got signed up for a basic riders course

Message

dean owens · Tue May 08, 2007 9:54 am

just got signed up for a brc for the end of the month. only thing is it's through a harley dealership. but it says that they use the msf stuff. hope it's good. the cost is double taking it through a community college but i get to take it before i have to renew my license in june rather than waiting until september.

is there anything i'm going to missout on by taking the harley course rather than the brc?

Lion_Lady · Tue May 08, 2007 10:58 am

You won't "miss" anything. What you'll get is some additional time spent getting to know all about the stuff available from your local HD dealership.

P

#3 Unread post by **t_bonee** » Tue May 08, 2007 12:08 pm

Nope. They are the same thing.

dean owens · Tue May 08, 2007 4:29 pm

Lion_Lady wrote:You won't "miss" anything. What you'll get is some additional time spent getting to know all about the stuff available from your local HD dealership.

P

hmm, so i pay them more to get a commercial? that's just genius on their part. oh well. it was the soonest avaliable opening. i'll take it.

jstark47 · #5 Unread post by **jstark47** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:02 am

dean owens wrote:hmm, so i pay them more to get a commercial? that's just genius on their part.

They are absolutely one of the most adept marketing companies out there.....

Wed May 09, 2007 2:32 am

I believe since it's through a HD dealer that it's the riders edge program... it typically includes a bit more range time and dinner. Still you're mainly paying for not having to wait.

dean owens · Wed May 09, 2007 2:48 am

storysunfolding wrote:I believe since it's through a HD dealer that it's the riders edge program... it typically includes a bit more range time and dinner. Still you're mainly paying for not having to wait.

you're right. it is riders edge. and they do have more time scheduled. i wasn't sure why - but i guess if there's extra range time that can't be bad.

and you're exactly right. i'm paying more to get to it sooner. i could pay half the price, but wait a few months.

i'll post this in this thread... i saw in another post that you're an msf instructor. maybe you can help me out with this.

i keep reading on here how everyone should take a brc before starting. and then i hear that they are all filled up for months in advance. i know that i tend to be a pretty smart person, but if i wasn't able to find a class until the end of the summer i was going to go ahead and start on my own. knowing there are many more out there like me, why the long wait and limited classes? it seems to me that with such a demand, there would be more classes scheduled so more people could take them and be safer on the road. what am i missing?

Wed May 09, 2007 3:00 am

Dean-

We'd love to have more classes and we are always working to make this a possibility. In my area we've added 4 new ranges in the past year. That's an additional 96 students trained a weekend!

However, there are only so many locations where we can set up a range. It needs to be big, free of obstacles and relatively flat. There are safety standards and you need it to be a positive learning enviroment which includes a low student to instructor ratio (ideal is 6:1). Most of the ranges in the area are modified from the MSF standard and that takes alot of work in planning and getting approval. I dare you to find a large parking lot in Northern Virginia that is free on the weekends and hasn't been approached by a training center

There is also a shortage of coaches. As the area gets more coaches, range owners are more willing to look for and sink resources into additional ranges. However, if they can't get people to teach then the bikes sit unused and unpaid for while they still have to pay all their overhead.

It's a wonderful question, and I feel the MSF community is working hard to open more ranges, train more coaches and make more classes available. It just takes time.

Does that answer your question?

-Steven

dean owens · Wed May 09, 2007 3:07 am

storysunfolding wrote:Does that answer your question?

-Steven

yeah. i can see all those points. from my point of view it looked almost like... you have to have this class. signup for it. oh, but we're only going to have a few a year so i'm sorry if it doesn't fit your schedule and timing.

but i can see from that it's not an aspect of only wanting to offer a few classes and you're out of luck if they don't fit. it's more of finding the space and instructors. also, how do the bikes get paid for? i'm asking all of this just from curiosities sake. but also, i know it's a ways off, but knowing that it's tough to find a class, i wouldn't mind figuring out how to help out in this once i have the skills for it.

Wed May 09, 2007 3:24 am

dean owens wrote:
storysunfolding wrote:Does that answer your question?

-Steven
yeah. i can see all those points. from my point of view it looked almost like... you have to have this class. signup for it. oh, but we're only going to have a few a year so i'm sorry if it doesn't fit your schedule and timing.

but i can see from that it's not an aspect of only wanting to offer a few classes and you're out of luck if they don't fit. it's more of finding the space and instructors. also, how do the bikes get paid for? i'm asking all of this just from curiosities sake. but also, i know it's a ways off, but knowing that it's tough to find a class, i wouldn't mind figuring out how to help out in this once i have the skills for it.

All the courses around me run as much as they can. Some are dedicated ranges that run almost everyday of the week. Others only have the range on weekends and run from late february through december.

Bikes are either donated by local dealers :thumbs: or bought at a special or group discount rate and financed at rates available to the MSF. Your tuition pays for these bikes and they can last up to some time. We have a rebel from 1986 with over 10,000 MSF only miles at Alexandria!

In Virginia there are state sponsored sites. The cost here typically ranges from $90-120. It is subsidized by fees from m/c licenses and registrations. Private ranges don't get this subsidy and therefore charge around $350. I can only assume that the state sites get a subsidy of 230 to make up this difference but I'm not at all certain.

There are many ways to help out. The most amazing would be starting your own training company and getting us more ranges!

Second, remember that riding is like anything else and you should always be learning. AFter hte BRC, ride a few thousand miles then come take the ERC. Enjoy that? Try track or cornering school, a lees park total control class, the stayinsafe.com program or other ways to move forward. After a few years consider taking the RCP and become a ridercoach here is more info about the RCP

Finally, many ranges employ range aids. These wonderful people break down and setup the course for us. They do this while we debrief the last exercise and by the time we've setup the next exercise and we're ready t odemo, the course is ready. This gives students the most riding time.

Enjoy whatever path you take. If you choose to help the MSF or other programs hats off to you. If not, I'll still wave!

-Steven