Next time you get on the bike, from a dead stop, turn the handlebars to the stop anad start up with feet imediately on the floorboards. Motors can ride!!!

Bwana

 

My motor class starts Monday. I'm a decent rider but I fully expect to be humbled. Maybe I'll do a running post on our training from day to day, post a few pics, if anyone is interested.

 

I'm hoping my station will offer this type of training one day. Wishful thinking....

 

Good Luck to you, & hang in there. Just remember it can be done!. I'd be interested in seeing some pics, but if I remember you won't have much time to take any. Too much riding to do and not enough hours in the day.

 

I wish you the best of luck. I run our motor unit and I bet I picked up my bike 50 times the first week of training. It got so bad that my thighs started shaking just from standing up.. hahaha. Once you get the hang of it you'll be fine. It clicks in about day 4 or 5.

 

In both Seattle and Portland, there is the Northwest Motorcycle School that teaches the police course. It's over 40 hours of instruction and about $1,100. Nice thing is they provide the bikes (and clutches). You can use your own bike, but they mention that you will likely drop it several times. I've been thinking seriously about taking it. A lot of $$, but probably worth it if it would help to ride even half as well as the cops can ride.

On the website there are some pretty impressive videos:

http://www.northwest-motorcycle.com/index.htm

 

Even if you can't get the pics, a running commentary on the training should be very interesting. Go for it; and good luck.

 

I took the RLAP course in NC. There was a guy in the class that was in his 70's and did just fine, so age is no obstacle. Also, you really don't have to worry about burning up your clutch on the regular RLAP course, as your clutch is a wet clutch. The course that the motorcops use is much tighter and does eat up clutches and rear brakes because they have to keep the rpm's up so high to do the tighter course. I practiced all the time during the summer and my clutch was fine. I burned up my clutch when I started doing the police courses...had to do them. As far as damaging the bike when you tip it over, if it has crash bars, its not really a problem. They do a great job and just get a little scuffed on the bottom at most, which you really can't see. You can put wraps on them if you don't want any scuffs. Those maneuvering skills are very useful and worth learning, but you have to practice them often or you will lose them.

 

Bring lots of advail, you will need it I did!

 

Glad to see I'm not the only on here that knows it can be done but doesn't wanna drop his bike proving it him/herself. Took the "Streetmasters" course a cpl years back. The riding was great, the slow speed turns, wells thats a different story. Dead stop locked to the left, feet up "u-turn" not as bad as I thought it would be. To the right now that was a different story, start, dammit fall down go boom. Didn't even realize I had grabbed the front brake.

Figure 8 same deal to right is my weakness dunno why. Had to take the say slow speed course on my Kawi Concours back in the Marines had no problem. Guess it's an age thing. Yeah, that's it an age thing.

Oh yeah, also figured out recently that my bars bent in about 1/2" on the right side. New bar time, nope not gonna try to straighten, got this thing about weakened metal.

I think MSF has diagrams of cone patterns.