New Rider Skills Course

[ajones70]

Spent my weekend taking the new rider skills course. It was 17:30-22:30 fri Sat and Sun. Very tiring but it was great! Well worth the $500. Has def helped with my confidence. Took abit of time today to get comfy on my fz6r (for the course I was on a 2008 cbr125 which was beaten to death lol) but was feeling way more confident today on my bike than I was last week. I had only been on a 2012 cbr125 3 times and then bought my bike just over a wk ago for my birthday and have only been out on it twice prior to course. I would strongly encourage anyone who is thinking about taking a course to do it! Well worth it and was with a great bunch of other newbies too. Was surprised there were 5 ladies altogether and 7 guys on it. Now to get my license and Im all set!!

 

[mtheartist]

Wow, and I thought the $250 I spent was a lot! Congrats!

 

[Pointman1776]

Congrats!

Taking that class was the best thing I did for myself as a new rider.

Cheers!

(And congrats on the white FZ6R! Woot!)

 

[EsrTek]

If you took the Basic classes, they vary from area to area in the depth of what they cover...I would still highly suggest another course also.
I think a class like Total Control are 20x's better and teach you more practical things, for street riding.
I ended up skipping the BRC, got lic on my own, and then taken the TC classes 1 level a yr. This yr did level 2 and next will be the final level 3.

As I said though some states vary in their BRC and I believe at least a few states use the TC classes as their BRC.

 

[MNGreg]

Congrats and glad to hear you took the class and had fun.. I learned allot in my BRC class and was very glad I took it.. Not only for the more convenient method of getting my endorsement.

WOW though as mentioned in a very old post of mine, I thought my $250 or so was expensive compared to the BRC classes at the community colleges that were all booked up for $180.

 

[ajones70]

If you took the Basic classes, they vary from area to area in the depth of what they cover...I would still highly suggest another course also.
I think a class like Total Control are 20x's better and teach you more practical things, for street riding.
I ended up skipping the BRC, got lic on my own, and then taken the TC classes 1 level a yr. This yr did level 2 and next will be the final level 3.

As I said though some states vary in their BRC and I believe at least a few states use the TC classes as their BRC.

I would love to take another more in depth course espec for street riding but theres nothing around here except the New Rider Skills that I took. It not only poured with rain for 2 of he 3 days, there was severe thunder and lightening too! So I now have some idea about riding in bad weather
The course was 5hrs per day for 3 days and alot was covered. I would like to do more training on bends at fast speed as that makes me nervous. I soooo don't want to lay my baby down!!

 

[ajones70]

Congrats and glad to hear you took the class and had fun.. I learned allot in my BRC class and was very glad I took it.. Not only for the more convenient method of getting my endorsement.

WOW though as mentioned in a very old post of mine, I thought my $250 or so was expensive compared to the BRC classes at the community colleges that were all booked up for $180.

Ya $500 alot of cash for sure but I feel for me it was worth every cent. Thats the going rate here. Up till last summer it would also include your road test at the end of the course but the government took it away from the courses. So now its an additional $115 for my road test ah well!!!!

 

[EsrTek]

I would love to take another more in depth course espec for street riding but theres nothing around here except the New Rider Skills that I took. It not only poured with rain for 2 of he 3 days, there was severe thunder and lightening too! So I now have some idea about riding in bad weather
The course was 5hrs per day for 3 days and alot was covered. I would like to do more training on bends at fast speed as that makes me nervous. I soooo don't want to lay my baby down!!

Ahh didn't see the area you where from. That is a lot more in depth sounding than the US BRC classes.
Do not worry about speed and fast corners, it all comes in time as your comfort w bike grows. This bike suspension is better for sweepers than it is tight switchbacks.

Ya $500 alot of cash for sure but I feel for me it was worth every cent. Thats the going rate here. Up till last summer it would also include your road test at the end of the course but the government took it away from the courses. So now its an additional $115 for my road test ah well!!!!

That is costly, but I'm sure well worth every cent (except the $115 for the road test, that's just robbery).

 

[Alex6]

Ya $500 alot of cash for sure but I feel for me it was worth every cent. Thats the going rate here. Up till last summer it would also include your road test at the end of the course but the government took it away from the courses. So now its an additional $115 for my road test ah well!!!!

:canada: The land of the "free" health care...

Sorry to hear about the rape.

 

[mtheartist]

Ya $500 alot of cash for sure but I feel for me it was worth every cent. Thats the going rate here. Up till last summer it would also include your road test at the end of the course but the government took it away from the courses. So now its an additional $115 for my road test ah well!!!!

Do you really need the road test or is that optional? When I took mine it was just the 3 day course and pass/fail on the 3rd day. I must tell ya, the first time I rode my 6r on the street when I had it, it sucked! I stalled twice on an uphill and I had cars behind me. Luckily they were patient, waited for me to get going and didn't honk like maniacs. Now, I'm not very tall either (5ft5in.) So what I did was, instead of lowering and messing with the bikes design I just keep my right foot on the rear brake if needed and left foot planted at every stop. This also helps big time when taking off on an uphill! First time in traffic is scary, especially here in California where drivers are big time jerks.

Safe riding! :mikebike:

 

[mtheartist]

That is costly, but I'm sure well worth every cent (except the $115 for the road test, that's just robbery).

And criminal!

 

[ajones70]

:canada: The land of the "free" health care...

Sorry to hear about the rape.

U nailed it lmao. Free healthcare I must admit rocks!

 

[ajones70]

Do you really need the road test or is that optional? When I took mine it was just the 3 day course and pass/fail on the 3rd day. I must tell ya, the first time I rode my 6r on the street when I had it, it sucked! I stalled twice on an uphill and I had cars behind me. Luckily they were patient, waited for me to get going and didn't honk like maniacs. Now, I'm not very tall either (5ft5in.) So what I did was, instead of lowering and messing with the bikes design I just keep my right foot on the rear brake if needed and left foot planted at every stop. This also helps big time when taking off on an uphill! First time in traffic is scary, especially here in California where drivers are big time jerks.

Safe riding! :mikebike:

Yeppers. Need road test as thats a pass/fail for license. The new rider skills course is purely optional. You don't need to do it but I felt it was the right thing to do. After all, we take driving lessons in a car so it made sense to take the bike course. Passed the 3 day course so I will get abit of a discount in insurance but not much.
I'm 5'8" and do the same thing. Right foot on brake and left foot planted in road. Ive done some hill start practices and stalled once and once in city traffic at lights but started it right away so didnt impede traffic too much. I find it very forgiving when starting to move.
Here we do a written knowledge test. Need to get 25 questions correct out of 30. (Once you get to 25 correct the test finishes.....I got all first 25 correct so test was 100% ) this gives you your learners license. Then if you have your class 5 (car license) you can do your bike road test as soon as you want but must be within a yr of knowledge test or you have to do that again (knowledge test is only $17.50 so alot easier to part with!)
I hear ya tho on the traffic side. It was kinda nerve-wracking going into city of Edmonton during rush hour traffic!! But I survived and no stalls...I am very chuffed with myself