If you want your woman to learn to ride a Harley, - don't teach her yourself!

Get a professional riding instructor and let him take the heat when things go wrong. Or fall over. I began training my wife (a Mexicana doctor) to ride by renting a scooter for an hour. She sat on it - learned to give it gas, let off the throttle, use the brake and go around and around in a parking lot until she got the handle of it. That did it - her inner biker was released.

Feeling full of confidence - she bought a $1,600.US 200cc Chinese made dirt bike that I recommended as an easy learner. My first mistake. She's 5'10" and the bike's saddle was still too high. It's slightly high for me and I'm 6.' Practicing on dirt roads, she dropped it numerous times - usually in low speed turns. She resolved the problem by buying a lower saddle Honda 125cc Invicta and dumping the "Chinga."

Chinga in Spanish translates to "F**k it". Mexicans sometimes uses colorful native expressions unknown north of the border. One month and 200 miles later, she was bored of the perfect little Honda and bought a Harley Sportster 883cc over my serious objections.

Being born and bred on British bikes, I did my best to educate her by sharing some astute observations like - Harleys are clumsy, overweight, underpowered antiques.

And - Harleys are for little guys who want to roar down the road with loud pipes scaring dogs, chickens and little children. But they have a good side too. They allow Neanderthals to develop the feminine side of their brains by decorating their bikes. Some Harleys are so bling, they're gay. Think about it, they've become the ultimate Bad Child fashion statement. But for her (and a lot of fellas) it was more about how she looked on the bike than how it performed and handled. Or rather didn't.

One of her first purchases when beginning riding lessons was riding gear. Full-face helmet, armored jackets and pants, motorcycle boots, and gloves. This stuff is as important as the bike. When you see those superbike motorcycle racers hitting the track pavement at 150mph and getting right back up - it's because of their impact and abrasion resistant riding gear.

She has dropped her Chinga, Honda, my Triumph and her new Harleys at least 20 times over the past 6 months without scratch to herself. Just to the bikes. Especially mine....

She broke my headlight mounting brackets, turn signal lenses, foot peg, brake lever, mirror, and scratched exhaust pipes. But each time she fell over, she quickly crawled out from under the bike stood right up, determined as ever to continue. I was proud of her.

Understand, for real beginners - most falls are a result of lack of confidence during low-speed maneuvers. Riders don't go blasting down the highway and all of a sudden fall over. The beginning rider is usually going slowly, gets nervous, they look at their feet or road instead of ahead, and over they go - in the direction they are looking. Down.

Another factor causing spills for beginners is from having "too many monkeys in the head." One must clear their mind before getting on a bike. Riding safely requires undivided attention.

At my suggestion, she took motorcycle training at a Harley Dealership in the States. Another mistake here. First session consisted of the instructor priming the 20 students at the dealership on all the Harley models, apparel and accessories. Welcome to the world of Harley.

The classroom instruction was straight out of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course. The on-bike instruction was done on heavy Harley powered 500cc Buell Blasts. Waaaay too much bike for a beginner. Her class was full of experienced bike riders who were taking the class as required to get an Oregon motorcycle operators license.

She was tense in the field class and dropped the Buell 3 times in the first hour and was asked to leave! What went wrong? She did fine back earlier in Cabo San Lucas on the rented scooter....

Lesson learned here - If you take beginners riding lessons in a group situation - be sure that it is truly a beginners class or you won't be able to keep up with the others who may be experienced riders just wanting the class certification for their license. And trust me, despite what the Harley salesmen say, it's nearly impossible to pick a Harley back up alone when tipped over. You need at 2-3 guys... or a towtruck.

Lots of damage was done in that Harley class - to her ego, not to the bike.

She returned to San Diego weeks later and hired a professional instructor for 2 half days of one-on-one instruction on a 250cc Yamaha dirt bike. She spread her biker wings and flew. She was ecstatic and full of confidence as a result of the training. The instructor was great, making running comments to me on her increasing abilities as we observed her doing her figure eights, panic stops, high-speed curves and running an obstacle course at slow speed.

After all this instruction, reading the books and putting it to practice - she now says that learning to ride a motorcycle has made her a better car driver. Now she anticipates trouble situations on the road two blocks ahead of her, is more careful changing lanes, following, passing, watching for road surface hazards etc.

The experience of becoming a bike rider has been a positive one for her. We tour the Mexican and US countryside together, sharing the fun of riding motorcycles. For her a large part of the fun has been in overcoming traditional Mexican stereotypes of what a Mexican woman can and should not do.

Update: 3 months later. She bought her 4th bike this year (and 2nd new Harley)- a 1583cc Dyna Fat Bob. She rode off to Loreto a few hundred miles north of Cabo with the HOG's (Harley Owners Group) for a long weekend.

Pancho Villa the Mexican revolutionary general once said: "Always keep your gun, your horse, and your woman by your side." He might have added: "...and don't teach your woman to ride." If anyone sees my wife, tell her I miss her.

Cabo San Lucas based David Mandich, has been riding motos, writing and selling real estate in Cabo for most of his adult life. A motorcycle rider for over 45 years - he does not recommend Harleys for beginnig riders. "They make good boat anchors though..."

He can be reached at: davidm@century21baja.com