MSC (or MSF) vs. Rider's Edge

[Wind Rider]

I took riding lessons through Honda. It is not held at the dealers, no sales pitch, and great instructors. We practiced on a 250.

Have a great day.

[RhadamYgg]

One thing I bet is better at the HD Rider's Edge compared to the MSF - the quality of the bikes.

The ones we had - well, a lot of people had lots of problems especially with first gear and putting the bikes in to neutral.

With $250 a person and 12 people, I'd think they'd have enough money to keep the bikes 100%. I mean the MSF instructors indicated you have to love motorcycling to teach the MSF course, not for the money.

So, 3K for everyone to be there. It should be plenty extra to keep the bikes in good repair.

None of our bikes had mirrors. Some people had bad luck and had to go through 3 bikes before finding one that would work.

RhadamYgg

[storysunfolding]

That depends on the site. My main site gets rid of bikes after two years. Also some bikes are notorious for being hard to find neutral while idling- rebels/nighthawks. It's just an idiosyncrasy of that model.

As far as mirrors and turn signals go, those get taken off from the get go. They break much easier than anything else and aren't really needed for the course.

[Skier]

Idaho's curriculum leaves turn signals and mirrors on the bike. I can't remember any of them breaking. Mirrors can get bent a little but you can adjust them back into place. We have lane change and traffic interaction (with the other students) exercises so we need indicators and mirrors.

RhadamYgg: you would be surprised how expensive it is to run the state programs. Idaho STAR's annual report for '07 show the cost to train a student is $362. Our tuition fee is $75 a seat. The largest amount of income comes from licenses, registrations and plates.

You can read more here.

[dean owens]

My wife and I took the riders edge course at the Harley Dealership. It was HEAVY on sales pitch. I dont mind a little bit of slaemanship but I felt it was a bit over the top -- to the point that it really added at least and extra ngith to the course (mine was 5 days)...

durn son, that's a long course. ours was the normal 3 days that the msf brc is. you either got a lot of extra training, your days were shortened or they did some major sales pitching with y'all. our total sales time was maybe 30 min. as i said, took us to the different parts of the store. took us to the shop and got to see where they work on the bikes. then they gave us time to just walk around or buy stuff. as i said, a few there were going to be harley people so they bought stuff. about half or more knew we weren't so we just walked around looking at stuff.

...my wife had a heck of a time. We specifically asked multiple times how adjustable the bikes were. My wife is short and not terribly strong so we were concerned. Well they could adjust the seat height fine but the shift lever was no where near her foot and this could not be adjusted. So every time she wanted to shift she had to 'hunt' for the lever. This was difficult for her especially since whe had never driver a manual transmission vehicle. She does great on her bike now but it was very frustrating for her at the course.

please don't take this the wrong way but how short is your wife? and what is she on now? with the shorty seat you get a seat hight of 25 inches. and the blast sits as a standard bike and is pretty light. we had two ladies in our class and they had no problem at all with the bikes. again, no offense is meant, just having been on those bikes i'm trying to imagine how short someone has to be to not be able to read the shifter.

[drrick]

We had more than 30 minutes of sales time. We spent about 30 minutes just working through a poster that demonstrated the history of Harley Davidson. We got the tour of the dealership, etc. The second night we were sent back into the dealership with an assignment to try on all the different types of saftey gear in order to 'determine our size' we could also get our picture taken on a Harley if we wanted. Dont get me wrong I REALLY enjoyed the course and learned a ton. I dont mind some sales pitch at all. In fact my second job is as a seminar leader so I know how that stuff works. Maybe I am just more sensitized to it than others. Once again I LOVED the course and have recommended it to MANY others.


Dont worry I wont take this the wrong way at all. I am pretty laid back with that type of stuff My wife is short -- approx 5 ft tall but the seat ht wasnt the problem and it wasnt the reason she couldnt reach the shifter. It was the distance btwn the foot peg and the shift peg. She couldnt get her boot toe under the shifter and keep her foot on the peg at the same time. This was not adjustable unfortunately. She has a Virago now and has no problems. There was another girl in our class who had the same problem.

[RhadamYgg]

That depends on the site. My main site gets rid of bikes after two years. Also some bikes are notorious for being hard to find neutral while idling- rebels/nighthawks. It's just an idiosyncrasy of that model.

As far as mirrors and turn signals go, those get taken off from the get go. They break much easier than anything else and aren't really needed for the course.

Actually, the instructors were impressed that we had turn signals. Must have been a recent repair. We used them for the counter steering exercise where we all got yelled at for leaving our signals on.

I'm still leaving that damned thing on, too. I get really pissed about it until I think 'Heh, the cars can't see me anyway!' (just kidding)

RhadamYgg

[bearcat]

I took the Riders Edge course in Florida on a 500cc Buell. The Buell's were in pretty good shape and all had turn signals which we were required to use. I really liked the idea of the tour of the dealership. It gave us a chance to sit on all the bikes, check the balance and weight of each bike and try on safety equipment. Both instructors were very good and could really make those turns on their Full Dressers.

As it turned out, I didn't buy a Harley. Bought a Yamaha Majesty 400cc. and am lovin it! But then again I'm 69 years old.

[hy_tek]

Wow!! How can you have a motorcycle safety course without teaching students the use of turn signals and rear view mirrors? Try driving without using your turn signals or rear view mirror as a brand new bike driver and see how long before you are either in the hospital or dead!! I am sure this is a very maintenance and cost effective thing to do removing safety equipment which gets broken easily during classes. But you have to draw the line somewhere between saving lives and saving money.

You just sold me on the Drivers Edge program over the community college programs.

[Brackstone]

Wow!! How can you have a motorcycle safety course without teaching students the use of turn signals and rear view mirrors? Try driving without using your turn signals or rear view mirror as a brand new bike driver and see how long before you are either in the hospital or dead!! I am sure this is a very maintenance and cost effective thing to do removing safety equipment which gets broken easily during classes. But you have to draw the line somewhere between saving lives and saving money.

You just sold me on the Drivers Edge program over the community college programs.

In my class we went through the motion of using turn signals and our turn signals worked. But really what sort of practice do you need to do with rear view mirrors and/or turn signals?

They work exactly as they work in a car except the turn signal you have to remember to turn off. Also I never change lanes without looking over my shoulder so what do I need rear view mirrors for?