Before I committed to buying a motorcycle I wanted to know what I was getting myself into. The best way I found to do so was to sign up for an MSF-certified safety course. The course I took was a 2 and a half day course wherein we were given learning materials and lectures on the subject of riding a motorcycle. And what course on motorcycle safety would be complete without getting on a bike and trying out what you've learned? So for all 3 of our sessions we went between learning in a classroom to learning oh real bikes on an enclosed course.
In this article I'll summarize my experience with this course. First let me give you some info about the MSF. I pulled the following straight from the MSF website:
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation® is the internationally recognized developer of the comprehensive, research-based, Rider Education and Training System
(MSF RETS). RETS curricula promotes lifelong-learning for motorcyclists and continuous professional development for certified RiderCoaches and other trainers. MSF also actively participates in government relations, safety research, public awareness campaigns and the provision of technical assistance to state training and licensing programs.
You can read tons more on the MSF at: http://www.msf-usa.org/
There are several entities that offer MSF courses. In the North Atlanta area there were three that I found at the time I took the safety course.
I elected to take the safety course proctored by Honda. This facility offers weekday and weekend courses. Given the fact that the weekend courses had very long hours I went with the weekday courses. When I took the course it ran on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We would start at 8AM (promptly) and the end times would vary by a little bit depending on the day. Thursday we ended at around noon.
The first day started about as you would expect any other class to start. We were introduced to our instructors and were asked to introduce ourselves. When we introduced ourselves we were also instructed to tell the class what each of us was expecting to get out of the course. When it came to me I said “I'm hear to find out what I'm getting myself into”. The whole class had a good chuckle out of my statement, and to some degree it was intended as a joke, but I really was there just to find out if I had any business being on a bike.
At first I was a bit intimidated by the concept of riding a motorcycle having had no experience whatsoever with it prior to that day. As it turns out I was in good company. Among the other attendees there were several other newbies. We were assured that if we payed attention we'd do just fine.
After the introduction we hit the books for a little while. We were shown very basic things such as where the ignition is and where the kickstand is. A common instrument array was detailed and explained as well as a few other introductory pieces of information. This information, albeit introductory, was essential for the exercises to come, and I was glad to have it.
After about an hour or so of this sort of introduction we were escorted outside to “the range”. The range was a large area of tarmac completely enclosed by a fence where we were to ride our training bikes. The bikes were '06 and '07 Honda Nighthawk 250s. There was one individual who was particularly short who was fitted with a Honda Rebel 250 (which was more suited to the individual's size), but the rest of us were on the Nighthawks.
We started with the most basic exercises and worked our way up to the more complicated ones. This was done in such a way where I felt comfortable with at least trying each succeeding exercise as it was time.
The first exercise we did was to mount the bike. When done by people who know what they're doing this exercise seems easy enough to take for granted. As it turns out there are some very important practices to follow when mounting a bike lest one be more likely to fall over and damage the bike. We were taught to always mount the bike from the side with the kickstand. Next we were always supposed to grip the front brake while mounting lest the bike move forward (or backward) as you try to mount. These were both details that I wouldn't have noticed had I not been told explicitly.
Once on the bike we did exercises where we turned the handle bars in place. Following this exercise we leaned the bikes to the left then centered, then we leaned to the right then centered. These first two exercises were to get us acquainted to how the bike feels. This was all very basic to that point. As I mentioned earlier: we started very basic and worked our way up to more complicated exercises.
With the engines still off we were taught how to find neutral. On the Nighthawks it was a bit of a challenge. I don't know if it was that I was so new at the whole bike thing, or that he bikes had been subjected to several newbies as myself, but I continually found it difficult to find neutral throughout the course. We practiced finding neutral for a while (with the engines still off).
Next we started walking the bikes. We walked around an area of the range in a circle formation (more of a sloppy square). After a lap or two of that exercise we returned to our starting position. We then were taught about “the friction zone”. The friction zone was described as the clutch position where the clutch is neither “in” nor “out”. When in the friction zone we were able to push the bikes and increase the clutch position to the point where we were no longer able to push the bikes. As noted the more we pressed on the clutch the less friction we experienced. When the clutch was released (and in a gear other than neutral) we could not get the bikes to budge.
Finally we got to the part of the course where things really started to get fun. After completing the previously mentioned basic exercises we got to start the bikes and actually start to use them a little bit. Our first exercise during this portion of the course was to just start the bikes. As with mounting a bike there were several details to starting a bike that we were told to do. First we set the fuel valve to the “on” position. Next we throw the ignition-enable switch to the “on” position. Thirdly we press down the clutch. If the clutch is not pressed and you are in gear you will be jarred and the bike the engine will stall when you go to start the bike. I learned this lesson both the easy way and the hard way before it really sunk in. When the previous steps were completed we pushed the ignition button and the bikes started.
At this time we were all in neutral and the bikes were just idling. We were now ready to “power walk” the bikes. What is meant by “powerwalking” is that we were to walk the bikes as before, but this time we were going to let the bikes push themselves rather than use our legs to do so. In the exercise we kept the bike in the friction zone and adjusted the throttle as needed to keep the bikes going just the right speed so that we could walk with them.
We then returned to our starting positions and briefed on the next exercise. We were to start the bikes and let the bikes idle around the course. At this point we were really riding. We weren't riding very fast, mind you, but we were rinding.
I remember the rest of the course with less detail than the first half day or so, but I'll try to chronicle the rest of my experience. Please bare in mind that my account from here on will likely be less complete and may not be in chronological order.
Another exercise I remember was a very relaxed serpentine. We were going slow enough that we could just turn the handle bars to take us where we needed to go. There were several serpentines throughout this course. Some where wide with the cones far apart, and some where narrow with the cones close together. When the cones were close together we were told to user our “push-pull” method wherein we lean the bike rather than turning the handlebars. This is the preferred method as one can't turn the handlebars at higher speeds.
We practiced gear shifting and even got has high as 4th gear at one point! (the enthusiasm was a joke here) 
In all reality I don't think I made it up to 30mph the whole time I was taking the course. We spent the majority of our time in 2nd and 3rd gear and were told that 1st gear is only for getting the bike started moving.
We also had several breaking exercises. Some exercises were just panic stops where our very brave instructors would stand in front of the bike and signal you to stop arbitrarily. We were then expected to stop before failing the instructors from life by running them over. Thankfully no one in my class thought to do so. I was amazed at how little distance was required to stop the bikes. Notably the instructors we generally displeased with the distance it took the class to stop under such conditions.
We also were coached through a series of turning exercises wherein we were taught proper turning and swerving methods. We had another exercise where our instructors showed their bravery wherein we headed straight for them and waited for their instructions to direct us to swerve either through a set of cones to the right or to the left. I was amazed at how a quick push-pull in one direction followed by one in the other could enable me to avoid crushing my instructors with little notice. This is a skill that I found immediately useful when I started riding outside of class.
This covers my most memorable portions of the MSF safety course. Overall I found it to be an indispensable experience. I think I would most certainly have injured or killed myself by now if I didn't have the instruction that I did in the beginning. I recommend this course to anyone who is considering riding a motorcycle.
Tags: Motorcycle Safety · MSF ClassComments Off