Kaitlin and her Ninja

Well the second day we went to practice in the parking lot, sorry for the bad pic but it was with the phone.

She did good tonight, other than having a few issues with panic stops (yeah she drop the bike once) she put the wrong foot down and toppled over twice. But she got back on and tried it again and kept getting a little better.

Couple more days at the parking lot and she will be ready for real learning taught at the MSF, dad is proud of her for not giving up.

Oooooh, and her bike is yellow!

Congrats, Dad.

Tell her the whole forum is pulling for her!

Great job, Kaitlin! Way to go, Dad!

Maybe BEFORE she goes to MSF you should send her to me and I'll teach her the basics of using a 250 Ninja correctly!



I'm always up for teaching another boybeater!
SRAD

I always hear about how women learn better from other women...blah,blah,blah.

Can you kidly tell the mrs. to NOT LOOK DOWN...again.







Way to go on the schoolin dad. Tell her we will expect her version of how things progress shortly.

Pooh Bear said:

Oooooh, and her bike is yellow!

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I think an addition to the "Yellow Bikes" thread is needed.

Good job, she'll have a blast at the class.

You give me hope.
My daughter has the M on her license after taking the MSF course.
She wants a sport bike. I have been looking really seriously at the Ninja.
How well did it do in the low speed tump over?

I applaud you! (I couldn't stand to watch her crash.)

McLeod said:

You give me hope.
My daughter has the M on her license after taking the MSF course.
She wants a sport bike. I have been looking really seriously at the Ninja.
How well did it do in the low speed tump over?

I applaud you! (I couldn't stand to watch her crash.)

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Well on the tip over it did well no damage with the exception of a small scrape on the rear of the mirror. We had left the rear pegs out and those act kinda like a swing arm spool so no damage to the pipe and the bar end kept the fairing from getting scratched.

I told her not to worry as I would rather have her dump it here in the lot than on the street.

First scratch is done and over with. Now she can ride it like she stole it!

McLeod said:

You give me hope.
My daughter has the M on her license after taking the MSF course.
She wants a sport bike. I have been looking really seriously at the Ninja.
How well did it do in the low speed tump over?

I applaud you! (I couldn't stand to watch her crash.)

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Awesome Cycles in Houston uses a few EX250s in their class. They do not fare well when crashed on a regular basis.
Mine fell over with my son on it once, and the mirror bracket broke, but that wa the extent of it.

SRADkneedragger said:

Maybe BEFORE she goes to MSF you should send her to me and I'll teach her the basics of using a 250 Ninja correctly!

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[DARTHVADERVOICE] "Noooooooooooooooo!" [/DARTHVADERVOICE]

Actually, as a guy who taught MSF courses actively for seven years, my vote is that nobody try to teach her anything until after she's taken the BRC. Ninety percent of the time, the only things that get learned are bad habits that have to be untaught by the MSF staff.

Oh, the stories I could tell.

Tim Kreitz said:

[DARTHVADERVOICE] "Noooooooooooooooo!" [/DARTHVADERVOICE]

Actually, as a guy who taught MSF courses actively for seven years, my vote is that nobody try to teach her anything until after she's taken the BRC. Ninety percent of the time, the only things that get learned are bad habits that have to be untaught by the MSF staff.

Oh, the stories I could tell.

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+1

Tim Kreitz said:

[DARTHVADERVOICE] "Noooooooooooooooo!" [/DARTHVADERVOICE]

Actually, as a guy who taught MSF courses actively for seven years, my vote is that nobody try to teach her anything until after she's taken the BRC. Ninety percent of the time, the only things that get learned are bad habits that have to be untaught by the MSF staff.

Oh, the stories I could tell.

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COME TO THE DARKSIDE! DRAG YOUR KNEE!
Tim is 100% right. I just can recommend the MSF enough. It should be mandatory. And just not for riding skills but for survival skills
SRAD

Tim Kreitz said:

[DARTHVADERVOICE] "Noooooooooooooooo!" [/DARTHVADERVOICE]

Actually, as a guy who taught MSF courses actively for seven years, my vote is that nobody try to teach her anything until after she's taken the BRC. Ninety percent of the time, the only things that get learned are bad habits that have to be untaught by the MSF staff.

Oh, the stories I could tell.

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I agree Tim, I am just giving her the basic riding lesson. Starting, shifting and stopping, the rest as I explained to her is to be taught by the instructor. And I made it crystal clear that when she is in class to do what that instructor tells her because my method will be different.

I am just building her confidence on the bike, so she can focus on the instructions and not have to worry about it to much.

Tim Kreitz said:

Oh, the stories I could tell.

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I'm taking the BRC with my 17 year old son in mid March; hes never been on a bike except with me a few short times, so I'm looking to start him off on the right foot.

rad3766 said:

I'm taking the BRC with my 17 year old son in mid March; hes never been on a bike except with me a few short times, so I'm looking to start him off on the right foot.

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Where are you taking it? I will be in that area observing about then. I'm always happy to meet more TWTers.

Hey Eric,
We'll be in Rosenberg at the Ft. Bend County Fairgrounds, March 14-15.
Yes, drop by if you can.

drroccostein said:

Well the second day we went to practice in the parking lot, sorry for the bad pic but it was with the phone.

She did good tonight, other than having a few issues with panic stops (yeah she drop the bike once) she put the wrong foot down and toppled over twice. But she got back on and tried it again and kept getting a little better.

Couple more days at the parking lot and she will be ready for real learning taught at the MSF, dad is proud of her for not giving up.

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YAY congrats and GREAT COLOR!!

drroccostein said:

I am just building her confidence on the bike, so she can focus on the instructions and not have to worry about it to much.

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That's all good. The BRC moves very fast, so being over the initial fear of the bike in advance can sometimes be advantageous. I was mainly just giving Carl a hard time for grins.

SRADkneedragger said:

It should be mandatory. And just not for riding skills but for survival skills.

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Well, I obviously disagree that it should be mandatory, but Carl is definitely correct in singing its praises. It's a lot of value for the buck, and if I didn't already have two careers going, I'd probably still be teaching it. It's one of the most tiring and simultaneously rewarding experiences a person can have.

The BRC being a good value depends solely on the instructor.
My wife took it while I was out of town... had never been on a bike before other than my back seat. I encouraged her to take the course, but I wanted to give her the basics ahead of time... This is the clutch, gear shifter, brake lever, etc... just so she'd be confident in knowing her way around the bike. One less thing to think about right...

So she signs up for the class while I'm at Deals Gap. Calls me after the class Friday night to tell me. Of course, I haven't yet shown her around a bike yet. So I wish her luck, tell her to relax, and soak up as much info as she can. Turns out, she was one of only two riders there who had never ridden. Everyone else was there as a part of them getting tickets.

she struggled through the class and passed... but I can say with certainty that she shouldnt have been allowed to pass and the class was nothing for her but a waste of money.

I took the BRC when I was younger and thought it was great. same with the ARC. I guess her instructor was just more concerned with going through the motions and finishing early. I showed up to go to lunch with her on Sunday at 11:30 and they were finished. Yet she still couldnt ride across the parking lot in a straight line a week later.

Now she's sold the bike she bought after taking the class since it sat long enough that it wouldnt run. And recently decided to try again so she bought another bike a few weeks ago thats yet to be started other than by me. She's talking about taking the BRC again and I've honestly considered taking it with her (posing as a complete newb) to see exactly what goes on in the class this time around.

One of my coworkers took the BRC this past weekend and had a blast and learned a lot.

DLSGAP said:

The BRC being a good value depends solely on the instructor.
My wife took it while I was out of town... had never been on a bike before other than my back seat. I encouraged her to take the course, but I wanted to give her the basics ahead of time... This is the clutch, gear shifter, brake lever, etc... just so she'd be confident in knowing her way around the bike. One less thing to think about right...

So she signs up for the class while I'm at Deals Gap. Calls me after the class Friday night to tell me. Of course, I haven't yet shown her around a bike yet. So I wish her luck, tell her to relax, and soak up as much info as she can. Turns out, she was one of only two riders there who had never ridden. Everyone else was there as a part of them getting tickets.

she struggled through the class and passed... but I can say with certainty that she shouldnt have been allowed to pass and the class was nothing for her but a waste of money.

I took the BRC when I was younger and thought it was great. same with the ARC. I guess her instructor was just more concerned with going through the motions and finishing early. I showed up to go to lunch with her on Sunday at 11:30 and they were finished. Yet she still couldnt ride across the parking lot in a straight line a week later.

Now she's sold the bike she bought after taking the class since it sat long enough that it wouldnt run. And recently decided to try again so she bought another bike a few weeks ago thats yet to be started other than by me. She's talking about taking the BRC again and I've honestly considered taking it with her (posing as a complete newb) to see exactly what goes on in the class this time around.

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Not all classes are equal. The new guy (over a year now) who is running the program in Texas is trying very hard to make it a consistently well run course. It takes a while for this type of thing to get accomplished, but it is getting there. They have established strict guidelines. There is no way that a properly conducted second day of class can be finished by lunchtime if they are following the set two day class guidelines. Look around for one that comes highly recommended. (I can get you in a good one in Amarilo )

DLSGAP said:

She's talking about taking the BRC again and I've honestly considered taking it with her (posing as a complete newb) to see exactly what goes on in the class this time around.

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I've heard rare and largely exaggerated horror stories about some MSF courses (mainly in metro areas for some reason), but finishing the BRC early is dang-near impossible. During summer courses, the range portion should end around lunch, then the class reconvenes in the classroom for written testing and finish-up.

If you do decide to take the BRC with her for critiquing purposes at that sponsorship, my only advice is that you keep any potential negative opinions to yourself during the class, do exactly as the instructors tell you, and leave the instructing of your wife to the staff. If they're like me, they'll separate the two of you on the range as much as possible from the get-go anyway.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but the instructors have a tremendous amount of responsibility on their shoulders and don't need any vocal criticism while they're trying to maintain range safety, keep an eye on students, and provide individual instruction -- all while staying on schedule. If you see enough that you don't like, simply excuse yourselves from the course, get in your car and leave, then take it up with the Motorcycle Safety Unit of the DPS.

Also, keep in mind that not everyone is cut out to ride motorcycles. If your wife is still struggling with basic coordination issues, is fearful of the machine, and has no real hunger to ride, motorcycling might not be her forte. There's no shame in that.

I never had a problem dismissing any student who wasn't "getting it" by the end of the first day. The second day only gets harder, plus, I never wanted the weight on my conscience of hearing that a marginal student who I let squeak by had been killed in a crash due to a lack of rudimentary skill.