MSF Class need advise
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 2,313
Likes: 5
my wife took the riders edge course and passed the first time out. they have 2 classes which is thursday and friday and they spend almost 8 hours a day on saturday and sunday on buell blasts which are great for some one starting out. and once you complete the course u get a certificate of compleation and u tell your ins. company and they should give u 15% off her policy. and yes take her to a safe parking lot and show her some of your riding skills. it took my wife 4 days of straight saddle time to get out on the road. anyway good luck and drive safe.
Intermediate
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 34
Likes: 3
I'm an MSF RiderCoach and I've never heard of starting out on the range right away without classroom first. I'd think about making a complaint. Sounds like she did alright in the classroom and just needs more saddle time. Personally, now that she's "familiar", and assuming you have a smaller bike she can ride, I'd take her out yourself (to an empty parking lot) to build her confidence. Jetspeed talks about a Harley "Easyrider" course. I assume he means "Riders Edge". The Riders Edge instructors (in Nebraska anyway) get their certification from MSF....same Rider Coach class that I took, except they have a few additional hours that are HD specific.
As for starting out on the range, something is wrong. Classroom orientation should be first. Contact the sponsoring agency and see what went wrong. MSF instructors are not suppose to deviate from the approved schedule.
Good luck.
Account Retired
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 3,245
Likes: 12
From: Here
I've never heard of them doing it that way. It's always classroom first to go over the fundamentals, Then on the bikes. I would file a complaint, They might give you your money back, or another class.
My wife wants to take the course too. In the meantime I bought her a tape by Jerry "MOTORMAN" Palladino, "Learn to ride the easy way" We watched it and it's great! I think it will give her a head start when she takes the course. I also bought "Ride like a Pro" It's a great tape for the experienced rider. Jerry has his wife on a smaller bike in a parking lot and show's step by step how to Learn to ride. Good luck!
My wife wants to take the course too. In the meantime I bought her a tape by Jerry "MOTORMAN" Palladino, "Learn to ride the easy way" We watched it and it's great! I think it will give her a head start when she takes the course. I also bought "Ride like a Pro" It's a great tape for the experienced rider. Jerry has his wife on a smaller bike in a parking lot and show's step by step how to Learn to ride. Good luck!
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,961
Likes: 263
From: Conroe Texas
I took the course from this company
http://www.mtii.com/
They were very detailed and made sure you wouldnt kill yourself when you got your bike. 40% of class failed, think this is reasonable.
Harley has a better course with a woman focus down here in So Fla, wife took it and passed.
I amke my kids take the MSF even if they dont want to ride it makes them better drivers.
http://www.mtii.com/
They were very detailed and made sure you wouldnt kill yourself when you got your bike. 40% of class failed, think this is reasonable.
Harley has a better course with a woman focus down here in So Fla, wife took it and passed.
I amke my kids take the MSF even if they dont want to ride it makes them better drivers.
Road Master
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,137
Likes: 0
From: Rocky Mtn High CO
When my wife started out, the best advice I got was to get her a ~500 cc bike to start on. We bought her a used Honda Shadow for 6 months and sold it for just about what we paid for it. In the mean time, we had also started modifying a V-Rod to fit her - she's only 5'2", so nothing fit her straight off the floor.
In that 6 months she gained a lot of self confidence and when she got on the heavier V-Rod, was glad she had done it. The weight was a lot for her, but she had gained of lot of balance and handling experience on the smaller bike first.
BTW - She's come close to dropping the V-Rod once when doing a slow U-turn on a hill, but saved it on her own even though there were several folks nearby ready to grab it while she struggled to get it back upright.
In that 6 months she gained a lot of self confidence and when she got on the heavier V-Rod, was glad she had done it. The weight was a lot for her, but she had gained of lot of balance and handling experience on the smaller bike first.
BTW - She's come close to dropping the V-Rod once when doing a slow U-turn on a hill, but saved it on her own even though there were several folks nearby ready to grab it while she struggled to get it back upright.
Club Member
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 4,474
Likes: 6
From: Port Charlotte, Florida
She didn't go to a class room. I have taken the basic rider class twice several years ago and then this year only cause iam going for my MSF instructor cert. All the class's i have been to around here the class room work has been on a thur or friday night and then the range or bike portion on sat and sun. If she has never riden before and only failed by 4 points then she did better than alot of women and new riders i have seen. As for only 1 passing out of that small group sounds about like a normal average depending on the group. Would you rather they passed her and the other 3 told them they were doing great and really they were not ready to ride.
As for the comment about the riders edge i also dissagree. In ohio you have to have a MSF instructor card just to be able to take the riders edge instructor class and most of the guys around here that do the riders edge also teach the MSF classes when they are not teaching the Harley Riders edge classes.
As for taking her out on the bike COLD in daytona shoot its been 14 in ohio and yes take her out the best thing she can do is keep getting experience she has a building block from the class and you cant learn and cant get better if your just sitting around waitting for the next class. Get out and ride work with her and take it easy.
As for the comment about the riders edge i also dissagree. In ohio you have to have a MSF instructor card just to be able to take the riders edge instructor class and most of the guys around here that do the riders edge also teach the MSF classes when they are not teaching the Harley Riders edge classes.
As for taking her out on the bike COLD in daytona shoot its been 14 in ohio and yes take her out the best thing she can do is keep getting experience she has a building block from the class and you cant learn and cant get better if your just sitting around waitting for the next class. Get out and ride work with her and take it easy.
Road Master
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 922
Likes: 1
From: Riverside, TX
my wife started riding on a yami v-star 650. I took her to the school parking lot to ride, go around the parking concrete stops, etc...she took her course... they did their classroom time first.. they took their class on Honda Rebel 250's...she passed but had she'd been riding her Heritage on the class I don't think she would have passed....now that she has many thousand miles of seat time in the heritage she'd pass. get her to a class that does classroom time first, uses smaller bikes and get her some seat time before!~
ride safe!
ride safe!
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Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 6,913
Likes: 87
From:
I don't even remember how I learned to ride. I guess riding is much more technical and harder to learn nowadays. I'm sure I have picked up bad habits over the last fifty years but I probably also would have if I had taken a course.
Take her somewhere away from traffic and help her learn to ride.
Take her somewhere away from traffic and help her learn to ride.
Tourer
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 424
Likes: 2
From: Middle of Kansas
Ride time and THEN the books??!!! 
I'm glad my flight instructor didn't take that approach
I started riding dirt bikes at age 12 and learned the hard way!
I would have suffered a lot less bruises if I would have had someone to point a few things out before I hopped on and fired it up
I started riding on the street after 10 years of trail riding and small time moto X racing and the first thing I discovered was that everyone in a cage was out to kill you
A good instructor can provide you with years of experience in a short amount of time.
An instructor that toss's you on a bike first needs to have his a** kicked!
You can do that all by yourself!
A smaller bike and some parking lot experience will do a lot for a novice rider to increase their comfort level and make them a better rider.
Everyone can ride fast until they hit something.
If you can ride Slooooow and still maneuver the bike with out dropping it or hitting something,then your getting somewhere
I'm glad my flight instructor didn't take that approach
I started riding dirt bikes at age 12 and learned the hard way!
I would have suffered a lot less bruises if I would have had someone to point a few things out before I hopped on and fired it up
I started riding on the street after 10 years of trail riding and small time moto X racing and the first thing I discovered was that everyone in a cage was out to kill you
A good instructor can provide you with years of experience in a short amount of time.
An instructor that toss's you on a bike first needs to have his a** kicked!
You can do that all by yourself!
A smaller bike and some parking lot experience will do a lot for a novice rider to increase their comfort level and make them a better rider.
Everyone can ride fast until they hit something.
If you can ride Slooooow and still maneuver the bike with out dropping it or hitting something,then your getting somewhere
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