Anybody had a bad experience with the MSF?

[zenman]

This person did

I just wonder how common this sort of thing is.

[Z (fka Sweet Tooth)]

It depends on what your expectations are. I had zero experience with operating and shifting and yes the first day was alot of info but not impossible. They do tell you that these are just the basic skills, you still have to practice, practice, practice, they don't expect everyone to leave with proficient riding skills. She was also mistaken by thinking that riding as a passenger gives you any type of experience, being a passenger and operating are 2 diffrent worlds.

[BigChickenStrips]

i know this thread is goign to turn into a flame war but heres my take on it-

i enjoyed the msf course. i passed it about 3 weekends ago. i had NO riding experience at all. i learned what all the controls are, and a few safety manuvers like not using hard brakign in turns. i admit it was not enough time to really learn a lot, but if the course was much longer/more detailed it would be cost prohibitive for most people to attend.

this is the part i KNOW i'll get flamed for-

that post was written by a woman who had experience sitting on the back of a motorcycle someone else was riding. all the women in my class who had ridden with their husbands did worse than the people who had never ridden at all before. i have no scientific evidence to back this up, but that was my observation [my oppinion] . my class had a 100% pass rate and i think everyone learned a little and had lots of fun. and us "young kids on crotch rockets" did better than the older folk who may not have as fast of reflexes or as good of hand-eye coordination.

Does the MSF prepare you to go get a brand new bike and ride it out of the showroom into heavy traffic?

Hell No

Do i think the MSF was a great learning tool, and if i knew then what i know now would i stil pay $200 to take it?

Yes!

Maybe she had bad instructors, maybe a broken bike, or maybe she isnt good at riding. i was never asked to do anything at my MSF class that i thought was unreasonable. if she had already been riding on her own bike for a month prior to the class and couldnt do a swerve, panic stop, 90* turn and ??* (tighter) turn, she has no buisness being on a bike anywhere except a coned-off parking lot, on a borrowed bike, under supervision.

[Loonette]

Very few people have such bad experiences with the MSF course as did the woman in the article. But everyone is allowed to have their opinion. I think it's great for new riders - as long as your expectations aren't unreasonable. You're not going to get the best bikes on earth because they are used over and over again by newbies. But having difficulty shifting into 2nd is hardly something to cry over. The brakes on the bike that I used were so darn noisy, I ended up scaring whomever happened to be riding in front of me on the course. But the bike stopped just fine, even during the maximum braking exercises.

Everyone has their own persona style for learning, and I suppose that the MSF course might not be ideal for every person who enters into it. But for the majority of those who take the course, there seems to be a great deal of success.

Cheers,
Loonette

[camthepyro]

I agree with Ryan. I think this woman probably just can't ride. I'm not trying to be mean, but some people just don't have the skills needed to ride a motorcycle. It's alot more complicated than a car, and requires alot more effort.

I don't think anything in the MSF class was unreasonable, I had mulitiple people who had never been on a bike before, do just fine. I even had a guy who had never been on a bike before, and was one of the best in the class.

And her "3.2 minute" thing was just a completely flawed arguement. It's not 10 hours, divided by 12, divided by 17. That would mean that each student practiced every excersize individually, which isn't true. They have you all doing the excersize at the same time for most of them.

I think this woman probably just couldn't get it, and is mad about it. Which is fine, I'd be upset too if I didn't pass, but c'mon, get over it. I'm sure she could learn how to ride with many hours of private instruction, but if you can't pass the MSF, you shouldn't go jump on the roads just yet.

For examply, there was a woman in my class who couldn't do anything that was asked of her, properly. She went to slow, couldn't lean, couldn't shift correctly, etc., she just couldn't do ANY of the excersises properly. I honestly don't think that woman she be on the road. The MSF is taxing, but it's not hard.

[CNF2002]

My MSF was fine. No one had experience, a couple had been passengers. The passengers were the ones who dropped their bikes. I think they come with more expectations of what the bike will do than a fresh newbie. They become frustrated more quickly because they've watched their partner do it so many times, deep inside they think its easy, so they make more mistakes.

Everyone passed...but a couple I think needed alot more instruction to be road-worthy.

Not everyone has the skills or coordination to ride a bike, and certainly it could take a LOT more practice than what you would get in a training course. Some can get on the bike and just go, others can't pop the clutch without stalling.

I think she's just an unskilled rider and is looking to place blame anywhere but on herself. Take the class a few times if you have to.

[CORSCO]

I get to work on the bikes for the class in my area. WOW! Those CB250's sure get a workout. My favorite was when the instructor had a student replace the spark plug in a CB with a spark plug from a EX250. Let's just say new valves got put in that one!!
Also see the rear hubs on the CB's smoked...lots of pretty colors. Blues, Reds, Yellows.

[camthepyro]

Why was the instructor having the student change spark plugs?

[CORSCO]

That's what he said. I think he just did not want to admit his mistake.

[CNF2002]

Why would a spark plug from one bike completely ruin another? Arent the plugs universal, like in cars?