Topic: I finally got my license!!

[seanbarney41]

No sh*&, I rode for 4 years in Michigan with no endorsement...first ride after getting it, I got a speeding ticket!

[patricke9]

I went 15 years w/o an endorsement on my license here in Seattle, was not a big deal to me to have to pay a ticket & hope the officer was in a good mood & didn't have my bike impounded. A couple years ago the law was rewritten to say, if you get stopped or even a parking ticket with no endorsement, the bike is automatically impounded.  I can't afford that, and will take the MSF course with my friends at some point as well.

[bluezboy]

What does the skills tests consist of in California?  I am yet to take mine here in GA but wanted to see if they are pretty comparible in other areas.  For you Trav, which test was giving you trouble?  I have heard from quite a few people that the low speed stuff is the killer, even though they say 10-15mph its more like 2-3 haha.

The skills test here is not too hard, but I made the mistake of using the riding school's crappy bike on my first try at it and failed part of the test. I used my bike, 750, the second time after I first spent about 10 hours practicing every thing that I got wrong the first time at at local school's parking lot.  Yes, low speed moves are hard but important to master. Give me a call and I can really fill you in on how the test course is set up, it's a lot smaller than that book makes it appear, so you really have to focus on not screwing up. Vern 404-552-5155

[Cqyqte]

In Canada we have a 3 part license process; 1. M1 obtained by passing a written test (multiple guess) for $20 or something like that, 2. M2 after taking a skills test can be combined with a day and a half of training prior to the test, 3. Full M rating after you successfully pass another reality test on the roadways with a instructor telling you what to do and where to go by a hearing device in your ear.

The last test is nerve wrecking.  Image approaching intersects not know if you are going to told to turn right or left or go straight through.  Also knowing that everytime you approach a potential hazard (ie pedestrian, driveway, parked car, school playground, animal) you have to acknowledge it's presence by turning your head enough so that the instructor can see that you've seen it. By the end of the test you feel like a Mac truck hit and you feel like a Weeble Dolly from your dad's rear window of he 55 Chevy.