MSF in Colorado anyone?

VoodooKitty · Post by **VoodooKitty** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:54 am

Ok now that my beautiful new 125 is being delivered on Wednesday I am starting to think about the MSF and am making myself nervous. My test drive last week was my first time driving a scoot so I literally have about 15-30 minutes of instruction and a test drive down the block of experience. I am planning on doing the class on a scooter at either ABATE or T3rg. Any Colorado peeps have experience with either of these schools? I would appreciate any advice or words of encouragement

myras_girls · Post by **myras_girls** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 3:03 am

My husband and I took the MSF at Front Range Community College. We had the option to take it on scooters or motorcycles and we decided to take it on motorcycles! It was much more challenging on a motorcycle, imo!

You can check out the class schedule on Abate of Colorado:

http://www.abateofcolo.org/

Good luck!!

myras_girls · Post by **myras_girls** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 3:11 am

Oh duh! You're already signed up through Abate. You see what I get for multi-tasking?

So yeah, the class was good. It was challenging and to be honest I didn't think I was going to pass the test at the end but I did. I had the most trouble with the U turn- every practice I went outside the box and then when I took the test I did it perfect! Guess all that practice paid off.

At one point I nearly dropped the Rebel I was riding but I managed to pull out of it after accidentally pulling the throttle. Yikes!

Anyway, at the end of it all I passed the test and learned a lot of great skills!

VoodooKitty · Post by **VoodooKitty** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 3:32 am

Thanks for responding!! Do you feel like if you had taken it on a scooter it would have been a lot easier? Because, again, I really have no experience

jijifer · Post by **jijifer** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 3:37 am

no need to get nervous. Unlike other tests, MSF really is there to teach you how to be safe - not show you that you can't be. Teachers are avid motorcyclists and love to teach new enthusiasts to be safe.

I took mine on my scooter since that was what I was taking MSF to learn to ride. Is it the case in Colorado you can't get a permit now and practice before MSF or you just don't want to?

VoodooKitty · Post by **VoodooKitty** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 4:09 am

jijifer wrote:no need to get nervous. Unlike other tests, MSF really is there to teach you how to be safe - not show you that you can't be. Teachers are avid motorcyclists and love to teach new enthusiasts to be safe.

I took mine on my scooter since that was what I was taking MSF to learn to ride. Is it the case in Colorado you can't get a permit now and practice before MSF or you just don't want to?

Good points! I do believe in Colorado you can get your permit first but I don't have anybody with a motorcycle endorsement to practice with. And, unfortunately, I currently live in downtown Denver and have no parking lots close by to practice in

myras_girls · Post by **myras_girls** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 12:37 pm

VoodooKitty wrote:Thanks for responding!! Do you feel like if you had taken it on a scooter it would have been a lot easier? Because, again, I really have no experience

I'm quite sure it would have been easier to take the MSF on a scoot vs. a motorcycle. At the point I took the MSF I'd been riding a 50cc for a few years and it was difficult to adjust to the manual transmission. A manual bike is more difficult to learn vs. an automatic bike over a manual car vs. an automatic car.

The most challenging part for me was the coordination of my hands and feet while paying attention to everything else. I'm sure it becomes second nature with practice, though. Of course, in my case, riding an automatic transmission was second nature and I kept gripping the clutch as if it were brake. Oops!

I also struggled with my shoe choice- heavy-toed backpacking boots I normally wore for scooting. When trying to shift I found I often couldn't "feel" the lever to shift higher and I'd struggle for a moment. I also had difficulty smoothly applying the rear brake. Sometimes it seemed like my foot didn't quite reach the rear break from a resting point on the pegs.

All of that might not make much sense if you haven't ridden a motorcycle.

Anyway, yeah, I think it would have been much, much easier to take the course on a scooter. We chose motorcycles because we figured it would be our best opportunity to learn to ride a motorcycle. I don't regret taking the MSF on the motorcycle, even though it was more difficult for me.

myras_girls · Post by **myras_girls** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 12:43 pm

VoodooKitty wrote: And, unfortunately, I currently live in downtown Denver and have no parking lots close by to practice in

I've heard of people practicing at the DMV parking lot on the weekends when it is closed. And church parking lots are often empty-ish when there is no service going on. But yeah, for the life of me I can't think of any big empty parking lots in Downtown Denver. Most parking lots are small and seem to be used for parking 90% of the time.

Tocsik · Post by **Tocsik** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 2:13 pm

I did the course through T3RG at Sun Enterprises MC dealer - they are located at 88th and Washington. Had a very good experience. The first day was class work at the motorcycle store and the next 2 days were riding/practicing/testing in the parking lot at Dick's Sporting Goods Park at 56th and Quebec Parkway.

I requested a scooter for the class but I decided to use one of the motorcycles instead. I have ridden MC's before and it was fun to be back on one for the class.

tbonestone · Post by **tbonestone** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 3:00 pm

I took mine through Black Bag. Honestly i went to learn how to shift so i was prepared to ride a Stella. There is absolutely nothing to get nervous about. I had been riding 50's for a few years, there was an old harley veteran there... We all learned a whole lot from the class. Best thing I ever did! I've been thinking of taking a refresher course for the experienced riders (5,000+ miles of which i've racked up somewhere near 24,000 miles ridden)

iMoses · Post by **iMoses** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 6:21 pm

VoodooKitty wrote: I currently live in downtown Denver...

I'm jealous!!

How about practicing in the Pepsi Center parking lot or the early morning at the Denver Botanical Gardens... just stay away from Five Points...

gt1000 · Post by **gt1000** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 6:52 pm

I used to encourage folks to take the class on the bikes supplied by the school. Do either ABATE or T3rg supply scoots? It's been a long time since I've taken the MSF but, when I did, scooters were not available. If they give you the choice, choose whatever you're most comfortable with. There's really no reason in the world to make the class more challenging than it has to be.

If they don't supply scooters I would recommend you take the class on the bikes they supply. First, you won't have to worry about dropping your new scoot and, second, you also won't have to worry about driving your scoot to the test. I also live in downtown Denver and getting to one of the suburban ABATE tests on a scooter would be difficult, especially without riding on the highway.

Finally, downtown Denver is full of parking lots, you just need to choose wisely. During the week, Mile High Stadium has huge empty parking lots, as does the Pepsi Center. If the Rockies are out of town, the overflow lots in RiNo are enormous. There's also a neat little parking lot by Cuernavaca Park, just off the Platte St. and the bike trail and around the corner from the skate park at 20th and Little Raven. It's on a dead end so you don't see a whole lot of traffic nearby. Actually, all of these lots (except maybe the Pepsi Center) are accessible via very quiet streets, you just need to check a map or GPS.

And there's no reason to avoid Five Points, it's a pretty cool neighborhood that actually has some great streets for practicing (between California and Blake and between Broadway and Downing, more or less in RiNo). Good luck and be careful!

VoodooKitty · Post by **VoodooKitty** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 8:58 pm

yeah, those are great parking lot options....but I have no way to get to them without driving a large distance....and i don't have a permit...and if i get a permit i have no one to drive with me to them. Hence the problem. The botanical gardens is pretty close to maybe scoot over without worrying too much about getting into any trouble but I don't think they have a lot. The have a garage.

I could drive up and down my scary bumping ally that people fly into w/o looking but that doesn't seem like a good idea at all. I guess I will have to check the neighborhood for a church or school. I think that might be my only option and I'll still have to drive on some very high traffic streets to get to those

I love Denver but man I can't wait to move!

VoodooKitty · Post by **VoodooKitty** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 9:00 pm

gt1000 wrote:I used to encourage folks to take the class on the bikes supplied by the school. Do either ABATE or T3rg supply scoots? It's been a long time since I've taken the MSF but, when I did, scooters were not available. If they give you the choice, choose whatever you're most comfortable with. There's really no reason in the world to make the class more challenging than it has to be.

and yes, ABATE supplies scooters

I definitely don't wanna drop mine and they are the cheapest place I can find so I think I will be going with them.

jijifer · Post by **jijifer** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 10:21 pm

VoodooKitty wrote:
gt1000 wrote:I used to encourage folks to take the class on the bikes supplied by the school. Do either ABATE or T3rg supply scoots? It's been a long time since I've taken the MSF but, when I did, scooters were not available. If they give you the choice, choose whatever you're most comfortable with. There's really no reason in the world to make the class more challenging than it has to be.
and yes, ABATE supplies scooters I definitely don't wanna drop mine and they are the cheapest place I can find so I think I will be going with them.

It's funny, it never occurred to me that I'd drop mine. But by the time I took MSF, 3 weeks after getting my scooter, had put on 500 miles and been on 2 different group rides. That's probably why I never imagined I'd drop my scooter. I was there to fine tune not learn from scratch. That I was very Yoda like in the do not try philosophy. I wasn't there to fall, I was there to learn so damn I wasn't going to fall, I was going to learn!

There was time in the final practice in the figure 8 box - after nailing every dang time- that put my feet down and thought I was gonna drop it but it was falling to the left so I just grabbed it tight and didn't let her go. THAT really shook my confidence since it was the last practice before the test. It went too slow and was trying to take up as much of the box as I could rather than just making the figure 8 required. Don't get fancy and too slow is just as tough to control as too fast was my take-away from that. I ended up last in line (my instructor told me later that was on purpose- since my scooter could out maneuver a motorcycle it was easier for the class to see what the skill was supposed to look like). I thought I was getting more nervous at the back of the line but it really gave me time to let it roll off my back. Just before my go, a fella in the other class dropped the motorcycle in the figure 8 box and everyone gulped. You don't want to get THAT far and lose it

I was 1 of 2 people in class to get 100% on the skills testing. The other was a woman, too! GIRL POWER!

MSF was really easy on a scooter and it taught me how to ride the machine I was going to ride. Buddy's doing 30mph can stop really fast. I thought they were going to make me do the "hard stop" test again because they were standing several away from where I stopped. I thought maybe I started to brake too soon but NOPE! I could come to complete stop in 1/3 the distance of any motorcycle (and those were going slower than me!)

HURRAY you found a class with scooters. Did you see the links Eric posted to the other newbie thread about "parking lot practice". good reading to get your head around what you'll do in MSF and what you can do to be safe when you ride.

kivrot · Post by **kivrot** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 3:42 am

If you're in Cap Hill, or nearby, the Atty Gen's office at Colfax & Sherman (2 blocks east of B'way) has a pretty big lot (for downtown). PM me if you want company or an escort. Girl Power!!

Probably the best thing a new rider can do, IMO, is get on a pedal bike if it's been awhile. You'll instictively lean into turns, look for crazy cars, etc.

(For the record, I also took the course at Black Bag on a MC. I figured if I'm going to pay for the course, I should get some new skills out of it. But I also had 7K+ miles on a 50 and yes, I dropped the school's bike. But passed with flying colors!)

And for other Denver MBer's: http://www.tenthousandnets.org/#events charity ride to Film on the Rocks' "Lost Boys"

gt1000 · Post by **gt1000** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 6:58 pm

VoodooKitty wrote:yeah, those are great parking lot options....but I have no way to get to them without driving a large distance....and i don't have a permit...and if i get a permit i have no one to drive with me to them. Hence the problem. The botanical gardens is pretty close to maybe scoot over without worrying too much about getting into any trouble but I don't think they have a lot. The have a garage. I could drive up and down my scary bumping ally that people fly into w/o looking but that doesn't seem like a good idea at all. I guess I will have to check the neighborhood for a church or school. I think that might be my only option and I'll still have to drive on some very high traffic streets to get to those

I love Denver but man I can't wait to move!

You already have at least one "escort" offer, you should seriously consider it. And if you're somewhere near the Botanical Gardens, you are pretty close to Capitol Hill as someone suggested. My recommendation would be City Park at a quiet time of day. There are parking lots there and the zoo lot should be pretty quiet around dusk. But, rather than the lots, I'd recommend cruising the roads through the park. Low speed limits and very limited traffic; just watch out for joggers, cyclists and geese! And, by all means, get a permit!

VoodooKitty · Post by **VoodooKitty** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:42 pm

Yeah, it occurred to me today as I drove by the high school on Colfax by City Park that school is out and the lots there are huge! So, as long as I can make it the few blocks on the busy roads, that might be the perfect spot! YYAAYY

Thanks to everyone for their recommendations!

Anyone know if/what they charge to get your permit here?

myras_girls · Post by **myras_girls** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:46 pm

VoodooKitty wrote:Yeah, it occurred to me today as I drove by the high school on Colfax by City Park that school is out and the lots there are huge! So, as long as I can make it the few blocks on the busy roads, that might be the perfect spot! YYAAYY Thanks to everyone for their recommendations!

Anyone know if/what they charge to get your permit here?

I think it was about $15 to get my permit.

VoodooKitty · Post by **VoodooKitty** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:50 pm

myras_girls wrote:
VoodooKitty wrote:Yeah, it occurred to me today as I drove by the high school on Colfax by City Park that school is out and the lots there are huge! So, as long as I can make it the few blocks on the busy roads, that might be the perfect spot! YYAAYY Thanks to everyone for their recommendations!

Anyone know if/what they charge to get your permit here?
I think it was about $15 to get my permit.

PERFECT! Thanks!

I love all of you - you are all so very helpful!!! Xoxoxo

VoodooKitty · Post by **VoodooKitty** » Sun Aug 29, 2010 11:17 pm

PASSED!! Not only passed but passed with flying colors

Only lost 1 point for not going fast enough through a curve.

For any Coloradians that come across this post and are hoping to find a recommendation for a place to do the MSF I HIGHLY recommend Iron Buffalo through ABATE. I took it at the Denver/Aurora location with Alan and it was fantastic! I learned an incredible amount and felt totally comfortable and confident.

huskerchic · Post by **huskerchic** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 2:48 am

Congrats! Hope to see you out on a ride soon! Monster ride coming up in 2 weeks!

VoodooKitty · Post by **VoodooKitty** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 4:07 am

huskerchic wrote:Congrats! Hope to see you out on a ride soon! Monster ride coming up in 2 weeks!

Woohoo!!!!