You ain't kiddin! By day 3 I was wondering if this was really a stupid idea! Thanks and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

 

Stro, first rate accomplishment. I really enjoyed your trials and tribulations. You have a way with words that describe your schooling very well to us. I was not lacking in details and I even felt your battle wounds. Thanks so much for the best thread ever and God bless you and keep you safe.

 

Wish I would have seen this thread from the start..and I just might have, if I spent a little more time on this forum. Like you, I felt that the 2 week M/C Course was by far the toughest school I have ever taken, both mentally and physically

Congrats on your accomplishment! When I took the school, there about 12 of us that tried out....I am thinkin 7 of us were selected to attend the school, and three of us passed. Even the guys that washed out however, learned valuable skills that can be applied to every day riding.

I took my old bike to the school they held last year, just so I could run it thru the course. It was different, knowing that it was MY bike, and it did NOT have any "Protection" strapped to the guards.

The NEW bike? Not sure if I will run that thru the course or not.....

 

I can relate to that! Whilst I intend to sharpen skills and tighten up into the police measures on the course, I won't be working anything I feel is going to cause me to dump it. OTOH, you won't need to. Consider that the RLAP course uses 24' U-turns and intersection widths, and the same for circles, if you cut it down to the 20' we used, you will have the skills to handle anything you encounter on the street.
I can turn around now in 18'...most of the time...but I don't HAVE to, so that's fair enough! If I get to where I can nail it every time, so much the better.

 

For real? Isn't that the size of the large u-turn box in the MSF basic rider course?

 

I can't say for the MSF, but a couple of our guys needed that space at the start. The second half of the RLAP is the police stuff, but the handout that comes with the DVD just gives the beginner layouts. That's why I had to tighten it all up at the end of the day.
Amazingly, I even see guys who throw sparks in the twisties duck-walking their bikes in parking lots. It makes me wonder where their eyes are in the curves.

 

Being a former MSF Rider Coach, if I recall correctly, the basic MSF Box in Exercise 10 (Limited Space Manuvers) is 40 feet long and 24 feet wide. During the final skills assesment they narrow it to 20 feet. Either way it's easily makeable.

With the RLAP it's 24 feet, and the instructor (speaking only for myself) has the discretion to make it smaller. The 24 feet simulates the width of two lanes side by side, so the act is similar to going from the number one lane (lane closest to the center divider) north bound, to the number one lane (lane closest to the center divider) south bound. I usually start out at 24 feet for both the rolling u-turn (both directions) and the u-turn from a stop with the bars fully locked (both directions). From there I will narrow it as needed.

All of this is a trainig tool to get the rider used to the proper skills and techniques. Once they have it down, then they can push themselves to tighter turns. As expected, the hardest part for new riders is learning to turn their head and lean the bike over.

Mark



Funny anecdote:

Back when I was becoming certified to be an MSF Rider Coach, one of the things I had to do was take the MSF BRC. When it came to exercise 10 I was doing the box inside of 18 feet and in 1/3 the length. I had a sharp snapping head turn, good lean and smooth line. The rider coach came over to me and in front of all the other riders in line, said "What are you doing,.... use the WHOLE box". And I said "Why, if I can do it tighter and in less room why not?". He said "Because if the other riders see you doing that, they'll think they can do it too". At to which point I said "And they can, if they learn the proper technique". He didn't like that answer.

 

Congrats Stro.

 

Very cool...

good stuff.

thanks for a good read.

 

I bought the dvd from Jerry"Motorman"Palladino very interesting and informative,I also bought from them the "ProGuards" that protect the crash bars and I also got the book for those times when a dvd player is not available.