MSF Rider Coaches

[Anchorism]

Just out of curiosity, are there any other MSF rider coaches on this site? 

[Slide Panda]

There's a couple - just can't think of whom presently

[Meerkat]

venomousr1993 is.

[polivo]

 whos asking lol.
"falling or dropping the motorcycle.. or an intentional unsafe act".
you know, ive never seen anyone do an intentional unsafe act during the skills eval.

[Bianca]

If there are any MSF rider coaches out there, maybe you have some advice for a girl I met last week. I was at a volunteer site and she approached me after seeing me enter with my helmet and told me her tale of woe...

She's fairly young -- I'd guess around 20 -- and enthusiastically wants to learn to ride. She attended an MSF rider school but they kicked her out because she dropped a bike during the first exercise -- where students are walking the bikes and learning about clutch control. She's about 4'10" - 5' tall and could only get her tippy toes down on the bike, so she had a hard time with that exercise. The school said they couldn't accommodate her with a lower bike or teach her how to ride on their bikes and refunded her payment.

She still wants to learn how to ride, possibly at a different school, but she'll have to drive 20 - 30 miles out of her way for other schools in the LA area. Anyone know a place that accommodates short women?

[Slide Panda]

I'm on the east coast, so can't help with the LA local - but bike selection will be key or her. Finding a school that has 125-250 cruiser or standards will probably offer the lowest seat heights available. Something like the Virago 250 has a 27" seat height. If you or she can find out what models of bikes they use, it's easy enough to look up the seat heights.

Something like that virago is is too small for me at a long legged just shy of 6'. A friends roomie had one they asked me to ride back from the shop to their place and I couldn't do it... Bars hitting knees, couldn't shift gears it was a mess.

[polivo]

Im an msf coach and i have to say, there are 3 things that strike me odd about that story.

1. almost all schools (not all) use viragos or gz250's for that exact same reason. Super low seat height. She should EASILY be able to FLAT foot those bikes. Ive had sub 5 foot students, flat foot a gz250.  So shes describing a school that doesnt have ANY viragos, or gz's or similar bikes?  Odd. Seems theyre just throwing away business? not likely.

2. I HAVENT ever seen some counseled out ( we dont kick people out) on exercise two (friction zone).  I guess its not impossible, I wasnt there.  However, exercise 2 is where the person is just being introduced to the technique.. theyre not all going to be perfect.

3. dropping the motorcycle is not immediate grounds for CO.

Her version is a little suspect to me, thats all im saying .  More than likely, theres more to this.

In any case, her only options are another school since they specifically stated they CANT help her and REFUNDED her money (extremely odd).

1. call another school
2. verify they have small 125 or 250 cruiser style motorcycles
3. Stay in touch with her, find out if she passed or got "counsled out" again.  


fwiw, she got counseled out for a reason. I can assure you, it wasnt for dropping the bike. Students drop bikes all day long.  I dont counsel out, as most RC's dont.. unless theyre becoming a danger to themselves or others. She may have been exhibing very dangerous behaviour during power walk, or part 3 riding. Crossed into the path of another student.. or lost control of the motorycle. etc etc.

[Slide Panda]

Yeah thinking back on it - my wife did the BRC not so long ago and dropped her bike at least once, possibly twice early on and didn't get the flag off. One woman in her class did, but as it was relayed to me it was a safety thing really. She did have a few drops, but just had no ability to properly control the machine

[Bianca]

You're right, she's probably not telling me the full story. If it's an embarrassing one, I probably wouldn't either She did say that they didn't "kick her out" (those were my words) right away. They counseled her out of that day and said that they would try to do something for her like get her a smaller bike. But a week later they sent her an email to say they were simply refunding her money.

Thanks for examining and explaining it from a coach's perspective polivo. I was up in arms about her treatment! lol Now I'm back down to earth. I'll follow up and let you know the outcome!

[Slide Panda]

Asked my wife about her experience - the woman who was out from here class had many drops, wasn't getting it - leading to degradation of teaching for the rest of the class and a safety issue violation - dropped bike away from the attention of the instructors, picked it up and rode. Instructor check of a dropped bike is a must, hence the violation.

So that woman had many stikes against her.

[Anchorism]

I must say theyre are some interesting stories about MSF courses lol.  Never do get tired of hearing them though.  I just got finished with a class yesterday, and am doing another tomorrow.  Had one last weekend, and another this upcoming lol.  I was really just curious how many of us on here are MSF instructors. 

[duccarlos]

During my class there was on person COed. She was a mess. It was apparent she had either zero to none experience riding anything on 2 wheels. They offered her an even more basic class. I think she made it to the riding portion.

[Anchorism]

An even more basic class?? I dont see how the BRC could get any more basic lol.

[duccarlos]

They might start you off by sitting on a bicycle making motorcycle noises.

[El-Twin]

They might start you off by sitting on a bicycle making motorcycle noises.

Experience with playing cards and clothes pins is a useful prerequisite.