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nsaP posted:Indeed, i thought that's what was being discussed. I rode a Rebel around the block when looking for my first bike and the handlebars hit my knees. This was my entire experience taking the MSF. I could not do the box without sticking my leg on the inside of the turn straight out away from the peg because the bars jammed directly into my knee cap.
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Dec 7, 2013 01:14
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Digital_Jesus posted:This was my entire experience taking the MSF. I could not do the box without sticking my leg on the inside of the turn straight out away from the peg because the bars jammed directly into my knee cap. They were really just preparing you for a dirtbike...or a supermoto  .
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Dec 7, 2013 07:30
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Just passed the MSF equivalent my local state does today and it was loving harrowing. There's an obstacle avoidance test they do where you have to go through a narrow gap (marked by two tall cones in practice) at a minimum speed and weave around an offset marker (a half tennis ball) then back toward the line you started at. I managed to clip both cones with my feet over two of the practice runs. The u-turn was easy compared to that. At least I managed to do everything without issue when the graded run came up because loving up the obstacle avoidance exercise at all is an instant fail.
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Dec 11, 2013 10:32
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Ephphatha posted:Just passed the MSF equivalent my local state does today and it was loving harrowing. There's an obstacle avoidance test they do where you have to go through a narrow gap (marked by two tall cones in practice) at a minimum speed and weave around an offset marker (a half tennis ball) then back toward the line you started at. I managed to clip both cones with my feet over two of the practice runs. The u-turn was easy compared to that. What state are you in (Oregon?) In the MSF they purposely don't use the tall cones except as range edge markers (not the end of the area we use as the range but the EDGE OF THE RANGE as in you're off in the weeds/whatever next) so people don't clip them. That and the cones being huge people tend to fixate on them. At least in Wisconsin they only use the tall cones in the "ultimate bike bonding course", and that's because a lot of folks forget on sport touring bikes the bags tend to stick out beyond the front fairing.
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Dec 12, 2013 04:52
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NSW, Australia. When it came time to do the graded run they swapped out the cones for short ones, I assume the tall ones were to make it harder in practice so we'd have an easier run during the real thing.
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Dec 12, 2013 05:50
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Yeah, at my MSF they used those little flat soccer field markers Makes sense to me. Not as distracting as the big cones, won't get hit by saddlebags, and they're a lot less likely to destabilize the bike and cause a crash if a beginner hits one.
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Dec 12, 2013 06:00
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Sagebrush posted:Yeah, at my MSF they used those little flat soccer field markers 1 year ago the MSF ran out of the cones they supply and the old supplier/manufacturer raised the rates. They priced out a new place got some samples and placed an order. What they got in instead of the softish nonskid rubber cones were hard, slick plastic. Imagine riding over one of those little bastards during the course.
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Dec 12, 2013 14:02
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Skreemer posted:What state are you in (Oregon?) In the MSF they purposely don't use the tall cones except as range edge markers (not the end of the area we use as the range but the EDGE OF THE RANGE as in you're off in the weeds/whatever next) so people don't clip them. That and the cones being huge people tend to fixate on them. At least in Wisconsin they only use the tall cones in the "ultimate bike bonding course", and that's because a lot of folks forget on sport touring bikes the bags tend to stick out beyond the front fairing. I teach for the two states using Team Oregon's curriculum and we don't swerve around big cones in our Basic and Intermediate courses. They're mostly used as pivot cones which students go around in a big arc.
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Dec 13, 2013 04:48
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Yeah, I should pay more attention. I saw "state" and thought USA. I gotta see if there's a place near me that can accommodate my schedule a bit so I can keep my MSF instructor certs.
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Dec 13, 2013 07:58
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Ephphatha posted:NSW, Australia. When it came time to do the graded run they swapped out the cones for short ones, I assume the tall ones were to make it harder in practice so we'd have an easier run during the real thing. I'm doing my Pre-provisional course/MOST in a month's time, I'm a little scared now...
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Feb 26, 2014 07:35
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Practice. Find an empty parking lot and run through the drills every so often leading up to your test. If you're doing the course through Stay Upright and you're in a regional area you'll get heaps of time to practice on the day as well so you can get comfortable. The avoidance exercise is actually fairly easy to do, the stress came from the penalty of loving it up.
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Feb 26, 2014 11:00
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Hell, basically across the street from where I'm living now there's a huge parking lot at a high school football stadium. There's lines painted on it for the MSF course and once every few weeks I go over there and run myself through the more advanced exercises. Practice is good and help keep basic skills sharp. Especially if you have a season of no riding.
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Feb 26, 2014 12:56
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Skreemer posted:Hell, basically across the street from where I'm living now there's a huge parking lot at a high school football stadium. There's lines painted on it for the MSF course and once every few weeks I go over there and run myself through the more advanced exercises. Practice is good and help keep basic skills sharp. Especially if you have a season of no riding. What kind of excersises do you have to do there? When I did my exam (in Israel) all I had to do is ride in figure-8 pattern a few times (without crossing the marked lines), do a 10 cone slalom, U-turn, 8 cone slalom, and then ride 100 meters slowly (over 30 seconds) without crossing the lines or lowering a foot.
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Feb 26, 2014 15:20
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Skreemer posted:Hell, basically across the street from where I'm living now there's a huge parking lot at a high school football stadium. There's lines painted on it for the MSF course and once every few weeks I go over there and run myself through the more advanced exercises. Practice is good and help keep basic skills sharp. Especially if you have a season of no riding. While I'd love to do that, my local testing centre is part of a private high school, so that's a no go I guess I'll hit my boss up if I can use our car park one afternoon/a weekend The good thing about most of Australia, it's always riding season 
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Feb 27, 2014 07:01
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Passed the MSF last weekend. I grew up around bikes thanks to my dad, but hadn't so much as sat on one in 15+ years. Finally 'getting it' after the first few hours on the range was a pretty fantastic feeling.  And yeah, gently caress that box. I had full lock on the handlebars, scraping the foot peg, and I still crossed outside by about 6 inches on the second U.
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Apr 14, 2014 14:29
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dreggory posted:Passed the MSF last weekend. I grew up around bikes thanks to my dad, but hadn't so much as sat on one in 15+ years. Finally 'getting it' after the first few hours on the range was a pretty fantastic feeling. What kind of bike were you on? I also passed the course this last weekend. The box was super easy on the bike I had-- it was a Honda CRF. It was really forgiving, I was able to shift up into 2 and complete the box with like 2 feet to spare on the boundaries. And yeah, holy crap what an amazing sensation it was riding around for the first time. Resisting the urge to take off was so hard after I started getting the hang of it. Surprisingly, our test only consisted of 4 exercises: -The Box (figure eight u-turns) -Swerve -Quick Stop -Timed SLPL through curve
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Apr 14, 2014 15:05
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Low displacement dual sports are easy mode for the MSF. Not to downplay your having passed, but they're really forgiving.
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Apr 14, 2014 15:48
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Safety Dance posted:Low displacement dual sports are easy mode for the MSF. Not to downplay your having passed, but they're really forgiving. No yeah, I totally agree. It was ridiculous how maneuverable and controllable mine was compared to the CBRs and Rebels poweroverhelming Cheat enabled!
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Apr 14, 2014 15:51
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Razzled posted:What kind of bike were you on? I also passed the course this last weekend. The box was super easy on the bike I had-- it was a Honda CRF. It was really forgiving, I was able to shift up into 2 and complete the box with like 2 feet to spare on the boundaries.
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Apr 14, 2014 16:17
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Razzled posted:What kind of bike were you on? I also passed the course this last weekend. The box was super easy on the bike I had-- it was a Honda CRF. It was really forgiving, I was able to shift up into 2 and complete the box with like 2 feet to spare on the boundaries. Everyone was on Kawasaki Eliminators for our course. Reasonably functional, at least.
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Apr 14, 2014 18:09
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I just the UK equivalent today; the CBT for the second time since my current licence runs out at the end of the month, and since I've been riding a scooter for about a year now I figured I'd have a shot at a geared bike. Holy poo poo what a day, I did pretty fine with all the assessment jazz in the car park for the first half of the day (I'm still amazed at myself for doing pretty well with figure 8's and U turns. But then came of the on-road section... and my god I have never stalled so many times in my life! The worst part was loving up and getting stuck at a busy junction while taking the lead, I've must've jolted forward five times enough for the lights to go back to red... christ that was embarrassing. I still passed though, and riding my scooter home felt like riding a cloud in comparison; all I could think on the way was "I really want to get my own geared bike and practice the balls off it". The biggest issues I found were; - I couldn't really figure out driving in first gear, I was having trouble trying to not rev the poo poo out of the throttle while trying to 'Slip' the clutch (Am I suppose to just hold it at the biting point?) - Gear shifting was pretty rough, going up was fine though I did rocket ahead every now and then. But I just couldn't feel out the lever to properly down shift which distracted me a whole lot - Feeling off balance; for some reason putting too much weight on the right foot peg made me slightly tip over on occasion when slow/stationary Despite the bad parts it was a cracking day with the sun beaming, and me not being in work riding a motorcycle.
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Apr 15, 2014 21:48
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Super Slash posted:...I still passed though,... Super Slash posted:- I couldn't really figure out driving in first gear, I was having trouble trying to not rev the poo poo out of the throttle while trying to 'Slip' the clutch (Am I suppose to just hold it at the biting point?) When you ride away from a standstill, hold the clutch about two seconds in the friction zone. Don't use a lot of throttle (maybe a quarter?) because you won't go faster. When you get comfortable with this the time to hold the clutch will shorten. Super Slash posted:- Gear shifting was pretty rough, going up was fine though I did rocket ahead every now and then. But I just couldn't feel out the lever to properly down shift which distracted me a whole lot Time, time, time. This is all about the throttle/clutch/revs combo, and you'll be fiddling with it for a while until you don't have to think about it any more. There's no magic.
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Apr 15, 2014 22:17
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It's all about the clutch control, rev it up to about 3k-4k and slowly let the clutch out while increasing the revs (the revs will drop as you let the clutch out, even if your speed is increasing). When starting from a stop it may take me up to 3-5 seconds to fully let the clutch out, more if I'm making a sharp turn. When upshifting, let off the throttle slightly, not all the way, just a bit. When downshifting, increase (or blip) the throttle in order to match the revs with road speed. Here's a good video showing how to manipulate the fiction zone. CaptCrash makes lots of good videos, I watched almost all of them when learning to ride and it was a great help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdMGeiNmYwM Not sure about your balance issues. Are you looking at the ground when it happens? You're gonna go where you look, if you're looking down you're gonna go down. Riding slowly is difficult, ride the rear brake, it helps stablilize the bike greatly and relax your hands/arms, it's rider input that will make the bike wobble.
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Apr 15, 2014 22:23
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Tanbo posted:Not sure about your balance issues. Are you looking at the ground when it happens? I'd say it felt more like I hadn't quite adapted to the riding style just yet, since I'm used to a moving chair rather than having my legs astride; especially since I have a habit of coming to a stop using my right leg rather than the left which I should be doing. Also we were riding Yamaha YBR125's which were amazingly light! Like sitting on a feather.
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Apr 15, 2014 22:36
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Stopped by the local course and chatted with the instructor for a bit. Watched the peoples go round and round for a while. Only 3 cones fell casualty to target fixation. A Good Day!
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May 26, 2014 00:13
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Passed a motorcycle driving test last week. Practical exam consists of three parts: Part I - Questions about motorcycle - technical liquid location (brake, oil, cooling) and how to check their level, tires (pressure, wear, etc.) and various other topics. This part is optional and may be skipped at discretion of inspector. I didn't get any questions (maybe because I came to exam in full gear). Part II - Driving test in a parking lot - various tests which show candidates control over the bike: You get two attempts at each figure. Two figures can be picked as "practice run". This means that you get one more attempt at them. a) Parking - stop the bike and park it pushing backwards into designated area (2m x 3m) Slow speed (In any slow speed figure touching the ground with your leg is automatic fail). b) Figure Eight - while entering show direction of entrance with hand, drive through figure one time without crossing the lines, at exit show direction of exit with hand. c) Footbridge - drive across the footbridge without loosing balance and driving off of it. LxWxH = >6.5m 0.25-0.30m 0.1-0.15m d) "Snake" - 5 cones in a straight line (3m intervals) - come around the 1st cone from the right side and make a left turn, then right turn and so on; one must not touch cones or cause them to fall Fast speed e) Slalom - (30km/h) - 4 cones in a straight line (7m intervals) - swerve around them without loosing speed; cones must not fall or be touched. f) Obstacle avoidance without braking - (50km/h) - 1.3m coridor with obstacle (two cones at 9m interval) you have to avoid (swerve around). f) Obstacle avoidance with braking - (50km/h) - 1.3m coridor with obstacle (two cones at 7m interval) you have to avoid (swerve around). There is a limit on when you can start braking to avoid. g) Full stop from 50kmh - 11m of braking distance and you have to stop with front wheel within designated space (0.5m). You can drive these exercises in any sequence but last two have to be Full Stop followed by Parking. You have to pass all these exercises to continue to next part. Otherwise, result is a failed exam. Part III - Driving in traffic - self explanatory. Minimum 25min in city traffic. Example of driving test. Proctor drives in a car or motorcycle behind you and gives commands on turns, stops, etc. Exam is being filmed on camera in case of dispute. I passed this exam in three attempts (two last year). First two ended in a parking lot. A nice sense of achievement it is
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Jul 23, 2014 05:42
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Yess! Very nice. Do you have any restrictions on what bike you're allowed to ride? What are your plans?
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Jul 23, 2014 13:18
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I actually retook the BRC (Basic Rider Course) a few weekends ago. The new books are different than the ones I taught out of and they go over certain things more (like cornering) and they go over other things a lot less (ladder of risk and the number of repetitions of the SEE strategy.) The test changed from 50 questions to 25 and are a little more difficult than they used to be but not by much. The range work was all the same as what I was used to with no changes. I had a ton of fun in class and only spoke up to get things moving along. The class instructors actually thanked me for not being an rear end in a top hat during the class. Terribly I got points taken away during the riding portion when I did the last skills evaluation (the 135* reducing radius curve.) They say I went through the corner too slow and they were correct. I am so used to riding my fuel injected bike and my 1981 suzuki with the vacuum operated petcock I forgot to turn on the gas. I made it through the exercise just barely because where you are supposed to roll on the throttle the bike "coughed" but kept running. I immediately knew what the problem was and just coasted through the turn. When I went to stop, I nonchalantly turned the gas on and made it back in line without the bike dying. When they read off the scores and told me I missed 3 points I knew exactly where it was (the corner is timed and going too slow gets you and initial three points and then 1 point for every second slower.) The instructors questioned what happened and I told them about forgetting to tun on the gas. This earned me a fist bump and a few incredulous stares from the instructors as they both asked, "Are you sure? You ran out of gas and we didn't notice?" When they were done I just grinned and said, "I'm just that drat good" (I'm really not that good and drat I should have known to turn the gas on but I'm just slick enough to reach down and fix it with no one finding out about my gaffe.)
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Jul 23, 2014 15:49
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KARMA! posted:Yess! Very nice. This was a full A category exam. So no restrictions on power. "A – motorcycles, as well as tricycles, having power over 15Kw. Snow-mobiles are considered to be motorcycles" I am considering buying a '08 Honda Hornet for home-work-home commute. And also Honda CRF250L for offroad action.
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Jul 23, 2014 16:19
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So, I am thinking I want to either take the Advanced Ridercourse or the Dirtbike School this year or next year. Would it be considered cheating to do the ARC on my Supermoto? Anyone have any feedback on which one I'll gain more from?
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Jul 23, 2014 16:20
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Akion posted:So, I am thinking I want to either take the Advanced Ridercourse or the Dirtbike School this year or next year. You can take the ARC on any bike, but the ARC is truly ARC:Sportbike riding techniques. What they teach (threshhold braking, getting the weight where you want it on the bike, and the very beginnings of leaning off/getting a knee down) can be done on any bike (one of the guys did the class on a Harley Bagger.) The classroom portion was almost all risk and self assessment. Do you think you're a safe rider? Do you take to many risks? Are you minimizing your risks when you go out and ride? There was some discussion about cornering and trail braking, bringing up late apexes and using a little bit of braking/lean/push to help correct lines and what not. I took it 3 years ago and the MSF is going through changes right now getting a new curriculum in place so things might be slightly different.
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Jul 24, 2014 06:27
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I took mine the first time in February (it snowed) and failed miserably on the skills test. I considered giving up, decided, "gently caress that, I can do this!" and took the test again two weeks later. Passed like a boss. I've now got almost 7500 miles on my Ninjer, mostly highway. Right now, AS I TYPE THIS, my husband is in his MSF class so he can get his license as well. He's had a permit for a few months now, and is riding a dual sport. The hardest thing for me the first time, and the reason I failed, is that I was really freaked out. I hadn't ridden a bike in years, and had never ridden a motorcycle before except once as a passenger. So my best advice for people taking the course is to RELAX. Chill the gently caress out. Take a deep breath. Ask for help from an instructor. Ignore other people (meaning don't worry that you'll embarrass yourself, not "run into them at full speed"). Just ride and learn and ask questions and get help if you need it. It also helps to keep your arms relaxed. I had so much trouble (and wasn't corrected) because I was death-gripping the handlebars that I couldn't turn effectively. These days I barely use my arms at all. I'm resting them on the bars more than anything, and I hold on with my knees. Try to remember to keep your elbows bent and loose. Check out our Advanced Rider Course: http://team-oregon.org/resources/video/#vids (this video's music is hilarious) They actually use a real (go-kart) course, so you get to go fast, do corners, and all kinds of stuff. I think I'll sign up for it next year.
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Jul 26, 2014 20:14
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I just passed my BRC a little while ago (a couple weeks now) and I was super impressed. Having never ridden a motorcycle before it was a fantastic way to get acclimated and start building some decent skills. My biggest challenge was that loving U Turn box. I'd nail the first part of it (I still don't quite understand how, but keeping my RPMs up really helps), then turn too widely for the second part. I also (and I attribute this to inattention due to being wiped from 2 days in 105 degree heat) didn't slow down quite enough when entering that larger, faster turn in the skills test. I didn't come off the throttle though, just corrected by pressing more and the turn ended up fine - just a bit too fast. So I'm really going to be practicing u-turns and cornering more.
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Jul 27, 2014 22:18
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Just got home from passing my MSF. Now to nurse this sunburn! No matter how calm you are for the training as soon as they start testing, everyone freaks out. Hell I was freaked out and I'd already tried the MSF a few months ago, but failed.
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Jul 28, 2014 03:11
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They didn't even tell us when we were doing the testing portion, just did it.
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Jul 28, 2014 07:10
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Good job to all who completed brc/msf!Tanbo posted:They didn't even tell us when we were doing the testing portion, just did it. That's pretty nice! I wish they did this here but it would be pretty hard considering the testing parts are done by the government on government property.
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Jul 28, 2014 15:27
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Congrats to the new goon riders.
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Aug 3, 2014 16:05
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Have my BRC scheduled for next weekend. I'm excited to get on some bikes and have some fun. I have no motorcycle experience except a handful of times riding a 49cc scooter. Expensive though $185 with a dealers discount. Costs as much as the rust bucket Suzuki GS I bought to fix up.
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Aug 31, 2014 20:00
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Blackdawgg posted:Have my BRC scheduled for next weekend. I'm excited to get on some bikes and have some fun. I have no motorcycle experience except a handful of times riding a 49cc scooter. Expensive though $185 with a dealers discount. Costs as much as the rust bucket Suzuki GS I bought to fix up. I'm doing mine Thurs/Fri, it runs $225, which is pretty standard for Florida (it's also mandatory to get an endorsement, you can no longer take the test at the DMV). Been riding for several years (just finished up a 3 week trip around Japan), have a Japanese license, but still pretty excited to be filling in the gaps in my knowledge and picking up an unrestricted endorsement. I said I wasn't going to get a bike here (moving to Australia in Feb) but I brought all my gear back with me and there's currently both a KLR and an F650 on Craigslist that are pretty attractively priced...
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Aug 31, 2014 21:08
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Update: the only other student for my class was a no-show this morning, so the instructor and I banged it out in 5 hours. DMV appointment is on Monday.
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Sep 4, 2014 18:55
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