I worked for Apex last summer, there close but real expensive. They could prolly hook me up since I worked there. I might shoot them an email, but even at half price its still more than the typical $115.


OO I'll check them out, they got class aviable through out May. Would have to figure out how I would commute there. Richmond is like 1.5 hrs away, I got people in Fredricksburg but I'll check richmond I know lots of VCU heads. Thanks man and everyone else.

 

I never rode either, but was lucky to get into the course during a March session, although this was 4 years ago. Anyhow, this is what you will learn in the class: clutch control, looking through turns, apply brakes before turns NOT IN THEM (u can, but u better be damn good and know what the hell ur doing), only lean the bike when making tight turns (such as a right at a light, or a U-turn), be in the habbit of applying both brakes, downshift before entering most turns/curves, dont put the bike in neutral until someone has pulled up behind u and stopped (incase they "dont see you" stopped and you need to pull away before hit)..........hmm, that might be a lot now that i think about it, but its really not that much. They tell you all this shit, and then have the group practice all of it. So now that i've told you, just practice that shit, then take the DMV test and take the MSF later. The most important thing I found from the course was clutch control/friction point. You wont burn out a wet clutch on a bike like you would a car, so fucking play with it. Get on ur friend dirt bike and try to just stay balanced on the bike without fully engaging or disengaging the clutch--you wont be moving forward fast at all, but you wont be standing still either--you'll basically be keeping the bike balanced without using your feet. Once you've got that down, try doing figure 8's with this technique, and then move to figure S's.

Also try and get a manual or guide from one of the MSF courses, its similar to the guide they give you at DMV for driving a car for the first time. It will help you get the idea of how to ride, and i've given you technique, althought technique is aquired from actual practice, it wont make sense by just reading it. Good luck.

 

So once you take the DMV written test, you get your license, and you can just start riding and not worry about the MSF course till later??

 

No. Basically there is a written test and there is a riding test. There's no way around the written test, you will eventually have to take one at the DMV....which is cake and when I took it 8 years ago, you were allowed to miss 5 of the 20 questions. I know because I got to question 15 and it stopped and congratulated me.

As for the riding test, you have 2 choices, you can either take it during an MSF class or take it at the DMV. Trust me, the MSF instructors are way more lenient on the test than a DMV employee.

 

the MSF is a bunch of crap.

I wasted 130 and didn't pass. why??? here's why.

i missed one question on the written. 96. i thought i was in the clear.

they waste 2 days of your life going over a few important things, but mainly crap. they barely go over what you are going to be quizzed on.

So now for the exam. you have to make 2 u turns within a box, without putting your foot down, or going over the white line. I thought i was going to fail that, but i passed. after that, you have to do a right swerve. passed.

you have to go 12-18 mph and once you pass a set of cones, you stop, and they see how long it takes. i failed that. why? cause you get 15 points taken off if you anticipate the stop. i mean, you can't look down, to see the cone, so you are going 12-18 it's hard to not anticipate. so thats 15.

the final one is you go around a turn, get up to speed, approach a turn, slow down and make the curve while giving it some gas.

they said did not give it gas the entire curve, and i went a little slow. which i know i didn't. so in the end, i got 23 points, out of the max 21. what bullshit is that.

Ever other test they gave me i passed. everyone was shocked when i didn't. BULL SHIT... and you can't retake it without paying 130 again and listening to the entire 1st day, and redoing the lessons the 2nd and 3rd...

 

you sound bitter....just a tad...

well, lets face it, riding a bike isn't for everyone.

 

LOL. Glad you're not in NoVa, we don't need anymore failures here.

 

lol, depends where you go, some instructors are nice some are overpowering bitches that want to see the good people fail, or if they know you'll be crazy on the streets or something...straight bias.

Anyways, call in every wednesday, thats what I did. I wasn't able to register, cuz I didn't really think about it a fuckin year and half in advance like apparently your supposed to. 3 months I called in every Wednesday, then finally one day in June they had openings so I went. And this is the MSF class in Alexandra Nova campus.

My friend also lives in nova near me in fairfax, he signed up for the class in TCC in Chesepeake, stayed the weekend in a hotel with his gf and came back home with his license.

The class I went to was fuckin easy, so it depends where you go, its just like taking the riding course at the dmv. One guy I know failed it horribly, another guy passed it on his R1, and another guy failed it but since it was the end of the day and the instructor was feeling good or something he let him pass.

 

it's not that i am bitter. it sucks cause the instructor told me, if the owner didn't show up at the end of the exam, and started monitoring the exams, he would have given me the 3 points and let me pass cause he said i was the top in all the exercises.

What sucks is if i didn't anticipate the stop, and just kept going and obtain a long stopping distance, i would have only lost 5 points, but because he said i anticipated a wheel before the cone, i lost 15. how does that make sense?

Where does that exam translate to the real world? you see something in front, you stop. right??? all the other ones i can see the application but not the stop one.. blahhh...

ok.. maybe i am bitter.