I had to show proof of my Motorcycle endorsement to my Ins co when I insured the bike, and now every 2 years I have to show them proof for a MC continuing safety course to keep getting discounts

 

I never had a 'M' D/L for 28 years. Some in PA & CA. I did purchase new bikes & had insurance w/o a 'M' license. It wasn't until 1992 that I got my D/L when I bought a new bike. If I remember correctly, the insurance provider need a 'M' license.

 

Not in my state of South Dakota. You cannot get MC insurance unless you own one. There are no non-owner policies here. You can insure anything you own whether you are licensed to operate it or not.

 

Rode for 25+ years without an endorsement. Never felt the need. Finally just it got a few years ago for the peace of mind. The MSF course was actually fun.

 

In Ohio, all I had to do to start riding was pass a 50 question multiple choice test and you're legal to ride with a temporary permit that is valid for 1 year. To register a bike you have to sign a form saying you have proof of insurance. With the temps you have restrictions: you're supposed to always wear a helmet, no highway riding, no riding after dark and no passengers but really only way the cop would know is if you get pulled over. I've heard of people who just take the temp test each year and just ignore the restrictions.

I got my "M" endorsement Just before the year was up, took the course on my friend's yamaha vstar 650 bc the 90 degree turn at the start is extremely difficult with a supersport bike. You can even take the course on moped and get you endorsement then just ride your motorcycle after, i've seen people do that too. I think for the first year after your endorsement you had to wear a helmet and weren't supposed to have passengers then after that in ohio helemts are optional.

 

That's actually a misconception. You can ride on highways, but not on Interstate highways.

 

Gonna do a little hijack and inject my personal opinion / observations.

For many years, I've been a reader of "firearms" studies including studies involving the relationship between firearms related officiousness, (mandated training & licensing), and firearms related problems (violence). There is none.

"Mandated training and licensing are, it turns out, poor predictors of who will actually be a problem vs who won't. CCW licensing / training isn't reflected in the studies for the simple reason that it is largely a "voluntary" undertaking by a select subset of gun owners. These people are uniquely and characteristically problem free, according to every study I've seen.

Anyhow, my much less considered opinion is that the same "controlled" observation would hold for motorcycle operation vs licensing. Licensing requirements run the gamut from staged multi year qualifications (Canada and Europe), to single day course completions, to simple questionnaires, to SFA. I doubt very seriously that, "when controlled for other influencing factors like age, alcohol, lack of general driving qualifications, etc. there is a positive relationship between the degree of mandated rigor involved in getting a MC endorsement and degrees of rider infraction / accident experience. Numerous examples exist in this thread of decades long, uneventful MC operation without any license and its a safe bet that there are alcoholic or otherwise irresponsible riders who've made it through the most rigorous of qualification hoops to go on and cause serious accidents.

All this just to say that responsible people aren't that way because of some government issued paperwork but are, nonetheless, responsible in spite of it. In other words, they learn / do the necessary on their own.

The formulated relationship between licensing and Insurance is another matter.

I don't like giving Civil Servants credit period, and particularly not for something they have nothing to do with,, "character".

 

I found the Class to be the same here in Chicago,,
The teachers were excellent!! I also want to take the Advanced Class but gotta find the time!!!

 

So, I guess being licensed might be a good idea...

Sounds about right.

 

I have a budy that doesn't have the endorsement. We were on a long ride and stopped by a dealership to test ride some of the M8 bikes. He hadn't had the endorsement for 15 years so when they asked to make a copy of his license it dawned on him that he couldn't do the test ride and backed out. He hadn't said anything to me about why he wasn't doing the test ride until I did my test ride and he rode his bike with me. I thought about letting him switch bikes half way through but if he had crashed on a test ride bike I had signed for without having the endorsement... I didn't even want to think what would happen.