REVIEW: Centennial College Motorcycle Basic Training

This is going to be a VERY LONG review of my experience this past weekend on a motorcycle training course. PLEASE IGNORE if you don’t have any interest in the subject, as it will have absolutely no value to anyone else.  I hope to provide a lot of value for this who intend to take it or a similar course, without actually rigging your knowledge to provide you with an unfair advantage over other students.  The test is criterion and not percentile-based, so it should not be to anyone else’s disadvantage if you benefit from this review.

INTRODUCTION

CEMO-801 – Motorcycle Rider Training

It, as the course calendar describes, is a training course primarily for new riders seeking to obtain their graduated M2 motorcycle license and who currently hold the M1 training license (part of our excellent Ontario, Canada graduated licensing system).

You get a HUGE insurance drop for having completed/passed the course for about three years or so, to the best of my knowledge, and you can use the certificate as proof of qualification for an M2 license after you have held your M1 for 60-90 days.  For the insurance drop alone, this course or an equivalent pays for it self.  And in my case, I learned a ton and enjoyed myself immensely as well!  It helps that there was a very affable and congenial skilled rider in my group that made things much more relaxed, while providing great advice as well.

*If you want to speed through this thing, and don’t need the descriptions of the course or the basic guidance but just want the tips, search for “BEEF” or “ADVICE” or scroll down until you see them.

DISCLAIMER

For the sake of journalistic accuracy, please understand that I will try to be as accurate and complete as possible, including providing alternate explanations for areas where I am uncertain or subject to likely personal bias, being at the center of my own review and all.  I do apologize for a) offending or forgetting anyone that was involved in the course; and b) for that person actually wasting their time on my blog.  Wow.

Also, please understand that I don’t feel comfortable giving the whole course away, as I believe it could interfere with the intention of the instructor’s program design, so I will purposefully omit substantial chunks of information especially in regards to the final test.  Feel free to request for elaboration in the comments, but I will likely be limited in some of my replies.

ON WITH THE REVIEW

The course I took was a Friday-Sunday course, with a short 2.5 hrs (turned out to be 3 hrs) classroom session on Friday evening, which provides some valuable information for beginners but is most valuable just as preparation.

ADVICE: BRING IN ALL YOUR GEAR SO THE INSTRUCTORS CAN APPROVE OF THEM.  Otherwise, you won’t have the appropriate gear for the weekend riding and you’ll end up having to borrow someone’s stinking shoes, at best.

The Saturday is almost a full day of riding, from 8am (too early) to 5pm (just when it’s starting to get cool!).  An hour of video/classroom work is completed until 6pm.

The Saturday is where you will learn the most if you are an absolutely inexperienced rider, like I am/was.  I had no motorcycle experience, so even the initial basic instrumentation lessons were interesting to me.  I was not familiar with the startup procedure of the motorcycle (I’ll leave that to the instructors to teach you as it’s just an issue of memory and seeing the bike), or the characteristics of a clutch and foot gearshift.

In my opinion, which could be very biased, perhaps the most important act that will be the foundation for your success in testing and enjoyment of the whole weekend will occur in your first 30 minutes on the training grounds:  MOTORCYCLE SELECTION.

Centennial had these options (availability) when I attended:

• Honda CBR125R (6) – small sportbike – so new it’s not even on the course description, all white/black, sorry to those who find that colourway effeminate
• Honda Rebel CMX250cc (7-10) – very low-seating cruiser, my selection (more on that later…)
• Honda CFR150 (6+?) – smaller but fairly tall, light dirt bike
• Suzuki GZ250 Marauder (3-4?)- newer and slightly larger cruiser than the Rebel, by my visual approximation, but probably very comparable
• Buell Blast 500cc (5-6?) – dirt bike / dual purpose – large engine, very quick (relatively), heavier and a bit higher than the CFR150 but still with a fairly short wheelbase
• Mysterious Honda 160cc (2?) – dirt bike – I could have sworn I saw a few that weren’t quite CFR150s and I vaguely remember an odd displacement like a 160cc, but perhaps I am mistaken.

In total, my class was full with 30 students, and 6 course trainers (not including the classroom instructor).  We were divided into 6 groups of 5 students, with our own instructor attached to our group for the most part of the weekend.

Students will be told to choose their bikes in groups, as in group #1 will get first pick, and group #6 will get whatever is left over.

(***BEEF #1***) They provide no guidance on motorcycle selection (perhaps unless they’re asked directly? However there’s a good chance the bike you want will be taken if you do take the time to ask).  This is a very important point for those who might not be considered the prototypical motorcycle rider (which I believe is a male, between 20 and 50, about 160 lbs and around 5′5″ to 5′11″… I’m not sure why I tend to see slightly shorter to average height riders around mostly).

ADVICE: Bring plenty to drink (a cooler with a few bottles of water/sports drink/juice works well. You’ll have ample opportunities to visit your car or bring the cooler near the bikes), a small lunch (or buy a small, light lunch… riding and really needing to poop are bad combinations), and SUNSCREEN.  Even with my modular helmet on in full-face mode, with the shield open to let in the air, I suffered pretty serious sunburn on my nose and cheeks.  I did apply sunscreen before going to class, but the torrent of sweat from about 8 hrs of riding in jeans, zipped up leather jacket, compression shirt, helmet, 26 degree heat, and beneath the high sun, took it’s toll.

CHOOSING YOUR BIKE

Many of these bikes are not meant for very large riders (and I mean large very liberally, say greater than 5′9″ or 200 lbs).

For taller riders,the cruisers can be a major concern.  Even at the very average height of 5′9″, I could not maneuver the Honda Rebel through tight chicanes without standing on my footpegs a bit and sliding my ass up to near the passenger seat.  The cruisers possess an angled handlebar configuration that has the ends pulled in very near the tank on the sharpest turns, and the knees of my jeans are still stained with black rubber marks from the handle grips, even despite my conscious effort to narrow my knees as much as possible.  One alternative, which I don’t recommend unless you absolutely have to, is to ride with knees out when in turns to give a bit more room.  My instructor in a hush-hush manner suggested it to me and it works, partially.  I was able to turn the handlebars in on a sharp turn with substantial concentration being wasted on my own body-awareness, but managed to get a wrinkle in my jeans caught in the handlebar when straightening out, causing the very dangerous situation of having my right knee thrown off the footpeg (and the rear brake pedal).  Not a ton of fun.  If you can do the splits on a motorcycle, perhaps it won’t be an issue for you, but I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND gripping the tank with your thighs at all times for stability’s sake.  Standing on your footpegs or riding with knees angled as obtusely as my limited flexibility allows, through SHARP TURNS AND CHICANES no les, is only meant for idiots intent on failing the course.

The CBR125R and the CFR150 will be difficult to ride for anyone who falls on the heavier side, I suspect. I am about 150lbs so can only guess, but the bikes are very small and the rider will be very nearly the weight of the bike (the CBR125R is 280lbs wet). I suspect that will substantially effect it’s handling characteristics, suspension loading, and it’s acceleration/braking performance.

If you are on the shorter side (once again, very liberally, say under 5′5″), try to make sure you can get both feet on the ground flat-footed while straddling the bike seat.  The lowest bikes will be the cruisers, probably the Honda Rebel in particular.  The smaller dirt bikes (the mystery phantom 160cc, or the Honda CRF150) would be my first choice, if I were in this category.  If I could not stand comfortably, then I’d consider the cruisers.

For women (sorry to stereotype, but … c’mon) in particular, the cruisers can present a challenge.  They are heavy and very difficult to maneuver at low speeds, though they provide FANTASTIC ass support.  The ass-fatigue savings will likely be offset by the extra effort required to push and steer the bike, as well as (hopefully not too often) when picking the bike up off the ground.  Women who are taller than 5′5″ should try to find one of the high-demand CBR125Rs, or the CRF150.  Since the CBR125Rs will be by far the most popular, use any feminine wiles you may command (not a bad idea to make sure you look hot before the first day of riding) to bikejack a CBR125R from one of the more desperate-looking guys.

See which motorcycle is best for your height, weight, and gender *Thank you, Christopher Hueston, for the input!

Table 1. Handy chart to make life easier.  Please note that I have abided to the “My baby is a ****” colour keying system.

Please understand that not choosing one of these bikes doesn’t make it impossible to pass the course (many of my classmates didn’t fit my matrix, but did pass the course), but it does make things more difficult and more frustrating, which impugns upon your ability to attend to the appropriate lessons and enjoy the ride.

(***BEEF #2***) I don’t see why the instructors can’t foresee this problem and make sure that certain odd-sized people (taller, shorter, heavier, and weaker) get first dibs on bike selection, and guide them through the process.  A 5′6″ 140 lb male will have no trouble with any of the bikes available, however there might only be one or two bikes a 5′0″ 100lb tall female or a 6′2″ 205 lb male could possible ride.  Just seems strange to have bike choice priority be granted arbitrarily rather than with some fairly obvious needs in mind.  I would have personally selected the CBR125R (as I intend to buy one anyways), however I was in group #4, hence the 16th-20th person to select a bike.  All the CBR125Rs were selected my the younger males in the first two groups (naturally).  I believe my poor bike selection effected my performance in the course, but I cannot say I have nearly as much reason to complain as others.  There are certain body types that will be at a huge disadvantage, as my chart shows.  I think the course could really use a smaller dirt bike for short/light women.  It is almost impossible for them to navigate with the weight of a cruiser or touch the ground on any of the other bikes.  I do not know if there is an active attempt to filter out participation by those who fit this description, but North American motorcycle manufacturers are getting better at accommodating smaller riders and female riders (just seems like a very neglected demographic and really unfair oversight); I don’t see why a bike or two couldn’t be purchased to make passing the course even close to fair for a small female rider.

ADVICE: Try to choose the lightest bike you can stand comfortable on and avoid cruisers unless you really have to.  Sport bikes look cool, but they’re not all that different to ride than the mountain bikes.  And the Buell has many advantages, however be aware that it’s throttle will be a bit more sensitive due to its greater engine displacement (twice that of the next largest bike despite being likely lighter than the cruisers).  Cruisers are really built for highway ‘cruising’, andyou will be at a SIGNIFICANT disadvantage during low speed maneuvers, the entirety of the course.

BASIC LESSONS

The course’s first goal will be to familiarize you with the bike’s controls.  Learn a good sequence of initializing the bike and turning it off.

Next will be working on the balance.  This will involve walking the bike along (standing to the left of the bike with both hands on the handlebars, and pushing the bike along) and riding with the engine off and the gearing in neutral while a fellow student pushes you.  I believe I was the onyl one who was unable to even accurately complete a turn in this section, which says a lot about how low my initial skill level was.

ADVICE: Concentrate on understanding the balance required at different speeds, and the amount of force needed to turn at low speeds.  Make sure you keep your knees tight to the bike as it helps stabilize it, as well as communicate the bike’s movement to your body, and also make sure not to overgrip or lean your weight on the handlebars.  It is  easier to maintain stability through maneuvers without communicating every movement through a tense grip, and it is much easier to move the handlebars with precision absent your weight on them.

FIRST GEAR

After you have felt the bike roll through a turn, they’ll teach you how to start the engine.  You will remain in first gear, so you should be able to alternate entirely between fully depressing the clutch and rolling in first gear.  These will just be straight-line maneuver at first, where you walk your bike to turn it around and go again, but eventually low speed 90 degree right and left turns will be rehearsed

ADVICE: Concentrate on improving your clutch control.  Try to find a good friction point (where some energy is being transferred to the wheels, while the clutch is still depressed slightly).  This is very important in starting the bike without stalling, gear shifting, and certain braking maneuvers.  Also attend to practicing braking with precision, coming to a complete stop just after some sort of landmark/line on the ground (so that your wheel is over it, but not actual in contact with it).  The most difficult act worth practicing at this point would be starting your bike without stalling.  Try to find a quick way to get your bike from a resting stop in first gear (with the clutch fully depressed and rear brake engaged) to a nice rolling speed with smooth throttle-propelled acceleration.  Remember to always keep your head up and looking towards your objective, perhaps except when you’re braking into a target spot on the ground.

SECOND GEAR AND UP

Here’s the fun stuff.  You will be instructed on how to shift gears (very easy lesson, I felt… the only lesson my slow ass picked up immediately).  When up to speed in second gear (usually low- to mid-second gear), you will have enough speed to really feel a difference in the handling and stability of the vehicle.  After some time. they will let you practice leaning. Leaning, or “push steering” as the instructors call it (since you are effectively pushing with against the handlebar on the side you wish to turn towards), is simply just tilting your body towards the INSIDE of the turn and letting the gyroscopic forces keep you and the bike up while using your changed center of gravity to point the bike towards the turn.  It sounds complicated, and probably is if you were to build a robot to do it, but feels extremely intuitive and is easy to grasp.

Then they’ll let you go up to third gear and practice downshifting/engine braking.  As the RPMs quickly escalate after a downshift, as the wheel rotation is higher through the gears than the engine speed, the engine’s high-compression will cause resistance at the wheels, slowing the wheels down.  This is an excellent way to slow down to a more controllable speed without making as sudden a move as a nervous braking might lead to.

Quick stops will be practiced as well, utilizing both downshifting, the rear brake, and (if you misjudge), your big left shoe.  Try to brake quickly without causing wheel slip, and accurately.

ADVICE: Practice shifting gears quickly with a confident, hard toe-kick to the gear shift.  When you are rolling at a good speed, it is usually safe to ‘drop’ the clutch (as in release it abruptly) after hitting the foot gearshift.  This way you don’t end up coasting on the clutch, wasting time when you could be accelerating or engine-braking.  To practice accurate braking, try to do the emergency brake within the space provided, repeating until the instructor says you are braking quickly enough, then trying to find a landmark at roughly that location and stopping at that landmark every time. REMEMBER, if you’re having trouble leaning, get a bit more speed and just trust your bike. Look at where you want to go, straighten your elbow just a little bit, on the same arm as the direction in which you intend to turn, and go.  Probably over-thinking about it is the only way to mess up a lean.  In reality, you’re only leaning <10 degrees though it feels like 30 degrees, so don’t feel afraid.

ULTIMATE COMBO!

Now that you can do everything, can you do them at the same time?  I believe this lesson began on Sunday (the last day of instruction) for me, and was a tremendous amount of fun.  They will now conduct you through maneuvers that require multiple actions to be strung together, such as a quick upshift, then downshift, then turn, then stop.  Or even executed at the same time, such as an emergency stop (using the front brake in addition to the rear!) while in a lean.  The most difficult maneuver to execute for most riders will be the chicane, requiring you to make a sharp turn one way, then a sharp turn the other.  It can be very difficult to do so in a controlled manner, within a specified ‘roadway’ approximately 3.5 ft – 4 ft wide.

ADVICE: Don’t be too dismayed by your performance in the chicane.  It is a difficult maneuver that is heavily reliant on a small wheelbase motorcycle.  I saw very few cruisers complete it flawlessly, and I only managed to do so once while standing on my pegs.  Just concentrate on making moves instinctively and fluidly, and planning ahead before you even get going so that you have your feet and hands at the ready.  Also remember to keep your hands off the clutch unless you’re using it: It helps stability to have your hand on the actual handgrip entirely, especially if you run over a bump. AND TRY NOT TO UNLEARN ANY OF YOUR PREVIOUS LESSONS! (Like I did…)

NEXT… THE TEST!

The test is not very hard, and approximately 22/30 people passed it in their first attempt in my group.  The others will mostly take the single allowed retry for an additional $50 fee this coming weekend, and probably 3-4 more will pass for something approaching a 90% course pass rate (including the allowed retry).  And the makeup of the test is… SECRET! Sorry, I won’t disclose it just because it may affect the way you approach the lessons of the instructors.  After all, the instructors are teaching you to become good riders, not to pass a test.  This isn’t high school where they’re just trying to hit a quota; I honestly believe the instructors care that you don’t get killed out there.  In my class, and probably for all of them, the last group (riding the dregs of the lot) got to test first, and the CBR teams went last.

ADVICE: Most people seem to fail because they are too cautious and go to slowly (as I did), do something stupid (as I did:  I popped it into neutral on an upshift by accident, my third time the whole weekend out of a hundred upshifts sadly had to occur on the test) , or had an argument with their motorcycle (as I did, in regards to my distracting incompatibility with the machine… I let it bother me a bit too much during the final hours of instruction working on the chicane).  The test does provide ample room for error and even with my poor performance, I was within a missed-upshift from passing it.  Sadly, I did fail, and I do largely blame the bike choice for it, but I think I definitely should have passed it regardless.  I just spent too much time trying to ride with my knees open or my weight shifted entirely off the seat, wasting time I should have been actually practicing proper riding techniques.  So: Relax, ride fast, make confident movements whether with the gearshift, clutch, or brakes, and PLAN OUT YOUR ACTIONS BEFORE STARTING THE TEST COURSE. There’s no need to panic if you know what you’re going to do.  And remember to keep your heads up and eyes at your objective.  There’s no point trying to adjust the bike to things that are beneath you as it’s too late, and it will cause you to lose speed and stability.

Most of all: HAVE FUN! Everyone else will be.

Full disclosure:  I failed the course my first try, sadly, but just a bit.  I, and most others, it appears, expected me to pass but I made 2-3 errors I really didn’t think were characteristic of me (going too slowly, and kicking my bike into neutral rather than 2nd).  I believe a large part of my poor performance was my slow rolling starts.  As I was overly cautious about stalling my bike, I tended to leave my clutch in the friction point without applying much throttle for far too long.  Had I not done that, or had I not hit neutral, I believe I would have just passed.  As is, since I absolutely need the large insurance break the completed course would provide (about 25% off), and since there’s only one re-attempt allowed without having to re-take the course entirely, I’ve decided to take no chances and just buy a CBR125R for myself, acquaint myself to it for a week in parking lots and empty roadways near my home, and re-take the test the weekend after expecting a perfect score.  As much as I believe I can pass the course on the Honda Rebel CBX250cc, I still feel there’s too much uncertainty in it.  I could easily totally lose my line in a slow turn on the Rebel, and then have to re-invest $400 into a much-less-interesting second go-around for the course.  I’ll just practice a bit on my own CBR125R, and then re-take the test on one of their’s.

Now the sexy stuff:  STATS!

Though I am a firm believer that statistics are frequently (and easily! as I may show here) abused, and that my memory is imperfect — nor was I even actively trying to record these details — I do think there’s a fairly poignant message in some of these stats.

Numbers Passed by Bike, Gender, and Group (Total Pass Rate 73.3%)

Please note that this based on a very small subject pool, and furthermore, is all from memory, unlike those fancy schmancy ‘accurate’ stats, but I do suspect it might mean a few things (***FINAL BEEF***):

1) Bikes DO matter, though anyone can pass the course on any bike.  I just wouldn’t bet a 5′0″, 95 lb girl passing on the CBR125R without being able to put her feet flat on the ground.

2) Ladies have it tough.  An average-sized woman can easily pass the course on a CBR125R or either of the smaller dirt bikes (I wouldn’t recommend the Buell as much due to it’s higher engine power), however if a woman is on the shorter side, and doesn’t have great strength to make up for it, I really wouldn’t recommend she even take a course with this motorcycle selection.  It would be frustrating, educational, but it’d be an uphill ride to licensing.  Anyone who would require riding the cruisers would also be at a fair disadvantage, as the stats (and my experience, and general conceptions about cruisers at low speeds) would suggest.

3) Groups/instructors may matter.  There was certainly a fair bit of displeasure within my group (also known as “the group that contributed to half the fails for the entire course”, or “The Shitty Group”, for short).  I felt that I learned more high-value information from the few  minutes of consultation with another instructor than the two days I spent with my instructor, as harsh as that may sound, but I still think I should have passed.  One girl in my group I thought should have passed and did do better than me, but it seems her nerves may have gotten the better of her.  Another gentleman in my group failed but had a chance had he been on an easier to steer bike (he was on a Rebel, as was I).  Being on the Rebel seemed to kill his confidence and he never seemed brave enough to attempt higher speeds or confidently enter a low speed sharp turn.  Not to mention some very frequent stalls (I stalled many times during practice as well, however I had no idea if that was characteristic of the Rebel and it’s high weight/power ratio).  The only person that did pass in my group was a very gregarious gentleman who I believe had been riding dirt bikes for three years already (and selected a dirt bike for the course).  We definitely had a chance to have zero passes in my group, had it not been for our prodigy, however we easily could have had three passes as well.  Also, the order of bike choice and testing was dependent on your group number.  My thoughts on bike selection have been stated earlier however I do not believe the testing order made a huge difference, as every had to wait at least an hour and as many as three hours between practice and testing.