This past weekend my wife and I took the Basic Rider Course, offered by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, which is sponsored by the U.S. manufacturers and distributors of BMW, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Piaggio/Vespa, Suzuki, Vengeance, Victory, and Yamaha motorocyles.
If you are thinking about riding, or currently ride, I would recommend this course. It is over three days, and contains knowledge as well as skills portions. But the emphasis is on skills - especially learning to ride effectively and safely.
The instructors were very experienced riders and knew what they were talking about. Since the class is aimed at new riders, we started out just learning how to get on the bike properly, but by the end of the course we were doing figure 8's and hard stops while in a curve.
It was a very challenging course and not everyone made it through (my wife and I did). But I would rather someone fail the course than fail out on the street. Motorcycling is not for everyone, and it is better to learn in a safe and structured environment (on someone else's bike :-) than on your own.
But even if you don't ride, I would recommend the course because it would help people who only drive cars appreciate the need to watch out for motorcyles and their riders.
If you want more information, check out www.msf-usa.org.
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