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I retook the BRC this past weekend since I haven't been riding for 6 years or so; passed it pretty easily. The coaches pretty much noticed that I already had the basic skills right away and were having fun giving me poo poo whenever I do something stupid like stalling out a few times (and it always happened right after I did a picture perfect drill and got the "great job man"). This one woman dumped her bike during the duck-walk, then 3 times in rapid succession later in the day when we started going in circles. She didn't come back to the afternoon classroom session; guess she had enough. Even though it's my second time around I still had a good time though; after 6 years my hands and feet sort of forgot what they're supposed to be doing and it was nice being able to go through everything at a beginner's pace. Had to get used to my own bike again though. Those 125 Eliminators in the class had really stiff clutches; I didn't want to screw up the feel so I made sure I didn't touch my ninja 250 at all until last night. Ended up stalling the poo poo out of it for the first 5 minutes of getting back on. The one thing I think I can pass on to a new guy taking a course is shrug it off if you drop your bike. When I took the class for the first time years ago I had an incident where this old gently caress in front of me panicked and grabbed his brakes. I swerved out of the way but since I was new too I went a little grabby happy on the front brake and dumped the bike. The instructor immediately ran over and went "you okay?" I responded with a shrug and said "eh. Oops." He said, "yup, that's exactly how you should deal with that. No biggy". I ended up passing easily. The woman in my last weekend's class fixated on it and well, didn't get to finish the class. The scooter looked fun as hell but they wouldn't let me touch it 
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Jul 31, 2012 19:12
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 00:00 |
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Yeah, a lot of people were nervous as hell when the day started. My fiance was shaky enough that she didn't want to pull her legs up to start riding after the duck walking session but eventually eased up and passed her test. The instructors I had pretty much did what you'd do; it was towards the end of the first day when that woman had her 4th dump and by then I think she'd had enough and just didn't want anything to do with it anymore. gently caress that loving box, btw. I didn't drop a leg or anything but I did cross the line in the first U. In the real world though I'm doing u turns like a boss on my residential street. An observer posted:Excellent thread. I asked this in the gear thread a few days back, might as well ask here—what do I wear for a top during the classes? People said they pretty much just wore longsleeve shirts. I was thinking a denim jacket. How about gloves? Depending how hot it is in your area; I wore a long sleeve button-down shirt because that's the only thing I have that's not dark colored and there's no way I'd wanna wear a jacket in the middle of summer in southern cal. Gloves-wise the site I was at had them but I prefer my own. I linked these in the gear thread a while back; 35 bucks for the meso street gloves that are on close-out and they're very sturdy. Angryboot fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Jul 31, 2012 |
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Jul 31, 2012 22:30
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JollyRancher, good luck!Jabs posted:Now she can't even sit on a bike (motor or pedal) without nearly bursting into tears. I'm furious and heartbroken at the same time. How long ago did this class take place? Might wanna back off and let her process stuff through before having her sit on bikes again. According to what you wrote she dumped it when trying to turn around after the duck walk; was this because she had the bike leaning the wrong way? My fiance's pretty short and when she walked the bike the first time, being on tippy toes, if she tried to do a left hand turn with the forks cranked to the left, the bike would start leaning to the right. Very high chance of dumping the bike that way if she kept walking especially if she panics and accidentally blips the throttle, then it's panic brake grab + pop the clutch and dumping the bike. After she's worked through and doesn't get upset anymore sitting on the bike, maybe you can take a look and see if that was happening. My fiance was pretty drat nervous about taking the class until I told her I'd take it with her even though I've had my license for over 10 years. She was still nervous, but since I was there too it made things a lot easier. You might wanna think about doing the same especially since she's had a pretty lovely experience already. Just don't get in the way when she's trying to learn something by giving her too much or contradicting information. And try a different site with different instructors.
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Aug 1, 2012 16:32
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Grats, Pompous Rhombus and JollyRancher! JollyRancher, what's your height/weight? I'm 6'1" with 34 inseams the Rebel felt pretty tiny. It wasn't that uncomfortable but I could feel a bit of pressure on my lower back sitting that low with my knees that high. Are you gonna be doing freeways? One morning I saw this guy who's around 6'3", maybe around 260, riding on the freeway in front of me on a Rebel and he seriously didn't look all that happy scooting along at 55mph. The Ninja 250's pretty comfortable on me and has enough pick up and go; some taller guys that I saw in other forums said they felt the cbr250 was more comfortable but that's really up to the individual. Main argument I have (and most everybody here too) is that you should probably look into getting a used bike first, and used cbr250s are gonna be harder to find than used ninjas. Unless you're dead set on getting a new bike then go nuts.
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Aug 11, 2012 03:01
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It kinda helps being in 1st when you're stopped in case you need to move in a big hurry (somebody not paying attention and is about to rear end you, etc)
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Aug 11, 2012 03:06
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Yeah, don't beat yourself up over it. Just pick yourself up, take a couple of deep breaths, and go again. You're not there to look good, you're there to learn stuff, and you'll probably learn a lot more by screwing up a couple of times. After riding to work all week I decided yeah, I'm comfortable on my own bike. Look ma, I can do freeways just fine! I got this poo poo yo! Then I bought some cheap cones from Target and started doing some slow speed drills after watching some moto gymkhana on youtube and holy poo poo, I'm terrible 
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Aug 19, 2012 08:17
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For shifting up, if you're bumping it up and releasing after you feel the click before you release the clutch, sometimes you'll get a false neutral on some of the older bikes (like the one I was on in my class). Next time you go from 1st to 2nd, try keeping your toe pressure on the bottom of the lever and slip the clutch out. I had to do that to the little beat up 125 the whole time I was in the class to get it to go into gear properly.
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Aug 22, 2012 01:45
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I'd squid the gently caress out of it if I get to play on a simulator. How does it look like? Is it something like http://www.tecknotrove.com/Motorbike_Training_Simulator.html?
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Oct 27, 2012 18:48
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Man that video of the simulator killed my nerd boner so fast it's not even funny Like Kenny Rogers said, you'll get a better idea of how counter steering works when you go faster. Push the bar forward instead of down and watch it start leaning immediately and make you giggle like an idiot.
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Oct 28, 2012 04:00
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Just stay loose and remember what you've learned yesterday and you're good to go. You still have practice time before the test starts anyway. Worst case scenario you get to retake the last day for free next week. No biggy. Good luck today!
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Oct 28, 2012 16:30
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Yeah I stomped the poo poo out of mine too and never had a problem. More than likely that bike already had cracks on the shifter pedal from students dropping it.
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Nov 5, 2012 19:22
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Pissingintowind posted:Chalk up another one! My first day of a 3 day MSF course is tomorrow. Unfortunately, classroom only on day 1. Good luck on the course, stay loose, hope you have a good time. Z3n posted:I don't like preloading as a habit because I worry about it causing issues with the transmission eventually jumping out of gear and all, but it can definitely be handy to learn when the bike "wants" to shift. There's been a couple of times on older bikes where I had problems going from 1st to 2nd and to get around that, I kept the upward pressure on the shift lever steady then slipped the clutch out to get it to go into 2nd. Does that count as preloading?
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Nov 5, 2012 21:05
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I'm 6'1" at 210 lbs and I have no problems with zooming up to 85+ on my 250. Sure, acceleration starts slowing down once I get to like 90, but by then I'm already 25 miles over the speed limit around here. Don't get too hung up on the hurr 250 is dinky hurr mentality. (For what it's worth I started on a 900cc sport bike. But then again I was 17 and stupid. And lucky as hell.) EDIT: forgot to mention, at 25 or so hp's, I'm doing plenty of 2-ups with my fiance on the 250 and still don't have any problems going up to 75+. With both of us on it we're at around 330. Angryboot fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Nov 12, 2012 |
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Nov 12, 2012 19:01
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When's it starting?
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Nov 18, 2012 01:48
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I think that's a bit much to think about before starting the class; you're not going to be doing any high-speed impact stuff or maneuvers you can't handle during the course anyway. That talk is better served after she passes and before she gets on the road, and quite honestly the instructors will drill that into her head before the test even starts. Just stay loose, keep your ears and eyeballs open, ask questions if you don't get something. If you drop the bike, oh well, pick it back up and go at it again. Even if you do screw up on the test you still get a second shot at it (repeating the second range day).
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Nov 18, 2012 06:26
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#1, make sure you go slow on releasing the clutch lever. Slower than what you've been doing today. #2, give it more throttle when you're releasing the lever. I noticed my fiance forgetting to give it some gas after concentrating on finding the friction zone on the lever for a good amount of time and had to be reminded of that.
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Nov 25, 2012 03:27
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Hey grats on taking your first step towards transforming your daily commute into a non-insulated experience. I had to drive to work for the first time since switching back to being on a bike over half a year ago (a co-worker needed a ride) for 4 days last week and boy was it miserable.
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Jan 30, 2013 18:53
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Oh quit being a baby and take the test already. If it makes you feel any better, there's always gonna be somebody that looks worse than you especially if you've been riding for a while.
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May 22, 2013 17:33
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I've taken the MSF twice and both times were in the middle of summer in Southern Cal at 100'ish degrees. Light colored clothing and a lot of water will get you through.
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Jun 13, 2013 06:38
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Not quite MSF; my fiancee and I are gonna be taking Lee Park's class in 3 more weeks and it looks like we'll be doing just that, wearing full leathers on a parking lot in summer for 8 hours. Looking forward to dragging knees at 15-20 mph.
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Jun 13, 2013 17:46
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I don't know how the hell I skipped your write up before; thanks for the info. I think both bikes are good to go on my side; the 250's battery is a year old and hasn't given me any concerns, and the zx6's battery is like 3 months old. Will probably bring a spare just in case.
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Jun 13, 2013 18:12
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Kinda not looking forward to wearing my leathers for 8 hours though. May end up picking some mesh stuff for this.
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Jun 13, 2013 20:17
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Is it different from state-to-state or site-to-site when it comes to helmet requirements on MSF courses? I brought my own but my site provides them and all they required were gloves and boots on top of the usual long pants and long sleeves.
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Jun 13, 2013 22:49
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I don't know about your technical/tools situation. If you're just starting out and have minimal tools, starting on a 30 year old bike that might not be able to go on freeways is probably not the easiest way to go. Personally I'd pick a recently made 250 of some sort.
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Jun 24, 2013 06:49
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You'll get used to it soon enough. After a good night's sleep you'll probably surprise yourself how much easier it gets the next time you're on the range.
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Jul 23, 2013 22:28
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Grats on passing your test. Don't sweat it about the box; low speed stuff takes a lot of practice but you'll get a hang of it soon enough as long as you keep practicing.
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Jul 24, 2013 23:41
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You're over-thinking it. Next time you get on a bike, get your speed up to regular traffic speeds, then push the left grip away from you. The bike will lean left, and you will go left. It's seriously harder to explain than to just do it and see for yourself.
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Jul 30, 2013 00:31
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Oh. NM then. Seriously though that's one of the most frequent questions I hear out of guys that are starting out. Once they've done it the first time it's "oooohhhh" and then I never hear about it again.
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Jul 30, 2013 00:43
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Did you actually learn anything from the brc? I'd imagine everything here is kids play after the licensing test you had in Japan.
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Sep 4, 2014 20:04
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Relax and enjoy yourself. Don't dwell on it if you dropped the bike. Shrug it off, take a deep breath, and go at it again.
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Sep 24, 2014 18:05
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Grats! I doubt there were any decrease radius turns in the brc. The one I was in certainly didn't have it.
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Oct 2, 2014 00:05
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Huh, I remember the right hander but didn't remember anything about it decreasing. Cool.
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Oct 2, 2014 01:35
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You're pretty much right; go into a store and try everything on to find out what brand+size fits. Ask questions on specific items in the gear thread, etc. Ninja 250s are recommended all the time because they're great. I still have mine and use it a few days per week.
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Oct 2, 2014 20:19
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Great time to start seeing decent deals popping up then. I bought my last 2 bikes in Feb and I'm still happy with what I paid.
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Oct 2, 2014 23:10
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 00:00 |
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I think it took me 3 days of surface road riding before I started doing freeway commutes. Took my wife like a month though.
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May 28, 2015 02:04
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