MSF Course

[Ryan T]

Harley-Davidson is offering their MSF Course to first responders for $99, so I signed up for it on the weekend of July 8th and 9th. Should be all I need to get a motorcycle license once I complete the course. Any pointers or thoughts for a first time rider taking the course?

[.RJ]

bring lots of water. be well rested. have fun!

[Senor_Taylor]

^^^^ Really nothing else to it. Don't be aftaid to use the clutch a lot, some of the low speed manuevers are impossible without idling with the clutch halfway out the entire time. If the let you pitch a bike, find one with disc brakes on the front.

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[JPolen01]

 If the let you pitch a bike, find one with disc brakes on the front.

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Serious question - are there any modern bikes without a disk brake on the front end?

[.RJ]

modern bikes, no.

[Sijray21]

just follow the clothing recommendations and bring a possible change of shoes with thinner material (just in case the motos available won't accommodate whatever boots/shoes you bring).

don't wheelie - the instructors apparently don't like that. i did that on accident a few times because i was on a Yamaha dual sport with a cushy suspension.

[Ryan T]

So day one is in the books, and I have mixed feelings. We started in the classroom where we essentially learned nothing. We filled out all the necessary paperwork then he gave us books with pages to highlight and then re-read. We watched a couple of videos and, generally, had a ton of down time. They gave us a tour of the dealership, discussed proper riding gear selection (which was actually pretty informative) and we went over the motorcycle written test. We took the test and then went to lunch. Test was easy. I was the only one in the class who hadn’t ridden on the street before, and I didn’t make much fuss about him breezing over the materials, so I feel like I missed out on some things that could have been good. Granted, I am absolutely one of those “good lord is the classroom session over yet” kind of people, but I sorta feel like I wish I had more instruction.

Dealership paid for everyone’s lunch, which I thought was nice. It’s clear that they pitch this class in an effort to sell you a Harley-Davidson, but not in a pushy way. They had plenty of sales guys on the floor during the breaks. I met one who I knew from his prior role as a local deputy and he answered a bunch of my questions and was really low pressure.

12:15 we were on the range. One instructor was sick so we had two groups; Alpha and Bravo, 5 riders in each group. I was in Bravo, so we did everything second. Started out with the basics of start the bike, shift into 1st, let the clutch move you a few feet, then roll back. Then we “heavy walked” it across the lot a few times, letting the clutch do most of the work, but keeping our feet on the ground. 2 trips of that. Then clutch all the way out and feet on the pegs, 2 trips. The clutch out, some throttle, 2 trips of that. Switch riders.

Second thing was two long lines with about 6 cones in each, a slight turn at the end, and the same row of cones on the other side. Practiced taking off from one cone, stop at the next, take off, repeat. Did this for about 25 minutes till we got comfortable with pulling out and stopping. I felt like I was shaky doing the actual test, but once we moved on to more advanced stuff, I found the starting and stopping to be very easy, because you don’t think as much about it. Switch riders.

Next task was a very large circle where we basically just played follow the leader, turning left. About 15 minutes of riding in circles, then he told us to start weaving between the cones on the straight always for the last 15 minutes. Weaving wasn’t too difficult to get the grasp of. Switch riders.

Then he set up offset cones that required you to make sharp, low speed turns with the handlebars. One side was sharp U-turn style, much like ‘the box’, and the other side was less handlebar and more leaning. He said people did it two ways, some rode the clutch and kept it at 1/4 throttle, which is what he did; while others would keep on the throttle, off the clutch, and use the rear brake. I tried both approaches and found using the back brake to be the better option for me. I never did get the hang of the wide u-turn style ones, but he told me I did good and didn’t need any additional practice on it. Switch riders.

Next he made a smaller circle to practice left turns while pushing the handlebars and leaning a little. 15 minutes of left turns, then 15 minutes of right turns. It surprised me how accustomed I had become to left turns (it was all we had done) and how difficult I found right turns initially. Took me a little while to get the hang of those right turns, it seemed more difficult to push on that right handlebar and modulate the throttle in the appropriate fashion, but I figured it out pretty fast.

That was it for the day. I would have liked more seat time, but oh well.

As for the bike, we used a new’ish Harley Davidson Sport 500 for the class. Weighs a little over 450lbs wet. My biggest complaint was how vague the clutch felt and how vague the shift feel was. After talking to the instructor and reading online, that’s the main complaint with that bike, shifts are not crisp and people often miss 1-2 shifts. I also had trouble finding neutral on mine. The instructor said that a couple of the bikes had been used a lot for these classes (mine had 2200 miles on it) and that all that time at low speeds with people riding the clutch had worn the bikes down some. Those in my class that have ridden before said their personal bikes and others they had ridden had a much more positive shifter and clutch feel.

Tomorrow we do whatever other tasks are required, one of which I’m pretty sure is running over an obstacle, then we test and get our certificates. I don’t think I’ll feel like a very confident rider when I’m done, but I’ll have enough knowledge and confidence to get a small bike and start practicing around my neighborhood, which I think is the point. Sorry for the long post!

Two things I really took away from today, turning your head and looking to the end of the corner did wonders for my riding. Also, I found myself tense on the bike a lot. Shoulders stiff, thighs and legs stiff, squeezing the tank. When I caught myself doing it and forced myself to loosen up and just sit on the bike, I was able to perform all the tasks much more easily. Guess I just need to relax.

[Senor_Taylor]

The amount of confidence you gain from day one to day two is really wild. From what I've heard, I'm not a fan of the Harley Class. My class didn't skimp anything and made sure to cover everything.

That said, I feel like if you don't get a bike and ride immediately after taking the class, you lose it. I don't feel very confident to get on a bike now a few months later.

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[Sully]

Not sure how I feel about the class. I was already riding a lot before taking it. Did for insurance (thought it'd be more than a 2% discount) and it is the easiest way to get a license when you're under 19. I was coming from a sport bike so the bikes were the only thing I had to get used to but I was dragging the peg through the turns during the testing phase. Probably because the pegs stuck out so far. The people who had never ridden before or picked the wrong bike (there was one red old school Honda that sat more like a supermoto up high and of course the shortest girl picked it and could barely touch through ground all weekend) definitely didn't look confident by the end of the weekend. Some people seemed to be able to pick up quick but it definitely seemed like a few were still scared of the bike. Almost positive the girl actually failed the test part and did not get her license.

Our classroom was over two days. I was the only one to get a 100 on the test but I thought our instructor was really good. Learned some stuff I probably already knew in the back of my mind like emergency braking but it made me think about it more.

I did an msf course that was setup at the DMV. Not the Harley course. Our bikes were old light jap bikes. I don't think I'd want to do it on any Harley if I had no experience.

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[Ryan T]

Finished up today in pretty quick order. Everyone in our class was already pretty good at riding and I picked it up quickly enough for the purposes of the class. We practiced slaloms, accident avoidance, emergency braking and changing directions by driving in a figure 8. Then the test, which everyone passed, then back to the Harley dealership to get our licenses and certificates.

[Senor_Taylor]

Not sure how I feel about the class. I was already riding a lot before taking it. Did for insurance (thought it'd be more than a 2% discount) and it is the easiest way to get a license when you're under 19. I was coming from a sport bike so the bikes were the only thing I had to get used to but I was dragging the peg through the turns during the testing phase. Probably because the pegs stuck out so far. The people who had never ridden before or picked the wrong bike (there was one red old school Honda that sat more like a supermoto up high and of course the shortest girl picked it and could barely touch through ground all weekend) definitely didn't look confident by the end of the weekend. Some people seemed to be able to pick up quick but it definitely seemed like a few were still scared of the bike. Almost positive the girl actually failed the test part and did not get her license.

Our classroom was over two days. I was the only one to get a 100 on the test but I thought our instructor was really good. Learned some stuff I probably already knew in the back of my mind like emergency braking but it made me think about it more.

I did an msf course that was setup at the DMV. Not the Harley course. Our bikes were old light jap bikes. I don't think I'd want to do it on any Harley if I had no experience.

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You were the ONLY person to get a 100? Who was in your class?!?!

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[Sully]

They didn't seem like the smartest bunch. I may not have been the only one to get a 100 but we definitely had several who did not do well during the riding portion.

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[V1GiLaNtE]

Nice job and congrats on the pass! Pick up something cheap and start riding. Remember to practice, practice, practice. The best application I've found is to read about something and go do it.

If you're looking for more education I highly suggest watching "A Twist of the Wrist 2" by Keith Code as well as reading his first book "A Twist of the Wrist".

I found a lot of the information really eye opening and I now apply it it in my daily riding. Stuff you would never think about even applies to the street, like decreasing radius turns and other approaches to riding.