motorcycle safety course

Butterthebean

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Anyone ever take the motorcycle safety course after having been an experienced rider for a while? Was it worth it? Did you learn anything?

I've had my motorcycle license for 17 years, been riding for almost 30, but I've never taken a class. A friend of mine is a new rider and wants me to take the course with him. Wondering if it might be worth the $200.
 

Sierra1

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I'll second Mr. Fennellg's recommendation. I know several guys that have had their license for years, but with big gaps of time between riding. If you've never taken the course, you might have some bad habits that you don't know about; likely associated with braking. When I was in the Navy, I had to take the course every time I went to a new base. It IS expensive now, but it should be fun since you'll be taking it with a buddy. Before Texas made the course mandatory for licensing, it was much cheaper. But, any training is good training.
 

dannyv

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I took the basic course when my kid needed it. No bike in my garage, had not ridden for 30 years. I just thought it would be a fun weekend. I honestly had no thoughts to riding again. But the bug bit- hard. Three bikes later, now that I don't work, I ride almost every day, in season. My kid? Can not keep his old Honda running, it sits in my car port in pieces.
 

Flat lander

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I agree with you guys. I took the SMART course over 15 years ago after already been on the street for 20 plus years. It was an amazing experience. Looking where you want to go and breaking change my ridding style. I keep saying that I need to do this again. I'll try to look for one this spring.
 

Cycledude

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I have taken the experienced rider course three or four different times but it didn’t cost anywhere near $200 , don’t remember price exactly but seems like it was more like $30. In my opinion the course is very much worth taking. Wish they would have offered a course like that when I first started riding.
Got my motorcycle license way back in the early 70’s when motorcycle license first became a requirement in Wisconsin , back then all I had to do was take a written test and after passing that had to ride to the courthouse to ride between a few cones and do a u turn in the parking lot while a police officer watched.
 

Sierra1

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….but it didn’t cost anywhere near $200 , don’t remember price exactly but seems like it was more like $30. In my opinion the course is very much worth taking....
It wasn't that much HERE either....until it became mandatory. After I retired (the 1st time) I was going through the process to become a MSF instructor....until I learned that I would have to work weekends....that was the end of that. :cool:
 

Butterthebean

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Thanks for all the positive replies everyone. I got my answer. I'll definitely be taking the beginner course. And hopefully the intermediate and advanced courses later down the line.
 

worncog

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"If loud pipes save lives, imagine what learning to ride that thing could do" JP Cycles (bumper sticker on my trailer).

I can mimic all the comments as I agree whole heartedly, but the only thought I will share is that I have attended many courses over the years, and they all came into play one night. Riding from home in Florida to a 36 hour Rally in Texas I came head to head with a large fawn running straight at me in the dark of night 10 miles from home. Surrounding traffic made her invisible until ~50feet out. Only action I recall was my right hand pushing the grip forward to 'counter-steer' the front wheel. At 60+mph the deer hit the right lower fairing and canyon cage instead of my front wheel head-on. ALL that training paid off in the moment... and a fresh diaper change followed.

I have a refresh Advance Course planning later this winter. Safe travels.
 

Wallkeeper

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"If loud pipes save lives, imagine what learning to ride that thing could do" JP Cycles (bumper sticker on my trailer).

I can mimic all the comments as I agree whole heartedly, but the only thought I will share is that I have attended many courses over the years, and they all came into play one night. Riding from home in Florida to a 36 hour Rally in Texas I came head to head with a large fawn running straight at me in the dark of night 10 miles from home. Surrounding traffic made her invisible until ~50feet out. Only action I recall was my right hand pushing the grip forward to 'counter-steer' the front wheel. At 60+mph the deer hit the right lower fairing and canyon cage instead of my front wheel head-on. ALL that training paid off in the moment... and a fresh diaper change followed.

I have a refresh Advance Course planning later this winter. Safe travels.

Similar experience for me. During the rut this fall I missed a Doe by inches. Automatic reactions drilled during the advanced riders course were the difference. It was better that I dropped my bike in the course at 2 MPH instead of scoring venison at 50 MPH. Worth the Money, Time and scraped crash bar
 

EricV

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You may find the beginner course a bit tedious, but it's good reinforcement. OTOH, most MSF and others have an Experienced Rider Cource or Confident Rider Course that is intended for returning and experienced riders looking for a refresher. I've taken the BRC and the Intermediate courses, the later more than once. Used to do it every couple, three years to have someone external looking at my riding habits and giving me positive tips on what I had slacked off on, or what was being done right.

It's not uncommon to feel frustrated and wonder at the end of the day why you bothered taking the course. But then... The next time you go out for a ride, you realize you're doing it better. You're good habits are reinforced and your bad habits are fresh in your mind and corrected. Riding smarter, safer and still having fun doing it. That's a Win.

It's also fun to see where you fit in the classroom portion. Sometimes you are on your game and nailing it. Other times you realize you've been forgetting to look farther ahead or look for those danger signs and it's a wake up call. It's sometimes a little scary to see how some of the others are doing too, YClassMV. I wanted to ask one guy which way he was leaving... so I could go the other way! He was genuinely that bad.
 

navynuke

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Took the Total Control Advanced Rider Clinc(ARC) last year, great reinforcement and highlights new things to focus on. Plus help unlearn some bad habits.

Can't reccomend enough to take a class every few years!


Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
 
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ballisticexchris

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I just finished up with the Jimmy Lewis "Off Road Essentials" safety class a few weeks back.
Fantastic instruction!! I bugged the heck out of Jimmy and he answered all my questions about what I'm doing wrong. He knew when I was getting flustered and helped with my body positioning.
One thing to remember is this class is only going to work if you practice afterwords.
All of the drills are pretty simple to understand but are very difficult to execute properly. I plan on practicing a lot this next year or two and go back and see how much I have improved.
One thing I noticed is I've been riding a long time with very horrible habits! So this class was a big struggle for me. I'm 100% sure it's going to be practicing what I learned in the class that will make me a much SAFER rider. When Jimmy said he is teaching this as a safety course he's not joking.
I also want to give a shout out to all the coaches. Every one of them are very capable riders who can instantly hone in on what you are doing wrong so you can correct it.
I'm very confident there is no other off road riding course in the world that can even compare to this one. This is the best of the best.

FWIW, Jimmy recommends you learn these skills on a smaller bike first. There is no way in hell you will get the full benefit of the class on a huge adventure bike. It's just too heavy for learning some of the drills. After you get the drills down on the small bike then you transfer them to the bigger bike.
 
B

ballisticexchris

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Took the Total Control Advanced Rider Clinc(ARC) last year, great reinforcement and highlights new things to focus on. Plus help unlearn some bad habits.

Can't reccomend enough to take a class every few years!


Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
This also sounds like a good class. Unfortunately it requires that "You must be able to touch the ground with both feet when seated on your motorcycle or one of our fleet bikes". I try to plant only one foot at a time on the ground. Is this a problem with their course?
 
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