rider safety course help ????

[evil-eye]

taking the class in april what type of things do they make you do on the bike that i can practice ????

[bobs]

Buy the MSF textbook or get it from the library.

[katana_ron]

I took my class in December. Here's what we did.

Tight turns, this seems to be the most intimidating part for the students. Luckily I was riding a lot in the Santa Monica Mountains with other riders before taking the class and this seemed easy.

When turning, learn to look far ahead into the corner. This will help on the turns and the instructors looked for this in our class.

Braking. One part of the test is on braking and you can keep or lose valuable points here.

Also, swerving. Get some cones setup in a parking lot and learnt to go in and out of them.

The main thing, ride as often as you can. The more confident you feel on the bike the more confident you will be in class.

Finally, when you arrive, look for a bike that best resembles the one you currently ride. It will help you. I saw some sport bike guys pick little cruisers and vice versa. It made it more difficult for those riders.

Good luck.

[evil-eye]

thanks guys! the best,or worst thing is that the class is givein on honda 250 nighthawks or something like that u can not use your own bike even if u want to

[paradoxmd]

the bikes they supply for you to use see their fair sure of lay-overs. better their bike and not yours. i don't know how long you've been riding or how much experience you have but using a lighter less powered bike makes the course pretty easy. even so, the hardest thing for me was the figure 8 turns. and then i had points against me in the test for going too slow through the curve.

[brooder]

the bikes they supply for you to use see their fair sure of lay-overs. better their bike and not yours. i don't know how long you've been riding or how much experience you have but using a lighter less powered bike makes the course pretty easy. even so, the hardest thing for me was the figure 8 turns. and then i had points against me in the test for going too slow through the curve.

I also lost points on the big curve, but that was it. Had trouble with the figure 8s all through the training then nailed it on the test. Actually short-changed myself on the second turn and still was well within the lines.

Best advice is to just remain calm. If you've been riding, you'll be confident in that respect. Practice fast braking manuevers, cone dodging, and those tight turns. If you can get as tight a turn for the course on the Kat, you'll have no problem with the 250.

[WildKat]

thanks guys! the best,or worst thing is that the class is givein on honda 250 nighthawks or something like that u can not use your own bike even if u want to

Thats a good thing, it really is. Especially for those that have never rode before. the 250 cc bike most MSF classes use are like the nighthawk, or an older Yamaha as well. They are lightweight, easy to handle, easy to keep balanced at a standstill as you learn the ropes. And as mentioned before they have been dropped, layed down, and generally put thru the ringer so even though they are well maintained they are nice and broken in and very comfortable to learn on.

now the advanced rider courses are taken on your own bike, and I highly recommend those too for more experienced riders to keep on top of their skills.

[ChattKat]

The figure 8 got me a few points off as well. You will be glad that your on their bike for that skill, Dont think I would have liked learning to do that on my Kat.

[WildKat]

Taking the advanced course..is the next step for you when you're ready. You take it on your own bike, and it gives you a great refresher of the basic skills but goes more indepth with advanced techniques as well.

[phool]

I just got done taking the course today.

As far as one of the big things... clutch control. Almost all of the low speed stuff you'll control your speed with the clutch instead of with the throttle.

Especially on the figure 8 turn... as you're going in for the really tight turn, keep your head looking far into where you want to go, counter balance, and if you feel like you need to put your foot down to catch yourself, let the clutch out more. If you're all the way out, and you still need to give it more, what you should be doing is keeping the revs up with the throttle, and slipping the clutch.

That's at least what we were doing today, and what they told us to do. As far as if I'd like to rev my personal bike to 2 grand and half release the clutch for minutes at a time, probably not. but again, it's not your bike.

[bobs]

...As far as if I'd like to rev my personal bike to 2 grand and half release the clutch for minutes at a time, probably not. but again, it's not your bike.

That prolonged intentional slipping was the hardest thing for me to get used to too, coming from cars with their dry clutches. But the instructors explained it's a wet clutch and therefore won't burn with that sort of treatment, so now I do it that way and don't worry about it.

[RichC4]

Before I took the beginner rider course, I had only ridden dirt bikes a few times and a moped that I owned back in highschool. I really knew nothing about street riding. The course was probably the best thing I could have done, because the week after the course I picked up my 2000 K6 and felt ready to go.

The figure 8 turns were the hardest part for me, but once I figured that hanging your butt towards the outside of the bike in the turn provided counter weight, I was all set.