My instructors were serious... and they repeated over and over that you are not a good rider just by taking the course. They told us to practice in parking lots and neighborhood streets.

 

Thanks, Steve. The class I'm looking at is over 3 days, one day of classroom and two days of riding. The riding days start at 6:45 a.m., which I think will be great to beat the heat although it's been a lot cooler lately. I do plan on wearing all the protective gear, so thanks for that confirmation/suggestion.

I'm really stoked. I've wanted to learn to ride since I was 15, which is when my Dad just so happened to get rid of his bike. I think I'll do ok, as I'm an avid road and mountain cyclist for over 20 years, so I've got a lot of bike handling and terrain-reading experience, though I know it'll be a big difference between my 17 lb carbon fiber road bike with 1 Chris-power engine, compared to a 70+ horsepower 600 lb Harley.

Did I mention I'm stoked?

Thanks again.

Chris

 

No problem man. Yeh like i said just pay attention and get the fundamentals down so that when you do get your bike and take to the road you're strong in regards to the basics. The rest you will learn as you ride, ride and ride!

 

Was this a Harley sponsored Riders Edge course or was it through some local community college or another entity?

 

It was not Rider's Edge. Unfortunately HD doesn't offer Rider's Edge in CA. It was through a company with endorsement/approval from the DMV...meaning it gives the students their M1 upon graduation and completion/passing of the dmv written test.

 

HD also gives a certificate to get a license, but I think they may take things a little more seriously. I was very happy with my course, except for the sales pitch portion of it.

 

I took the course in early June. Our instructors didn't BS us either. We watched every second of the videos, and they not only paid attention to each student as they were riding, they gave really good constructive criticisms when needed.

I have to agree that a lot of the students who graduated, and no all of them did (I think there were 3 out of our class of 12 that didn't), were not ready for the road... however the instructors also empahsized that we should go and practice in an empty parking lot, or better yet, take an "Additional Time" course, where you work on the basics that we just learned. I think that the students in my class got out of it exactly what they put into it. Those of us who were "serious" about it got a lot out of it, those in the class I took who didn't take it as seriously didn't get as much out of it. You could tell by the way they rode in their test.

All in all I think the experience I had was positive and did me a lot of good.

 

I took mine in early june also, And I think that the instructors were great, there were however a couple of riders that I wouldnt have passed. Ten out of eleven passed and the only one that did not pass quit. There was one older gentleman in the class that I felt really bad for he could barley do anything on the 250 he was riding and had just spent $23,000 on a brand new harley.

 

I took the class and at the end of it, I would say that I was a borderline pass though I did much better. I even passed the Ill license exam the following morning. We watched most of the videos but had light class room discussion.

The field was good and I got a lot of pointers/corrections.

I was surprised that some in the class were buying large HD right away. I took the cautious (chicken?) route and bought a Honda Rebel which I rode for 2 months before I got so tired of it, I decided to get a Sportster. The small size of the bike saved my butt a few times. Only rode on side streets / country roads and tried to keep the speed below 45 (did hit 50 or 55 occasionally).

Glad I had the smaller bike -- I view the MSF as giving me the tools to learn to ride, not teaching me how to ride.

 

I took the MSF course as well. The biggest difference that I noticed was the fact that we were not riding "real"bikes. I rode a Kawasaki something or other during the class. When I got on my Sportster 1200C, it was like night and day. The Sportster has sooooo much more power than the bikes used in the class. I guess to the un-prepared rider this could be very disheartning and intimidating. Just my 2 cents, but people should either be required to ride their own bike or atleast the MSF should lobby the manufacturers for bigger more powerful bikes. Who rides a 250 cruiser?