Bicycling experience any crossover to moto?

IME (former road bike racer and 250 rider for a few years) there are some similarities. Racing a bike is a lot like riding a motorcycle in a pedestrian manner. Riding a motorcycle hard is a lot different, due to the massive increase in traction, braking power, suspension, etc. Your traffic survival skills will only transfer in the most general sense, i.e. you are aware that cars are basically oblivious to you. Keeping up with cars, rather than being passed by them, means re-learning your instincts for how someone will end up trying to take you out.

Yes there are transferable skills, especially if you ride a bicycle in traffic already and are used to it.

You will already be conscious of things like being in someones blind spot, getting cut off by turning vehicles, nobody using signals, etc.

You will be more aware of the space you take up on two wheels and whether or not you can squeeze through that gap (if lane splitting)

A lot of the subconscious judgement and awareness stuff carries over.

If you learned how to ride a bike and know how to drive a manual transmission you are light years ahead of the curve.

Trying to teach someone how to use a clutch or turn in a circle is maddening.

Being good at riding a bike and motorcycle have similarities like balance, being aware of being unseen, breaking feels similar and countersteering among other things. Their are significant differences though. Clutch control, too much front brake while turning on a motorcycle will fuck you up where on a bike you can power through it, not chopping throttle or accelerating too much in turns, among others. Don't be overconfident and learn as much as you can, overconfidence is not good if you don't know your skill level which many overestimate. I've also had more people pull out in front of me and try to merge into me while riding a motorcycle than I ever did on a bicycle.

The situational awareness, and being aware of the fact that most drivers will not see you, will be the most helpful similarity. Balance, turning and stopping are somewhat similar, but are definitely different than a bicycle.

I started by doing a lot of mountain biking and cross country back in the day. When I jumped on a motorcycle it felt like home, when I took the motorcycle off road well.. it really felt like I was back on my biking years.

You need to adapt and learn new techniques both on the road and off and that's the case. Taking courses will help you a lot, but you won't be starting from scratch, that's for sure!

I am the same way, loads of road/mountain experience before hopping on a sports bike. Lots of skills did transfer, which allowed me to focus on shifting and braking. Even the small stuff like going taking both hands off when you forget to zip up- you're going to be more comfortable right off the bat

good things have been said already. i started riding bicycles seriously in NYC and that helped tremendously with awareness. my parents made me learn a car with stick shift first, and that helped with the mechanics of shifting and knowing what an engine is doing.

what i would add to this is actually low-speed handling. i've slacked off on my road cycling time and spent more time in the woods and riding my hardtail in the woods. from that, navigating obstacles at slow speed, picking a line, and working your way through that has helped tremendously with either navigating parking lots or stop and go traffic without having to put a foot down or draggin soles. just my .02

A few, but nothing worth considering worthwhile.

A lot of the stuff here about traffic awareness is spot on. The time you've spent learning how people behave on the road is gonna save your ass like crazy, and you might have some other spatial reasoning skills you can bring over. But you really can't lean too much on that stuff, because that's where the direct crossover hits a wall.

I've spent ten-plus years racing road and mountain bikes, and have been riding motos for five. The biggest difference I noticed going from a bicycle to a motorcycle was the moto's sheer heft and speed – my first few weeks on a motorcycle in traffic felt like I was riding a battleship that was always going way too quickly. This awful sensation goes away eventually, but the moto's still gonna be heavy as shit.

Now, you sound like a thoughtful, conscientious person, but I must say: fight the urge to hop on and flick your first moto around like it's one of your sexy race bikes. It's a really good way to find yourself in deep shit before you know how to get out of deep shit. This a rad world you're looking at joining, but the consequences here are often bigger and more expensive.

Speaking of shit, check this shit out. Watch that before you learn anything else about riding motos from anybody. Welcome home, and good luck!