Well officially today I passed the MSF , along with my entire class. The group was awesome and instructors were great. Everyone in the group passed the written with 100% with the exception of 1 and he only missed one. The riding..well that was an event.
Personally…. Swerve no big deal anyone trying to have some fun on their bike is good at this… Quick stop, oh boy. I am used to my Vulcan 500 at this point..stomp the rear brake all you want it will not lock up, largely in part to the drum brake aspect. On the Buell Blast however….. rear disc, 100lbs lighter and a lot touchier… I drug the back tire on 7 of 12 stops the teachers were impressed however that they didn’t have to tell me to stay in the brake when the back skids.
The dreaded figure 8 , or more for our ride was the double u-turn… I hit it perfect maybe on the 3rd try and on the narrower area to boot. However on the review…broke plane once…. oh well -3 no biggie.
LOL oh yea the review for the quick stop…they wanted the approach to be near 1 to 1.9 secs then stop after crossing the cones… I came in @ 0.77 secs… the stopping distance recommended at that speed was 20 feet, I planted it non skid at 15 feet ( victory dance and a devilish- oops)
Now the big sweeper turn… the 135 degree as our instructor called it… now I actually in real life take this turn everyday going to work, get me on the course for some reason ( probably cause I am not feeling the love for the bike) and I can barely get it good. BUT, I was very excited about one, though it was dangerous and shouldn’t be- but what the heck everyone needs some fun some time, I came in a touch hot in the main (2nd) turn of that excersize slowed down but not enough before entry, read somewhere that to stick a missed judgement of a turn was to make the bike dig – lean in more and throttle out. I trust my lean and reluctantly the beat up bike I am on… came outta the turn at about 15 mph and a lean angle that smoothed out the outer edge of my boot. I tried not to grin when they were telling me to slow a bit more on the next shot, but once they broke down and said damn good job riding it out, well the kid in me came out.
Weave and bobs…no biggie for anyone… the quick stops and lane changes cake.
Anyone not having done MSF yet….do so, I urge you. Alot of the course is going to be really easy but the most important in my opinion that your gonna get from it …. slow speed maneuvers. The double U-turn not RL realistic unless your 2 up and your wife is very indecisive( at which point stop and wait for her to make her mind up) but it gives you a feel for the balance, movement, friction zone use and rear breaking to get a tight tight turn, paramount in parking lots.
Last thought…. you guys can keep them cramped sport bikes…lol…. I came back to the house and hugged my cruiser. I have not had to have my legs that close together since I was old enough to have crushes on girls (about 8-ish yrs old). I felt like I was in that standard position your little sister gives you when you threaten to touch her with you newly found frog pet as kids.
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were my favorite exercises. Gave me good confidence where i started out putting my foot down 2 X and that was in the “larger” area they give you then on the test going to the smaller area and doing just fine. After locking up that front brake the one time on the quick stop that was the one that “bothered” me the most. I kept going through the lockup so I didnt stop as well as I probably could have.
were my favorite exercises. Gave me good confidence where i started out putting my foot down 2 X and that was in the “larger” area they give you then on the test going to the smaller area and doing just fine. After locking up that front brake the one time on the quick stop that was the one that “bothered” me the most. I kept going through the lockup so I didnt stop as well as I probably could have.
