GStwin.com GS500 Message Forum

Grr.

good read.. me love those tiny 125's.. they are so awesome.. makes you feel like the king of the road.

Congrats on passing the MSF!! EXCELLENT write up!! You're a very talented writer!! Sound like a flock of angry weed wackers!  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Glad you did so well in the MSF, and don't let a good bike go by!!!!!!!!


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Quote from: pandyEXCELLENT write up!! You're a very talented writer!! Sound like a flock of angry weed wackers!  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Thanks.  That means a lot to me.  I like to write, but I don't get a chance to do much of it.  So I have to take it out on motorcycle forums.  

QuoteGlad you did so well in the MSF, and don't let a good bike go by!!!!!!!!

I'll try not to, but it'll be a couple of month before I can seriously start looking.  So far there's been a couple decent good looking GSs a month in the Seattle area, so I don't think it'll be too hard to find one.  I'm pretty set on the GS, though, none of this wishy washy "I'll take a Ninja 500, too, I guess."  So keep your fingers crossed for me.  :)

Nice write up!  Brought me back to my safety course, two years ago.

TCLOCS - we never learned that one.

FINEC for us was FINECC - and that went (fuel, ignition, neutral, engine kill switch, choke, (and in case you screwed up the neutral part) clutch)  :lol:

I thought your figure 8 part was funny.  It sounds like a ring where people go head to head like tournament fighters or something, haha.  For us, they set up a bunch of pylons for various things (figure 8's, circles, slaloms, etc) and it was more like an amusement park (you could do whatever activity you wanted)

Those are some powerful weedwhackers you were dealing with.  The course I took, at Sheridan college here, had 75cc and 125cc dirtbikes, if I remember correctly.

My instructor described me as being a "sensible" rider when graduating me.   :mrgreen:

Oh, and of course, you gotta miss kicking that manual starter 80 times  :lol:

Entertaining and informative.  A great read!
Thanks :lol:

Definately brought back memories...Ah the memories. :lol:
I was laughing out loud a couple times, and all the girls here at work kept staring at me (maybe that's cause I'm adorable, though :bs:)  

I especially liked the part about flying, feeling like Rossi, but only going 15mph.

By the way extra housework is definately a good trade-off for a bike.  Now what you need to do (after getting a bike) is get wifey to take the course, you could take it again if you want, it is kinda fun after all.  Then she'll be begging you for housework, so she can get a bike.  :thumb:

Quote from: aaronstjI like to write, but I don't get a chance to do much of it.  So I have to take it out on motorcycle forums.  

Well, you should write more! Use that talent more!!!!!  Your write-up was so darned good! I was LoL'ing, too! So, of course, I had to read parts out loud to my sweetheart, who was looking at me funny because I seemed to be enjoying my computer screen so much! ;)

Quote from: aaronstjI'm pretty set on the GS...  So keep your fingers crossed for me.  :)

Couldn't make a better choice! Fingers and toes are crossed! And, as someone else said, try to get your wife to take the MSF and fall in love with moto'ing, too!!!!  :thumb:

Looking down at the speedo and seeing I was doing 20 mph and that I'd covered 12 miles in two days...what a great feeling!  

As for the figure-8 box, I found that doing it in second gear and using just the clutch to speed up and slow down and not the throttle or brake made the test a lot easier. I did the figure-8 with plenty of room to spare.

Great write up, got me all excited for my MSF course... which will be nowhere in the near future... damn! oh well, guess I'll just sit back and enjoy my  :cheers:

Quote from: GSJamesTCLOCS - we never learned that one.

FINEC for us was FINECC - and that went (fuel, ignition, neutral, engine kill switch, choke, (and in case you screwed up the neutral part) clutch)  :lol:

TCLOCS is for your preride check.  Our C was for a comination choke and clutch, so I guess ours was really a FINECC too, but the instructor just pronounced it fine-see.

Quote from: GSJamesI thought your figure 8 part was funny.  It sounds like a ring where people go head to head like tournament fighters or something, haha.  For us, they set up a bunch of pylons for various things (figure 8's, circles, slaloms, etc) and it was more like an amusement park (you could do whatever activity you wanted)

Yeah, it was kinda like gladiators at he coliseum. :)  We all lined up, and Bruce ordered the results sheets by the line, so he could just check off the grades one my one.  First we did the figure eight box and the swerve in one go.  Coming out of the swerve, we got in line for the braking, and coming out of braking we got in line for the cornering.  Seemed like a pretty efficient system.
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Quote from: dbNncAs for the figure-8 box, I found that doing it in second gear and using just the clutch to speed up and slow down and not the throttle or brake made the test a lot easier. I did the figure-8 with plenty of room to spare.

The speed wasn't a huge deal for me - I kept it in second gear and used the throttle, since my clutch didn't seem to have much friction zone.  The biggest problem really was trusting the bike and leaning it way over under your body at such low speeds.



As for the people suggesting I get my wife to ride, she's game, but also rediculously short, and worried she wouldn't fit on a bike.  She's 4'10" or so (to my 6'4", I know).  Maybe I could stick her on a kid's dirt bike.  :mrgreen:

Quote from: aaronstjAs for the people suggesting I get my wife to ride, she's game, but also rediculously short, and worried she wouldn't fit on a bike.  She's 4'10" or so (to my 6'4", I know).  Maybe I could stick her on a kid's dirt bike.  :mrgreen:

Some good platform boots, and she'd be able to reach the ground on a GS! ;)

Sounds almost exactly like my own MSF experience, except we all had GZ250's and one Buell Blast at our disposal.   I liked the little Honda, and if I never wanted to go above 60 MPH, I would have one in a heartbeat.

We were all warned to wear protective clothing (long pants, long sleeve shirts, gloves) but 2 of the girls came dressed in really really thin fabric blouses with sleeves that went just to the elbows...and each one of them fell at some point.  One girl skinned her forearm really bad, another ripped her thin nylon blouse when she fell.   One girl came properly dressed, and her mom hung around a while (quietly in the background).  Turns out her parents were German and were avid bikers, and they wanted their daughter to take the MSF before they let her ride the Ninja 250 they bought for her.  (Pretty cool parents!)

One of the guys in my class had his Harley on order, and was taking the MSF the same week his bike was supposed to arrive at the dealership.  I thought a Harley would be a bad beginner bike, but that was his choice.  :dunno:

A woman in my class already had a Harley at home waiting for her to finish the course.   Not that I was an expert, but I could do everything (except the figure-eight) very well by the time we finished.   She could still barely get the bike going without stalling, and could barely corner or do a panic-stop.  She should DEFINITELY not have had a Harley as a first bike!  :nono:

I took my MSF card to DMV and was out the door with my Motorcycle license in less than 10 minutes!   :thumb:

Quote from: CaffeineWe were all warned to wear protective clothing (long pants, long sleeve shirts, gloves) but 2 of the girls came dressed in really really thin fabric blouses with sleeves that went just to the elbows...and each one of them fell at some point.  One girl skinned her forearm really bad, another ripped her thin nylon blouse when she fell.

Ouch.  Luckily, no one fell in our class dropped a bike.  There were a couple of girls who started out pretty shake, but but the end of the course, everyone was pretty solid.

Our instructor asked everyone what kind of bike they planned on getting the first day, and the few people that had answers didn't say anything ridiculous.  And he seemed to think the GS500 was a good choice.

Woohoo, excellent write up! Congratulations! I hope you become a motojournalist for Motorcyclist, or some other magazine.  That way you get to test every bike that comes out!

In my MSF class we had one person who was asked to leave the first range day, one that opted to leave the second day, and three that didn't pass the eval.  The one who was asked to leave never quite got the hang of the clutch, and had a briefly terrifying out-of-control moment that nearly ended up in the fence.  The one that left opted for private lessons, and I think she was very self conscious about being slower or less capable than the rest of the group.  The three that didn't pass stayed for the afternoon to retake the evaluation.  Ironically, the person who seemed most nervous in the beginning ultimately performed the best, while others (including myself) seemed to suffer from brain cramps or clipboard-induced performance anxiety.

When it came to the corner (no problem, right?) I shifted into second, rolled the throttle and got nothing but noise (neutral).  I kicked it up again (this time with *feeling*) and rolled on the throttle...this time I felt it drop out of gear into neutral.  Now flustered and entering the corner going too slow, I got it into gear rolled on the throttle aggressively, leaned over and crossed the inside line.  In hindsight I'm sure I was fixating on the cone that marked the inside of the turn, and just like they said, I headed straight for it.  5 points for going too slow, 10 points for crossing the line.  Luckily, that was the only thing I screwed up, so I still passed.  I suppose it was a good learning experience, but I would have preferred it to happen during the exercise, rather than the evaluation.

great paper. if we had essays like this in my writing class, i would ace it.

good memories (only a few months since I took the MSF).

Quote from: aaronstjRG, you're always selling your GSs.  Keep me in mind, will ya?

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

NICE ONE!!!

Hey, you took it at the same place as I did - and with the same instructor!  I love Bruce.

Except that you didn't take the MSF.  WA doesn't have one.  You took the WA Motorcycle Safety Course, subcontracted to the Motorcycle Safety Company.

No GSs for sale this week.  But does your wife want a nice leather jacket?  A pair of SMX-3 in red?  I have a spare set of Fieldsheer textile pants, too.   :roll:


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good job passing the BRC.  points system around these parts is a 21 pt.  system.  anything over 21pt is considered failure to meet the requirements of basic bike control.

QuoteWe were all warned to wear protective clothing (long pants, long sleeve shirts, gloves) but 2 of the girls came dressed in really really thin fabric blouses with sleeves that went just to the elbows...and each one of them fell at some point. One girl skinned her forearm really bad, another ripped her thin nylon blouse when she fell.

the instructors should NOT have let those girls continue till they've had proper "gear,"  if anything for liability reasons.  have them reschedule, or turn them away flatly.  had they had on long sleeve shirts, at least the 1 girl would have lessened her rash on her arm.  it's a safety course first, riding course 2nd.

hmm....i guess some instructors like dancing on the line to get their rider coach license revoked...

Quote from: RoadstergalExcept that you didn't take the MSF.  WA doesn't have one.  You took the WA Motorcycle Safety Course, subcontracted to the Motorcycle Safety Company.

I'm pretty sure it was the MSF course.  The Motorcycle Safety Company is listed on the MSF's web site, at on the Motorcycle Safety Company's website it says "MSC offers the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Basic RiderCourse," which is what I took.  Perhaps it's been changed recently?

Either way, I loved the course, and like you said, Bruce is great.  He asked on to come buy some weekend he's teaching after we get biked to show off - I definiately plan on it.

Quote from: sringraygood job passing the BRC. points system around these parts is a 21 pt. system. anything over 21pt is considered failure to meet the requirements of basic bike control.

Yeah, same system here, we just thought of it as being points off, and you needed 80/100 to pass.  But since there's no way to get 100 points knocked off, I guess it really doesn't make sense that way.

When I spoke to the guy listed on the WA DOT's website as being the coordinator for WA motorcycle safety, he was very adament about the WA course using MSF course materials, but not being MSF itself.  *shrug*  All I know fer sure is that the courses are contracted to private companies here.

Huh.  Well, whatever it was, I know how to rider a motorcycle now. :)

Yep, that was what I took out of it.

Maybe it was a good learning experinece for the gals, and they'll go buy some &^%$ protective gear.

Quote from: Roadstergal

"Animals could be bred and slaughtered!"   :lol:  :lol:

or for a more updated line...

"Motorrad riders could be trained and evaluated!"

A superb reflection on your experience.  :thumb:
We had Nighthawk 250, Rebel 250, and one GZ250. The short girl got the GZ.

Alright, first off, that was an excellent and extremely entertaining write up. Clearly written and well worded, it provided information with excellent descriptions and allowed us to feel what you were at the time. I'm sure we've all had the same feelings you had :mrgreen:

I must say, that brought back a lot of great memories. Be glad your class was so cheap! It's $300+ here. I LOVED doing the figure 8 in the box as well, as shown when I clocked the fastest time in it! :) Be gladd you had the Honda 125s, though, as we were stuck with Kawasaki Eliminator 125s. That meant low seat height (awkward for my long, lanky frame) as well as low pegs. Those low pegs caused me to drag them through the corners, much to the delight of the instructors. However, it just prevented me from clocking fastere times out of fear of scraping hard parts. I had a great time, just as you did though.

Keep writing! That was wonderful!

Where'd it go?  :dunno_white:

I wanna read!  :icon_mrgreen:

Prob. left 3 years ago when this thread died  :laugh:


:cheers:

 :laugh: :laugh:

I happen to find it when I was doing a search (on something else). Maybe the OP moved his posting elsewhere?

Thanks!  :thumb:

I'm taking the MSF course this weekend.  I don't have an endorsement, and I've never owned a bike, but I have ridden friends' bikes.

The course is VERY basic.  Actually, perhaps too basic for the skill level at which I am, since i do have a few miles under my belt.  I'm hoping tomorrow I learn a few more things.

I do give the course and instructors A LOT of credit.  I've picked up what may appear as very minor things to expeirenced riders, but I think these minor things will help my riding.  I don't normally use the friction zone and I played with that a lot today.  Using the friction zone really appears to smooth out the slower speed parts of riding.  There were a lot of things I knew, but concentrating on using friction zone makes my riding a lot smoother at slow speeds.  The higher speed stuff was a cake walk for me, although it appeared a few students were hesitant to go into second gear.  I was ready for a little faster.

Tomorrow is the second riding day and I am looking forward to see what they will teach us. 

Bummer OP del'd his post.  I think this would be a great thread for n00bs...like me.

/edit: received my certificate today.  Had a little trouble with the Figure-8.  I did learn a few things today, the second day.