Yipppeeeeeee!!! It was a long hot weekend, but after two days of intensive studying and practice I passed the Beginner Riders Course.

To learn to ride a motorcycle is on my bucket list. This past weekend I attended a two day course via OKRiders.com It’s an official Motorcycle Safety Foundation Beginner Rider Course. It was six plus hours of class and book work time. And 10 hrs of on the bike course time. I highly recommend this course to anyone. Our class of 8 students ranged from a 15yr old girl to a 60+yr old man. There were only two of us, myself included, that had never ridden/driven a motorcycle. We all passed.



Before this course my one an only time driving a motorcycle was when I was about 11. I got on a friends bike and thought all I had to do to drive it was pull on the throttle. Wrong. That ride lasted 1 second, ended with me on my back in the mud and the bike popping a wheely into a curb and cracking the oil case.



Thankfully I scored a 100 on the written exam and got a 96 on the riding course exam.(I was happy to not have laid the bike down and to not run into anyone.)



I’m so proud that I just had to share. Here’s a pic of me and the training bikes(mine was the little red Suzuki) and me getting my certificate from my instructors. (Another good thing about this course is that it counts as a defensive driving course so it gets me an insurance discount. Yippeeee)

 

Be careful out there. I spent many years riding bikes in my younger days. 1 tip I will pass along. As you are riding, think to yourself that you are invisible, and will have to avoid all the other drivers that can't see you. 90% of the time, you'll be right. The other 10% of the time, you'll only be 1/2 right. Those who do see you, still won't give you the room you deserve, in most cases......
I refuse to even attempt to ride in the tulsa metro area. Those idiots don't watch out for cars/trucks, so they derned sure ain't gonna watch out for bikes.

 

Thanks for the advice, Rogue. I'll use it. I already drive super-defensively in my trucks, so i think i should be a good cycle rider. I try to always look 2 to 3 cars ahead for what's coming up. I agree, so many people out here don't pay attention to the motorcyclists as well as they should. I don't plan to be a highway driver. I take the backroads to and from work.

 

Cool!

Congrats on passing the test Ron...

do you own a motorcycle yet? if not what kind you gonna get?

 

Thanks, Bill. Not yet. I'm lookin at a fuel injected suzuki boulevard. My father in law has one and is very pleased with it. Not sure what size engine to get. I'm 6ft 1in and about 190lbs.

 

The course counted as my riders test, but i had to take the 20question Oklahoma written/computer test to get my M endorsement. I thought I'd go to the Claremore location this morning expecting to see less people waiting than in Tulsa or Broken Arrow. Wrong. There were a dozen people waiting already when i got there at 835am. I had to wait 2 hrs to take a 10 min computer test. Sheesh. There were only two guys workin there. One was doing the riding tests with the kids and the other was doing the written test and answering phones. Ugh, why couldnt he just tell the people to google map or mapquest the location instead of giving everycaller directions? Ugh, anyway, $14 and 2 hrs later i now have my new license with the Motorcycle endorsement.

 

The times sure have changed. When I was 14, I got a drivers license that was only good for a motorcyle, and at 16 it automatically became a learners permit for cars. Maybe it was 15.5, dunno, been 30+ years......
That same license was restricted to certain hours of the day, 7am-9pm IIRC, and 125CC max, until 16. On your 16th birthday, the time and engine size limits were dropped, and any motorcyle could be ridden, at any hour, along with any car/light truck driven so long as there was a fully licensed driver in the front seat. A simple driving skills test removed that last restriction.
These days, I'm licensed to drive anything that has at least 4 wheels (class "A" CDL), but in order to (legally) get back on a 2 wheeler, I will have to go take another test. Last time I rode a bike, I rolled thru a checkpoint. The officer just laughed and pointed out that I wasn't licensed to ride that bike, cause it didn't have enough wheels, and sent me on my way. Until that point, I wasn't aware there was such a thing as an "M" endorsement, that adds an additional fee to the license.
Doesn't really surprise me though. This is, afterall, the very same state that charges $100/yr penalty on a $21/yr tag...........