Which scenario breeds the better rider?

[Smittie61984]

Originally Posted by 101lifts2

To me a better rider is the onr who knows to handle a motorcycle under all conditions the best.

That's what I believe too.

Personally I think if you can handle say a Harley which is heavy and not great at braking or handling and then you go to a more advanced and nimble sportbike they would fair better (once they get use to the bike). A sportbike rider who gets a cruiser may not recognize some dangers that a seasoned cruiser rider would (such as braking earlier).

But I think a lot is seat time in different conditions. I feel I'm a fairly decent rider being I ride rush hour interstate traffic, downtown Atlanta, twisties of the mountains, straights of south georgia, SUV dodging of the suburbs, dodging of deer in the out suburbs and country, all weather and just about any condition you could imagine for the street (including some offroad time on my bike). And I've done it without crashing (of course that could change today) despite many near misses and probalby 20k miles in 2 years of riding.