Total Motorcycle Community Forums

M' bike's just about ready to go. Man, am I chompin' at the bit. My brand-spankin' new 1982 Yamaha Virago 750 will be out of the shop any day now and I took the motorcycle safety course this past weekend (more on that in a moment). Still not sure what the final damage ($$$) will be. SHOULD find out today. Bought it a few weeks ago (fer cheap) knowing it would take some dealer-style TLC to get it running up to snuff. As it only has a nip over 7,000 miles, I think it will be a great starter-bike to learn on and gain experience until I get to the point where I don't feel I'll be laying it down on a regular basis. Then I'll get a "pretty" one. No offence to you vintage Virago lovers out there. I will more than likely be "one of you" shortly. OK, I already am.

On to the motorcycle safety course: Every now and again someone will post a message on how "worthless" this course is. To you I say shut up and take the course again leaving the "who needs this" attitude at home this time. I'm truly sorry if your instructor was so bad that you could not glean from it the MANY tips and techniques that could save your hide and/or life many times over. If need be, come to Marietta Ohio and take the "Motorcycle Ohio Basic Rider Course." We had two of the best instructors twenty five dollars could buy. Now that I've been through the course, I consider one who would bad-mouth such a course a colossal ignoramus. I say "shut up" because some poor sot out there may actually take you seriously and decide against the course. You could very well be killing someone you've never even met. To those of you (you KNOW you're out there) saying "well THAT'S a bit extreme," I disagree. Here's why; After the course we all shook hands and went our separate ways. I will more than likely never meet up with those instructors again. When I think of what they taught and what I learned, I cringe to think of what I didn't know before hand. Simple things that would never have occurred to me like how to safely stop suddenly in a turn without losing it and other need-to-know lessons on the physics of traction (you know, THAT'S where the rubber meets the road, or some pebbles, or a rock, or a branch, or your very own leg, etc.). I already consider that these two instructors have preemptively saved my skin (figuratively and literally) many times over. And I have yet to ride even one mile (or one kilometer for our foreign friends. Or am I the foreigner? I can never figure that out) on my 750. I rode many, many years ago on a Yamaha Enduro 360 and am very surprised I didn't plant myself back-in-the-day (But I was twenty then and Superman, so what worry did I have?) Ignorance kills. And this course removes a LOT of ignorance. I will sing it's praises until my dying day (many years from now, I hope), and think the opposite of those who think it's "worthless." It's not a silver bullet, but it's cheaper (in Ohio) than a helmet and could be just as likely to save your life.

Besides, the course was fun for me. Getting back on a MC after all those years, I'm sure I was grinning like an idiot through the whole thing.

Well, that's enough bloviating for one post.

Stay safe and TAKE THE COURSE!!!

GXB

Yeah I felt the same way about my MSF course. I can't see see how people can't find the course helpful. I actually want to take the Experience Rider's Course, but they aren't offering it this year...

If you get a crappy instructor, complain and you can probably get it rescheduled for another date.

two of the best instructors twenty five dollars could buy

holy crap! 25 bucks is all?...hell take it twice or 10 times for that price lol. If the experienced rider course is that cheap i think i'd take it once a year or two just to brush up, for that price you can't really go wrong.

I'd buy those instructors a case of beer and swing by on your bike when you get it just to say thanks. Unless the Ohio DOT subsidises that course big time those guys are saints!

i paid 300 or so when i took my course a couple years back and even at that price i would take it again, and recommend it to anyone who asks me about learning to ride.

Yeah, they're volunteers, I believe. One was local so I may see him around again, the other came down from the Dayton area (4 hours away). I view them as saints. It was actually pretty cool the what they did things. I don't know if they planned or even knew it, but they had the perfect good-cop/bad-cop thing going. Although I hate to pin the "bad cop" tag on the "bad cop" guy. He headed up the class. He was just a bit more no-nonsense and gruffish (is that a word?). But you could tell they both took their responsibility seriously and were intent on saving lives. They both skyrocketed close to the top of my most-respected list.

I may take the experienced riders course someday. As soon I get some uh, experience.

I just looked up the "Experienced Rider Course." Registration is 25.00 (same as Basic). But they don't have that in Marietta. Oh well, somewhere to ride to! I'm always looking for a place to ride to. If I ever get my MC out of the shop. ANY second now, I swear it.

the good cop bad cop thing works well in many cases. When i help out at the local motorcycle school i try to be the good cop and be encouraging while helping to clarify the finer points that get missed in the demos and instructions.

I leave the bad cop stuff to the guy running the class since he is the one in charge and the one I want the students to follow and pay the most attention to.

My wife and I took the MSF Course and found that it was "Boot Camp for Motorcycles". To flesh out this course, may I recommend "Precision Motorcycling" - First Edition - by David Hough. This book has helped us tremendously and it is definitely not a boring read. BTW, the binding is crapola, so be prepared to put the pages in a three ring binder. It's easier to read that way anyhow. If I might add, off thread, my wife bought a motorcycle to commute 25 miles - one way - to work. North Carolina has one of the highest, if not the highest, gasoline taxes in the U.S. It's $14 a week to fill up her Honda 600 VLX versus $80 a week for the Ford F-350 DRW. That's one extra paycheck for her per month. Thank you.

worf2006usa, how did your wife handle the "boot camp"? a lot of women get discouraged by that style of instruction unless they have been in the military or police service or similar.
Proficient Motorcycling and it's companion More Proficient Motorcycling, by D. Hough, are great books for anyone in my opinion, even folks who don't ride could learn something of what we have to deal with daily.

Bok, My wife handled Boot Camp extremely well. She never quits. She has this "Cowgirl Up and Bring It On" attitude from being a lifelong rider, roper, horse trainer, shooter, etc. She has just enough Cherokee blood in her veins to keep me on my toes. If I were to describe her, it would be "Pretty as a picture, mean as a snake" I could not have done better this time around. She has also been my best student with a handgun. You will, no doubt, see her post under the Ladies section as Cherokeepati.

good to hear. i heard in the past, the MSF courses used to have "instructors" now they have "riding coaches" (i could see George Carlin go off on the p*ssification of language there) the difference being the instructors were the original bootcamp style and the rider coaches are the ones that have been trained in adult education.

Some folks do well with one style over the other but both can be equally effective, if someone is looking for a course it would be handy to know the distinction and which would do better for them.

I personally fall more under the "riding coach" style when i learn as well as when i help teach, but that comes from being from a family of teachers and a father who graduated with Philosophy/Psychology double major. My step dad on the other hand was in the army in vietnam....so i kind of got both sides there

I have known a lot of people who are very good at what they do - 'nuf said about that. Unfortunately, some of the best operators do not have the instructional skills necessary to impart this knowledge to others. On the other hand, I have known "Ivory Tower" instructors who amassed their knowledge from academia and have no idea what the real world is all about. I am very good at what I do but it was extremely difficult to learn how to teach it. Given that no one I taught is dead, I guess I did alright. BTW, The Wife and I prefer an instructor like Gy Sgt. Hartman (Senior Drill Instructor, USMC - Full Metal Jacket) who will ingrain in our subconscious the knowledge to react automatically to external stimuli and keep us alive when the sushi hits the fan and sticks to the walls. Remember, it takes 4,000 repitions before a process is firmly planted in the subconscious library. Instructors put out the knowledge (strategy). Coaches make sure the repititions are done correctly (tactics).
Our $0.02.