Bike or Class First?

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#1 Post by **poet** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:52 pm

Just curious because of a couple postings.

Which did everybody do, get a bike first or take a safety course first?

I took the MSF course first.

#2 Post by **dr_bar** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 6:01 pm

I didn't vote, although I guess I could tick off the "What's a safety course." one, because when I got my first bike, there wasn't a safety course. With that said, a few years later, a friend and I took the brand new Canada Safety Council , Motorcycle Safety course...

#3 Post by **poet** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 4:43 am

dr_bar wrote:I didn't vote, although I guess I could tick off the "What's a safety course." one, because when I got my first bike, there wasn't a safety course. With that said, a few years later, a friend and I took the brand new Canada Safety Council , Motorcycle Safety course...

lol
I forgot to account for ol ... er ... more experienced riders.

#4 Post by **Wrider** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 9:41 am

I knew I wanted to ride, so I bought my bike first but it stayed in the garage until I took that course. After that I registered the bike and started riding.
Wrider

Johnj · #5 Post by **Johnj** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 9:50 am

poet wrote:I forgot to account for ol ... er ... more experienced riders.

Watch it sonny.

jstark47 · #6 Post by **jstark47** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:18 am

I did both, kinda. My wife had a maxi-scooter and she taught me to ride it. But I didn't buy a regular motorcycle until after the MSF.

Thumper · #7 Post by **Thumper** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 4:28 pm

I took the class...I wasn't sure if I wanted a bike or a scooter, and having never ridden more than a moped it seemed like the bright thing to do--especially since it would get me out of the riding part of the DMV test.

blippo · #8 Post by **blippo** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:46 pm

I bought a starter bike first, got familiar with it, took the written test to get my permit, then took the course

flynrider · #9 Post by **flynrider** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:21 am

The didn't have the course when I started riding. I had to learn on my own (i.e. the hard way). I bent some metal and scraped some chrome, and a bit of skin here and there. If there had been a class available, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. I made several dumb mistakes in my first few rides that would have been avoided had I known what I was doing.

Last year a friend of mine decided to do some self-teaching on her recently purchased Rebel because her class wasn't scheduled for another few weeks. I advised against it. She ended up loosing control of the bike while practicing in a parking lot. The bike hit a parking block at about 20 mph and was a total loss. She got some scrapes and bruises. She never made it to class.

Practicing on your own before the class is not a guarantee that you'll have a bad result, but someone who knows nothing about motorcycles is more likely to make a common mistake that could end badly. Even in a relatively safe place like an empty parking lot.

vladmech · #10 Post by **vladmech** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:08 pm

I took the class about 10 months before getting my bike. This actually was quite a bit longer then I would recommend to anyone as I ended up not remembering some of the stuff they taught when I finally picked up my bike. Fortunatly they gave handouts, so I re-read all of it and did pretty well, all things considered.

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Bike or Class First?

Which did you do, or are considering, Taking a Safety Class first or Getting the Bike first?

Bike or Class First?