cv_rider
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- Apr 21, 2008
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- Danville, CA Bay Area
Yesterday I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Experienced Rider Course, which is a 4.5-hour track session in a big parking lot. I was surprised and a little disappointed to find that the entire session is identical to the second range day of the Beginner Riding Course. We went through all those same exercises: low-speed control, U-turns, quick stops, smooth cornering techniques, stopping while cornering, swerving. Perhaps it's getting back to basics is really what makes you a safer rider. I had taken the BRC about a year ago, so none of this seemed new to me. I do think it would probably be a good refresher to take every couple of years, and the instructors did point out a bad habit, which was that I never use all four fingers on the brake. We did a lot of quick stop practice, more than I'd ever done on my own, and I found a lot more stopping power than I'd ever touched before.
About half the class was behemoth Harleys, three BMW tourers, a Triump ST, and dilitated scooter. Those Harleys were like supertankers navigating in a small harbor. During the quick stops, their skidding tires were smoking. During the u-turn practice, they needed about twice the radius I did to turn around. None of them could effectively navigate a weave around traffic cones. They were scraping steel to pavement on even moderate turns. I was impressed with a BMW KT1200R (I think) sport-tourer. Nice looking and the rider was really whipping it around in tight corners -- looked to be a good handling bike even for being pretty large.
It would seem to me to be a good class to take once every five years, as it's only $125 and it was a fun way to spend an afternoon. It would also be a good thing to do if you were coming back to motorcycling after some time off and were rusty.
About half the class was behemoth Harleys, three BMW tourers, a Triump ST, and dilitated scooter. Those Harleys were like supertankers navigating in a small harbor. During the quick stops, their skidding tires were smoking. During the u-turn practice, they needed about twice the radius I did to turn around. None of them could effectively navigate a weave around traffic cones. They were scraping steel to pavement on even moderate turns. I was impressed with a BMW KT1200R (I think) sport-tourer. Nice looking and the rider was really whipping it around in tight corners -- looked to be a good handling bike even for being pretty large.
It would seem to me to be a good class to take once every five years, as it's only $125 and it was a fun way to spend an afternoon. It would also be a good thing to do if you were coming back to motorcycling after some time off and were rusty.