Good news all: This weekend I took the MSF Basic class and passed. I'll be going to the DMV tomorrow and will have a motorcycle license in my hand not long after that. Note: Long post.
The course consisted of classroom instruction, range time, more classroom, and then more range time. The classroom instruction included some basics about the types of motorcycles, motorcycle controls, the physics involved in controlling the bike, traffic safety strategies, and why it's bad to ride drunk/high/fatigued/upset.
The range time started with familiarization with the controls, then finding the "friction zone" which I'm used to calling the sweet spot with the clutch, then to on to starting and stopping, low speed turns, higher speed turns, lane changes, crossing obstacles, and emergency maneuvers. We finished up with a skills demonstration. There were 12 people in the class, and 11 successfully completed the course. Our one DNF tried hard, but hadn't been on a bike of any kind (motorized or not) in 20+ years and couldn't quite keep up with the learning curve and had to go about halfway through the first range session. Several students already own motorcycles, and one had about ten years of dirt bike experience. He probably had the easiest time of it. I aced the written test (as did about half the class), and I found the range exercises to be challenging, but not excessively so.
Some observations:
The bike I qualified on was a Honda Rebel 250 (with all of 750 miles on it). Aside from a 30 second ride on a CBR450 10+ years ago, the only other two wheeled conveyance with which I can make a comparison is the 21-speed slick tire-equipped former mountain bike I ride regularly. The experience left me very favorably impressed-with my bicycle.
Of the 12 bikes used in the class, there was a roughly even split between Rebels and 250 Nighthawks. There was also a single Suzuki that seemed to be a near clone of the Rebel. The Rebel is more of a cruiser style bike and the Nighthawk is more of a standard. Short people like myself (At 5' 2", I was the shortest person in the class, though not by much.) were directed to the Rebels.
I didn't find the Rebel lacking in power, but we also never got over 25 mph the whole time. At 15 mph in 2nd gear, the little 234cc engine feels and sounds surprisingly strong, though some research I did indicates they run out of steam pretty rapidly after about 60 mph. This would make it a poor commuter for getting from home to Reno, as there is a 7% grade with a 55 mph speed limit and 65 mph traffic followed by a 10 mile straight with a limit of 70, and traffic at 75-80, between here and there. I also found it somewhat lacking in cornering ability, as I scraped a peg on one of the cornering exercises while not even turning particularly hard. This came unexpectedly to me, and was quite unsettling. However now that I've done it once, and realized that the pegs are hinged so scrapping one isn't as serious as it seemed at first, the next time it happens shouldn't alarm me (much). The lean limit on the Rebel is something like 35 degrees. I routinely exceed this (sometimes by a lot
) on my bicycle. I also think the suspension is too soft for the type of riding I'm interested in.
Wet weight on the bike is about 330 lbs. While this sounded heavy to me before I rode it, it didn't feel that way in operation. The bikes I've been looking at that I like are not much heavier.
The little Honda has a seat height of 26.6 inches. Depending on how wide a bike is, I could easily do another 2 inches (maybe a little more) and still get both feet flat on the ground. Getting just the balls of my feet down, I could manage seat heights of 30 or 31 inches. This means that with a little seat shaving, I could probably operate most of the motorcycles on the market. This was a major concern of mine before taking the class. Cruisers have low seats, but I want something that turns.
There were a lot of smokers in our group, including one of the instructors. Smoking and motorcycling are both risky activities, so it doesn't surprise me that people who do one also tend to do the other. Smoking and motorcycling also happen to both be extremely popular among military personnel, though I'm sure the brass would prefer that we didn't do either.
My left forearm is sore from two days of pulling and holding the clutch in over and over, and over, and over... It'll be better in a day or two.
The first range day I wore a pair of steel toed boots. This proved to be a mistake, as it was difficult to get my toe under the shifter for upshifts. The second day I wore boots without a steel toe and had a much easier time.
Last word: Good course, glad I took it. Now I need (preferably in this order) a steady job, a place with a garage, and a motorcycle.