As a guy who has grown up riding two wheelers in the dirt, I figured I knew almost everything there was to know about motorcycles: how to brake properly, how to lean through a turn, how to ride through ruts and avoid the cactus. So when the opportunity came knocking to sign up for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Basic RiderCourseSM, I figured it’d be a ride in the park. Pavement has no jumps, no berms, no nothing – except the occasional pothole and far too many horrible drivers. I’d quickly learn, though, that in moving from brown to black, I didn’t really know jack.Riding the street is a whole different world than riding in dirt. But that’s breaking it down too easily. When I say different, I mean DIFFERENT. From the way the bike responds to you – because street bikes are heavier, you can’t just whip them around – to the suspension – they’re not made for 90' doubles – the variations are like night and day. How you apply body pressure and your riding position through a turn changes; if you kick your leg out as you would on a dirt bike, it might snap right off. Even the direction you keep your head and eyes faced – you have to keep more level and look farther ahead due to your speed than on dirt, where you’re constantly doing a visual dance of eyes up and down to make sure you don’t run over a boulder or a boa constrictor – is a skill to be mastered all over again.
The first halves of both days of instruction were taught in the classroom by MSF RiderCoach Mike Kruska. After educating us on the importance of realizing the risks involved with riding and accepting and managing such risks, everything and anything relating to two-wheelers was covered. Pre-ride inspections and the positioning of controls (I’d never had to use a turn signal in the dirt), proper lane positioning and how to tackle S-curves; we learned it all. Perhaps the most important lesson I took from this class was a concept called RiderRadar, emphasizing the need to be aware of all possible situations that could occur at all times. Rocks and trees typically don’t jump out to hit you. Unaware truck and car drivers sometimes do.
So on Day One, after realizing that the two biggest hazards I would face in this transition were asphalt’s lack of flexibility and the invisibility of bikes to other drivers, there I found myself – sitting on a Suzuki GZ250. I had opted away from the dual-sport that was available because I considered it too similar to what I usually ride, almost cheating, and I wanted a challenge. I was not to be disappointed.
My range RiderCoach, Steve Southall, was laid-back yet demandingly attentive in coaching style. He bestowed upon my small group of six soon-to-be (we all hoped) street riders the importance of perfecting skills that were needed to avoid ending up in a wreck on the freeway. We were there to learn to ride safely, and he was there to teach us how while also keeping us interested and motivated.
Any rider knows that the key to controlling your bike is proper use of the friction zone, so that’s what our first exercise covered. While gently letting out the clutch with the bike in first gear to give it just enough power to slowly roll forward, we power-walked our bikes across the course, then turned around and power-walked them back. Then we were instructed to stop walking and start riding, back and forth in a straight line, again mastering control of that delicate zone where the clutch starts sending power to the rear wheel. Sounds easy enough to anybody who’s reading this, but keep in mind that when you’re used to a lean 220-pound motocross machine, balancing a forward-controlled cruiser feels like holding up an elephant. Then note that you aren’t yet allowed out of first gear. You just have to ride nice and… slow. As they say, slow and steady wins the race. Although as Steve pointed out, riding shouldn’t be a race – unless you’re attending a track day.
From then the exercises got progressively more complex, and that was when I really began to realize what I did and didn’t know about motorcycles. Take counterweighting, for instance. When I want to make a tight turn in dirt I do it fast, simply by whipping the back end around and revving the throttle. On the street, fast, tight turns work in some situations, but not in others like parking lots. So what do you do? You move your body weight in the opposite direction to the one you’re turning. A rarely used skill was now a necessity.
How to stop safely on a dime was practiced, again and again. As our instructor pointed out, it was probably the most crucial skill we could learn. Stopping safely means not locking up your rear or front tire, but applying pressure evenly to both brakes while downshifting at the same instant. If you put too much pressure on the rear, you can skid out. If you put too much pressure on the front, you can skid out. Skidding out is bad.
Some of the most common trouble scenarios while riding occur when cornering. Many crashes can be attributed to entering a turn too hot, taking a turn too sharp – or too wide – or applying the brakes while the bike is leaned over, which decreases the tires’ traction surface. There were a few habits that we all had to break while practicing such corners, the first being to keep looking all the way through a turn and focus on the exit point, instead of visualizing it piece by piece. Once we had this trick down, our turns were smoother. Each of us had to master the art of applying a steady amount of throttle through the turn instead of letting off; something I admit is easier to do on 30-degree dirt berms than on flat pavement.
We practiced slaloms of varying tightness, at different speeds. It’s easier to keep a bike upright when you’re moving quickly, but the more dramatic the slalom, the slower we had to go, which again required the balance skill. I’m proud to say I didn’t knock over any cones – just ran over the last one on occasion. The higher-speed slaloms were a place I felt more at ease, as I’m used to applying pressure to the handlebars instead of actually turning them, and the bike was more stable at higher speeds. By the end of slalom training we had the basics down for a skill that could save our lives: swerving. And so, on Day Two, the real fun began.
While exercises had mostly been separate on Day One, Day Two combined everything we had learned and then built upon it. We took turns at speed, weaved tight and wide, slowed for friction zone perfection and did sharp 180-degree turns. We did ultra-slow turns, figure-eight turns, quick-stops, and even learned how to properly stop while in the midst of a turn. (The key is to get the bike completely upright before thinking about tapping those brakes.) Then our coach threw in those things we would all be facing on the real-world streets: obstacles.
From imaginary cookie trucks to wooden two-by-fours placed in our path, we were instructed to avoid what blocked our path and, in the case of the wooden planks, ride over them. A hint to all riders who have to run over something they cannot avoid – give the bike a little gas just before your front wheel strikes the object, to raise your front shocks. But be sure to let off the gas completely before your rear tire strikes whatever it is you’re running over, so you don’t make the obstacle fly out from under you. Use your knees as shock absorbers, as you would if riding motocross. The bike can handle more than you probably think it can.
With 17 exercises in total, the Basic RiderCourseSM covered everything – turning while steadily applying throttle; proper braking techniques, emergency swerving, clutch control and ultra-slow balance. Not to mention the importance of being visible to other drivers, how to avoid collisions and navigate wet roads. When it came time for our test at the end of our second day, everyone in our group passed with flying colors, and not one of us had dropped our bike during training.
While driving home after our test I noticed that I was more on the lookout for other motorcyclists; I was not only a better rider now but also a better driver. I feel confident that I can handle the roadways if I stick to the safety principles instilled in me, and don’t do anything I know I shouldn’t. And perhaps the best part of having taken the Basic RiderCourseSM is, while I’m now ready to ride on the streets, I’ve found that I’m already a stronger rider off of them. - Scott
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