[Andrew]

I’ve taken the class and I’ve had my Ninja road ready since Friday. I haven’t practiced u-turns since I got the bike and when I had to do one on a dead end road it was harder than I thought. Part of the problem was knowing that outside the lines would be bad because of all the grass, weeds and junk there. That led to a form of target fixation where I was thinking about not going off the road that it messed up my u-turn.

I think with some car park practice I will be able to manage 20 feet. Right now that road has too many distractions for me. There are no consequences for going over the line in a car park.

[Andrew]

That’s only 2 and a half hours. Sounds short for an MSF class. My evening class was 5 x 4 hour classes. First 4 was text book and the rest was mainly riding.

[Andrew]

Sweet. So it’s 60′ by 20′ and the dotted line they have you start on is a 24′ width.

[Andrew]

Anyone know the dimensions they use for the MSF figure 8. Pretty sure the width on the evaluation is 20 ft but I’m not sure about the length? Maybe 40 ft?

[Andrew]

I bet those hills in Nashville are interesting to ride in traffic. I was stopped in traffic on an incline the other day while in my car and realized how much it would suck on a bike.

[Andrew]

So I could but the S size cheek pads in and end up with the same result as returning the helmet for a size S. Interesting. I’m going to skip riding tonight and see how the jaw feels after a ride tomorrow night before I make a decision.

[Andrew]

+1 one the getting gas. The center stand will level the fuel tank and you can put more gas in.

[Andrew]

If your first day in class is 4 hours then you will only do the classroom work and won’t need gloves and boots. If you have a full 8 hour day then you will need them later in the day.

[Andrew]

I got into a class six weeks early as a walk in. Turned up at 5 for a 5:30 class and got in. The first 2 times I tried I didn’t get in but it was a case of 3rd time lucky.

[Andrew]

I haven’t done the multiple shifts without releasing the clutch yet but I have seen it done many times. I have been watching bikers when I am in my cage and most of them use this approach while in traffic. It must be ok for the engine if so many people are doing it.

[Andrew]

Got 1 hour 45 of practice in tonight. Once I was done with the cone work I used a dead end road to practice my shifting. Got pretty smooth at up shifting and better at down shifting. I think they key for the down shift is rolling on the throttle to get the revs up and the releasing the clutch very slow. I even tried 4th gear for the first time which gave me an extra gear shift down from.

The road is a narrow with 2 lanes and I stalled it twice when trying to do a tight u-turn. I must have missed a down shift on the first one because it went into neutral from what must have been 2nd. The other one stalled mid u-turn and maybe I just let the revs get too low? The road will be a good one for me to master as I think it will take a full lock turn to do a 180. I was able to do it with a foot down but not without yet.

[Andrew]

I’m in Bloomington and it cost $128 to get the bike on the road. $25 use tax for a bike, $38 registration and $65 for a new title. You might be able to get frame sliders for the GS500F. worth the money if your concerned about breaking plastic.

[Andrew]

I have seen the GS500 recommended as a starter bike on a Euro website where they are still available.

[Andrew]

I have heard the freedom argument used by people who don’t think there should be mandatory seat belt laws. As someone who grew up with both mandatory seat belt and helmet laws (Australia) I just don’t get it. If you reduce the number of injuries then you help keep insurance premiums down. If it’s a free for all and people are getting injured left, right and center then the premiums go up to cover the insurance industries rising costs.

Plus from a personal point of view I don’t want to ever see anyone die in front of me just because they couldn’t be bothered to wear a seat belt or a helmet.

[Andrew]

Even more amusing to me is that eye protection is required by IL law but not a helmet. Even still I see a whole lot of riders without even a pair of sunnies.

[Author]

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