Thread: Motorcycles

Yea the school im taking the MSF class with will waive the road test requirment so i will be all set after i take and pass the class

nyc, I took the class in 2007 at one of the parks in the St. Louis area. The MSF book is usually found in B&N or certainly on-line in case you want to do some studying in advance. My class used donated new Yamaha 250's. Two people that had no prior bike experience had minor spills on theirs - better the class loaner to get your feet wet than a privately owned unit. In addition to the road test cert thing, be sure to check with your ins provider as many offer MSF discounts. As you likely already know, shopping several ins providers f/ rates may give you some interesting results to work w/.

There are several other really good books out there. My most highly recommended three favorites are:

Proficient Motorcycling Book I - David Hough (pronounced huff if I remember correctly); tons of vital info in Book I - much of the stuff in Book II is a just rehash of most of the stuff found in Book I, imo.
Sport Riding Techniques - Nick Ienatsch; a big fav of mine and despite the title virtually everything in the book is valid on any type of bike, also imo.
A Twist of the Wrist II - Keith Code; Book II deals more w/ street riding (Book I was geared a bit more f/ the track), and while Book II may make you think you missed a bunch of stuff in Book I, I really did not find that to be the case, once again imo.

I learned so much from each of the above. I promise you they will each make you a better rider. Typically, I do some 15k miles of riding per year and owe much of my safe record to those authors. Best of luck and welcome to "the club", mate!

btw, the wife and I are originally from NJ just across the Hudson from NYC and she is a big Ranger fan as well. Somehow I became a Bruin fan back in the days of Orr and Cheevers and it stuck.

WOOO HOOOOOOOO. Just got back home from the MSF class waiver in hand!!!!!!!!!!!! Cant waite to make it to the DMV before work to hand it in lol.

When I took the MSF class I seriously pissed one of the instructors off. Some how I managed to pass the course.

I used to teach the MSF course and the Harley Rider's Edge course. I would highly recommend either for both new rider's and for those self taught. The course provides some awesome training that could definitely help you out of a jam. It's usually the other guy's fault when you are on a motorcycle, so every bit of prevention helps.

Have fun.

I love my bikes. I've done two rider courses in my time, aside from some unrequired riding lessons with a friend (I had already been riding around the paddocks chasing cows and chooks for years), I completed a basic skills course with our Transport dept. and then did a more advanced course run by one of the local Harley dealers (All bikes welcome on the course). It was far more advanced than the first course, and was held at a race track with plenty of corners of all types and a few good straights to pick up the pace a bit.
Covered allthe slow riding skills and all the high speed emergancy stuff. Had a class room setting prior to the track day to go over theory etc. On the ttrack day I was able to find some faults with my bike that I was later able to sort out for my own peace of mind. Number one being the installation of braided brake line. Here's a shot of my bike soon after I first got it. It's seen a few miles since then, but still looks good.




Mick

Mick great looking bike. I don't know how much of a bike I will be getting or just renting one for now when I go upstate or PA. Riding a bike in NYC is no joke at all. I'm scared of driving next to the taxis at times lol

I have problems with these new bikes. I can't seem to get my foot on the starter button.

I know what ya mean Wullie. The bloke at the bike shop was shocked when he saw me kickin' the crap out of the handlebar controls when I bought my bike. He explained that you don't need to "kick" start them anymore...Guess old habits die hard...


Mick

Originally Posted by nycexit2

Mick great looking bike. I don't know how much of a bike I will be getting or just renting one for now when I go upstate or PA. Riding a bike in NYC is no joke at all. I'm scared of driving next to the taxis at times lol

Cut through Central Park...Nothing but joggers, horse riders, muggers and police to worry about there...I didn't think traffic was as bad in NYC as I had been led to believe, but I thought there were issues with how narrow the streets were and how rough they were to drive on. I would feel more confident travelling those streets on a bike than I would in a four wheeled contraption.


Mick