Some great advice. Everything moves faster and your bike will be heavier and handle differently. The side roads in off peak times is a good idea. Be a student every ride but also learn to ride alert and loose. The white knuckle approach held me back for awhile.

 

I know a school where almost nobody fails. they bring out 49cc scooters if they have to... In Florida there is no longer a State Test (only the MSF course is required). There are a lot of folks that need much more than a few hours at 20 mph on a 250 lb. bike...

 

A lady in my MSF class dropped the bike twice and was asked to leave. She was told to come back later for either one-on-one or another group class. I felt for her having to walk pass the rest of us to her car. The instructor said two strikes (drops) your out. I guess it is up to each instructor to make the call. Good Luck!

 

The Team Oregon class I took was supposedly more intense than other states and after taking the class I'd agree. A guy dropped the bike, sent him home. A girl slid off the seat of her scooter while braking, gone too. Out of 12 of us only 6 passed. I considered myself a good rider and thought I nailed it but still got dinged for head turns etc. I passed but didn't nail it by any means. Team Oregon were an intense bunch and I know 3 friends that have failed the class. 1 guy has been riding for years and I was very surprised that he failed. He went to DMV and took their test (riding) and got 100%, go figure.

 

ditto...we talk to our students about this at the end of each class. Each person (adult) generally has a pretty good handle on where they are and will generally not go out and jump on the highway when they are still struggling with, say, the friction zone. We encourage those who still need more seat time to go out and practice in a parking lot or quite neighborhood and keep at it until they jump out there in traffic. Most people have an instinct for self-preservation so that discussion might seem un-necessary, but for some people, it reinforces the need to practice or gives them food for thought about dealing with "peer pressure" and going out right away with a group of experienced buddies. All we can do is hope that students recognize where they're at and don't ride over their skill level.

There are strong statistics (regarding crashes) that support the value of taking a class vs learning from a friend or family member. The MSF has years of research and study behind why they do what they do and I assure you, there is a definite reason for every little thing in the curriculum. To those who seem down on it, I dare say it's a far better/safer method for learning to ride than other methods. The MSF curriculum is strong, but I will concede, there is a variance regarding the quality of Instructors so don't blame the MSF...blame the individual Instructor. Just like any business, school, profession, forum...there are "good" people and "not-so-good" one's representing - the MSF is no exception. I cringe when I hear stories about "bad" instructors...thankfully, I hear more good stories than bad.

............stepping down off soap-box

 

Question on the written final: "When is the road slippery-est re: Rain?" Answer: "When it first starts." I remembered that one and keep it in mind. Correct me if I'm wrong tho please....
Sometimes I think the class should have everyone drop a bike (in a stop position and as long as it belongs to the class...) so you know what to do and what it feels like in the event it really happens. But then all the class bikes would look worse than they already do!
Also, keep your head and eyes turned to the direction of where you are going, your bike and your body will follow. Excellent riding technique taught by the class. Instructors look for this.
Good luck!

 

Might not "work that way" where you are, but that was one of the first things the instructor touted when we started the class...how low their fail rate was. Maybe he only mentioned it to put everyone at ease.

I agree that the course is not designed to make you road ready, but you can't tell the students or the state that! Logic says if you give me an endorsement on my license after taking the course, it must mean I can ride well enough to get out on the road. I did learn a lot when I took the course. Even with repeated warnings from the instructors that the course didn't make them road-ready, I just thought to myself how scary it was that those few would now have their endorsements.

I only mentioned in my original post, because I felt there were two or three students that should not have passed. They were dropping their bike all the way up to the last part of the course and still didn't have a good grasp of how to work a clutch.

 

I am a MSF rider coach and all MSF classes are supposed to be the same. It gets beat into your head during the rc prep course. Rule is you are asked to leave (and try again if you want at another class) if you drop a bike twice; or do stunts; or any other unsafe act. Thats why I curious as to what the rc said to him.

 

They talked to me about what happened and watched to make sure I wasn't making the same mistakes. They did tell us that if anyone dropped a bike during the evaluation that you were an automatic failure. Luckily no one dropped their bike during eval so it went well.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the point system they use, I got a 6, 5 points for not stopping in the right amount of distance, and 1 point for going outside the lines doing the 2 U-turns. 96% on the written test.

I gained a ton of knowledge in the class but not enough to make me feel like I could be out riding the roads yet. In the next week or so I'm going to be getting a bike and plan on spending lots of time in closed parking lots and backroads for awhile.

 

Congrats Jimmy!

Glad you feel you got a lot of knowledge...you're wise to realize you're not ready to be out on the roads yet. Keep practicing and in no time, your skills will improve enough to get out in some traffic.