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OK, today was the second day of my MSF, first day of actual riding. One thing I learned for sure is that Honda Rebels SUCK!

Well, I guess I should probably say that it just didn't seem to fit me. I had a lot of trouble fitting my toe under the shifter so upshifting was miserable.

But one thing that has me troubled is that I was just not ever able to achieve any smoothness on the throttle. About half way through the afternoon I noticed that there was about 5 degrees of throttle movement before I could feel the cable engage. Once I figured that out I started to pre load the throttle and I was a lot smoother.

Is there supposed to be that much play in the throttle?

That throttle play doesn't sound normal to me. My experience with rebels is actually pretty good. My wife has one and it's a sweet little bike. Plenty quick and real easy to ride. Great bike for the MSF. The one they have you on might just need a little lovin' - they aren't for everyone to be sure... but those training bikes get yanked on pretty hard and have lots of turnover every week - mostly by people who don't yet know what they are doing. My guess is that yours is due for some maintenance. I had a hell of a time with the clutch on my training bike the first day - we adjusted it in about 30 seconds on the second day and it shifted like a dream. Anyway - good luck with the rest of the class.

Alot of the MSF courses have "Custom" bikes. The bike I had on my first day was great except that the transmission was sticking so it was impossible to shift. The second day the trans was great but the throttle was really jerky like yours was. Too much play and then once it started to engage you had little control. My EX250 I have at home is 50x smoother, so I know it was the bike and not me.

It's interesting somebody should say that. In the 'Kickstart-program' I attended last night I rode a honda 125 that had that very same problem. It was difficult to shift up. Seems to be made for small feet?

When I took the course, at first I thought it was just me who couldn't get the hang of the throttle or shifting....but after I got try someone else's bike, I realized it was the bikes from the course.
The Honda Nighthawk had a terrible throttle but it shifted ok. The Suzuki Marauder, even though a 2004, was a piece of crap. The shifter would not shift. I tried until I ached, but, I could not make that shifter work properly. Almost dropped the thing too from trying to shift and not realizing I had come to almost a complete stop.
The bikes get so overused and they don't get the TLC you or I would give our own bikes.

I had shifting problems as well at my MSF, I was on a Yamaha dual sport. It was fine while riding, but good luck finding neutral. It made it tough everytime I tried to start it. It's great they provide bikes for you, but it's unfortunate they don't get the TLC they could use.

WhoooHoooo! I passed!!!

I totally blew the u-turn box, but at least I didn't put a foot down.

And when I got home I actually tooled up and down the street a couple of times on my own bike for the first time EVER! (Couldn't quite make the u-turns on the street either. )

Tomorrow I'll get my endorsement. Then the real adventure begins!

Congratulations! Don't forget the insurance. Get liability at the very least. Be careful for a good long while - I'd remind you to have fun.... but that's inevitable

Congratulations. It's a great feeling isn't it.

Keep practicing them u-turns. They get easier as you get familiar with the way the bike moves in all kinds of turns, but if you don't practice them, you might not do them so well when you need them.