Does anyone know of a standard for the course, how its set up, the distances between cones, corners, U-Turns, etc...

I would assume its not the same state to state, but i believe i was a victim of a fat sweaty state employee that just liked being a complete asshat.

Anyway, im not looking for the course setup so i can bitch to the state that he set it up wrong, just want it so i can practice.

In my test i had to do a tight 90degree turn, which was fine, stop in a white box with front tire in and not touching anything, weave 5or6 cones, which i missed the last one, right hand U-Turn, which i touched the line on....he stopped me there and failed me, writeing "-1 fail" on my test sheet. I just dont get it.

On another note, i have been practicing my left and right hand U-Turns, and i can **** the handlebars all the way, tell they hit, and lean as much as possible at low speeds, and i can do a uturn inside of 3 empty parking spots. That seems really big to me, but i can get it any smaller no matter what, the bars are all the way.

Can anyone that has alot of experience riding bikes like these (btw i ride an 05 R6) give me some insight on what a good uturn is, how close cones can be for you to weave, etc...just so i can see where im at before i go fail another test..lol

thanks

 

see if you can find a used MSF book somewhere. that might help you. its tough at first to get the tight radius turns down.

I would suggest the MSF class. they will show you how to do all of that. You have to do a figure 8 in a realativley small box.

the only advice I can give is at slow speeds you need to counter balance the bike and REALLY look where you need to go. (all the way over your shoulder)

-I am sure others will chime in with more experience and tips than I.

good luck.

 

"the only advice I can give is at slow speeds you need to counter balance the bike and REALLY look where you need to go. (all the way over your shoulder)"


look over your shoulder and slow it down.... you dont need to rip around the turn

 

the U turn makes or breaks you here. try turning in at a faster speed.. thats what i did to be able to make the line

 

Faster? I was barely moving and practically sitting on the outside footpegs when I made my figure eight. You should counterweight heavily and scoot your *** off the outside edge of the seat for these low, low speed turns.... your inside leg should bear no weight. The slower you go the tighter your turning radius will be.

You can do it that way or try taking the test on a borrowed 250.

 

Thats what i have been practicing is the u turns because it seemed to weigh heavily on my test. Does anyone know how big the area is?

I grew up on dirt bikes, and i never realized if there was a big difference in the turning radius until now. It honestly feels like its nearly impossible to make the turn they had setup on my bike, and the cones werent difficult, but you literally had to be going 2-3 mph max to make it, and they wanted you to go 10-15mph. The only person that made it through the cones out of 9 people in my testing group, was barely moving, and shaking back and forth to keep his balance. he was on a little cruiser.

I will have to practice the head turn thing, i never looked at it that way, and i will try to counter weight myself more, even though it seems i cant go any further. The next msf in my area isnt until the end of the month, i plan on taking it reguardless, but i wanted to try the regular road test again.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

Depending on the required turn radius for the test and what motorcycle you have, it may just be that it is impossible to complete the turn. Certain trellis frame Ducatis come to mind when thinking about horrible turn radii...

Like was mentioned, you could always borrow a Rebel 250.

 

or, if you need to make a left u-turn, start by going to the right so you widen your turning arc. worked for me.

are you in CA? some dmv's in the LA area have the course marked out with painted lines...

 

In all seriousness...

Take the certified MSF course


"u-turn in 3 parking spaces..."

HAHAHHAHAHHAHA

You need to do it in about 1.5 parking spaces du!

Take the course, you'll thank us later! So will everyone else who drives/rides on the roads.

 

serious if you are going too slow the bike wants to tip over and is hard to turn in. i passed on a 600cc. good luck. like ag says u need like 1.5 spaces


or go to msf

 

Counter balance is your best friend on a uturn.

Say you're going to pull a slow speed uturn to the left, look all the way over your left shoulder (into the direction you want to face) turn the handle bars and counter balance yourself to the opposite direction. (in this case hang your *** off a little to the right)

This is how I was taught during my MSF and had no problems or errors doing it. I've also never used it on the road in over a yr of riding.

 

everyone here has good info. if you are in cali just go your local DMV and practice the course in the evenings.
on the turns your rear brake and counter balancing is your friend. makes it a snap.
practice practice practice.
sportbikes are not the easiest thing to maneuver for these tests, if you cannot get the hang of it on the sportbike, grab yourself a Yamaha TW200 and you can pass it blinfolded.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ag-Eng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">In all seriousness...

Take the certified MSF course


"u-turn in 3 parking spaces..."

HAHAHHAHAHHAHA

You need to do it in about 1.5 parking spaces du!

Take the course, you'll thank us later! So will everyone else who drives/rides on the roads.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I said inside of 3 parking spaces...but thanks for being a dick about it. Not that i didnt expect that from HT.

Anyway, i registered for the MSF class today. I take it on the 26-27-28 of August.

BTW out of curiousity, how long have you been riding Ag-Eng, and what kind of bike do you ride?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Scribes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I said inside of 3 parking spaces...but thanks for being a dick about it. Not that i didnt expect that from HT.

Anyway, i registered for the MSF class today. I take it on the 26-27-28 of August.

BTW out of curiousity, how long have you been riding Ag-Eng, and what kind of bike do you ride?</TD></TR></TABLE>

You're missing the point. You're gonna get clowned on until you take MSF or something equivalent because there, they'll teach you all the basics that you'll need for everyday riding. If he came on kinda harsh, maybe it's because you titled you're thread in such a grandiose manner. Maybe you wouldn't have failed if you took the class. At least you didn't end up dropping your new black R6.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chitownrida &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">serious if you are going too slow the bike wants to tip over and is hard to turn in. i passed on a 600cc. good luck. like ag says u need like 1.5 spaces


or go to msf</TD></TR></TABLE>

Of course it does, that's the entire point! You get it going really, really slow, counterweight, and lean it over as much as possible.. there's no huge gyroscopic force to hold the bike upright, obviously, but that's the damn idea behind being able to pull off ow speed manuevering. And for the record I ride a 750 from 1987 that actually has a pulling problem - no problem passing.

It's been said a couple times, but the key to this exercise, and pretty much any other exercise, and the most common problem with all motorcyclists, is to look where you want to go - target fixation.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Scribes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I said inside of 3 parking spaces...but thanks for being a dick about it. Not that i didnt expect that from HT.

Anyway, i registered for the MSF class today. I take it on the 26-27-28 of August.

BTW out of curiousity, how long have you been riding Ag-Eng, and what kind of bike do you ride?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Believe me, that wasn't being a dick.

I've been riding since 1991, my current bike is a 2005 Hayabusa Limited

Please, take the MSF course. I promise you, you WILL learn something you thought you knew before.

I took it again in 2002 just to get a re-fresher and my INS company gave me a little break for being MSF certified.

 

i wasnt trying to portray that i knew everything, and i thought that was obvious from my first post. I had planned on taking the msf since i got the bike.

I did grow up on bikes, 80cc..to a 250cc..to a 360cc...and then a couple years between the 360 and the 600 which i just bought.

It really felt like there was no way possible to turn the bike any sharper than i was, without dropping it... but i guess theres more to it.

 

The stops on dirt bike forks are so far out of the way when compared to street bikes that it's almost silly. In that light it's really not much of a surprise that you can't figure out the u-turn on a street bike - you're used to a bike that's capable of so much more with respect to turning. Total Control has a good chapter on low speed manuevers if you can get ahold of that.