The following article was not written by me, it was written by my dear friend, brother and partner in crime Oresti Maramara, this article became very popular over Romania when written because probably Oresti explained there a lot of trues just “good to take in mind”.

Oresti was a really free spirit, a true speedfreak, and a very clever guy, unfortunately he passed away in 2012 but was smart enough for not doing that on a motorcycle, now I think is time to translate the whole article and spread his word, probably will make sense to you, the article is so long so I will post it in three parts, this week enjoy the Part 1…. Here we go!!

“I am writing this article more for beginners – although it may be beneficial for those who have been on a motorcycle for a while but feel that they have not evolved as much as they wanted. What should you do to get better on a motorcycle? What is the right attitude to learn faster? There are a thousand and one questions where if you find the correct answers you will have the chance to evolve faster on two wheels. Many of the motorcyclists have ALL the answers and many have no more to learn. Many of these are no longer among us. Is it because they know everything or because they haven’t learned anything? Many would like to be given a chance to do things differently, to learn what they need, to ride properly on the motorcycle, to have first and foremost respect for yourself and then respect for those around you.

My opinion is that motorcycling is directly related to ‘common sense’. This common sense can be interpreted in your actions on the bike to the roadmates, to the pedestrians, to the drivers. You must realize that you will not be respected if you do not give respect.
I would like to point out that these writings are not copied, translated from books or magazines and represent my opinion as a motorcyclist. I am not the fastest on the track, I am not the best on wheeling, I am not good at stunts, but I am 40 years old and 26 years motorcycling, on more than 100 different motorcycles. Ah. And I’m still here.

As a beginner, you have a lot of questions to which you have no answers or to which you receive 1001 different answers. Some of these are and have been much debated on forums but never all in one place. The idea is to look for all the questions whose answers will help us to advance in the ‘motorcycle ride’. First of all, I was thinking about the things that underlie the attitude of a rider and who later sculpt him into the motorcyclist he will be. Dedication to sports, fear, adrenaline, talent, madness, perseverance, reflex, stature, common sense, ego, risk … What makes us go as we go? What makes us worse than others? What do we need to do to work better? I think the most important thing in motorcycling is that you have to be aware that a dead motorcyclist cannot make any progress.

Why do we die on our heads? Are they just the drivers of guilt? Motorcyclists are not guilty?
Whenever an accident happens less serious or unfortunately in some cases even fatal we hear the same sorry excuse: I did not have / had no fault … the driver is guilty. The poor motorcyclist … was traveling 270km / hour and the car turned in front of him … and others and others. Let’s talk a little about this attitude and what makes us more PROSPECTIVE than we should.

1. The moment you sell your bicicle to give an advance for buying a ZX-10, Cleary: you are unconscious. This does not mean that you will not be able to ride on that bike, but only that your chances of survival are much lower. And here you have to stay thinking the following: Does your family have enough money to bury you? Will parents care that you are dead or will they benefit from your death? Your girlfriend/boyfriend on the hand of which of your friend remains?

If all these things interest you and it matters and if you are not totally unconscious you will come to the conclusion that you have to look for a motorcycle to measure, one not necessarily with a very small capacity but not too powerful. One that will take you from here to the beginning, forgive you as much as the mistakes, which is in a good technical condition and which will give you the chance to enjoy it also ‘tomorrow’ – because you are not dead . That doesn’t mean you can’t become a “statistic” even on a scooter – if you’re an idiot.

Do you have 2 days as motorcycle owner and ask everyone how it goes wheeling? Do you have 3 days as motorcycle owner and go on ‘trips’ with ‘the guys’ on the mountain roads? Do you have 4-days as motorcyclist and do you bunrout between the traffic lights on the city boulevards? You’re an idiot and you’ll die. My only wish is not to take me with you.

2. Okay, you bought the right motorcycle. It’s super beautiful. Before you go out to ride it, you have to understand that the first and biggest factor leading to the accident are friends. Those who were expecting as much as you to get your motorcycle to have someone to shows how well they are doing towards you, beginner. There are people who unconsciously guide you to do nonsenses, to go faster than you should, to go differently than you have to. It influences you without realizing it, in a totally wrong direction. Rarely do you see a motorcyclist friend who tells you to take it slowly and not try to go after him.
You have to realize that where is a lot of adrenaline, the chances of accident and death increase. It does not mean that if you have with you, next to you, 10 other motorcyclists – that they in turn know how to ride properly. It does not mean that one of the 10 will not make a mistake and will not crash you or that it is not advanced enough to avoid a mistake of yours, of the beginner.

It is very important to choose your friends with whom you go carefully – especially as a beginner. My opinion is that the wisest thing is to go as much as you can, at your own pace, without being stressed and pressured by others to go at a different pace than you feel comfortable.

3. Till here so far everything good and beautiful. What are you doing? Start the engine and go on the road. First day slower. The next day something harder. The third day something even harder and a little less attentive to the traffic around you. On the fourth day you become a rocket and all the other traffic participants don’t matter. Just because you are Gigi with the GSXR1000 and 200 hp … they won’t respect you. So go through intersections without looking left / right – just because you have green and priority. The idiot who comes with the car from the side, who just left the garage, does not have time to brake and crash you full even though you had priority. He gets elected with a criminal case – actually he was the son of a Member of Parliament – and you with the broken column will stay in bed face down to wipe out by your loving parents at the ass the rest of your life. Your wife meets the defendant to receive the compensation … she realizes that he is whole more than you … and remarries with. That’s it, at least he cares about her life. But what matters is that only YOU have priority and He was guilty. Your friends will still understand, appreciate and respect you. That you are all Gigi but broken in two.

What I’m trying to say is that most of motorcyclists leave their lives in the hands of others every time they go out on the road. Not paying attention to those around you becomes a reflection. The dog on the sidewalk 50m above is no longer a danger, as a week earlier you had the opportunity to see a stray dog that stopped at the red traffic light and went green with the pedestrians. In your subconscious you realize that dog is smarter than you. At least he holds on to his life.

You had to realize that any object moving left / right can become the last thing you will see. Don’t rely on the driver seeing you will stop. Don’t rely on the fact that that stray dog won’t cross the street. Do not rely on the fact that you can brake so well that you do not get under the truck you are trying to bit on the highway at 150km / hour. Take in account the unexpected and the fact that ANYTHING can happen to you. Anything, Anyone, Anytime.

The idea is to RIDE PREVENTIVE. The harder you ride, the longer the distance between you and the objects that present a danger must be greater at the beginning of braking or avoiding that ‘something’. You will be surprised to realize “that something” did just that maneuver that you were afraid of, and you could avoid the accident just because you thought and did not leave your life ‘in the hands of another’.

To be continued next week….

Written by Oresti Marmara, 1968-2012.
In memoriam…