Well, got the MSF thing done...

[Xeys]

I passed the course yesterday. I took it on a eliminator 125, which was the smallest bike they had. I'll always appreciate the automatic transmission on the buddy from this day forward. I spent half my time fumbling with the gears. On friday, I'll hit the DMV.

[Corsair]

Good to hear you passed! Man, I really want to test on the Buddy (since that's what I'll be riding after all). What did they have you do on the test there?

[Xeys]

Work on corners. Be able to brake hard in the middle of doing a corner. Work on quick stops. Work on swerving. And be thankful you're not on a manual. I'll post more, I just had a rough day. I bombed a Stats test big time today.

[lobsterman]

Congrats on the MSF, it's time and effort well spent.

[avidgirl]

Congrats on your MSF pass!

Its a big challenging, taking the course on a gear shifter but the skills are that much easier to perform on the Buddy when you don't have to worry about shifting gears.

[Xeys]

I showed up with helmet and gloves in hand on my front porch. I must give HUGE props to Debbie at awesomecycles.com for picking me up in my little corner of houston. She picked me up(refusing gas money) and dropped me off for Sat morning. Class was at 8:30 am sharp. There was coffee and water, and you could buy snacks for a reasonable price. David, my mohawked instructor, came to the front and talked about the course, and we filled out our liability release forms. We then introduced ourselves. We watched films and answered questions. We then went to lunch. Mmmmmmm Sonic. Cut to: The Range, and about 30 motorcycles of all sorts. I had asked earlier for the 125 cc eliminator, as the buddy was a 125 also, and hopefully I could get used to a 125. We learned where all the controls were, and straddled and walked the bikes around for a while, under our own power. After about 20 mins of this, we line up, and we are allowed to actually start them. Yay! After we were all able to do this, we "power walked" the bikes for another 20 mins. This was putting the bikes in 1st gear and learning to feel the "friction zone". As the clutch let go, and power went to the wheels, we just kind of walked our bikes around. Kinda like an old power mower, except these mowers went 70 or more miles per hour. Exercises progressed and we ended the day with an exercise that few of us EVER got right. The Blue Box of Death. I never thought doing a figure 8 would be that hard. We were shown what to do. Oh yea, I can do this.. Oh wait, I'm outside the lines again. Or I put a foot down. Crap. I was not a happy camper going back in on Sunday. But, I only missed 1 on the final written test, and passed my skills test. I had to redo the quick stop, because I anticipated the stop, and stopped well short of the target line. Took a second go, and I was good. I was sweating bullets the whole time, because I KNEW how to do all these things, but the fact we were being graded was freaking me out. Anyways, we got our certificates and a whole bunch of free swag. Much props to Awesome Cycles in houston, and David, Debbie, and All the instructors who taught me so much. One thing to be aware of: Full face helmets may cause you not to hear very well when instructors are instructing. Wait till the last minute to put it on. Just a suggestion, as I have glasses, and putting on/taking off my helmet took about 3 mins because of my glasses.