The Motorcycle Safety Foundation - Rider Safety and Skill 
Course by James H. Lui

I've been riding now for some 15 years and over 33,000 miles 
and have had my share of accidents and undesired encounters 
with four-wheel vehicles.  I started my riding days on a 
1983 Yamaha Riva 180 scooter with a basically automatic 
transmission and 75 m.p.h. freeway-legal capability.  
Naturally that made passing the California DMV rider skills 
test quite simple (3 passes around a 30-foot enscribed path 
circle in both directions, two passes on a 50-foot cone 
weave test, turning and stopping, and straight-line stopping 
with a how-to-use controls test thrown in) being that the 
Riva weighs around 200 lbs. and has 10-inch wheels.

Now that I'm riding a Virago 1100, I felt that a reality-
check of sorts was in order to make sure that my riding 
skills were up to par for the higher demands of the new 
bike.  After trying out the new wheels on a parking lot 
using the DMV rider skills tests, and feeling not quite as 
confident as I thought I should, I decided to enroll in the 
MSF-endorsed Rider Safety course.  There were two levels, 
one for absolute beginners through novice riders (RSC), and 
one for Experienced Riders (ERC).  For insurance-discount 
purposes, either will generally do, but some prefer the RSC.  
Under-18 motorcyclists in California now need to obtain the 
RSC certificate in order to get an M1-class drivers license. 
Possessing the RSC certificate will also allow you to waive 
the skills test for obtaining an M1 (but you still need to 
take the written portion).

Since this was a sanity-check, and to possibly remedy any 
bad habits I had picked up through the self-taught riding 
years, I decided to task myself with both of the courses and 
see if I could still pass a "learning to read" class before 
I took "Advanced Literature 101."  Sign-up was pretty simple 
through the MSF's 1-800-CCRIDER line, which referred me to a 
touch-tone class location system number, which in turn gave 
me the local organizer's number.  You have to pay up-front 
for reservations, and there are no refunds regardless of 
whether you decide halfway through, the course is not for 
your tastes, or you get sent home by the instructor for 
inability to meet the course safety standards.    Some 
courses are two 9-hour days in succession, but mine was 
split into four 4-/5-hour sessions on successive weekends.

Day 1 - classroom.  The class felt a lot like sitting in one 
of those Traffic School classes you can take if you get a 
moving violation citation.  Our instructor for the first 
half of the day was an instructor-in-training, knew the 
factual material, but hadn't faced a real class like us yet.  
The regular instructor was on-hand to make written comments 
and coach during the breaks.  We received a 50-page booklet, 
half of which deals with basic procedural information about 
operating a motorcycle and safety tips, and the other half 
is vaguely reminiscent of the DMV Motorcycle Driver 
Supplement book - how to change lanes, S-I-P-D-E (Scan, 
Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute), etc.  We talked a 
little about why we were riding these inherently more 
dangerous machines which are difficult  to be clearly seen 
by other drivers and fall over when not moving if not 
properly supported. Out of our class of 23 (one no-show), I 
was probably one of six who had prior riding experience.  
Ages were lumped decidedly into the 18 to 25 category.  We 
watched a few videos which again were reminiscent of Drivers 
Ed. days, minus the classic "Red Asphalt" one.  There was 
the "Joy of Motorcycling," one with a talking motorcycle 
which told us all about controls, and one on the basic how-
to-start and begin riding topic. I think the best element of 
this session was something they call "intellectual riding 
exercises" which basically means make-believe riding while 
sitting in your chair.  Since this was a beginner-course, 
most students had never ridden anything before with as many 
alien controls and things for your hands and feet to do 
while driving.  Having us go through the physical actions of 
how to gently roll-on throttle power, feel for the friction 
zone, and the intricate process of shifting and braking 
properly helped many of us appreciate the difference between 
motorcycling and operating a car.  We tied things up by 
reviewing protective clothing and helmets.  There happened 
to be one person who had visited a local swap meet and 
picked up a quite-DOT illegal "beanie" helmet with about a 
half-inch of foam padding, complete with a fake DOT sticker 
on the back.  This was great for comparison with someone 
else's "beanie" of the legal, but still limited protection 
variety. The point was made simple - why would anyone want 
to stop themselves on pavement with their face?

Day 2 - we hit the pavement (one literally).  Eleven of us 
stand on a 150' x 200' parking lot facing a dozen well-
scratched Honda CR125T's, a Kawasaki 250 standard, and a 
Suzuki 250 cruiser for the taller riders.  We learn to feel 
brake sensitivity by walking the bikes over to the line-up 
area and feathering the front brake to stop while walking.  
We spend a half hour buddy-pushing the bikes back and forth 
across the lot to gain our balance and basic braking 
control.  We lose our first student sent homeward because 
she wasn't quite able to keep the bike from falling over 
each time she stopped (she tried three times though, a 
courageous sort).  Then we learn to safely start and turn-
off the little 125cc wonders.  We follow with an exercise 
acquainting ourselves with the "friction zone" by straddling 
the bike and easing on and off the clutch while rocking back 
and forth.  Our first straight line ride in first gear goes 
by quickly - we learn to brake smoothly and use both brakes 
consistently.  By the lapse of three hours we have gained 
the confidence and skill to ride around a big oval course 
marked by little 3-inch cones varying speed and following 
distance.  Then follows the 30-foot circle which enforces 
the look-where-your-bike-goes rule and the basics of leaning 
during a turn.  "Look down, and your bike goes down.  Press 
left, lean left, go left."  The second acid-test comes in 
the form of clutch-controlled cornering wherein you must 
navigate the 90-degree corners of  the course using a brake-
clutch-look-roll out form of  turning.  The instructors tell 
us that if we can't demonstrate an ability to judge proper 
braking power to safely conduct our machines through the 
turns, we can't proceed any further.  Thanks to the guidance 
and great teaching skills of our instructors, everyone made 
the cut this time, even with the grabby brakes and surging 
throttles of these chain saws on wheels they call training 
bikes.  The final hour is spent on learning how to shift 
from first to second and back (and how to avoid neutral) and 
integrating that with the cornering exercises performed 
earlier.   The 30-foot circle is augmented by a smaller set 
of 20-foot and 10-foot circles used as U-turn courses 
including the down and up-shift exercises.  After five solid 
hours of this exhausting physical training process, I 
definitely would not care for the ten-hour one-day version 
of the same.  Getting these twitchy and purposefully over-
sensitive training bikes to do what we want them to do has 
been quite an education in itself.  As we depart, we toss 
parting shots at the incoming second dozen students coming 
in, letting them know they are in for quite an entertaining 
experience.  We are told of some anecdotes regarding 
students who have not quite remembered to brake at the end 
of the driving range, or those that never seemed to possess 
a sense of balance as they rode smoothly to a stop, only to 
tip straight over and proceed to a parallel position to the 
pavement.

Day 3 - back in the classroom.  This session is probably 
best entitled "Street Survival Skills" as now that we have 
figured out the basics of mechanically controlling the 
various functions of the bikes, we now proceed to deal with 
riding situations in the real world.  We cover how to do the 
basics of standard braking on a curve, maximum braking, 
managing speed and distance, handling locked rear wheel 
skids, fast braking on curves, swerves to avoid hazards, the 
physical properties of the S-I-P-D-E process, proper lane 
changes and lane positioning and the use of turn signals and 
indicators, and finally the DMV required section on "don't 
drink and drive." A couple more videos illustrate what our 
bikes should look like during correct executions of the 
exercises.  The day ends with a 50 question written 
multiple-choice test on all of the topics covered.  Some of 
the intellectual riding in this session dealt with how to 
relax your riding posture, noting that a tense rider can't 
make smooth changes to controls and definitely will feel the 
results after a long ride.  Holding the tank tighter with 
the knees forces a relaxation in the upper torso which helps 
a lot.

Day 4 - putting it all together on pavement.  Today's 
session managed to put all of the basic riding techniques 
together in a combination of exercises and a final riding 
evaluation that seemed twice as strenuous as Day 2.  We 
started by acquainting ourselves with the bikes again by 
passing through sets of weave pattern cones, at both slow 
speed and wider/higher speed, learning to guide the 
motorcycle's path by looking where we want to go. There's a 
"gap management" exercise which looks something like a 
figure-8 formation drill team pattern wherein you gain 
experience in judging speed when crossing between traffic 
gaps, towards a later transition to lane changes which 
incorporate the signal-mirrors-look-execute process.  We 
perform some stop sign intersection-type turns which include 
how to take-off with the front wheel turned to complete lock 
to perform tight turns from a standstill. A few wide U-turns 
are included so that we understand how acceleration and lean 
angle affects riding stability in when turning, later 
combined with some roll-on canyon-ride style turns to 
demonstrate proper braking before and acceleration through a 
curve.  The rear-wheel brake lock exercise provides 
excellent feedback about handling skids without panicking.  
Now that we've been brainwashed into really stomping on the 
rear brake to get it to lock up and stay there, the maximum 
braking exercise snaps us back into reality of how not to 
rely on it for fastest braking performance.  Finally, we are 
performing brake-less swerves to avoid hazards leading to 
the last panic session of the class - the final ride 
evaluation.  This portion, while designed to be less 
strenuous than the actual exercises themselves, tends to 
have the most stress on the part of the riders, perhaps even 
if just psychologically related.  It is designed to verify 
that the rider meets the basic riding capability 
requirements for the DMV skills test as well as demonstrate 
knowledge of the basic operation principles covered during 
the day.  After weaving through some more cones, slow turns 
without showing signs of braking inside the turn, but using 
proper look-ahead, a 15 m.p.h. maximum stop and a final 
tighter forced hazard swerve, we are done.  And for what 
it's worth, thanks to the excellent instruction of the 
Motorcycle Training Course staff, we all made it (sans our 
one lady who has to find a bike with even shorter ride 
height before she tries again.  You are allowed to use your 
own bike, provided it's less than 350cc's and you're willing 
to indemnify the Course against liability for damages to 
your bike.)

Epilogue - Yes, I'm signed up for the next ERC - there was 
too much good stuff in this one to not take the opportunity 
to learn even more.  While I can admit that I knew about the 
operational controls topics and the basics of stopping and 
turning, what I really found out in this class was 
techniques to substantially improve the way I drive to 
become more proficient in just about every situation - and 
frankly that includes both driving a motorcycle AND driving 
a car.  I've always practiced SIPDE and the head look stuff, 
but I found I had developed a too-sloppy braking technique 
which lagged into turns and wasn't really prepared for 
instinctual hazard avoidance required of emergency panic 
situations.

The more you know, the better it gets (tm).