Thoughts on the MSF Course

[VSG]

I know there's plenty of threads on here already, but I figured I'd give my thoughts on the class to those that are thinking about it.

The class room portion was good.  There were several videos, many regarding the risks to riding and how to be a safer rider.  After each vid we would discuss it and/or participate in an activity.  Several times the instructors had each table teach the class on something.  He'd make sure we hit all the key points.  So that kept things from getting boring, and the instructors themselves were very funny.  It never felt like I was wasting my in a classroom.

On to the riding part...

I've never even sat on a motorcycle until about a month ago.  Rode the first time about a week before I took the MSF.  I rode about 3 or 4 times just around my neighborhood with little to no traffic.  I think this helped me out a lot.  I read about and was able to experience counter-steer, shifting, braking, etc.  So I had somewhat of grasp on that going into the course.

I think the important thing this class does is teach you the little things.  They reinforce looking where you want to go, counter-steering, looking ahead, etc.  And they help get rid of bad habits you may have had, or you will have without the training.

It's also a good way to practice emergency braking and swerving in a safe way.  It doesn't seem as scary if you lock up the rear tire there.

One draw back is that there will be people that are either slow learners or just not meant to be on a bike.  They will slow down some exercises.  There were a couple of people that didn't even get up to 15 mph.  One the bikes we used, countersteering doesn't really "kick in" untill 15+.  So there are some people that went through the whole course and didn't experience countersteering!  For the swerving section, they just turned the handlebars right to swerve right.

I think the fact that I had ridden a few times before actually taking the course helped out a lot.  I didn't need to concentrate on coordination of the controls and could pay attention to actually riding.  I was even put in the "fast" group for the higher speed corners and swerving.  The others all had much more riding experience than I did.  I was able to keep up without trouble.

My inexperience did show on the slow speed stuff.  The thing I had the most touble with was the figure 8.  I need to get more used to using the clutch to regulate speed a bit more, and use more counter-weighting.

Over all it was a lot of fun.  I learned some good techniques/practices and I feel much more confident in my riding now.

If you're a complete beginner, definitely take it.  If you've been riding for a while, I still think it's a good idea.  Some of the people that have been riding for years said that they fixed many bad habits they had.

[WildBlue]

Good post, I highly recommend it too.

One draw back is that there will be people that are either slow learners or just not meant to be on a bike.  They will slow down some exercises.  There were a couple of people that didn't even get up to 15 mph.  One the bikes we used, countersteering doesn't really "kick in" untill 15+.  So there are some people that went through the whole course and didn't experience countersteering!  For the swerving section, they just turned the handlebars right to swerve right.

When I took the course one person was actually asked to come back some other time because she dropped the bike 3 or 4 times within the first 30 minutes.

Ironically when one starts riding one of the hardest things to do is convince yourself to go FASTER.  Go figure.   

[VSG]

Ironically, at higher speeds, it's also much more stable and smooth.  So they could have done a lot better.  And would be a safer rider out on the street.

One thing I noticed with the 250s (I think they were honda nighthawks?) was that 15 mph did seem fast on those.  Is that the nature of 250s or is just a mental thing out on the course?

[Dan02GS]

Good post, I agree even though I had been riding for quite a few years I really enjoyed the class when i took it again this past year. I had let my motorcycle license lapse and came back and thought that I was rusty, the class really showed me that I was rusty. Yes I had trouble with that figure eight too... Now I kind of wish there were more opportunities to take these classes. Heck I even want to take the dirt bike class too.