issue is a bigger concern. You're exactly correct in that muscular tension and sudden moves are a sign of a rider who is not staying ahead of the game. Rather than confronting him (tantamount to insulting his manhood), maybe you could use a little flattery to get him some training? Track days, especially ones that provide trained instructors, are an excellent way to gain bike control. California Superbike School runs great ones all over the country, and lots of other track day providers will provide less structured instruction if the rider requests it. Search up "motorcycle track days" to find what's going on when and where. Maybe you could get him into a MSF Advanced Course (msf-usa.org), or maybe even that org's Dirt Bike Course? Gee honey, your riding is so great; just think how much better it could get with some TRAINING! More: Twist >> Relevant stories from Cycle World:
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