I flunk the road test today

[JohnE1000]

I took my first road test, and I flunk it. I felt that the testing range is too small. It was the same exercise that I did and passed in the MSF course. The difference is that in the MSF course had more distance to gain speed, and the bike was much smaller and lighter. The DMV range there was only few feets before one start swivling between the cones.
Most of my riding so far was mid to high speed. I guess I sould go back to practice low speed maneuver.

[Black_peter]

Dude..
Don't make excusses..
It happens.. Try again..
Low speed riding is something we could all practise more!!

[Kanati]

I damn near didn't pass the cone part of my msf course either... Once you learn to counter lean though it will be easy as pie.

[paradoxmd]

i don't know about your local laws, but in texas, and more specificly austin, the msf course waives the riding portion of the motorcycle license exam. is that not the case in your area?

[JohnE1000]

i don't know about your local laws, but in texas, and more specificly austin, the msf course waives the riding portion of the motorcycle license exam. is that not the case in your area?

No.
I took the beginner MSF course. Only the advanced MSF course can waive the road test in SC.

[paradoxmd]

ahhh, the beginers course here will waive that portion. oh well, no worries, just practice. i love practicing on the bike.

[Mojoe]

what kind of testing do you have that takes you up to high speed? about 25mph is all you can really get up to here. anything over that and you risk not responding in time....especially and the "road hazard" test where you have a split second to go right or left, depending which arrow lights up.

[WildKat]

Odd that the MSF course didnt allow you to take the test after you passed the course and get your permit stamped as a class M. DMV tests always seem to be alittle more nerve racking..but either way, slow riding and manuervering are a huge part of being able to control your bike. Practice up and give it another shot.

[Mojoe]

someone should make a sticky about the do's and don'ts for taking the driving course at the dmv. i sort of became buddies with the teacher during my course. i did some riding with him outside of the course. we were discussing all the bad habits riders get into and stuff. one of the main ones for doing good at the dmv is probably what got you into trouble. many riders get too heavy on the gas. i don't know what it is like where you are, but it gets you into trouble here. we have a fairly complex test. a 540 degree tight turn (a turn and a half) is one. too heavy and you better be ready to drag a peg if you want to stay in the circle. too slow you won't do it in time. same with the road hazard thing. i watched 2 people in a row get going to fast and panicked when the time come. a handful of brake is what happened. keep everything under 25mph. actually, my teacher said 23 was ideal. keeping it slow is the trick. you are testing to drive on a road...not a track. there are no time trials.

[nitros222]

Here In Wisconsin. The road test is on the road they give you a headset and tell you where to go down the city streets.

[Seabeefester]

Down in Mississippi I failed the written test twice. The lady behind the counter told me the computer was screwed up and if you took the practice test first It automatically failed you. I did that twice before she told me. I was pist because I am an E-6 in the military and to top that off I am an Equipment Operator. My Ego was smashed. I have never failed a test in my Life. But with that said I finally past the test on the 3rd try. Now the driving test was funny. I got on the bike and she had me start it up and test the lights and horn and hazards and all that then I had to go down to the corner turn around and come past at the speed limit, 15mph narrow street, and turn around again at the other corner and come back. Thats it. Nothing more. And if I had my MSF card that would have been waived. But keep practicing and you will pass.

[JohnE1000]

hey
Some of you guys have it easy in some states. I envy you.
Here are the five tests that I had to pass:
1- slow left hand turn (easy)
2- waiving between the cones (moderate)
3- figure 8 in a box. Basically, in the middel of the box you make half circle to the left then immediatly full circle to the right and repeat again without your feet touch the ground (very hard)
4- emergency stoping, the front wheel must stop inside a little box (moderate)
5- avoiding stalled car.(easy)

I didn't pass the figuer 8 trun in the box, because my foot touched the ground, and I didn't pass the emergency stop, becuase the front wheel was on the border of the box.

[JJ0712]

someone should make a sticky about the do's and don'ts for taking the driving course at the dmv. i sort of became buddies with the teacher during my course. i did some riding with him outside of the course. we were discussing all the bad habits riders get into and stuff. one of the main ones for doing good at the dmv is probably what got you into trouble. many riders get too heavy on the gas. i don't know what it is like where you are, but it gets you into trouble here. we have a fairly complex test. a 540 degree tight turn (a turn and a half) is one. too heavy and you better be ready to drag a peg if you want to stay in the circle. too slow you won't do it in time. same with the road hazard thing. i watched 2 people in a row get going to fast and panicked when the time come. a handful of brake is what happened. keep everything under 25mph. actually, my teacher said 23 was ideal. keeping it slow is the trick. you are testing to drive on a road...not a track. there are no time trials.

Two of the road test procedures are timed in Vermont, the quick stop and obstacle swerve and if you do it to slow you lose points. so in VT time can make you or break you.

[WildKat]

hey
Some of you guys have it easy in some states. I envy you.
Here are the five tests that I had to pass:
1- slow left hand turn (easy)
2- waiving between the cones (moderate)
3- figure 8 in a box. Basically, in the middel of the box you make half circle to the left then immediatly full circle to the right and repeat again without your feet touch the ground (very hard)
4- emergency stoping, the front wheel must stop inside a little box (moderate)
5- avoiding stalled car.(easy)

I didn't pass the figuer 8 trun in the box, because my foot touched the ground, and I didn't pass the emergency stop, becuase the front wheel was on the border of the box.

Taking the MSF course and taking ur test at the end of course is so beneficial when doing these maneuvers. You can more confident taking it w/ the MSF than u can w/ the DMV, IMO. If you have the chance to do so, I'd highly recommend it.

All those manuevers can be tough for a beginner but all are necessary is everyday riding. 8)

[Ghir]

Hrmm.. up here, the lot test consists of:

1.Really really slow (you can walk faster) straight line test - and you have to do a tight 180 after to do it again right after down the same line. its easy to flub if you dont keep your eyes on the horizon, looks easy but lots of guys flub this on the test because they figure its easy and don't practice this nearly as much.


2. Circle. Have to do it twice in one shot.. It's basically a 1.5x figure eight the way you go about it. do a full circle, exit , come around another full circle (without cones), enter at right point, do circle, and exit

3. Curve + shifting. Its a curve, you have to shift up, shift down while turning. Get to end, do tight 180 and repeat.

4. Cone salom. back and forth, back and forth thread your way downhill between cones. BTW, you have maybe 5 feet before you have to start turning. so you gotta start off and get your hands off the clutch and feet on the pegs in that distance and then turn the bike. Get to end, do tight 270 (see a pattern? - lots of people went wide on this one) and do it again without stopping, uphill this time. Teaches you throttle modulation at the same time.

5. Shift and 90 degree turns. Start, shift up, shift down, left 90 degree turn in a maybe 3feet by 3feet box. Do another 90 degree left 5 feet after the previous. Shift up, shift down, come to a stop on the line. this is one a few where you get a "break" between a sequence. Turn around and do it again, 2 right handers this time.

6. Emergency Brake test in a straight line. pretty straightfoward.

7. Emergency Swerve. Tester stands In front of the bike, tells you at the last minute which direction to go. Tester is understandbly sort of nervous. Seen a few guys flub it and plow straight ahead. Instructor does the holy shit jump get ready to run thing.

8. Finally, uphill start. ride downhill, turn 90degrees left uphill and stop immediately. You go maybe 1 feet uphill, thats it. Kinda throws you off the balance. Rear brake on, switch to hand brake, clutch in, find neutral. Take hand off clutch to show its in neutral. Turn bike off. Turn bike on. release clutch to show in neutral again. handbrake off, footbrake on. down to first gear, and move off uphill.

And of course, all those maneuvers require you to stop in a controlled manner with only left foot down at the end.


This is the (parking) lot test. Unfortunately you are allowed to take a road test instead of this if you already drive a car. Which means you get on a bike and someone follows you in a car. Basically its more of a abide by the roadsigns test which demonstrates not much of your ability to handle a bike. Roadtest is more expensive and you have to provide a registered, insured bike to do it on. Lot test you can just use the school's bike. We consider the guys who do the road test to have "pussied out" and havent really proven their ability to handle the bike.