If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
New Rider ForumsJust joining the motorcyclist hobbie? Looking to get some information about a first bike? Or have some newbie questions. Are you new to the website?
Title says it all, just completed my MSF class a few minutes ago, and it has only fueled my desire to become a better rider that much more. I'm already a ton more confident (not to be confused with cocky though) than I was before the class, but still have in my mind a few things I need to work on. For example, I want to try the box using some rear break instead of clutch control. Add me to the list of those who HIGHLY recommend that people take the class.
I was the top of my class on the riding test, only lost points for going a foot or two out of the line on the box on the second turn. On the breaking test I was 2 hundredths of a second shy of being DQ'ed for being too fast, but I managed to stop the bike in 13 feet. 20 feet was the expected distance for my speed, so the coaches were happy about that.
There was only two incidents, one lady stalled the bike in the box and dropped it, and another one of the faster guys had a slower person in front of him suprise him and he grabbed too much front break and went straight to the pavement (he was ok, turn signals on the bike not so much).
The class was at a local Harley dealer, but everyone was cool. One lady there told us after the class that she had taken the class before, and inbetween the days her father got sick. She said she came the next day after having been up all night and not in the same frame of mine, and broke her foot in 3 places in a crash. She promised her dad before he died that she would come back and finish the class and get on a bike, and she did! Everyone was blown away after she told us.
Sorry for the long winded, yea me post, but my wife is sick of hearing how much fun I had!
Posts: 9,393
Casino Cash: $60358
Sportbike: '02 Ninja 250 with More $ in Mods Than I Care to Admit
Good work man.
__________________
In Life, Try To Be The Kind Of Person Your Dog Thinks You Are...
Colts, 49ers, Lions, 2008 Stanley Cup Champion Red Wings, Tigers, Pistons, MSU Spartans, USC Trojans, LSU Tigers
2008 SBN CBS Sportsline Fantasy Football League Champion
2002 Kawasaki Ninja 250--SV-650 rear shock, Sonic Springs .80kg/mm front springs, ZX-2R graphics, flush mount front signals, tail pod rear signals, Kerker 2-1 race pipe, Factory Pro Stage 3 jet kit, UNI pod filters, ZG Double Bubble, Custom Creations soft vinyl seat cover, Kawi Green rim stripes, carbon brake fluid cap, carbon control levers, No Rear Fender, Yamaha R1 Style Mirrors, V-LEDs.com H4 HID Kit, Nelson Rigg Silver Streak Mini Saddle Bags, Rapid Transit Recon Tank Bag, Various Manufacturers Decals
Nice job. I'm halfway through the class myself. There's already been one incident, I'm expecting a few more next week when the exercises actually begin to get tough.
Posts: 3,958
Casino Cash: $24990
Sportbike: Too many but never enough
Sparing your wife all the bike talk is what these forums are for! My family probably would have taken me out back and put me out of my misery if I couldn't talk to people like you about bikes!
Well done- learning things is a whole lot of fun, and the BRC opens a whole lot of new horizons to learn and practice. Well done!
__________________
Go soothingly on the grease mud, as there lurks the skid demon.
2006 Daytona 675 street squid bike
1999 SV650 track tool and face plant master
1991 Husky 610 bitsa, tard, dirt weapon, and oil puddle creator
1971 Norton Commando garage ornament
1973 Chevy blingin' hooptie van bike hauler
Nice job. I'm halfway through the class myself. There's already been one incident, I'm expecting a few more next week when the exercises actually begin to get tough.
good job.
Good luck to you! I wouldnt sweat the exercises too much, The hardest for us as a whole was the box, but its not really a lifesaving skill, so our instructors didnt stress it too much. I found the weaving to be a ton of fun, and so did most of the class once they did it a couple of times and got over the initial "you want me to intentionally to what?" phase of it.
Good luck to you! I wouldnt sweat the exercises too much, The hardest for us as a whole was the box, but its not really a lifesaving skill, so our instructors didnt stress it too much. I found the weaving to be a ton of fun, and so did most of the class once they did it a couple of times and got over the initial "you want me to intentionally to what?" phase of it.
No, I'm expecting others to have more incidents. I'm pretty sure i'll be ok.
Good luck to you! I wouldnt sweat the exercises too much, The hardest for us as a whole was the box, but its not really a lifesaving skill, so our instructors didnt stress it too much. I found the weaving to be a ton of fun, and so did most of the class once they did it a couple of times and got over the initial "you want me to intentionally to what?" phase of it.
I see you decided on the sv! I'm sure you'll enjoy it, as I did the same. Be careful with the power, though, as it is definitely a handful the first couple of hundred miles. Try to use smooth clutch control, and be very wary of slow speed maneuvers, especially having to brake quickly while turning at 5mph. That's the scariest part if you don't set the bike up correctly, as it will try to tip over, and 400+ lbs of bike tipping over is a handful when you're not prepared for it.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome_oneil
We know you're a unique and special snowflake. We know you're the exception to the rule. We know you're not like all those other dumb assed n00bs that wadded themselves up. You're a mold breaker, babe! You're a natural. You were born to tear it up on a hot rod stuntin' superbike.
I see you decided on the sv! I'm sure you'll enjoy it, as I did the same. Be careful with the power, though, as it is definitely a handful the first couple of hundred miles. Try to use smooth clutch control, and be very wary of slow speed maneuvers, especially having to brake quickly while turning at 5mph. That's the scariest part if you don't set the bike up correctly, as it will try to tip over, and 400+ lbs of bike tipping over is a handful when you're not prepared for it.
Yeah, I'm absolutely loving the SV! I'd be a liar if I said I hadnt rolled on it a bit on the old highway besides the interstate when I could see for a mile or so with no one around. It's definately got more power than I'm ready to play with for now. Slow speed manuevers were what made me the most nervous initially, but after going through the MSF and learning the clutch control drills I'm alot more confident (I do realize I'm still learning though, I just dont get so uptight). I was afraid of playing with the clutch too much and burning it up like you would on a car, but learning otherwise had made a night and day difference.
Im going to add my $0.02 as I also finished up MSF yesterday.
Overall, I'd have to say I was actually disappointed with the course. I've never ridden before.
Maryland law requires 17 hours total, 7 in a classroom, 10 on the bike. I did all of the classroom hours up front, and spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday on the riding range. My instructors were two wonderful ladies who kept the mood light and the students having fun, to the best of their ability.
My main problem with the course is that for the 10 hours where were supposed to be riding, I'd say that I was in motion on the motorcycle for a total of maybe 15 minutes maximum. The vast majority of the time was spent either on a break in between excercises; having the excercises explained, demonstrated, and explained some more; sitting on the bike with it off practicing the motions; sitting on the bike waiting for the line of motorcycles to move so that it was my turn to do the excercise and be in motion for 15 seconds at a time.
I don't fault my instructors for this, they were just following the rules given to them. I learned the basics but I really don't have a feel for how it is to just ride because we were always forced into doing specific excercises to learn one aspect of riding. To make matters worse, each individual student was only allowed to do the excercise for perhaps two times around before they stopped and we took a break forever before moving on to the next excercise. In some instances, I was only able to do the excercise ONCE before it being stopped and moving on. That is not the way to ride.
The gentleman who I discovered opened up the school at the local community college happens to be an active member of this forum (95% sure) but he will go unnamed for the moment.
I hope everyone else had a more enjoyable experience than I did and was able to ride for a significant period of time.
Im going to add my $0.02 as I also finished up MSF yesterday.
Overall, I'd have to say I was actually disappointed with the course. I've never ridden before.
Maryland law requires 17 hours total, 7 in a classroom, 10 on the bike. I did all of the classroom hours up front, and spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday on the riding range. My instructors were two wonderful ladies who kept the mood light and the students having fun, to the best of their ability.
My main problem with the course is that for the 10 hours where were supposed to be riding, I'd say that I was in motion on the motorcycle for a total of maybe 15 minutes maximum. The vast majority of the time was spent either on a break in between excercises; having the excercises explained, demonstrated, and explained some more; sitting on the bike with it off practicing the motions; sitting on the bike waiting for the line of motorcycles to move so that it was my turn to do the excercise and be in motion for 15 seconds at a time.
I don't fault my instructors for this, they were just following the rules given to them. I learned the basics but I really don't have a feel for how it is to just ride because we were always forced into doing specific excercises to learn one aspect of riding. To make matters worse, each individual student was only allowed to do the excercise for perhaps two times around before they stopped and we took a break forever before moving on to the next excercise. In some instances, I was only able to do the excercise ONCE before it being stopped and moving on. That is not the way to ride.
The gentleman who I discovered opened up the school at the local community college happens to be an active member of this forum (95% sure) but he will go unnamed for the moment.
I hope everyone else had a more enjoyable experience than I did and was able to ride for a significant period of time.
If I had to gripe about something related to my course, it would be the exact opposite thing. Sure, there were some exercises where we had to line up and wait a little, but for the most part our instructors were good at keeping it moving. One was the master of talking to you and watching someone else at the same time. He was brief enough, that by the time you cleared out, the other person was there waiting for their pointers.
On alot of the exercises, they had all 12 of us out there at once, and it actually caused one of the incidents that I talked about (not the box, obviously). We had several folks who had ridden at least something before, and we were substantially faster than one or two of the folks who didnt equate a little bit of speed with stability.
On the exercise where you upshift in the turn and downshift in the straights to set up for the turn, the slower person would break as well, instead of letting the engine do its thing. Once, that person breaked as the guy was coming out of the turn, building speed, and suprised him. For those exercises, it was more about dodging the traffic jams created by the slower folks, than it was about developing the skills the exercise was trying to teach.
After the incident, we went a did a debrief on what happened, and from then on we did it 6 at a time, and 6 spectating, with the ridercoach talking to the sitting group about what the moving droup was doing wrong, and we did each exercise twice like that, so you got to go again after watching the others. That really seemed to help, and was a nice balance.
Last edited by toolfreek : 06-02-2008 at 01:57 PM.
Yet another MSF BRC grad!
Linear Mode
