Month: June 2006

Motorcycle Riding Class Part 2

The second Wednesday night class was run by a different instructor and he expressed his desire to move quickly and get done early … We went through the rest of the BRC Handbook and immediately following took the written test … The “written” test consists of a booklet of questions with multiple choice answers and you fill in the corresponding circle on your answer sheet … I flew through the test not second guessing any of my answers … There are a total of 50 questions worth 2 points each … You need an 80 to pass (so doing the math, you can get 10 wrong out of 50) … I finished, took a walk outside and when I came back in I was shown my score, 94 and he said “See you Sunday.”

I got to the range Sunday early (as suggested by the web site and all reading materials associated with the PAMSP) … We went in and rode around in circles for a while to get used to riding again (for those that don’t have their own motorcycle) … There were some more riding exercises and the first one was the tight U-turn … That’s what they called it, but a lot of people knew it as “the figure 8” … It’s true, if you listen to their direction, you will get it right … That is the most difficult thing to do in the riding test … Very tight turns … After some more cornering exercises (the most important part of riding), a couple breaks, we line up to take the “official” riding test …

One at a time we go through and do a U-turn box into a swerve maneuver … Then it’s the quick stop, and finally turning … Once you’re done, since we’re the last class, we drive the bikes up to their storage shed and line them up ready to be put away … We wait for the results … Miraculously, we all passed … People I was sure would NOT pass, passed … So, my permit is signed and serves as my proof of a Class M license … I will receive a supplement to my Driver’s License that I will have to hold until my current Driver’s License expires and I get a new photo … At that time, they will add the Class M directly to my license and I will have only one license … For me, that’s in January 2008 …

So I go home and tell the family the good news, that I passed and decided to go out to dinner … I took the motorcycle and met them there as I planned to do a little riding for the first time legally in the dark … Dinner was good and we parted in the lot … Bike was warmed up and I dropped it in 1st and was on my way, for about a foot … STOP! I left the front disc lock on … I had to shut off the bike and use the key to remove the lock … It was dinged up pretty good and was difficult to get off … I couldn’t put it back together, so I just put it in my pocket … Started the bike up again and begun to go on my merry way again, but wait, did I put the side stand up? I look down, no … Sheesh … First day with a license and I am making all these mistakes … Good thing they weren’t there to see this, and they can’t take it back …

Once I figured out all that nonsense and made sure no one saw me, I was underway … Cruised around in the cool night … Lots of lights at night, and I was looking for a dark road … I finally got to the one I wanted, and there was a car in front of me the whole way … Oh well, there is always tomorrow night … and the next … I’ve driven over 500 miles (not counting the BRC range miles) …

Motorcycle Riding Class Part 1

I took the first riding portion of the class this past Sunday afternoon, June 4th … It was 1:30 to 6:30pm … They take you through the necessary controls of the motorcycle to be associated with and stressed those parts that shut the power to the motorcycle as well as cutting off the engine … A couple things have changed … There is no longer a “kill-switch” or a “kick-stand” on a motorcycle … Motorcyclists don’t kick or kill anything these days … They’re now the engine cut-off switch and the side-stand … The other important control is the clutch … Pull it in to remove power from the rear wheel …

Since I have been riding my Nighthawk for several weeks, a lot of it was review … I got confused as to where I was supposed to drive the bike at times as their cones are tiny … They’re about 2″ high … There are lines all over the course, and I’m not always sure what lines I’m supposed to be staying inside of … For the most part, you follow the person in front of you … Some of the exercises are difficult in that you have to gain some speed, but a lot of the other people aren’t gaining speed … I tried to take it slow … I thought that that’s what they want me to do?

I could tell that there were some people that never rode before in the class, and there were some that had ridden before … In fact I and another guy rode our motorcycles to the class … We didn’t use ours, we used their small ones … 125-250cc bikes … In one of the first exercises, a girl went down … I think she held on to the throttle handlebar as she went down cause the engine revved and the bike started to spin a little bit … They spoke with her for a while and got her a different motorcycle and she got right back on … I thought that was great … Some people may have given up right then and there …

The most difficult exercise of the day was the quick stop … You had to get going to about 15MPH in 2nd towards cones at the other end, and once your front tire crossed the cones you had to shift into first and stop using both brakes as quickly as you could … Once in 2nd, you had to maintain throttle and be in a normal riding position covering nothing … Once you cross the cones you have to squeeze with both hands and press down with both feet … When I ride, I’m always covering something, so this was a bit difficult, but this is one of the things that is on the riding test … It’s to simulate having to quickly stop if something comes into your path while riding … I have the luxury of practicing this on my own bike until the next riding lesson which will be next Sunday when we’re tested …

We all made it through to the next class, so that’s a good thing … This Wednesday is the final classroom which will culminate into the written test … 50 questions of which you need to get 40 correct … Then the final riding class/test the following Sunday … If I pass both tests, I get my Class M license … Again, anyone can take this course … All you need is a Class M learner’s permit which costs $10 … Eye protection, gloves, boots acceptable for riding (leather that covers the ankle), jeans and a long sleeve shirt … They provide a motorcycle and a helmet … Go to http://www.pamsp.com/ to check it out …

Motorcycle Safety Program, I’m in!

It doesn’t take much to start riding a motorcycle; $10 Check or Money order payable to PENNDOT, answer 16 questions correctly out of 20, buy yourself a motorcycle and a helmet. Then you can ride legally from sun up to sun down … Once you feel you’re experienced enough to become licensed, you go take your motorcycle driving test and if you pass, you get yourself a Class M on your driver’s license …

There is an alternative, and it’s the choice I made … I elected to take the PA Motorcycle Safety Program … It’s free to PA residents, and once completed, you get yourself a Class M license … You don’t need anything to take the class except the ability to ride a bicycle and the motorcycle learner’s permit … You could have never ridden a motorcycle in your life … They provide motorcycles and helmets … So, you could take this class and upon passing, you can go get yourself your own motorcycle and already be licensed … Or, you could determine whether riding a motorcycle is right for you …

The MSP takes 4 days … 2 days of class and 2 days of riding … The first class is 2.75 hours and gets you acquianted with riding, etc … The second class is 5 hours of learning to ride … The third class is 2.75 hours of more book learning and finally your question test that you must pass to get your Class M license … The last class is 5 more hours of riding … If you pass, you get a card that you present next time you take your license photo and you have the Class M added to your normal driver’s license … Up until then, the card counts as your Class M driver’s license …

You can sign up online for the program … I found that it was pretty much full when I decided to get into it … I had to wait for a sign up date (which is after 8:00AM on Monday mornings) and as I sat in front of my computer, I watched it fill up … I signed up May 22nd for a class to begin July 19th … My only option was a class that happened on Wednesdays and Sundays since I work on the weekends … There were only a certain amount of these classes as well … I decided that I would try to get into an earlier class as a “Walk-In” by going to the class on the day it started and hoped that there were no-shows … If all the classes are full to begin with, you can register as an “alternate” … So, when I went as a walk-in, I had to wait for them to register all the confirmed participants, then register any alternates that showed, then I would have a chance to get in … I showed up an hour and a half early to try to get into this class … Guess what? I got in …

Even though I already have a motorcycle, I am going to use theirs … You have the option of using your own if you want … The thing about it is, the ones they provide are usually smaller in size than something you’d buy so this makes them lighter and easier to drive for your learning/testing … I just took the first class last night … There was a very mixed bag of people there … Men and women of all colors and ages … The guy sitting next to me was 68 … The guy on my other side was probably in his early 20s … He didn’t seem too happy about the class and asked a lot of questions that are already answered on the web site … It seemed an inconvenience to him … ‘We have to go through this to get our license?’ … ‘How long is this?’ … ‘OMG, 5 hours?!’ …

It doesn’t seem an inconvenience to me … I think it should be a requirement … Riding on two wheels out there with other idiots on two and four wheels, I want all the ammunition available to me … I have already learned from riding, there are some simple basics that you should know … They don’t tell you when you buy a motorcycle how to drive it, and the book from PENNDOT just covers traffic laws and basic safety … The number 1 thing that I needed to learn was turning the wrong way to turn the right way … It has to be the most amazing sensation driving the bike … To turn right, I press on the right handgrip … Normally (and any sane person) you’d think that pressing on the right handgrip would turn the front tire left and you would go left … This isn’t the case … Once I came to that realization, I realized that a Motorcycle Safety Program is something that I should definitely take …