Took the MSF class this weekend...walked away with a perfect score on the written and riding test. I'm still pretty stoked. I actually learned quite a bit. First hour was tough...trying to go from a F2 (kept in great condition) to a beat up Honda 125 trainer bike. Everything from brakes to throttle was HORRIBLE. It felt way unsafe...but after that first hour...it was a blast. The instructors and my buddies (some took the class with me, some came to watch us for a bit) were getting a kick out of watching me ride that little honda like there was no tomorrow. The instructors kept telling me to push the bike (and myself) harder, and harder, and harder...they kept encouraging me until I was going through the drills with the pegs dragging. As crazy as it sounds, doing the basic drills at the edge of the little bike's performance envelope made me such a better rider.

And now that urge to do a track day is stronger than ever. Riding my bike is fun (even commuting in traffic is good times). Riding that little training 125 was fun. I can just imagine what it'd be like to take my bike to a track (or even a 'track', like an autocross event for bikes)....

Got good/funny MSF stories? Post em up and help me get through this horribly slow monday

 

I took mine last fall, had never been on a bike before. I did okay and learned a lot, but the best part was about another guy. He had been riding on his learner's permit for about 3 years, on a smaller/midsize cruiser. He wanted to get a sportbike of some kind, I can't remember which one, but it had to be a 1000. You know the type, "I'm a big guy, so I need a big bike. I've been riding for a while, I know what I'm doing." This guy is getting alot of coaching from the instructors (a lot more than myself and other first-timers), so you can pretty much tell he's not ready for a liter bike. Then we were doing braking drills where we sped up to about 25mph and slowed down when the instructor waved his hand. This dude locks up the front wheel on thelittle Rebel 250 and flips it. The rest of us waiting for our turn jsut bust out laughing, since this guy had been talking big all day about how good he was.

 

Imagine someone like this guy: (Our MSF Instructor)

On this little Kawasaki Eliminator 125 bike:

Running the MSF Drills

That was plenty of fun for us!

 

i took my BRC some time ago. It was fun. I learned I need to slow down more before entering turns. But I think I pushed myself going faster then i should only because the instructors kept on telling us we need to be doing 15mph min but at the same time yelled at us for "looking down" so i couldn't quite check my speed.

Neither my BRC or Michigan MOST riding scores were pefect. During the BRC on-road test i leaned too much during the 170* decreasing radius turn and touched the inner line of the exit straight away. Then on MI MOST my stupid bike kept cutting off during rapid stops and i kept getting penalized for it. I think the bike was low on fuel since it wouldn't restart easily without working the throttle but the instructors didn't care.

But ovet all the only complaint i had was about how the controls were adjusted.....rather how horribly they weren't adjusted! Loose throttle, brakes/clutch lever, shifter levers set too low to the point of me not being able to get my riding boots underneath, etc. It was to the point where i showed up 20 mins early for each session so i could walk around trying out the controls on all the bikes and deciding which i wanted to ride.

 

I hated the course. I hated everything about it. It didnt teach me anything except how to stay alive on a broken down POS bike.

 

I had a Honda Nighhawk for my road test. I had problems getting this thing into 2nd gear whenever I needed to, yet anytime I went for neutral, I ended up in 2nd gear. So, I started doing the figure 8. I figured I would do it in 2nd because I was having problems earlier because of the touchiness of the throttle and clutch while in first. Of course I couldn't get it into 2nd. Took me 4 tries while in the figure 8 and ended up crossing the line. I still ended up having the lowest score in the class. Also, I might add that it started raining right before the class. Just a very light drizzle. Two people fell during the emergency braking test. One guy, who looks like a big Harley rider from up in Williamsport, PA area. The other was a woman that when she starting falling over, throttle up and the bike went out from under her. I could have sworn I was going to have problems with this part because I kept locking up the rear every single time during the warm ups.

Out instructers: Rock and Stoney.

 

man i loved my class... I rode a kawi 305 and I swear to you I would go back and buy another one today just to ride that thing around town

 

my class was pretty uneventfull. It wasnt bad, but riding around at 15 mph all day wasnt exciting at all, it reminded me of drivers ed (was at the same place i took drivers ed too.) there was an old guy that was set one getting a brand new 1800cc cruiser but couldnt handle a 250.

 

The cruiser is probably slower than the 250.

 

eh, they were 250 cruisers (honda rebels and i think suzuki gz250s) I wouldnt give them much more credit then a scooter.

I actually just saw my MSF course intructer leaveing school tonight, he rides a CBR 900rr.