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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 …

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 …

On Monday, May 15th, 2006 I purchased the 1983 Honda Nighthawk 650 pictured to the left off of eBay. I had been wanting to get a motorcycle for years as I’m sure most red blooded American males want to get a motorcycle. I have heard many a tale of a motorcycle accident in and around the family, and some of those accidents were terrible ones. Damn the consequences? No. Here’s the story;

Coming home late one Saturday night, I was subjected to the Sunday morning talk portion of the FM radio stations driving home in my car. This particular Sunday morning, the guests were from the Delaware Valley A.B.A.T.E. … (A.B.A.T.E. = Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education) … What they were basically talking about was the safety associated around motorcycle driving and bringing awareness to those who don’t ride motorcycles to be aware that there are motorcycles sharing the roads with them … They said many more people were purchasing motorcycles due to the gas price increase.

This got me thinking again about purchasng a motorcycle. Simply mentioning to my wife, “Hey, I was thinking about getting a motorcycle.” gets a simple response of “No you’re not!” … But I had made a pact with her many years ago about getting one, and I was determined to hold her to it … There were other reasons I had for getting one. The major reason was that I drove the car on weekends to get to the truck to do the Octane shows. I told her if I had the motorcycle that she wouldn’t be left without a car and outings that she would be on would no longer be stopped short because she had to get the car to me so I could take it to the truck …

So off we go looking for a motorcycle. I packed the wife and two kids in the car and we took a ride to find a cheap used motorcycle. I have never owned a motorcycle, nor have I really driven one except for a friend letting me ride his once before I was even out of high school. The first place we went was East Coast Cycle Center … I had seen a used bike listed on their web site that was going for just under $3000.00 … I would never get that, but I recall a long time ago going to this particular bike shop and finding a 750 for $750, and that’s what I was looking for. All the bikes here had price tags hanging from them, and they were all very expensive … No one really talked to us there, so we left …

Just down the road a little south is Philly Fun Center … They didn’t have anything used either, but I was entertaining a scooter … They had them new for $1500ish … He didn’t suggest I ride something like that on the highway … Again the cheapest used was over $3000.00 … He said that people were buying up everything cheaper. He suggested a Kawasaki Dealer up the road … So off to Bucks County Kawasaki at 230C Route 13, Bristol, PA 19007 … Same thing there … Used $5,500 but why buy used when a new one was $6,900? Ha! You crazy?!

We then drove around, exploring areas we never drove and looking for motorcycle places … We stopped where we saw a lot of motorcycles, but they seemed to be a service place … They suggested an accessories store where they might know about someone selling used bikes … We drove there and I asked the guy behind the counter and he said he’d get back to me if he heard anything … I still haven’t heard from him … Again it was reiterated to me that bikes were selling like hotcakes … Not only was it the beginning of the summer, but the gas prices were converting a lot of people who had been thinking about buying a motorcycle before to finally get one since the mileage is so great on a 4 stroke two wheeled beast … I don’t know exactly what my mileage is yet, but I would estimate it’s about 50-60 miles to the gallon.

So, that weekend I drove Alex to the show in the truck, and on the way up I told him about our excursion and how I came up empty … He mentioned he had a 250 Ninja that didn’t run … Said I could fix it and use that … So we left it at that … Monday morning (5/15) I look at my iMac and in the IRC room I see that Alex posted a link to an eBay item Sunday night … It was to the bike pictured in this post … I sent a message at 12:48pm about coming by and checking the motorcycle out … I got a response from the guy’s wife with his phone number … I called and had to leave a message … The whole time I’m worried because there’s a Buy It Now on the auction … It could end any second! I tried to pass the time, went shopping with the wife and was rushing her to get home … So at 3:45pm I sent all the questions I wanted answered … Was it inspected, was he currently riding it, did it need anything, etc … She replied again at 5:30ish and that was all I needed … I clicked the Buy It Now and the phone rang … It was her to schedule me coming by to check it out, and then she says, “Oh, you bought it, I guess we’re scheduling when you’re coming by to pick it up.”

You see, I have been burned before on the eBay Buy It Now stuff … Something I’m interested in disappears right before your eyes … There’s nothing you can do once it’s gone … It was listed for a starting bid of $899.99 and a Buy It Now of $1000.00 … So, risk losing it waiting til the end for $100? The counter on it was well over 400+ and it was only listed about a day … It was also listed on Craig’s List with his phone number … I had already been around to the dealers and there was nothing like this available … Bam! I met the seller at 7:00pm … He had contacted a Mobile Notary who came out to the sale and did the title transfer (most tag places close at 7pm) … Alex met me at the seller’s and my wife dropped me off. Alex drove it to a local parking lot and I started messing with it there … Alex lent me a helmet and I drove it home …

I have my permit, my insurance ($95 for the year) and I am signed up for the free motorcycle class given by the state … I have driven about 300 miles and have stopped for gas 3 times putting $5.00 in each time … I saw another bike for sale on State Road … I stopped to check it out … It’s a 1982 Honda CB750 for $999.00 … It’s rusty, it has black pipes and doesn’t look as nearly well kept as the bike I got on eBay … I got a great deal … The eBay seller told me that he had tons of emails and his phone was ringing off the hook from the Craig’s List ad … Good thing I came with the cash and made it mine when I did … He was kicking himself … He knew he could have sold it for twice what he actually sold it for … and when I decide to buy a bigger newer bike, I will be able to sell it for that amount …

I’ve read the owner’s manual several times and I have beefed up the suspension for my big butt … It’s pretty damn cool … I was worried about what my parents would say, and thankfully they’re supportive and telling me to be careful … Always wear my helmet, etc … My older brother had a motorcycle and had a solo accident where he drove his leg into his pelvis … he was out of commission for a while because of it … I don’t think he ever took the class or had the ability to do as much reading as I have on the ‘net about riding … The key is to start out really slow and work your way into more advanced riding … I’ve taken it on the highway twice … I prefer not being on the highway …

Welp, this post is getting too long … There are some experiences I would like to share, but I will leave them for another time …