I just got done taking the MSF course this past weekend. 2 days of classroom and 2 days of riding. I thought it would help but I was amazed. One of the instructers was a retired cop and the other a stunt driver. Both were absolutely amazing. More light bulbs went off in my head over those 2 days than have gone off in years. I think everyone should take this course.

Everyone passed except for 2. A young lady who dropped her bike 4 times and ran over 2 people on the second day and some idiot hotdog that decided to peg the corner in part 3 of the evaluation. They threw him out on the spot. He had been a know it all throughout. Guess what he rode? Sure wasn't a HD.

Seats on those little Honda 250's tore my *** up though.

 

I have to take the course again to register my bikes when I get back to Germany. Theay want your MSF card to be less then a year old and my last class was in 2004!! I am just glad that my USAREUR license has not expired yet...

 

UpNorth,
I took the MSF course in Maryland and like alot of the others me and another guy were the only ones out of 6 to pass and receive our cards. When we were doing the emergency swerve around the simulated "bus" our instructor who I thinks lives entirely on his motorcyle told us specifically.
"Never and I mean Never apply the brakes in a swerve.
So off he goes and demonstrates on the Buell blast. I said piece a Cake. No sweat. Chalk this one up as a no brainer. So one by one we start and then it was my turn. Instructor said Go. There I went hauling *** over tea kettle toward the instructor and he gave me the which way to swerve signal which I did and, and, and, Wham!........... I hit the brakes and the handle bars turned and then I went flying for about ten feet and landing after a summer salt at the Instructors feethe asked me if I was okay. I was embarrassed like hell but okay physically. My instructor helped me up and yelled through my helmet. "What don't you do during a swerve!" I'll never forget that. Buell blasts a tough little bike also!

 

I have taken both courses after a riding for years and I did learn some very good things, funny thing is many of the class participants were "riders" in their mind and did not pass.. One gentlamn even a sportster and could not do the figure 8. He kept putting his foot down. So so slow. My favoritequote form the instructor was "many folks have 30 years of expericence, one mile at a time others have1 mile of experience a year for 30 years" Which is so true... IMHO, all training is good and it helps set standards we all can ride by.

Keep the rubber down.

 

You'll appreciate the MSF course. There are so many common sense principals that are so simple, you would never think of them. After the class, you'll be able to recognize riders who have been properly taught to ride from those who have not. You'll look for things like brake lights while cornering, center lane riding, etc. Act as if you've never ridden before and take it all in.

Welcome back!

 

That was the hardest thing for me to do was to act like I was a novice rider. I had all these bad habits that I had because I learned by trial and error. And sometimes it was more error then trial.

 

I completed the three day MSF Course this weekend and passed. Now im legal! That course helped me out tremendously. I have a 97 Lowrider, that i have been riding for about three summers. Some of theguys I work with kept telling me to take the course because its a whole lot easier to get your license than being tested at the DMV. Well im here to tell you, the course is NO FREE LUNCH! I went in thinking that you just ride around in a parking lot, practice a few mineuvers and automatically get your card at the end. Boy did I get a rude awakening. They have strict policies and they dont just turn anyone loose at the end of the class with the certification card just because you complete the course. If you dont pass theyWILL fail you. Itwas difficult forthe majority of the class that I was in(myself included) which included guys thatsaid they hadbeen riding for years,but worth every minute that you spend there. The instructors were fantastic. I am so glad that I decided to take the class. I had strongly considered not doing it because I didnt want to give up my whole weekend and rain was in the forecast. It was the one of the best decisions that I ever made to go on and take it and I recomend it to all new riders. The things you learn there will make you a better rider and can save your life. The only thing that would have made it better is if they had bikes available for taller people. I'm 6'5" and i felt like i was riding a tricycle on that little dirt bike but I know how budgets are and the bikes did accomodate the majority of the class quite well.