Just finished a grueling 20 hours of safety instruction. Wow that was brutal but I did learn some things and it's good for a insurance discount. A good instructor who knows his stuff but sure is an ***. I guess that happens to you after teaching that course week after week. In the class I was the only one that had ridden before. After 5 hours of class study we finally get to ride! Not really. Step one is sitting on the bike and walking it
I'm making fun of it, but it really was necessary for the first time riders.
Glad that's behind me. And wow, my Harley felt like a battleship after riding a 250KW all weekend.

 

im set up to take a course for it..Here its 2 8hr sessions..But I hear its very informative..

 

dont do what i did and go in after a night of drinking and not much sleep. I was dozing off during class (one full day, 8 hrs of him talking) and he got pissed and i think failed me on my first attempt at passing the course. I had been riding for years before i took that course and he failed me on two lame things, i was the only one in the class that didnt pass that day, and one person dumped thier bike during the test and passed! When i asked him why i failed he said he failed me because i didnt "look far enough into the turn when turning" and that i applied the back brake too late when we had to stop on a line. WTF? He then said "you should have paid attention during the 1st day, its just as important as the driving part" and raised his eyebrows at me like a hint that was the real reason i failed and walked away. Total dick! I took the same test the very next day at a test retake center, i passed with not one mistake..

 

Real world riding cuts you absolutely no slack

Maybe he/ she had your best interest in mind


Every thing and it's dog is out to jack you up - intentional or not - has a tendency to give one an attitude

Ghost

 

I'm not going to lie, the written test scared me the most with all those acronyms. I studied the book with a highlighter just like I was back in school. I got 84% on the test and you had to have a 80% to pass

 

I made the mistake of doing mine during a heat wave. holy crap did that suck. 2 days of 100 degrees.

 

Two things come to mind.

@ronaldrwl-- these instructors have a huge amount of material to teach new riders in a short amount of time, so they're not necessarily being an "***", they're just trying to make the best use of the time available. Sort of like a drill sergeant-it isn't their job to be a jerk, it's their job to turn civilians into soldiers in a very short time. They just seem like jerks because they don't have the time to be warm and fuzzy, and "warm and fuzzy" doesn't fit their goal of producing soldiers anyway.

@saltlick-- your instructor is being an *** because you came to the course too hungover to pay attention on the first day? Give me a break......
You can rationalize it any way you want, but it sounds like the instructor was pretty clear on the real reason he failed you. What do you think would happen if you showed up for your first day of work at a new job in that condition and dozed off during an orientation session? I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count.....

I realize I might sound a little harsh here, but it is what it is......

 

I agree with you about the drill instructor stuff and I was all ears ready to learn what he was teaching. To be clear, he was an ***. I'm not really holding that against him. I know he has a tough job. Especially teaching someone (me) that thinks he already know how to ride. And I did learn a lot from him and thanks him.
The *** part comes from the other opinions he had about smoking, overweight....... Holy crap I have a mother and a wife! No, he was an ***.

 

Good for the insurance discount....I need to take the course.

 

I took the class in Cerritos last summer to learn things that either i had forgotten or never knew. It was hot in the parking lot both days but I found the class very worth while. There was everything from seasoned riders to a leather clad rocker girl in a short silver leather jacket and tight jeans that had never ride a scooter. At the end of the session, she was proficient enough to know how to do all the basics. Along with the short classroom discussions, I feel every rider can take something useful away from attending a class now and then.