Failed riding test

[ofblong]

I was one of those people who had never driven a stick anything before my MSF class. after the first day I asked the instructor if he would be willing to come 30 min early and help me out with the clutch as I had trouble with stalling the bike all day. After 30 min of instructors 1 on 1 help I stalled the bike once and it was the very first "activity". Guess I had to do it to get the jitters out. When I took the final test at the end the only thing I did wrong was I put my foot down in the uturn box on the second turn cause I didnt want to go outside of the box. I learned more about the clutch in that 30 min with the instructor than I ever would have on my own.

[storysunfolding]

To my knowledge, if you fail the MSF course, you are actually allowed to retake it 3 times before you have to pay again.

Maybe that does not apply to all MSF schools.

Yep every site has different policies determined somewhat by the state (no retests allowed in Va.) and somewhat by the administration.

i guess i went in thinking that, in 2 days, i'd be decent enough to be on the street but it's not so.

Yep- lots of people come into the class thinking that we'll make them the perfect rider b/c we can give them a license. As much as we'd like to be that awesome, in reality we can't do that in 15 hours. Instead, we teach you the skills you need to go practice on your own and perfect. A popular saying after you graduate is that "you are now qualified to ride in a parking lot supervised by two experienced ridercoaches"

why did i start at the same skill level as others and finish so much worse? i guess i'm just doubting myself and my ability to learn a new skill.

No worries. We don't all learn at the same rate and not everyone is ready to ride right away. For those of you reading this and wanting to know how to practice after the course to improve. Check the last 40 or so pages of this handout.
http://msf-usa.org/downloads/Riding_Tips.pdf

[Lion_Lady]

i guess i went in thinking that, in 2 days, i'd be decent enough to be on the street but it's not so. it's a bit frustrating because so many people surely take on more than they can handle at first and get into trouble. me - if i had gotten the license - i would have stayed in parking lots for a few weeks at least and maybe tried some privatte lessons.

sorry to be such a downer but i really needed to vent. i guess one of the worst parts is that i dont want to admit to everyone who thought i was crazy and incapable that they were right. i still want to ride - but how do i know if it's just not meant for me? why did i start at the same skill level as others and finish so much worse? i guess i'm just doubting myself and my ability to learn a new skill.

thanks for listening

(hopefully i'll be back out there pretty soon)

We all know that "One Size Fits All" really doesn't fit everyone. And just as not everyone can become an award winning chef, no matter how much trianing they get, most folks can learn to be very good at the basics of cooking with some instruction... and everyone is likely to master the basics at different rates.

To be honest, if I'd had to learn how and when to shift along with everything else, I probably wouldn't have even finished the class when I took it the first time. As it was, I "failed" the riding test when I took the BRC the first time. Now, I've been riding for almost 6 years and am in my second year of teaching.

Don't dispair. Everyone learns at different rates. Some folks are able to make things click with the barest of inputs from an instructor, other folks have to struggle and work to make things happen.

P

[Ivan M]

I failed my motorcycle skills test my first time. It's a bit different than the american version from the sounds of it. I was doing the slalom through cones. Honestly, I get the swerving through cones bit, but this fellow told me that it was a walking speed test and I couldn't ride my bike faster than he walks. I'm not exaggerating either, he literally walked beside me.

I'm not sure how one is supposed to balance doing 5 km/hr going through cones, but some people do manage. Another thing that cheesed me was that I was penalized for putting my feet down at 5 km/hr. I've been practicing this stupid ultra low speed maneuvering in preparation for my next test on July 7th and I think it'll go better this time.

[Ivan M]

I'm ranting here, but how does a 5 km/hr test translate into any sort of proper riding application? The only thing I can think of is riding in a parking lot and even then you can surely at least do 10 km/hr to maintain your balance.

The thing that really got me was that after I learned what sort of test it was, I could've gone home, practiced, and passed it the next day, but they weren't retesting for over a month! So I've got over 2000 illegal km on my bike now from riding to work and traveling a bit.

[ofblong]

I failed my motorcycle skills test my first time. It's a bit different than the american version from the sounds of it. I was doing the slalom through cones. Honestly, I get the swerving through cones bit, but this fellow told me that it was a walking speed test and I couldn't ride my bike faster than he walks. I'm not exaggerating either, he literally walked beside me.

I'm not sure how one is supposed to balance doing 5 km/hr going through cones, but some people do manage. Another thing that cheesed me was that I was penalized for putting my feet down at 5 km/hr. I've been practicing this stupid ultra low speed maneuvering in preparation for my next test on July 7th and I think it'll go better this time.

lol I can balance my bike just barely moving at a stop light without putting my feet down. If I completly stop I have to put my feet down but if I am just coasting even at 1mph I can stay upright as well as maneuver the bike to one side or the other of the lane if I need to.

[Ninja Geoff]

You guys and gals want to get GOOD at low/no speed? Get a dirtbike. Seriously, there aren't many better teaching tools than a little 125 or 200 on a tricky trail you've never been on before. And to the OP, go back to where you took the course if possible. The lines for the course are still there and you can run through the drills yourself. I did this when I lived just outside of Augusta. Sure, I'd hop on the highway and blast 5 miles down it to get to the shitty little convention center across from that big wal mart shopping plaza, but one of the parking lots has alllll the lines from the course painted there. I found them one night when I was bored. There was nothing else to do in that state, and the parking lot there and in that big shopping center/wal mart there had the best curvy roads in the area

[Ivan M]

I failed my motorcycle skills test my first time. It's a bit different than the american version from the sounds of it. I was doing the slalom through cones. Honestly, I get the swerving through cones bit, but this fellow told me that it was a walking speed test and I couldn't ride my bike faster than he walks. I'm not exaggerating either, he literally walked beside me.

I'm not sure how one is supposed to balance doing 5 km/hr going through cones, but some people do manage. Another thing that cheesed me was that I was penalized for putting my feet down at 5 km/hr. I've been practicing this stupid ultra low speed maneuvering in preparation for my next test on July 7th and I think it'll go better this time.

lol I can balance my bike just barely moving at a stop light without putting my feet down. If I completly stop I have to put my feet down but if I am just coasting even at 1mph I can stay upright as well as maneuver the bike to one side or the other of the lane if I need to.

Do you want a low speed medal?

[ofblong]

I failed my motorcycle skills test my first time. It's a bit different than the american version from the sounds of it. I was doing the slalom through cones. Honestly, I get the swerving through cones bit, but this fellow told me that it was a walking speed test and I couldn't ride my bike faster than he walks. I'm not exaggerating either, he literally walked beside me.

I'm not sure how one is supposed to balance doing 5 km/hr going through cones, but some people do manage. Another thing that cheesed me was that I was penalized for putting my feet down at 5 km/hr. I've been practicing this stupid ultra low speed maneuvering in preparation for my next test on July 7th and I think it'll go better this time.

lol I can balance my bike just barely moving at a stop light without putting my feet down. If I completly stop I have to put my feet down but if I am just coasting even at 1mph I can stay upright as well as maneuver the bike to one side or the other of the lane if I need to.

Do you want a low speed medal?

nope just proving that its not that hard to do and the fact that it can save your life if you "need" to be able to get out of the way in a "slower" way.

[Ivan M]

Keep on living life in the slow lane then. Maybe you should learn to ride upside down on the off chance that it will save your life if you "need" to be able to get out of the way in a "gravitationally challenged" way.