Things you wished a motorcycle course taught

+1 as the same generally applies to dirt gravel and grass.

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OP you are concentrating on some advanced techniques that are going in one ear and out the other.

Basics like entering a traffic stream safely
blocking position
braking before entering a curve and accelerating out.
using both brakes not just the front
when to use the rear brake
when NOT to use the front brake ( low speed turns )
low speed control

I'd say are most critical for newbies

perhaps less is more in this situation.
 
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malim said:
Well, this probably be course dependent but at Humber they did not mention anything what to do in case your rear locks up.

They've told us about the procedure for the front locking up but failed to mentioned that it's best to hold rear in locked position if it's already locked. I only found out here what was the reasoning and why should I always hold the rear in emergency brake in case it locks up.
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You'll learn with experience you can release the rear brake once it starts to slide to regain the grip and then get back on the brake. You'll do it fast enough you will hardly think of it, so do not get it in your head that this is the ONLY way to do it. Can't count how many times in the last two days on the MX track that I had the rear end sliding under braking, let the brake off then get back on it.

I really do wish people would spend some serious time trying to ride hard on dirt bikes before they go on the street. The M1 course was a complete joke as for the riding portion simply because I had ridden dirt for a while before I got on the street.
You'll learn so much about clutch and throttle control, brake modulation, gear selection and accident avoidance while having fun.

I wish someone would have told me that my FZ6 wasn't meant for trail riding. I followed a buddy down a trail yesterday where he was bottoming his truck out on loose rocks... Was a fun experience that I don't want to replicate.
 
malim said:
Well, this probably be course dependent but at Humber they did not mention anything what to do in case your rear locks up.

They've told us about the procedure for the front locking up but failed to mentioned that it's best to hold rear in locked position if it's already locked. I only found out here what was the reasoning and why should I always hold the rear in emergency brake in case it locks up.
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We definitely went through that during my course at Humber North. It may be instructor specific.

I'd like to see stopping and starting on a hill which we did at Humber North.
 
I wish my courses gave a little more instruction on taking a passenger. I've never felt comfortable taking one because 99% of the time my would be passenger would probably weigh more and/or be bigger then me. I doubt I would ever take one to be honest, would have been nice if they made us take a passenger on the bike maybe in a controlled environment to get a feel for it and instructed us more on riding 2 up.
 
I really do wish people would spend some serious time trying to ride hard on dirt bikes before they go on the street. The M1 course was a complete joke as for the riding portion simply because I had ridden dirt for a while before I got on the street.
You'll learn so much about clutch and throttle control, brake modulation, gear selection and accident avoidance while having fun.
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Yup - not only should the course include some dirt, gravel and grass but young riders in particular wold be better served on the street by taking a motocourse up at Chatsworth.
One serious thing to learn thre is how to fall
 
I can't speak directly to the motorcycle courses, but typically driver training is focused only on the minimum required to obtain a license. This is a cancer in the trucking business, believe me. I would be curious to know if a more involved and longer course would be something the public would invest in. As others have said, some dirt riding, adverse conditions, different types of bikes, two-up, etc.
 
I went to RTI and they covered most of the suggestions here. They didn't do 2up, but it rained during my course and we found it wasn't all that bad. They also talked about the swerve approaching intersections and smidsy's, we worked on some basic downshifting, it was pretty good. I still only did practice rides out in the 'burbs for 4 weeks after buying a bike before taking it downtown.

Some additional ones that would be like a day-3 would be:

- knees grip tank. better balance makes all the stuff they do teach stick better when you aren't wobbling with your weight on the bars.
- general road awareness, hazards, decisions, attitude. (on the road, assume the 3-i's: you're Invisible, everyone else is Insane, and your family will be Inconsolable; pilot's OODA etc.)
- maybe a way to give you an idea of how much traction the bike really has, even a basic gymkhana demo, what you can trust about how the bike will behave.
- "no rear brakes!", "no front brakes!", "no power!", "no traction!"
- PLF falling, just so people won't be thinking about what it's like.

These are bonus on top of what was already taught, but some confidence that you can survive these things will make learning the other stuff easier because you won't be wasting time worrying about it.
 
What does PLF mean??

If they need a guy to demo the "tuck and roll" I'm your guy lol.
 
Actually one that could be super useful is how to bump start a bike (properly). Could save people a lot of time and headaches.

Sorry, not sure if it has been mentioned yet.
 
A.K. said:
To me, the whole system is backwards. You walk into the MTO office, pass the M1 knowledge test and without any further requirement you can ride away on a 1700CC bike and kill yourself in the city and/or non-400 series highways.

Then, you take the M1 exit course, where they teach you how not to kill yourself on the street. You pass the exam, and now you are allowed on the 400 series highway to kill yourself now at highway speed that is not 100 km/h but usually higher.

Then, you take the M2 exit course, where they teach you how not to kill yourself on the 400 series highway. Now you are allowed on the bike with non-zero alcohol level, that can impair you enough to - again - kill yourself.

To me it is all backwards. I'd make everybody to pass the M1 knowledge and M1 exit course before they hit the road in the city and I'd make the successful M2 exit test a requirement for 400 series highway riding. And zero tolerance regarding alcohol level on motorcycles.

My 2 cents.
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+1, but also add the fact (money permitting), that 16 year old with no road experience and just a multiple choice M1 can get a S1000RR or a Busa the very next day. Backwards system compared to what it should be.

As for things that could have been taught -- It's understandable that mirrors would get broken easily, but it would have been nice to have some form of drills for keeping your eyes on what is happening around you. After getting my M2 and being out on real roads, it did take a little while to get used to (and learn how to best) use my mirrors as well as head-checks to keep an eye on who and what is around me.

Also, as others have mentioned it would have been nice to have a lap or two around city blocks on the second day (once instructors knew individuals could handle the bike without being a danger), assuming the bikes were plated and insured. I know once I took my own bike out on real roads, with real cars, trucks, and SUVs, it was a completely different experience than being on a 125 in a parking lot at 20kmh/h.
 
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if i recall correctly, my car school had 10 - 1 hour, in car lessons. On different days.
motorbike school has 16 hours split over two.

It needs more time... and it needs to be separated with more days inbetween. You need time to reflect on what was taught, otherwise what you learn at the start gets pushed aside so you can learn what's taught at the end.

Two weekends. Four days. That's my vote.

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For the people who only view the course as an easy roadtest, having days inbetween should force them to think about what they learned. You get out what you put in. Attitude is everything.
 
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Yep - a sailplane licence takes 40 flights and costs about $2000 which includes one on one training in at least 35 of those flights and is all volunteer.
I dare say that is is easier to fly a sailplane than pilot a motorcycle in city traffic and certainly far safer..
The pattern for a good learning curve on this is day on day off for two weeks to a month and indeed time is needed for skills to be absorbed.

I think the current graduated licence is good - it works that way in flying as well.
But I'm not sure people and volunteers would tolerate as strict a set of instructions in skills as pilots do or the cost to get a motorcycle licence.
Yet there just about zero accidents in sail planes as a result of the program and motorcycling is far far more dangerous.

I'm not sure of a solution there as it affects all riders with the high insurance rates.
Saliplane rates are $300 per year for any pilot - licenced or not as unlicenced will be flying under strict supervision.

But the staggered learning - with time in between is important to learning any skill set and learning to "pilot" a motorcycle safely can be a life or death skill set.
In pilot training every one learns to deal with spins which can kill you ( tho modern planes are exceedingly difficult to get into a spin ) - and each year every pilot gets a skill check from the safety officer that includes a spin check and other skill checks to make sure they perform the routines needed to stay safe.

I would be surprised if the motorcycle community would tolerate or pay for that kind of oversight and training....yet in reality it would be a very good thing for us all.
 
I would say better cornering, which unfortunately can only be achieved by training riders at higher speeds and for more time than a two day course allots.

Too many riders crash their bikes or even worse by getting spooked by a corner and not having the reflexes to negotiate it well. I know I crashed my bike a few weeks after getting my M2 by failing to negotiate a corner, and I've read too many similar cases in the fallen riders section.
 
Not sure you can teach that judgement other than hammering on going in slow and accelerating out - getting set up in the correct gear is sooooo important.
 
MacDoc said:
Not sure you can teach that judgement other than hammering on going in slow and accelerating out - getting set up in the correct gear is sooooo important.
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I don't mean judgement, just getting new riders more comfortable with leaning the bike and countersteering. How many posts in the fallen riders section are there where the rider went wide in a turn or freaked out and locked the brakes?
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