We interviewed two coaches from Harley Davidson's Riding Academy last night about what is happening with the new course.

1) There are currently NO classes scheduled in the state, unless you're active military. While some coaches have been re-certified, the course itself hasn't finished all of the legalities with the state. They're hoping it will all be done by the end of this month, but considering it's dealing with the State of California, that may be optimistic.

2) They are currently printing the new course materials.

3) The riding courses were repainted this week to match the new training curriculum.

4) The riding course time has changed. The focus is more on first operating the bike safely, then on maneuvering in unexpected conditions. ie: swerves and sudden stops. The dreaded U-Turn in a Box is gone. They also said that under this new format there is less time spent shuffling the cones around the course, so it actually increases the riding time without extending the class. (Even the non-Harley courses are now limited to 12 riders, so that will help too)

5) Harley Davidson has decided to switch to the Total Control program in the State of California and will continue to blend their program with the approved CMSP materials.

6) There have been rumors going around that the new course doesn't provide the DL389 waiver upon completion of the class. That is incorrect. The approved CMSP course will continue to provide the DL389 and the riding portion of the DMV test will be waived. You will continue to be required to take the written test.

Hopefully, they'll have the classes up soon. They are still re-certifying coaches and expect to be doing so until the end of March. So, I expect when the classes open up, they'll sell out quickly.

I've been invited to observe the first class at our local Harley dealer and I'm looking forward to it.

 

Thanks for the update. It's good to know what is going on with CMSP.

 

More riding time for the applicants would definitely be a positive. SJ Ron