Look where you are going, not where you are.
Take the MSF course!
Ride! If you only ride on the weekends, you start all over again every Saturday! Ride every chance you get - take every opportunity!
Learn to ride in the rain and not be afraid of it. Respectful of it, but not afraid.
Gear up.
Do your safety checks before riding (lights, air pressures), and perform proper chain maintenance when needed.
Ride. Alot. Experience comes from hours/miles in the saddle.
Don't try to keep up with those on faster bikes, or those with more experience - ride your own ride, and don't worry about them. They will get over it, and would rather have you behind them on the road, than left at home.
Never question the abilities of your TRIUMPH motorcycle. It is as good a bike as there is on the road, limited in performance ONLY by your riding experience and confidence. It will keep up with or outperform any other cruiser (except the Rocket III) except in acceleration at speeds over the speed limit anyway. Most sportbikes I see on the roads around Houston are not riding around Houston as fast as I ride my Speedmaster. They could, but either lack the experience/skill/confidence, or are just not in a hurry to get there. I pass most other motorcycles I ever see on the road simply because I am riding faster to begin with. It is not a race. My Speedmaster just stays at about 80 mph all the time. They won't.
As it appears that the new cast wheels on the America are now shod with the same Metzler tires as the Speedmaster - be confident that you are riding on some of the finest tubeless tires available, affording exceptional grip and traction at all lean angles and on wet pavement. More than a lot of other aspects of machine, I think the high-end tires contributed the most to my confidence in the bike, and influenced my feelings about riding in the rain by proving to me that traction is minimally affected. Because of that, I'll ride in any weather (except snow/ice?), and this has helped me accrue 26k on my SM in only 26 months of riding.
I am/was a newbie. The SPEEDMASTER helped me get over it, along with a lot of support from the family here at BA.COM.
