well i just got home from failing my road test  i guess i was expecting it to be super easy and under estimated it lol.

well, not really. it was mostly because i didnt listen to the directions very well. the instructor lady said "make a U turn between the blue lines....no wait, the blue and yellow dotted line. or wait, the blue i think." then she checked her clip board and said "or wait, you have a 500 so yellow line". well i thought it was the blue so i drove right over the yellow line  so i got 5 points

and then the emergrency stop is where i finally failed. i didnt realize that it was a distance thing. more distnace = more points. and more points = fail. i didnt slam on the brakes like i was suppose to and i got 5 points. and you need like less than 10 to pass so i failed. oh well, ill try again next week. atleast then ill know what to do lol!

Why did you not just take the MSF and avoid the road test entirely?

Quote from: HPI_Freak on April 15, 2009, 10:59:25 AM
I'll try again next week.  At least then ill know what to do, lol!

Good way to look at the experience...

If you get a chance, go practice the course when the DMV is closed.  I'm not saying you need it, but it will make the experience less nervy for you next time...


- Bob!

Quote from: fred on April 15, 2009, 11:08:51 AM
Why did you not just take the MSF and avoid the road test entirely?

huh? the what?

Motorcycle Safety Foundation course. Its a course that teaches you all the basics of motorcycling in a friendly and useful way and at the end you get a waiver for the DMV tests because you take what is basically an equivalent during the course. I highly recommend it.

yeah, MSF is the way to go.  it's about $250 where I live but worth it IMO.  if you're lucky, you might even get a hottie in the course with you like I did.

+1 for the MSF.

Many people including myself, were pretty familiar with motorcycle  riding before taking the MSF, and still recommend it.  It reinforces, and perhaps teaches for the first time, many useful things for riding on the road.

Check with your state DMV regulations but in many states, taking the MSF course and passing means you get a license without another road test.

The MSF in Illinois has a $20 deposit to reserve your spot in the class and that can be refunded or left for a donation at the end of the course...

Also, if the classes are filled which they usually are, you can go to the location 15 minutes or so ahead of time and try to get in as a walk on...

If someone registered doesn't show, your money...

And that beats waiting until September for your course, lol 


- Bob!

pennsylvania plays it smart and offers the course to its residents for free.  i took my first 2 courses, the basic and experienced course last year and plan on taking the experienced every year.  you just sign up and PA pays the tab!   

+3 on MSF courses! Was no where near as stressful as DMV test and since you are constantly doing the test drills there is no misunderstanding unless it takes you 30 times to get something down!

We had a girl that couldn't even handle the honda rebel she was given a scooter dropped it three times but was still able to do the test at the end!

I had no experience riding before MSF and passed with 98% and was interstate riding within a week or so. couple of weeks before the skiddishness wore off now it is second nature and will be two years in August!

Mary

I didn't take the MSF course until I was 35. Before then had not even sat on a motorcycle before.

Learned two things from the course that have already kept me out of an accident...avoid target fixation and assume you're invisible to everyone else on the road.

Also learned from the MSF that motorcycle riding isn't for everyone. Two ladies dropped out on the second day. One guy managed to pass who shouldn't be let loose in a car much less on a motorcycle...for the safety of others.

there was one old guy in my class that was at least 65, but probably older than that.  he was taking the course on a scooter and was constantly going the opposite way the rest of us were while we were all riding.  I can't count the number of times the instructors had to pull him off the course because he was going to kill someone.

I just passed the MSF last week and I highly recommend it. Statistically you are much less likley to get into an accident if you take it, and its an insurance break to boot!

Quote from: Toogoofy317 on April 15, 2009, 01:19:08 PM
We had a girl that couldn't even handle the honda rebel she was given a scooter dropped it three times but was still able to do the test at the end!

And now she's out somewhere on a 'busa.

That said, do you have to pay again for to take the driving test, or is it a second try without repaying?  I would +(N+1) the MSF if you can, and you're a motorcycle n00b.  It sounds like you've got the riding basics down, and getting into an MSF course this time of year may not happen.  You might want to try and check out Proficient Motorcycling from your library because it is supposed to cover the mental parts of riding safely which is a big part of the benefit of the MSF course. 

Anyway, good luck and keep the rubber side down.

Right ... right ... that means you now need to buy a hayabusa ... wait a couple months ... the 10 will be on ... its much more powerful and has much more bling.
I'd never be caught dead on no old busa ...
Cool.
Buddha.

Guess I should have finished the story LOL! When we started the course our instructor asked us what we were going to ride or plan on riding. Well, of course we all know what is said my boy Flick, a few Harleys, a gixxer, then we get to her. Now, I consider a busa too big physcially for me and I'm 5'8" and 171 lbs. Now, picture her 4'11" with her spiked heel riding "boot", maybe a hundred lbs soaking wet, and Puerto Rican (nothing agains ricans just giving the pic). Well, 'mam what do you wanna ride? I want a Hayabusa as my first bike my husband has already picked it out for me it will match my boots and my nails! I 'bout fainted when she said that so did "paco" our instructor.

So, we have the little Honda Rebels (cool little bike in my opinion) and she couldn't figure out that you have to pull the clutch in to go. Took about a quarter of the day to get that concept then as soon as she did she wound that little guy up! It went flying out she let it go fell on her butt and off it went about 100ft. Paco was like you can still get your endorsement on a scooter so he pulled out this mangled up thing good thing too cause she dropped it three times. Once, forgetting to put her feet down!

She barely passed the test at the end of the day. But, I know for sure if she had been on a moto where you had to shift and such she would have fallen flat on her face!

Mary

+5 on the MSF.  It didn't exist when I got my license, but one of the guys at work who never rode before took it last year and they walked him right through it.  At first I was a little worried about a 43-year-old taking to a Vulcan 750 without even minibike experience, but luckily he's got a lot of respect for power, speed, and the road, so he's still in one piece and getting better all the time.  Last year I got a call from him and went out to a Tim Horton's where I needed to show him how to push start a bike when his old battery was too low for the starter to work. (the MSF doesn't cover that apparently)  Now he's starting to look like he knows what he's doing! 

My class had eight students, 5 women and 3 men. I was by far the youngest at 35. All of the women had the same story...tired of riding on the back of their husbands Harley. Like I said before, two dropped out on the second day. On the third day one rode up on her new Harley that she had just bought the night before. Of course that lady dropped her Honda Rebel during the test. Guess that proves skirts should stay in the kitchen... ...just kidding, wife is reading over my shoulder...

Why...why..why would anyone spend $13,000 on a motorcycle they can barely ride?

"Why...why..why would anyone spend $13,000 on a motorcycle they can barely ride?"
Because they have credit!  I stopped off at the harley dealership to check out the 1200 XR and the salesman was pitching a 1200 for a Nuby / back seat rider. Then she sat on the V-Rod, I said to her "that's alot of bike" and that she may consider purchasing a bike after she finished the MSF, because some people don't make it and some people find out that they would rather stay in the back seat, then be up front. And if that were the case and she had alreadt bought the bike that she would lose money if she tried to sell it or that it might end up in the car house as an expensive dust collector. She decided to wait until she took the course,; I inform,ed her that H.D. wasn't going to run out of bikes before she completed the course in 1.5 months, and that she might actually get a better deal on one as the economy continues to drop. Jim 

+6 (7 or 8? I forget?) on MSF.  Militry is required to take the basic, then after 6 months the expert, and now, if we ride a "sport bike" (GS included) we have to take the Sport Bike Riders class,  lots of good info in that one thar.  Fortunately, the Army provides it free of charge as well, and the basics class is given once every 2 months.  ANd piss on the road test.  Most the people that give those don't even ride a boke ('roun here neway).  ANd the cops that do ride a bike here were leather stripper boots up to their fricken thighs. I laugh my ace off everytime I see them. Okay, Im done. ANad yes, I;ve been drinkin... Id go back and correct my typing errors, but it takess entirely to much effort...