I think you’ll be OK. Your scooter experience will help you a lot, though you’ll have to remember that the lever at your left hand is the clutch, not the brake 
No reason I can see why learning a manual transmission for the first time on a bike would be any harder than in a car. At my training we had a group of four, and one guy was a 17 year old kid who didn’t have a car licence at all. It took him a while to get used to the idea of the clutch, but he did fine in the end.
I love it when I get to be smug about tests. The written motorcycle test was so easy a chimp could do it blindfolded, but even so I was still the first one to finish. The instructor didn’t expect anyone to finish so fast, so I got a Weird Look, but sure enough, a perfect score. Yeah, I’m awesome.
As of right now I qualify for a learner’s permit if I choose. Now it’s just the actual riding test on Wednesday and I’m home free.
Congrats! I remember one or two questions puzzled me a little, but I tend to over-analyze things sometimes.
Congratulations on the lessons!
Remember that after you finish the MSF, you’re by no means an expert at handling a motorcycle. I learned to ride in BC, after finishing the equivalent of the MSF I was allowed to ride solo during daylight hours, but not on a highway unless I was supervised… I had another 16 hours of rider training on streets and highways.
Oh, and your incident is nothing. During my lessons the tallest guy in the class popped a wheelie, and ended up running behind the bike for several steps before he figured out how to let go of the handlebars. I suffered from mild hypothermia (4 hours outside in February can be a touch on the cold side) and ended up having to retake one test the following week because my fingers were too numb to effectively feather the clutch.
Stick with it, enjoy it, and love the ride!
Right now I qualify for that. The learner’s permit in Arizona forbids you from riding on highways or carrying a passenger, although there’s nothing about supervision. I don’t intend to get on highways anyway for the first couple months if I can help it; I’m not even sure the bike I plan on getting can handle highways. I plan on teaching myself to ride all over again once I have my license, too; there’s a bunch of empty parking lots around here, and I usually don’t ‘get’ lessons until I can go over them again at my own pace and think about things without an instructor or classmates making me nervous. The MSF classes just make sure I can be reasonably confident that I’m not going to kill myself practicing alone.
A local news crew showed up at our class last night to get an interview and do a piece on increased motorcycle usage (and accidents). The video is here.
Grant Solomon’s one of my classmates, but they needed a prop, so I loaned my helmet. The brand-spankin’-new black KBC is mine. 
Also, in the outdoor shots, I’m the guy in the (duhr) black helmet and black and silver jacket, both in the group shot and in the background when the dude in the red jacket is talking.
My short term memory sucks. Not a red jacket, but a red and black shirt.
That cool Bosstone! Too bad your helmet got the closeup rather than you!
To return to a thought in the OP: I’m assuming that you’ve made a promise to yourself to never ride when tired, right? 
Heh. “Hitting the road, no pun intended.”
Oh, and to answer **Asimovian’s **question, I was never sore during the class, as the bike I rode probably only weighed 50 pounds more than I did, and that was enough to get my muscles ready for my big bike. It was also right in the middle of rugby season, so my legs were already toned. I had knee surgery a month ago, though, and the first time I got back on my bike for a short ride I was a bit sore. No such problems from riding this morning, though.
Absolutely. It’s hard enough to drive a car when tired, a motorcycle is just asking for trouble.
I did much better in yesterday’s class, though. We stayed in second gear for most of the night, and on some of the exercises I felt downright sexy. The last exercise of the night was to get up to as fast a speed as we could, then brake as hard as we could without locking the brakes. Some of the other students were timid and never got up to a very high speed, but I was having fun blasting down the range and screeching to a halt. Never lost control, and the instructors gave me a thumbs-up on each pass.
Tomorrow’s the test, and it doesn’t actually sound too hard. Worst thing I can do, it seems, is get too nervous about it.
ETA: I’m a lot less sore today than I was afer the first day of riding, but during the exercises I had some pain in my hips. I think it mostly stemmed from waiting in line too long for my turn.
Bumping the “look at me” thread, because, well, look at me! I passed the course!
Four parts to the actual riding test: slow-speed U-turns, swerving, braking, and a 135-degree turn. I got to go first in our group, so I had nervousness working against me, and I totally botched the U-turn, but I aced the critical three. It’s 20 points or less to pass, and I came away with 3. I should have earned more, because I’m pretty sure I did worse on the U-turns than they scored, but I think they must have looked away, either intentionally or not.
Tomorrow I go to get my license, and if all goes well I should have my bike too. I’ve settled on the Kawasaki Vulcan 500 LTD, which looks like it ought to serve my purposes perfectly. The 250s all seemed to be too small for someone my size, and this’ll have enough power for when I want to hit the highway, but everything I’ve seen says it’s a perfectly suitable starter bike.
CONGRATULATIONS! Welcome to the proud ranks! Let me know when you ride out to LA on your new machine.
And you reminded me that I went first in my class on the test, and the U-turn was the very first portion as well (which I botched completely). Glad to see you came out of it OK regardless!
Now I’ve got to go watch your class video. 
Heck, yeah, dude! I was actually thinking about that when I was riding my bike after work today. I went for the longest ride I’ve gone on in awhile, just dropping by friend’s houses to see what they were doing, because my knee is about 80% from my ACL recontruction 5 weeks ago. It felt really great being able to lift myself off the seat for speed bumps; it hurt too much a couple weeks ago.
Glad to hear you decided on a Kawi, a 500 cruiser will do you good, as it doesn’t have the jarring acceleration of a smaller sportbike.
Another thing I was thinking this evening when my mind drifted back to the MSF class was how they teach to counterbalance the bike at low speeds. They recommend scooting half a cheek, but I usually put my buttcrack right at the edge of the seat, on the side opposite the turn. Just move your bum a little bit more each time until you get used to it, but the feeling you get is just as good as carving through a sweeping turn in the mountains. I can get my bike leaned over about 45 degrees at almost a standstill like this (it’s probably closer to 30, but it feels like 45, which is the important part.
Oh, and I aced both the written and skills tests. Sucka! 
To be fair, I miffed just about every single U turn until the test, and I wasn’t sure if I touched the line or not until the instructor announced the results at the end. It wasn’t until the U turn practice that I used the buttcheek maneuver, but it really works well.
Did you find a used bike, I hope?
Thanks, you two.
Yeah, this was for the U-turn. They suggested this to me too, but I completely forgot to use it during the test.
Also, I scored perfect on the written, so I have that going for me. There was also only one person in the class who did better than 3 points on the riding part. I don’t think anyone got away with a perfect there.
Well, the loan I have lined up is for a new bike, mainly because the only two vehicles I’ve driven were used, and I can afford new. Yeah, it’s possible I might drop it, and there’s the depreciation, and all that, but I’d really like something to be mine for once, you know?
The weird thing is I did poke at Craiglist for used bikes, and the only Vulcan 500 listed was going for $7000. :eek: MSRP is $5000! There was no aftermarket mods listed on the ad, just 650 miles like new. I hope that doesn’t indicate that the dealers are all sold out and they’re going at a premium price. I’ll find out tomorrow, though. I might bump up to a Vulcan 900 if I have to, since I’d rather just get more for my $7000. Presuming I think I can control it, anyway.
I still think you’d be better off finding a used 500, prices on Craigslist are ridiculously high because they expect lowballing. You’ll probably outgrow it by the time it starts warming up next year, but you’ll be able to sell it for what you paid for it, and by that time your skill set will be developed enough to move up to the 900 and handle it with confidence. Regardless, I wish you luck, it’s fun stuff! I’ll be sure to let you know if I cruise out to Arizona anytime soon. There’s a tournament in Scottsdale we always go to, but I don’t know if I’ll make it this year because of my knee.
I’m going to echo Santo Rugger and then let it go. You will likely have outgrown the 500cc before you’re done paying off the loan, especially if you’re out there riding every day. I was bored with my 450 and itching to upgrade after only a few months.
Whatever you do, have fun!
Well, I sort of listened to you guys and sort of didn’t. I still bought new for a variety of reasons (not the least of which is that the bank tightened up their motorcycle loan policy considerably; even buying a used bike I’d’ve had to put down $1000 or more). As it turned out, Kawasaki has a promotion ending on Monday that got me a better financing deal than any bank would have given me.
I did wind up not going with a 500. The dealership near me was out, and I was tooling around on the bikes they did have. I realized that the 900 fit me just about perfectly, and I remembered what y’all had said about outgrowing the 500. I decided to take a chance, and here it is.
Bought it on Thursday, rested on Friday because I was far too wiped out from the last couple of days to be properly alert, and took it for a ride this morning. It is indeed a very nice bike, and I don’t regret buying it at all. It’s easier to handle than I would have thought, and I went from practicing in an empty parking lot to riding up and down side streets in no time. I spent about an hour or so on the road, and for an encore I went to the mall, did a lap around the outside of the parking lot, and took the main road home.
The only couple of booboos I made were letting out the clutch too quickly at a light that suddenly turned green (at least starting a stalled bike is much easier than starting a stalled car), and taking a turn too quickly. I heard the floorboard scrape the pavement, which was a scary second or two, but I came out of it all right. It’s taking me a while to remember to shut off the turn indicator, too; several times I was cruising down the road before I realized I was blinking for a right turn the entire time. 
One thing that’s freaking me out just a little…I’ve gotten used to judging my speed in my car by feel. That doesn’t translate. At all. I tried to ride down the road at a speed at which I felt most comfortable, being used to driving down that road in the car, and I realized I was going about 10 miles under the speed limit! Later, after I’d accepted that I needed to go ‘faster’ than I usually do, I saw a cop sitting in a side street and had a slight panic, because I felt like I was flying down the road at a ridiculous speed. Glanced down at my speedometer…maybe 2 miles over the speed limit. Cop didn’t even blink.
I guess I’ll get used to it with time. It’s a hell of a heady feeling to finally be going 40+, since the MSF course never let us go over 20.
Congratulations on your purchase! Looks like a sweet ride.
I think I recall going through pretty much everything you described after your first ride. Certainly the turn signal issue and the different sense of speed. But I’m very glad you’re finding it so comfortable already.
I’m curious as to how you feel about the floorboards. When I was thinking about buying a cruiser, this is something I stayed away from on most of the bikes I encountered because I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like them, but I’ve never actually ridden a bike that has them. Does it seem strange to have them after riding a bike that just had pegs? Also, have you thought about any modifications to the bike you’re interested in (a windscreen is the first thing that jumps to mind)?
I’m interested in hearing about your first freeway excursion whenever you get up to that level. I’ve just started riding on the freeway again now that I have the Connie, and I feel like a newbie in some ways. It is both easier and harder than riding on the street.
Enjoy the ride! And be sure to give a heads-up when you decide to cruise out to So. Cal! 
I actually thought hard about this, because the dealership had different styles of 900s, one with floorboards and one with pegs. I tried both of them, and since a cruiser’s pegs are so much more forward than a standard or sports bike, the leverage seemed really off to me. The floorboards felt better. It certainly seems like it’ll be more comfortable for longer rides. Also, the heel-toe shifter is really kinda cool, and I took to that immediately.
I’ll probably get a windscreen soon, yes, as well as saddlebags or a tank bag or some kind of storage. The dealership offered a kitted out 900 with sissy bar, bags, and a windshield, but it was well over $1000 more, and I know I can outfit it myself for cheaper than that.
It won’t be for another month or so. The manual stresses that for the break-in period, I shouldn’t go above 60 mph for the first 500 miles. The next 500 miles limit me to 85 mph, but that’s highway speed anyway. I plan to ride as much as I can to get the break-in period over with, but it’ll still take a few weeks.
I don’t have any plans to do so right now, but if I do, I will.
