MSF Quick Tips for Riders

Friday, May 01, 2009

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Spring marks the traditional start of the riding season and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation is using Motorcycle Awareness Month 2009 to encourage potential motorcyclists to take steps to ensure motorcycling is right for them before committing to becoming a rider, via the release of the latest MSF Quick Tips sheet, "Should You Ride A Motorcycle?"

Motorcycling is a unique experience and a complex task. Just as MSF provides a variety of tools to enhance the safety of anyone who becomes a motorcyclist - such as hands-on training, videos, books and other publications - MSF introduces this new tool, the eighth in a series of "Quick Tips" documents, to help potential riders gauge their physical skills and capabilities, judgment, and risk-management attitudes before deciding to purchase and operate a motorcycle. MSF also urges potential riders to enroll in a Basic RiderCourse as a best "first ride" to determine if motorcycling is right for them.

MSF believes that motorcycling isn't for everyone. For some potential riders, the best way to be safe on a motorcycle is to remain a passenger and not "graduate" to operator status.

"Should You Ride A Motorcycle?" joins seven other Quick Tips sheets currently available in the Library section of the Foundation's website, www.msf-usa.org, covering a wide variety of motorcycle-related subjects:

"Should You Ride A Motorcycle?"
"If You Ride A Motorcycle"
"T-CLOCS" Pre-Ride Inspection Checklist
"Ten Things All Car & Truck Drivers Should Know About Motorcycles"
"Riding With A Passenger"
"Group Riding"
"Alcohol Awareness"
"Preventing Motorcycle Theft"

All of MSF's Quick Tips sheets (PDF format) can be downloaded for free, and can be copied and distributed without limitation by anyone who wishes to disseminate the messages. The "Should You Ride A Motorcycle?" PDF is also available at the following link: www.msf-usa.org/downloads/Quick-Tips-Should-You-Ride-A-Motorcycle-2009.pdf .

Since 1973, the MSF has set internationally recognized standards that promote the safety of motorcyclists with rider education courses, operator licensing tests, and public information programs. The MSF works with the federal government, state agencies, the military and others to offer training for all skill levels so riders may enjoy a lifetime of safe, responsible motorcycling. The MSF is a not-for-profit organization sponsored by BMW, BRP, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Piaggio, Suzuki, Triumph, Victory and Yamaha.

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Comments

Jay Thomas -Wriding wrasscally wrabbit July 7, 2009 07:04 PM
Let me see here... One rider thinks another is a booger... the other rider sez that MSF courses are taught by barely balancing bimbos... Et al. Hummm I'm really not one to say 'can't we all just get along', but we do all ride two wheels - 'rage against the four-wheelers' Let's get facts straight - I have taken six MSF Basic Rider Courses, three Experienced Rider courses, and various other organizational safety courses just to maintain my riding skills, and benefit from the 20% insurance discount - in my 40 years of accident free riding. While I have seen numerous boneheaded things happen over my lifetime, taking MSF safety courses have never been one of them. I have always met each with professional grade Rider Coaches and solid equipment. Sometimes on my own ride, and sometime on theirs. Each course taught me something new, and I will continue to take them, just to help maintain my riding skills and awareness. Harley, yamaha, Honda ... yak-a-dee-yak... If we were in thhe 1980's I'd say NEVER buy a Harley. AMF did a real distructive service to the US motorcycle industry and for that I will never bowl again. But Harley had genuinely come back from the grave and is a Class A bike once again. I have ridden various models and love them all (though some are way too loud). Bottem line on this comment... MSF is a very class act, with the Basic Rider Course addressing just what the new rider needs, and the Experienced Rider suite extending thoses skills further. I really enjoyed my training, and it was well worth the money. Keep the Shiney side up and the Greasey side down! Jay

milwaukee mike is a booger-eating retard -terrible advice May 12, 2009 09:36 AM
The rear brake is not, nor has it ever been, designed to do most of the stopping on any motorcycle, hence the reason the calipers and rotors on the front wheel are of sooooooo much better quality and size. Do not — I repeat, do not — take any riding advice from a mattress stain like milwaukee mike. The only thing worse than his grammar and sentence structure are his motorcycling critiques.

FL_rider -MSF May 11, 2009 05:17 PM
*Sorry not the first post, but the post right below mine. Safe riding!

FL_rider -MSF May 11, 2009 05:16 PM
*Sorry not the first post, but the post right below mine. Safe riding!

FL_rider -MSF May 11, 2009 05:15 PM
The first post has so many wrong assumptions... mostly, it doesn't even make sense. In regards to MSF... while I am not sure how effective their trainings are in other branches, but where I went, most of their satellite branches are taught by just about "anybody" who know how to balance their Harleys in a straight line, and not much else. Worst $400 ever spent on motorcycling, only plus side is I didn't have the acquire the motorcycle endorsement from DMV. Better to teach one self, pass the endorsement, and take a riding/track school course. Also the sort of tips they pass on, it's something that you pick up on your on if you want to live to keep riding. And motorcycling forums all over the web will impart the knowledge just the same. First in class session video that I watched made me want to quit riding before I started.

milwaukee mike -Should you ride a motorcycle? May 5, 2009 07:13 AM
Instead of asking "should you ride a motorcycle?", the MSF shought ask "why aren't you riding an American motorcycle?". I have personaly witnessed several crotch rockets bite the dust in the last three weeks alone. These newbies can't handle the sky-high RPM Horsepower, they can't see in front of them when they crouch down behind the fairings, they all seem to want to do "stoppies" and forget the rear brake does most of the stopping. Jap dealers must be making a Ton-O-Money selling these toys, and then fixing the crash damage. The dealers are selling $400.-500. helmets and those silly multicolored jakets to match the silly paint of these idiot cycles. OK, yes HD riders crash too, but far less often. Maybe because when you ride a Harley tou ride with pride. HD riders don;t need to ride fast to be noticed. Wake up MSF! Don;t promote buying metric trash, try steering riders to American made products. There would be the side benifit of improving our domestic economy.

bruce arnold -Motorcycle Awareness Whitewash May 2, 2009 08:54 AM
So May is Motorcycle Awareness Month. Whooptee Friggin' Doo. Some of the names will change, but expect the same old hollow proclamations, pointless pronouncements and self-serving photo ops ... the same clueless cub reporting confusing "motorcycle awareness" (the cause) with "motorcycle safety" (the commodity) ... and when all the hoopla is history, yet another annualized increase in the number of responsible motorcycle riders left dead and dying on the side of the road, their tickets punched by care-less motorists whose cell phone calls, texting and other discretionary distractions take precedence over paying attention to their driving. And why should we expect otherwise, when the cost of maiming or even killing a biker in America is often no more than what you'll pay to beat a speeding ticket? More at tinyurl[dot]com/motorcycleawarenesswhitewash