I'm scheduled to take my course in a few weeks and just wondering what to expect? I did a quick search on here but didn't find anything.
Will I be riding on the first day, or will it all be classroom stuff the first couple days? I'll have 4 total classes, spread out over 2 weeks. What kind of tests do you take on the bike? Is there anything I can do to prepare for it?
Any and all info/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

 

BRC I went to was 4 days over 1 week.

The 1st 2 days were classroom and test on the material they covered. TCLOCS, braking discussions, ect.

The last 2 days was on the bikes. The 1st day is very basic, going on the assumption that the students have never ridden anything more than a Schwinn. You'll start out rocking the bike back and forth trying to find the friction zone on the clutch. Then you'll walk the bike until everyone is comfortable and then actually lift your feet on the pegs. They'll teach you the very basics of braking and turning thru various exercises. Hardest for me was the offset slalom. Dunno why but I could never get that right even during the ERC.

Day 2 riding refreshed day 1 before the actual riding test. The riding test was Emergency Braking, Cornering, Figure 8 inside of a box (the most dreaded part but not really that hard) and swerving if IIRC.

Oh btw:
I don't know about where you are but here we were not allowed to use our own bikes for the BRC. And even if they do allow it, I wouldn't use that bike if I were you. The MSF instructors were kinda light on teaching a sport bike rider. And if you've never done any of the kind of maneuvering they'll put you thru, it'll be a lot harder on a sport bike than on their 250cc 'cruisers'. It's a lot of low speed maneuvering. Something sport bike riders rarely practice and something our bikes do not take to naturally

 

Thanks for the info!
I definitely won't be using my bike (a CBR900RR) even if I was allowed to!

 

The ERC requires people to bring their own bike. I've taken both the BRC and ERC. When I took the ERC I was the only person there that already had their license. And I was on one of the 2 600s. It was hilarious listening to a guy moan about possibly dropping his brand new 1000rr cause if he went "that slow" his bike would prolly stall out.

But everything during the BRC can be done on even a liter. I just wouldn't suggest it for anyone that hasn't put in any time practicing slow maneuvers. You'll swear you'll fall over trying to do the Figure 8. Here's a hint they didn't give us during my BRC:

The rear brake is your BFF

 

What about specific tests? I keep hearing about figure 8's. How fast do you have to go, how big of an area are you in? Any other tests I should know about? Anything I could be practicing for in the meantime?

 

Lay out a box about 3 car parking spaces wide and about 6 car lenghts long

then make figure 8's without putting your foot down or going outside the "box"

Using using the BRC bikes to do the tests will (as Kuro points out) mean smaller
bikes (125cc's some 250cc's) and easier to do the test on anyway so if you practice on
your bike then it's fair to say .....it should be easy b y the time you take the class and
test.

Big thing is head up, and press and roll through turns

 

A good place to look around is the MSF website, http://msf-usa.org/index_new.cfm . They have good information and various links. If you look around real good the layout plans for all courses is there somewhere to include the figure 8 "the box". I used my cbr600 and hade no problem with any course. The issue people run into is that a sportbike will seem to "dip" in turns. The bike wants to do what is natural and lean but at the slow pace it feels awkward. In my opinion using the BRC bikes will be better because a cruiser will make the box seem easier not to mention if it tips over you want get as butt hurt. I would not worry about what everyone says about the tests or courses. You'll have fun.

 

"Feels awkward"? Heh more of "feels like the cold hand of fairing death grabbing you by the scruff of the neck". But it's more than doable. During the ERC they expanded the box to allow for the bigger engines. But I still did the figure 8 inside the 250cc box

Doing the BRC on their bikes takes a major strain off your mind: if you **** up, it's not your bike that hits asphalt

 

Find out where they do the riding part of the class and you'll discover the actual figure 8 box painted on some parking lot. You can then practice your slow turn technique in the actual arena. Hint: You will not be able to stay within the smaller lines on a larger displacement sport bike. Start using the clutch friction zone if you want to master the technique.

I took the BRC this spring on one of their 250cc cruisers. Although the riding position felt awkward from what I was used to it was really easy to do tight turns. I was the only student who already had a motorcycle license and I showed up each day on my 1000rr.

Although we had to use their bikes for the BRC class the instructor later let me take mine out on the course and see if I could do the figure 8 turns on it. He said I wouldn't be able to because of the sport bike characteristics and he was right. I did manage to complete the maneuver within the wider boxed lines, just not the narrow ones.

 

I have to disagree here. I went thru the ERC on my 1000rr along with a couple other liters and a 1400 and we had to complete the figure 8 box. The same size that is required in all the BRC courses. The biggie is what was said, keeping on the friction zone and working the brakes.