A little disclaimer, if this already been covered in the past it can't hurt to go over it again so the new riders this season can join in the discussion. With that said, here it goes.

I took my MSF in GA at the Honda training center. There they only required that you wear long sleeves, jeans, and over the ankle boots but...

Its going to get hot. You will spend a lot of time idling on the motorcycles, in the sun, on a blacktop parking lot more than likely. So wear a white shirt to reflect the sunlight, sunscreen, and bring plenty of water. Our class had a water cooler but it had to be shared amongst 24 students in 2 groups so you couldn't drink enough to quench your thirst out of fear that there wouldn't be enough left for the other group.

Wear jeans that are snug in the legs. You need to have enough mobility in them to tuck them to the bike but if they are wide leg jeans they will get caught on the pegs as you walk the bikes around.

They don't require gear but I would go ahead and bring gloves and a helmet. You don't want to borrow one of their helmets as you will sweat and the moisture out of your breath will wet the inside of the helmet. At the end of the day you want to smell your stink and not someone else's. Motorcycle gloves have padding in the palm so your hand won't get sore holding the clutch in for minutes at a time. If you wear a jacket you may get too hot. You won't see above 25 mph.

My class was over a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We had to be there butt early on Saturday and Sunday. So much sure you know where its at, where nearby food is etc.

We didn't get long for a lunch break, so you might want to brown bag something.

The written test is really easy, so don't sweat that part.

Always keep your head up and eyes forward. You will hear this a dozen times throughout the class.

You go where you look, so practice looking at the exit of a turn. If you stare at something you are trying to avoid you will hit it. Its called target fixation.

We had Honda Nighthawk 250's and neutral was a Buddha Loves You to find on them. If you gradually built up pressure on the shift lever you would pop right through neutral to 2nd or 1st. We figured out the best way to do it was to go to 2nd and get the shift lever a light pop or tap into neutral.

The hardest test they make you do is 2 u-turns in a box that is about 10 feet wide and 20 feet long. You basically have to idle the bike in 2nd or 1st gear and turn the handle bars all the way to one side to clear the turn. If you could find a parking lot and mark you out a box and do figure 8's in it that would really help get you ahead of the game. Even the experienced riders had trouble with it.

Don't buy the full gear yet. I know this sounds like the opposite of what you've been hearing all this time but the MSF is great to find out if you want to even get into motorcycles. Disregard all this if you already have a motorcycle.

If you come from a manual transmission car background you are going to have to unlearn the habit of getting out of the friction zone of the clutch as soon as possible for this class. They will have you riding the clutch a lot in some maneuvers and it really helps your take off and taking power away if you get in trouble.

The 4 test we got tested on in our riding test were:

Do 2 u-turns in a box, come out of the box and do and emergency swerve. They time the swear to make sure you're not too slow in the swerve part, not in the box part though. You get points off for a foot coming down, coming out of the box, or hitting one of the cones at the swerve.

Do a panic break down from 20 to 25 mph in the shortest distance possible. Points deducted for locking up the rear tire or not shifting into first from second.

Go through a turn at a decent speed, they time you on this to make sure you're not too slow.

And I can't remember number 4. The shortest lead time you can have as a bare minimum is 2 seconds, not 4. 4 is advisable but 2 is the minimum. Thats a test question the most people missed.


So please share your tips for us noobs about the msf

MSF is THE way to get started...but it is just that--a start.  For new riders, you will find that after you get some mileage under your belt, riding fast, riding straight, riding on the highway, corners, all that isn't really hard.  The hard stuff is the slow maneuvering that they teach in MSF, and the only way to keep sharp is practice.  I go to an empty parking lot every so often to practice slow speed figure 8s and panic stops, just to make sure I still can.

good luck!

The course really helped me to build confidence on the bike. I have every intention to take the advanced course when I find time. I really can't speak highly enough of the instructors they provided to teach the course I attended. I also plan to retake the beginner course with my father next summer. I'm hoping to get a riding partner, and I realize the best place to get him started is the MSF course. I get nervous just letting him sit on my GS, but at the same time I realize that he's interested and I really want to support him. (My father's a physician so initially he looked down on motorcycles associating them danger and unnecessary risk, however his curiosity has peaked, and he has definitely warmed up to the idea) 

I just took the course in Washington a few months ago.  Pretty much had the exact same experience.  It is defiantly the way to get started. I knew nothing when I took it, but they assume that. 

Good review! Thanks for taking the time to write it up. 

I took the MSF at the Honda Center in Alpharetta too.  You're right about the helmets.  Didn't have my own and after sweat and rain in was fuuunnkyyy!   All I can say is that it's a distraction but if you can't get a helmet bring a bandana or something to act as a buffer.

Hardest part was the figure 8's in a confined area.  It's easier to do them in 2nd gear so the throttle isn't so jerky.  Also don't forget to shift your weight (your butt) to the outside of the turn when you're doing your figure 8's.  It'll help you get the turn tighter.

I highly recommend to anyone, experienced and new to take the course.  It helped me get re-acclimated to riding. 

My first post on this board.  I took the beginners MSF for the second time last weekend.  It was HOT!  Last time was about 5 or 6 years back and I took it then with my son as he was getting his first MC endorsement on his license (I have been riding for more years than I care to mention).  This time, my daughter was getting set for her endorsement.  The experience and instructors were good both times and even an old geezer like me can learn more good stuff.  The equipment left some to be desired!  The bike I was asked to ride was a new Suzuki dual purpose 125.  They had me ride it because I could ride and they did not want it dropped.  My greenhorn daughter was assigned to one of the oldest and funkiest POS bikes.  It has a bad and persistent miss on one of its two cylinders.  One rider scrubbed-out on first day so she then got use his bike as a replacement -- its clutch was an on/off switch with no real friction zone!  No wonder the dude could not ride it well enough.  Anyway, it did run somewhat better than the other and they were not receptive to letting me ride the junker and her the new bike.  All is well as we both "passed" with good marks.  She is why I am here; she has tentatively chosen the Gs500F as her first bike Adan I am her wrench.

prs (pigeonroost slim)

We were spoiled at the Honda MSF Course.  It's at Honda HQ in Alpharetta, Georgia.  All the bikes were new 2008,  250 Nighthawks. 

By the way, they also have a dirtbike school there too for those in the area that are interested.

http://offroad-training.org/

I've heard that the dirt bike school is great, even for street riders.

My advice for the MSF course, which I took 2 weeks ago:

1.  If it is hot, go to a running/sports store and buy a long sleeved dry-weave (each company has a different name for these, mine was dry-fit) shirt, preferably in white.  They cost $30-$40, but they are worth it.  If you later buy a mesh jacket, this would be the perfect shirt to wear underneath.  If you work out, these are great work out shirts.  These are the shirts I'm referencing:  http://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/mensapparel/?SearchHandle=QT1tZW5zYXBwYXJlbCBtZW51cnJzfkI9bWVuc2FwcGFyZWwgbWVudXJyc35HPTU5M14yfkk9U29ydFZJUFByaWNlfks9NH5MPTF_TT04fk49Mn4&Action=2&AnswerID=1153

2.  Use your time driving from one line to the next to improve your riding.  I made a point of upshifting and downshifting even when unnecessary when driving to the next line, just to get more practice.

3.  Keep your head up and look where you want to go.  This will get drilled through your skull. Why?  Because it will help you immensely.

4.  Improve one thing at a time.  When we began practiced panic stops, my right foot was coming down first, and I'd forget to downshift.  To fix it, I focussed on making sure I downshifting to first gear when stopping, even between drills.  Once this became automatic, I focussed on getting my left foot on the ground and leaving my right foot on the brake.  The result?  The best panic stop on test day. 

5.  Use the class to push your comfort limits once the drill starts to feel easy.  In the big oval drill, accellerate as much as possible in turns (more than you naturally want to) while turning tight.  Don't be afraid of scraping your pegs.  In the feared figure-8-in-a-small-rectangle drill, turn the bike tighter than you naturally want to (and tighter than you need to).  In the moderate speed cone swerve drill, try to go faster each time.  Push yourself hard during the drills, and the final test will be cake. Plus it makes things more fun.

6.  On the second day, critique yourself.  Everything that you do can be done better, even if the coach says you did OK.  He's just seen a bunch of people butcher the drill, so your mediocre performance will appear golden. 

Finally, have fun!

Quote from: ATLRIDER on June 30, 2008, 12:19:20 PM
I took the MSF at the Honda Center in Alpharetta too.  You're right about the helmets.  Didn't have my own and after sweat and rain in was fuuunnkyyy!   All I can say is that it's a distraction but if you can't get a helmet bring a bandana or something to act as a buffer.

Hardest part was the figure 8's in a confined area.  It's easier to do them in 2nd gear so the throttle isn't so jerky.  Also don't forget to shift your weight (your butt) to the outside of the turn when you're doing your figure 8's.  It'll help you get the turn tighter.

I highly recommend to anyone, experienced and new to take the course.  It helped me get re-acclimated to riding. 

That's awesome, what part of Georgia are you in?  I'm near the Mall of Georgia.  Do you have a group you go riding with yet?  I want to go on a couple of daytrips but I'm still trying to work on my skills so I'm not such a slow ass.

I took the course in Orange County, CA (mission Viejo). Saddleback Rider Training (www.saddlebackridertraining.com)
The guys teaching it were tremendous and acted like they really cared. They took some private one on one time with a girl who was having trouble. IN spite of one student running over (literally!) an instructor they had good humor and lots of tips and information on breaks.
If you're in this area, there are a number of courses available but I'm convinced these guys are the best. Other friends have taken other courses and had less positive things to say.
SRT both on the course and in the classroom are a bunch of experienced, cool and sharp riders/teachers.