Good ideas timon
Forest,
I have dropped my bike 2 times just parking it in gravel at my friends house, jeese couldn't belive it, not even going 1/2 a mile an hour. Of course I have highway bars, so it didn't touch any chrome or paint.
Also hooper, I recommend going to your local CC college or wherever and taking the motocycle riding course. In Oregon it's just one weekend and they teach you everything on smaller bikes like a Suzuki 250 or so. When you pass the course here you just take your cert. to the dmv and you get your endorsement. Might be diff. in Texas though.