Hey there, I am new to riding and registered for my course next week! I was hoping someone had some pointers or a breakdown of what I have to look forward to. I cant take the suspense!
Welcome!
There are a couple threads on here that detail the course in depth. My personal favorite:
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=12289.0
Hope this helps! The course is fantastic and a lot of fun! :thumb:
Great! I was sesrching it but no luck! Thanks!
Thats so interesting! So you dont have to actually pass each obstacle to pass the course! Ofcourse I would like to pass each one with no problem! only time will tell! The swerving, what is that exactly? Do they throw something out in front of you while your riding? lol I hope not! :dunno_white:
In my course, the instructor stood at the end and you rode right at him. He then pointed right or left when you got close to him. You swerve in the direction that he pointed by quickly pushing the handlebars in the direction you want to go and then quickly correcting them in the other direction to stay in the lane.
No big deal. A lot of fun. They give you lots of practice too. Key to everything is where you look is where you go.
Thats like snowboarding! Maybe not the same but where you turn your head, your body turns and thats the direction you go! I'm thinkin of taking a private course! I have a friend who just started and her brother went for the course also for the support and she was so greatful for that! I think I may be a little bit pressured since I have never ever ridden a bike on my own!
Heyas,
Hope you have a good time with the course and all but as a snowboard instructor and a student of the course myself... The 2 don't have many things in common lol.
Don't worry about the course I had never been on a bike before I took mine and I passed w. ease. They teach you the basics very well.
I hope so because I have a course coming up also.
What kind of stuff is on the written test? I took driving test in 2 different states and one had a 25mpr limit in a school zone and the other state had a 15mpr limit. I ofcourse learned that it was 15 but failed questions like that in the other state! so much for being practical huh lol
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Ouch please try to use proper english and grammar. Its easier on my eyes (and you'll get better responses instead of assholes like me commenting on your grammar). You'll generally get better (and more understandable) responses in return.
I thought this was about motorcycles. I did not know we were being tested by an Engllish teacher! I do not see anything that could be hard on the eyes. Am I missing something? I'll beware if I decide to start any threads since half my keys are scotch taped on lol damn cats! :mad:
Where Upstate are you from? I got a place in Hopewell Junction.
I missed 3 written questions and had one point taken off on the riding, and I just showed up and listened. You'll easily pass unless you make a serious mistake.
Quote from: GS500Ghost on April 29, 2006, 06:17:12 PM
Where Upstate are you from? I got a place in Hopewell Junction.
Holy flashback :o. I spent years 2-8 of my life in Wappingers Falls. Haven't been back there in a while. I went to elementary school in Fishkill, IIRC.
How many are you allowed to miss? lol That private class seems a little bit interesting. I may do a llittle research on that. I ask alot of questions and dont want to bore the class :icon_razz: If I'm llucky, I'll have a hottie instructor! :cheers:
The air is too clean there! All I want to do is sleep when I go there. I forget the name of the lake (accidental manmade) but was it around when you were there? My Grandma used to make me teach all the kids how to dive off the dock! i hated it. All the slimey plants eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwee bad flash back aaaaaaaaahhh :o
Quote from: GS500Ghost on April 29, 2006, 06:41:50 PM
How many are you allowed to miss? lol That private class seems a little bit interesting. I may do a llittle research on that. I ask alot of questions and dont want to bore the class :icon_razz: If I'm llucky, I'll have a hottie instructor! :cheers:
I had dude instructors, so no dice on the hotties.
I can't remember how many you can miss. But you will be fine, they're really forgiving.
I hope so! I have a real bad short term memory thing going on since I was born! haha Thats why I was hoping to get some details here so I'm not too overwhelmed with an information overload in the 2 day course. I know I am interested in this unlike I was in school so maybe I wont have this problem. But just in case..... I'll be soaking up as much as I can from now till then!
You're allowed to miss 10. If you fail the written test, then you should probably just give up on the whole life thing in general. It's that freaking easy. I had to read one or two questions twice to answer it.
Even Mikey on American Choppers, who does some of the stupidest crap imaginable, passed the written test. He failed the road test though, and he has a motorcycle TV show!
Thats kind of scary that you can miss 10 questions! lol
Quote from: GS500Ghost on April 30, 2006, 07:47:22 AM
Thats kind of scary that you can miss 10 questions! lol
It's a 50 question multiple choice test. You pass with an 80%.
I'm reading through the online booklet no that someone offered the link . Its the code stuff that I have problems remembering and I assume those get questioned on the test like T-CLOCS Remembering the order and all that jazz will kill me. Isnt that what boyfriends are for? To make sure his girl is safe to go? just joking :cookoo:
Quote from: GS500Ghost on April 29, 2006, 06:17:12 PM
Where Upstate are you from? I got a place in Hopewell Junction.
Hamilton, bout an hour south of Syracuse.
I apologize for the grammar lesson by the way. On this side of the pond they've got this cider which is 5.2% and tastes great. A 2L bottle of that along with a few bottles of similarly strong beer make for a fun, though occasionally disrespectful, evening.
Ewe I cant do cider! but enjoy! I'm an amber drinker!
The MSF course is super easy. If you can read you should be able to pass it. The instructors pretty much told us what questions would be on the written test and during the riding portion they let us practice every manuever that would be on the skills test over and over and over again. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
I found the Figure Eight in the Box to be the toughest part of the whole weekend. Going slow on a bike without dropping a foot is still something I should practice.
The Arizona DOT has a neat Motorcycle Skill Test Practice Guide (http://www.azdot.gov/mvd/driver/mcmanual/pguide.asp). It's not the MSF exercises, but if you can do them with your bike, you're well on your way to doing the MSF practical exercizes.
in your opinion for the slower 8's do you think it is easier on a cruiser or rocket? eventhough the test requires a cruiset style. I dunno.. I'm skurred!
THey give you tiny tiny bikes that are very easy to manuever. It depends on how well you counter steer and how long the bike is.
Im in cali, had my second class yesterday, first class on bikes. The test really is easy, i didnt take any notes (although i never do in college either :icon_mrgreen: ) and got 50/50.
The riding was real fun, I got each exercise after only a few tries at most, especially liked the weaving. I was on a nighthawk, they had 3 of those, 3 eliminators, 2 gz250s, 2 rebels, a tw225 and an MZ 125 german thing that didnt have even a spedometer or lights :laugh:
I then went home and rode my bike around a local parking lot for a bit trying similar things which was a bit harder seeing as the gs500e is a bit bigger than a nighthawk. Im still having problems with my idle though (to put it simply, it doesnt, it drops if i dont throttle it) and that kinda prevents me from riding properly so i need to get that fixed. carbs, here i come!
edit: they told me female friend who is also taking the class to come back in 2 weeks when they are having the first class again, sucks but at least they didnt kick her out. She didnt do anything dangerous, she just dropped it once going too slow and again somehow when she was getting in line to do manuevers. She does only weigh 100 lbs so that might have something to do with it =X
Your friend just needs more practice..... Onlypastrana199 only weighs about 100 and she doesnt have any problems.
yea I'm only 100lbs also but cant reach for the life of me! I'm extra small! thats why im happy I found a fellow tiny person starting out also! whats the smalles you think that can handle a gs500f?
and do they have permits for morocycles?
Yes they have permits but each state has different rules regarding them. And I dont know how small too small is. It is prob a combo of height and strength.
I'm lucky i got one inch on this chick tmb I'm 4' 11
But i still dangle off the bike!i dont know if this gs500f is gonna work for me! I tried to get my friend to sit onthe back of the bike so i can feel hat it would be like lowered and he was bein an ass and bouncin around and i couldnt really get a feel but it wasnt too much better! i didnt have the boots on or the seat shaved so maybe i need a heavier person to sit on it! any big boys wanna come sit on it for me? lol jk
Shave the seat, get tall boots, and lower the durn thing and you should be fine.
Isn't the EX500 a better fit for small people? I remember reading that the EX250 fits big people better, and smaller people fit on the EX500 better because of the way the tank's shaped.
May wanna look into that one.
Dave :cheers:
yea I have to do a little work before i can ride it! my friend keeps trying to talk me out of it but im like no way! he keeps tryin to get me on a ninja 250 but i dont like them at all! its too dirt bike looking to me! see us chicks care about what we look like but i dont want to get something where my friend has to stop next to me at red lights to hold it up for me lol
Ok you just need riding experience. Back when I started riding I thought that the gs was super heavy but the more and more I rode the more "riding" muscles I developed. It is a process that takes time.
(http://www.kawasaki.com/kawasaki_main/images/products/MOTORCYCLE/2224_800.jpg)
vs.
(http://www.kawasaki.com/kawasaki_main/images/products/MOTORCYCLE/1967_800.jpg)
now... how do they look alike again?
that pic is taken for my point exactly the rest of the ninja looks like crap! Im just not feelin it!