Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I just finished the MSF course. Learned some amazing things, such as:

- 600cc sport bikes are good for beginners
- helmet, boots, gloves, and a long-sleeve shirt is all the gear you need.
- (in fact, even that is optional when you are an instructor)
- it only takes 2 days to learn how to ride a liter supersport

I am not kidding.

Everyone passed . About half of them either already have 600cc bikes or are planning to get them. One guy in particual is an accident waiting to happen. His attitude is so off the charts, I just hope he doesn't take anyone else out when he crashes.

There is *no comparison* between this BS and the course I took in Toronto. (I had to do this again since I moved to LA). That course was a lot better organized and a lot more focused on safety. Case in point: in the LA course, they mentioned that you should be wearing gear. Briefly. In the classroom. However, there is *nothing* that emphasizes the importance of riding gear than seeing an instructor put on a full suit to ride a little dirtbike on the parking lot. (well, nothing short of falling and scraping your knee ). *All* the instructors did that in Toronto, *none* did in LA!

Another example: one of the future squids asked where he should buy a bike. The instructor mentioned that he was selling his bike (~1000cc Honda, not sure which model), and he was only half-joking. That bike has the muffler completely torn off, and a hole in the gas tank patched with duct tape.

Yep. MSF my A$$!

Sounds like you got a shitty instructor. My class was the exact opposite.

That sounds nothing like mine. There's gotta be some place you can complain to. Better Business Bureau springs to mind.

My course in Sacramento wasn't that bad, but it did pass a couple sketchy riders. One girl could barely control her bike and the whole class had to wait for her several times. Yet every person passed. The instructors were really good though, and wore protective suits, so it wasn't like yours sounds. No mention was made of what size bike to start on.

yep, no mention of what bike to start on IIRC.

i heard the MSF gets money from bike manufacturers.

it'd be bad for them if the MSF will preach not to get the big bad expensive bikes.

I just finished the MSF also. I wasn't too impressed with it. My instructors also didn't mention what bikes are good to start out with either. At least they did talk about gear & wearing it tho.

Mine didn't talk about bikes to start on nor the gear stuff either.

In fact, the owner of the school/lot visited and was riding a Triumph (very nice bike btw) and his do-rag was the most gear he had on. We had several Harley riders randomly stop by as well. They were out on a ride and shot the "poo poo" for a while with us and their stories of going down and of course not one of them had gear on either.

Neither of the instructors had gear either. The students were better geared (on and off their bikes if they owned one) than the instructors.

Instructors at my MSF wore gear, highly recommended it. I wore my brand new mesh jacket to the MSF, one of the instructors pointed it out to the class and said it would be a perfect example of a jacket for Florida (due to the heat). He was wearing a leather jacket, and joked that he was going to "borrow" mine when I wasn't looking...haha.

They also recommended not starting out on 600cc sports bikes.. Sounds like it just varies per area/instructor. Mine were very good.

Mine was opposite that as well. My instructors were informative and wore gear. They weren't decked out in racing leathers and boots and all that cr@p but had on jackets boots gloves and helmets.

They advised the guys the were into the sportsbikes to start small while letting those who were more interested in the cruisers know they had a lot more room to work with for size of bike choice.

The "helmet, boots, gloves, and a long-sleeve shirt is all the gear you need" is their requirements for the class riding sessions. I imagine if they required everyone to show up for the riding sessions completely decked out in full leathers that not many people would be taking the MSF course. I know I can't afford that kinda gear. Then people would probably be learning from their friends instead of taking the MSF because they couldn't afford the gear requirements to ride around a parking lot a 20 mph or less.

ninja79 wrote:- it only takes 2 days to learn how to ride a liter supersport

It really only takes about 5 minutes to learn to "ride" a literbike. Of course, ride is a pretty loose term. Do they mean be able to ride it safely and efficiently, keeping the bike under control? Or do they mean ride the thing 10 feet in a parking lot?

My MSF course was great! Lots of emphasis on safety and using the right gear, lots of emphasis on riding aware. They almost sent a guy home because he couldn't stay upright, but instead they sat there and worked with him for 20 mins or so and he turned out alright. I'd have highly reccomended my course to anyone!