Total Motorcycle Community Forums

First of all a big hello to everyone. I have been riding for many years now and have never taken the MSF course. I was out of riding for quite some time and been back into it now for a couple of years. Since I already have my endorsement along with the years of experience I see no need to take the Basic MSF course.

Being retired military, it is a requirement to have the course (either basic or advanced) to ride on base. The military offers a free Advanced rider course to the people that have been riding a long time and do not have the basic course. This is a good deal compared to paying a couple of hundred dollars for the basic course. My question is has anyone in the group taken the advanced course and if so, could you provide some input? Believe or not with over 20 years of riding experience, I'm still a little apprehensive about taking the course. Thanks in advance for you input.

I'll be able to tell you after tomorrow, as I'm taking it then.

From what I've read on the website of the community college that is offering the ERC, it is pretty much the BRC on your bike and at a bit faster speeds. I'm waiting to take it next year myself...

Take the advanced course. YoOu know enough (though perhaps not the "proper" method of everything) that the BRC will be a chore.

You'll learn a LOT.

P

No worries at all with 20 years of riding behind you, or even two years for that matter. I don't think it's possible to fail the ERC. Like Lionlady said, you'll probably just find out some things that you haven't been doing the "proper" way. And for me, the course helped me stay in the survival mind set, which is important for me if I want to have 20 years of riding experience.

Since you haven't taken any training course, I'm sure you will learn a lot.

Thanks for the advice. I completed the ERC yesterday and you were right. With all the riding I have done, it brought a lot of things to my attention. Mainly the proper way to swerve, make emergency stops, and something that was very basic, the proper way for taking corners. So yes, the class was very beneficial and fun. I got to meet several sport bike riders and watched them perform the exercises. Those guys made some of the exercises look easy. I was trying to manuever that big old cruiser I ride. Needless to say I spent a lot of time on the bike, about 4 hours total time on the range. By the way, the instructor was great. Our class size was only 8 which made it easy for personal attention. As we performed the exercises my proficiency improved drastically. Practice makes a world of difference. We are allowed to use their facility for practice and you can bet I'll take advantage of their offer. If you have the opportunity to take the ERC, I highly encourage you to do so.