Back in the Saddle - 3/4

Part 3: Testing Time

The day soon approached for my motorcycle training and testing.  The MSF course is really quite comprehensive, covering a lot of slow speed maneuvering and general road safety.  

Sadly I was so busy learning and relearning how to ride a motorcycle that I did not get a single picture during the entire two days.

Pre Course Online Training

Prior to taking the training, I was required to complete the MSF online course.  As it turns out, this is a 5 hour online course, and gods it is so boring. But pay attention to it because there is a test at the end and the material in that course comes up time and again in the 2 day course. 

Day 1

The first day is mostly concerned with getting you used to the bike, and executing some slow speed maneuvers. If you can ride a push bike most of this should be fairly simple, except there was not a lot of time spent on getting you used to the bike controls.  It seems like there is an assumption that you can drive, and think this is perhaps a failing of the course.

The bike I got was a Honda Nighthawk 250. Not a bad bike but it had this feature where once it got warmed up, Neutral was nowhere to be found.  To get it into Neutral, one had to turn off the bike and then restart it, and it would pop right into neutral.  

Day 2

Day two saw more of the slow speed maneuvering but also we started to speed up a little. The morning and though lunch was training and some classroom sessions, but the afternoon was testing time.

The Test

The test comprised of 5 parts practical and a final written test.  The written test is easy, as it is multiple choice, and as long as you have been paying attention to the online course and classroom sessions, it will be quite straight forward. 

The practical test is based on the exercises that the instructors put you through over the past day or so, so again none of this will be a surprise.   From what I can remember, the test for me comprised the following 5 stages:

• Slalom in and out of the cones
• The U Turn 
• Emergency stop
• Swerve
• Sharp turn from stationary

In the end I passed, dropping a few points on the riding test and scoring 100% on the written test.  That got me a little card that I took to the DMV to get my motorcycle endorsement on my license. 

Now the next step is to go and buy a bike and start riding.