There is no better way to learn than practice, but short of that, when coming over from the dark side to the C14, I found a great deal of benefit from reading Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough, along with Total Control by Lee Parks. Both are available on Amazon. These are good resources with many practical lessons to be learned. After reading them, I find myself practicing specific techniques from them in my everyday riding.
On that note, I personally have nearly 100,000 miles under my belt on HDs (and loved every mile by the way) and can attest that the C14 can do things, with margin to spare, that I would have never attempted on my Harleys. Even on what is HDs best handling configuration, the Dyna line, there was simply no way to ride even marginally as agressive as possible on the Concours. For me, the change came when I rode with others on sport touring bikes, me on an Ultra Classic, on a long distance ride and I simply could not stay within the same area code. I'm not the best rider in the world, I know, but do have nearly 30 years of riding experience, many thousands of miles of riding, and years of experience competing on dirt, and low speed drills, and find the C14 to be up to the task. Yes, there are sport bikes that may handle better and be faster, but from a versatility standpoint, I just can see any bike that will do as much.
Bottom line - learn as much as you can in theory, and in practice, but don't push past your comfort level, especially on the street or open road. And when riding within your comfort zone, and this comes straight from David Hough, when you get into a bad situation, you have a margin left to give. Lee Parks uses the analogy of have $10 worth of capability. If you are expending $9.50 around a corner and there is a bump (or gravel, or wildlife, or a vehicle, or, or) in your path, having $.050 left in your wallet is not enough. Why risk it?
