Motorcycle Safety Course

[BallsOfSteele]

Was'nt sure what sub section to put this in so move if necessary, now with that being said onto the story.

I took the little ninjette out yesterday for a 400+ km (round trip) ride up to Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, and although the weather was sunny it was a little cold but i thought nothing of it. The ride up to Collinwood was uneventfull besides for some rain and a drop in temperature. Although I was feeling cold and a little put off, i thought nothing of it, big mistake. The ride home started just the same as the ride up had ended, cold, but now the sun was out and still i felt nothing was a muck the bike was running fine, and i felt fine, although a little cold. It was about half and hour after lunch where we reach our climax, and the events leading up to this i am still unsure of, all i know is some how i ended up off the road and onto a loose gravel shoulder, in a minor sweeper corner. By the time i had realised i was leaving the road surface there was no way for me to recover so i just rode it out. Had it not been for the motorcycle safety course i don't think id be he typeing this right now, nor would my beloved ninja be in one piece.

So the moral of my story is, if dont feel like you need that training course, or can't justify paying for, man up and do it, as it may just save your life or someone elses one day.

[csmith12]

[Alex]

[crazymadbastard]

I took the course, there was a young fellow in the class that had a 996 ss bike and had been riding for a month. I asked him if he was learning anything, he said yeah. He finally figured out why he had such a hard time turning at high speeds!

He was bragging about going 140k the very first day he got on his bike.

Hope that more riders take the course for sure. In CT you can register a motorcycle and insure without a license, so many are driving without classes or licenses.

[RedPepper64]

Originally Posted by crazymadbastard

In CT you can register a motorcycle and insure without a license, so many are driving without classes or licenses.

Scary! One "has" to be licensed in WA to ride but it seems the general consensus is that doesn't matter until you get caught and your bike impounded.


To the OP, glad you and the bike are in one piece!

[JohnnyBravo]

Sounds like mr. Toads wild ride. Glad it wasn't worse

[moonwalker]

Since I started riding month and a half ago I lost count to situations where the MSF lessons popping up in my head allowed me to avoid danger before it even became a "close call". Also, it's nice to have a motorcycle you didn't pay your own money for available for you to drop I'd say those $200 I paid for the course are among the best money I ever spent, totally worth it. I've had encounters with deers, cars pulling in front of me, tailgaters, cellphone users, trucks, no-turn-signal people, etc., and so far I haven't ever crashed or dropped my bike. Hopefully I'll manage to keep my record clean many more months and years of riding.

[Thorgrim]

Life happened, and I quit riding about 30 years ago. When I rode it was mostly dirt, mostly on an MX track or strip mine roads, and I steered mostly with the throttle. I rode street,too, but in little traffic and roads that were mostly sweepers with good line of sight.

Spin it forward to a few months ago when I got the MC bug again, and I decided to take the MSF course. It was one of the best decisions of my life. I was accustomed to just throwing light dirt bikes around using my hips, mostly, and had never heard of countersteering. In the past I figured that if I highsided a turn I just hadn't ridden it "hard enough". Bullshit. MSF taught me more in 2 1/2 days than I'd learned in years of" just doin' it". The difference is that I kept doing the same things, trying to do them better, and the MSF course taught me to do things in a better way without really expending much energy. I think I could ride the roads I once did and considered them "flogged", and was exhausted; now, I could ride the same roads at the same speeds and not be at all tired. It will take me some time to internalize what I learned so that it is instinctive, and I keep my mind on it s lot as I ride. MSF = good stuff. When a have another thousand or so fresh miles, I want to take the advanced class.

TL;DR - MSF rocks!

[OregonBob]

I couldn't agree more... I just bought a new 250R a month ago and have never riden a motorcycle before... In Oregon, the safety course is required before you can even get your license... At first I was a little upset that I had to wait and take this $200 course, but I am grateful I took it... I passed it last weekend and got my license yesterday... I took my bike out and put 50 miles on it last night... There were so many times that the lessons we learned and talked about popped in my head... A lady ran a red light and almost took out the car ahead of me, but luckily, I was prepared and paying attention...

Best advice I can give someone is:

If you have to take the course, then take it....
If you don't have to take the course, take it anyways!

[caineroad]

Actually in terms of street riding, for me the breakdown is

Skills learn:
25% MSF (e.g. vision, rules of the road, engine braking, turns, etc)
35% Internet, Youtube (how to's, tutorials)
40% Experience (riding on the road, example: wet riding, locking the rear wheel, clutch, etc)

[evidens83]

I'm scheduled to go in 2 weeks so excited and nervous at the same time It's free though so I cant complain Caveat for being in the military

[rasta]

For me, the MSF course was extreeeeemely valuable. Prior to the course I had never been on a bike with a motor.

[Misti]

Originally Posted by BallsOfSteele

Was'nt sure what sub section to put this in so move if necessary, now with that being said onto the story.

I took the little ninjette out yesterday for a 400+ km (round trip) ride up to Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, and although the weather was sunny it was a little cold but i thought nothing of it. The ride up to Collinwood was uneventfull besides for some rain and a drop in temperature. Although I was feeling cold and a little put off, i thought nothing of it, big mistake. The ride home started just the same as the ride up had ended, cold, but now the sun was out and still i felt nothing was a muck the bike was running fine, and i felt fine, although a little cold. It was about half and hour after lunch where we reach our climax, and the events leading up to this i am still unsure of, all i know is some how i ended up off the road and onto a loose gravel shoulder, in a minor sweeper corner. By the time i had realised i was leaving the road surface there was no way for me to recover so i just rode it out. Had it not been for the motorcycle safety course i don't think id be he typeing this right now, nor would my beloved ninja be in one piece.

So the moral of my story is, if dont feel like you need that training course, or can't justify paying for, man up and do it, as it may just save your life or someone elses one day.

Great post and great reminder for people to make sure your skills brushed up! Riding courses are so important because they really can save your life! I recently did an interview with Keith Code and he said something that rings so true of what you just posted about.

I asked him, "What is the biggest misunderstanding about you?"

"Hmmmmm, well, it seems to be that I teach some sort of formula riding. Not everyone likes it when you say there are fundamentals, that there is a real technology to riding. They seem to prefer the idea that all advice is good advice and they feel pigeon holed when you narrow down the possibilities to a true basic. That and many people prefer things to be more complicated. They can’t get along with how simple fundamental techniques really are."

It is so true, there are fundamental riding techniques that are very very simple but they can really make the difference between life and death. Whether it is CSS, MSF courses or other riding schools, people might think that they are way beyond those basics but there is never anything wrong with a refresher on riding tech.

Misti

[evidens83]

Last day of my Basic Rider Course today! Excited and kinda nervous to take the riding test. Wish me luck!

[csmith12]

Good luck and have fun.

[JohnnyBravo]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Good luck and have fun.

Thanks for all that talk about not always sitting nuts to tank... Yea yea wrong thread, helped regardless... My rides are smoother, have more flow, and in general more pleasurable