How tough is the MSF class?

NO COAST CHOPPER · #1 12th April 2006

My girlfriend is taking the class in a month, how tough is the class? Do a lot of people drop out? How do you get booted from the class? Is their anything I can do to teach her before the class? Thanks

Uncledaddy · #2 12th April 2006

I have taken the BRC and ERC and neither are that bad depending on the instructors and how much experience a person has.

I'll assume your girlfriend is taking the BRC? They start off with the very foundations of riding. They explain everything. You start by learning the parts of the bike and where the switches are and what they do. The first day is all classroom. When you go out to the bikes, the start by teaching how to start them and then how to put it in gear and creep forward. Serious baby steps.

By the end of the third day the instructors are covering emergency braking and evasive swerving. For a newb, it may be like drinking from a firehose but if she stays calm and pays attention she should not have a problem.

The class is based on safe riding. Period. They will not let anyone graduate unless they think they can safely operate a motorcycle. The instructors see alot of students and can pick out those who just can't ride but they give everyone more than enough chances to prove themselves.

DustyJacket · #3 12th April 2006

Best thing to do is teach her nothing, unless you are an MSF instructor.

otherwise, you may be teaching her the wrong thing.

82ndJumper · #4 12th April 2006

The class is easy as long as you do what they say. You dont really get dropped out unless you fail the one written test. Some places may make you take more than one. They are all a little different. If you get booted from the course then you dont need to be on a motorcycle until you have had more practice. ALot more. After the people I seen pass the course, anyone can pass it.

arby · #5 12th April 2006

My wife compleated and passed the class Sunday and went to the DMV for the written and got her licence today.
She never drove anything. She said to just do what they say and it is no trouble.

rikava · #6 12th April 2006

I have to agree with "Dustyjacket" don't do a thing. Let the pros do it. How about you taking the course too.

NO COAST CHOPPER · #7 12th April 2006

Thanks guys.

Well, heres the whole story in a nutshell, my girlfriend ( Meghan) wants a scooter. The Scooter she wants is a 150cc 4 speed Vespa knock off called a Stella. Well we went to a dealer to check these things out and I took it for a ride around the parking lot. I asked Meghan if she wanted to try, she was a little reluctent but said yeah. I gave her a brief run down, thinking " what harm could a little scooter do?", and set her off. She stalled a couple times, then on the thrid try dropped the clutch and the thing tore off like a wild bull. SHe did a wheelie and dropped the scoot. She was alright, but had a bruised leg and ego. I paid the dealer for the scratched scoot, and we started looking for a MSF class.

I know she can pick up riding and she wants to, but I'm sure her confidence is a little low after dropping the scoot and I don't want her going into class with low self confidence.

As dusty jacket has mentioned I shouldn't teach her, leave it to the pros, but what I really wanted to do was to at least let her get used to using the clutch. I think that is the hardest part of learning how to ride.

BTW I wanted to take the class with her but here in IL its crazy. In 2 hours the MSF classes for 2006 filled up till October, I was lucky to get her in in May.

tstoeckel · #8 12th April 2006

I took the MSF last November. The written test was practically given to us. Right before the test the instructor reviewed just about every question on it. The real issue came in the riding test. You accumulate points for mistakes - too many points and you fail. Zero points = no mistakes. The place where I saw riders having the most trouble was in the figure 8 test. You got points for riding outside the boundaries AND for putting your foot down at any point. There was a woman in my class that was retaking the riding portion because she had botched the figure 8 so badly on her first time through the MSF course. The other riding tests we did were emergency stops, swerving and accelerating through a turn.

BTW, there was another woman in my class who actually did the course on her Vespa. She didn't care about getting the M1 on her license (M2 was all she needed for a Vespa) so she rode and tested with her own bike while the rest of us rode little 150s.

Turbota · #9 12th April 2006

How tough is the MSF class?

No tougher than taking a 600 level course in either Astro Physics or Quantum Theory ... or maybe the New York Bar exam.

Big_Baazzoo · #10 12th April 2006

it's not so bad...after all, if you (or her) cannot take and pass this course, perhaps you should not risk your life out on the open road on a motorcycle in the first place. You ask how tough is this course and what does it take to wash out? I ask you, how tough is I-290 (or whatever) around your house? You are willing to risk it even though a wash out here means death or worse? take the course.

(worse than death would be paralyzed from the neck down fantasizing about what it would be like to ride a motorcycle.)