Oh, the shame.

I started riding minibikes at age 5, have raced motorcycles pretty much all my life, been ranked pretty high in year end standings in enduro/hare scrambles/etc, probably have more hours grabbing handlebars than I do steering wheels. When I had my last street bike, SC did not require a separate motorcycle license. Now they do.

When I got the six fiddy back on the road, to do it by the book I got a beginner's permit, good for a year. You are supposed to ride on that, then test for your 'real' license, i.e. the actual riding test. With the end of that year rapidly approaching, I went today to take the riding test...

.... and failed. I had to renew my beginner's permit for another year and have to wait a week to retake the test.

Oh, the ignominy of it all.

That is why you take the MSF and get the road test waived, well at least here in KY.

Why did you fail? (We promise not to make fun.)

I got a learner's permit in Oregon, which allows you to ride as long as you're with a licensed motorcyclist over some age... But of course didn't know anybody else who rode, so I just rode around. Then went to take my test, and was very nervous. Told them my uncle had ridden to the DMV with me, but had to leave...

The electric start on my RZ350 didn't work, and there was a protrusion that tried to take a chunk out of my ankle when kicking, so I kicked it from the right side. Which was a bummer when in my nerves I'd left it in first gear, so it rolled forward and fell off the stand in the DMV lot.

Wasn't very skilled at the low-speed stuff, and proceeded to wobble around the DMV parking lot course for the test, trapping my hands with the homemade clip-ons the bike came with, and basically making a big show of my embarrassment every time I dabbed.

They gave me a license and sent me on my way. I think they were mostly relieved for every person who actually came in and got an actual MC license...

I may not have had to cope with failing the license test as an experienced rider, but I certainly managed to make a mess of it.

pinchvalve wrote: Why did you fail? (We promise not to make fun.)

Yeah, right.

This actually makes it doubly worse: there is a test called 'cone dodge' which is a slalom through small offset cones. (Sound familiar? ) So I blew it completely, ran out side of the last 2. The funny part: I did it again in front of the examiner 'just because' and aced it. That one didn't count, though.

Then in the 'obstacle dodge' there's a yellow painted box on the pavement, at about 15 MPH you have to dodge to the right in a specified distance, can't touch the yellow box. I ticked the edge of the box with a tire.

This result from a guy who used to dodge trees at 40-50 MPH on dirt... maybe I am getting to be an old fart.

pinchvalve wrote: Why did you fail? (We promise not to make fun.)

Ah Hahahahahaha!!! Bet your thought I didn't read the sprockets section. Never gonna happen.

JK

Borrow an enduro, take entire test on the rear wheel, problem solved.

You're just not used to throwing around a heavy bike.

The difference between taking a test and practical application of experience.

You're not getting old. It's just The Man trying to keep you down.

I had a buddy that slid around his street-fighter on his second attempt. The test admin scolded him, and he responded by saying that when he tried to take it easy the first attempt, he failed because he couldn't u-turn in a lane-and-a-half (SHP cars on both sides).

Most of these tests have utterly ridiculous elements in them.

That test sounds like our beginner test. Being in a small town area, they schedule everybody on the same day. When I did mine, there were 20+ of us, and a little more than half of them (all of them with cruisers) failed. We have to walk the cones with the bike, slalom the cones on the bike, then ride straight through as slow as possible. At the end, turn 180 degrees, and go as fast as possible (their words) to the start, and hit the brakes at the last minute to replicate an emergency stop. I did mine on a built DT200 SM. I got going so fast on the return, that most of the class scrambled when I got near the end because they didn't think I'd be able to stop. Mine expires next month

Toyman01 wrote: Borrow an enduro, take entire test on the rear wheel, problem solved.

Ya know, they've thought of this. Or (more likely) it's happened before. You get a little pep talk just before the test in which they say 'any dangerous or radical operation will be an immediate fail'.

OBTW: the 'turn signal' question from last year came up again, i.e. it has to have turn signals to take the test. I asked them what they would do if it was a '60's vintage bike which never had turn signals, did it have to be retrofitted? Lots of mumbling, head scratching, meeting in a back office, then it turns out that the relevant section of Federal law did not go into effect until 1982 and my bike's a 1980, meaning Curmudgeon's off the hook. Then after all that I blow the freakin' test. I bet there was all kinds of hilarity after I left.

The test used to be harder; it was a real bitch.

In SC the potential problem with using the MSF is that the DMV is not required to accept it. They test a certain number of the people who show up with the MSF certificate and can recall you any time within 2 years and make you take the riding test. Also, the MSF courses are somewhat limited in access (even more so since the state stopped funding half of the program).

I did the MSF and then took the riding test at DMV anyway. I also failed the first time. "Loss of control" was the reason. I went outside the box turning around at the end of the cone weave. Afterwards the tester bothered to tell me that the yellow lines represented the same thing as they do on the roadway and you aren't supposed to cross them. I bothered to tell her in a very sarcastic tone that this would have been useful information to have prior to beginning the test. She was being observed by the supervisor because she was either getting certified to perform the MC tests or had just been certified. Luckily I got a different tester the next week.

Ranger50 wrote: That is why you take the MSF and get the road test waived, well at least here in KY.

One can get a license via two MSF courses in PA (used to be one). However, there is an MSF riding test at the end which is more difficult than the DOT test. The good thing is that, because of the MSF training, one is likely to pass.

rotard wrote: The test used to be harder; it was a real bitch.

There's a 'S curve' part of the test where you have to ride through a set of painted lines under light acceleration. That's considerably more difficult than it looks.

When i took my test i rode out 60 miles on my hoped up R5 (350cc 2 stroke twin) and some guy shows up on the back of his buddies full dresser. The two guys get off the guy who was on the back sits down and the officer says okay see that figure 8 over there i want you to do 4 one way and 4 the other way.... !st corner the guy dropped it and cracked a bag...picked it up and it fell over the otherside....Officer looks at me and say can you do better? I said no problem i can do them one handed Ive been practicing.. He told me tow hands please i did the figure 8's then came back to him he told me go up the road turn left go up 2 side streets take left come down hill take left then turn left in to here. I did making sure to stop at stops signs etc came back and he said your all set your within the alloted time. When he looked at my address he said you came all the way from there! yup you were the only place that had an opening, i leave for collage on sat. and i can't renew my permit with out taking the test. How that was a long time ago....funny i now live one town away from that old RMV...long closed.

Curmudgeon wrote:

rotard wrote: The test used to be harder; it was a real bitch.

There's a 'S curve' part of the test where you have to ride through a set of painted lines under light acceleration. That's considerably more difficult than it looks.

That part and the figure eight in the box suck. If you put your feet down twice, it's an instant fail. I took a refresher MSF course when I bought the RC51 last year; both of those were HARD. I had to stand up like it was a dirt bike and still ran over a cone on the slalom.

In reply to 44Dwarf:

You have an R5? You know I have always loved you.

Another budding bromance.

Moparman wrote: In reply to 44Dwarf: You have an R5? You know I have always loved you.

Yes i still have my original R5 but dumb ass me couldn't take the faded purple and white "paint" any longer in collage and painted the only shade napa had "plumb crazy" years later it got a Deep red. It's still in the basement minus the front forks as i needed them for my rd400 after i bent the uppers putting my head though a screen door in a camper incert..... two fisherman were on their way home 1guy with car and boat trailer (with no lights...) stopped for crossing guard his buddy didn't know he stop and rearended the boat....poped it up and out of the trailer with his camper truck...I hit the truck. while on the ground i heard squealing tires and instinct told me run!! Glad i did a red Buick stopped with the bumper over the bike seat... I ended up with 4 stitches in my left ankle, a bike that pops out of 2nd gear and bent forks.. I've still got the R5 plus spare motor, a 73 rd350, and the 76 rd400 with a DS7 250 stuffed in it as the 400 needed crank work...

In reply to 44Dwarf:

All of a sudden, my GT380 seems woefully in adequate. The guy I bought my GT380 from is now selling a almost mint RD400. If I wasn't working on the CB450 (in the shop for final tuning and inspection), I would beg and plead with my wife for it.

I failed my mc test the first try because I didnt turn my head far enough back as I pulled away from a hill stop.

Second time I took it, I dumped the bike in a sandy parking lot entrance on the way over. Passed the test, hoping the whole time that the instructor didn't notice that my RH mirror was about to fall off.

Moparman wrote:

In reply to 44Dwarf:

All of a sudden, my GT380 seems woefully in adequate. The guy I bought my GT380 from is now selling a almost mint RD400. If I wasn't working on the CB450 (in the shop for final tuning and inspection), I would beg and plead with my wife for it.

sent PM so as not to delute this thread more..