Modern Vespa

well, failed again for the second time to pass the California riding skills test, this time my front wheel went out of the inner circle, i cant seem to pass this thing. i get all psyched out when i have to take the test and tense up i cant relax, they make u wait for an hour when u get to the dmv and if u make one mistake youre disqualified. it doesnt help that the nearest dmv with a course is an hour away, makes practicing and testing more of an ordeal. Tried to set up a practice course in a local parking lot but its not easy when the rain keeps erasing your chalk marks.

Take a Motorcycle Safety Foundation basic training class. In most states this will get you your motorcycle endorsement. It's usually 2 1/2 days combined classroom and riding. They will help you work through your issues. You'll be a better rider for it.

yeah $350 tho

What does the test cost to take?

How much is your life worth? Or just avoiding an injury?
It's a good return on investment.

Life sometimes gives us a choice. In your case, just now, it seems like a weekend and $350 to learn a lot (I took the MSF course and it was super helpful), or another time or two, or three of performance anxiety.

The MSF course I took was on scooters by the way, no clutches.
Highly recommended.

Keep your head up and look where you want to go. That's the best bit of advice I learned in the MSF course. Keep up the practice, take the course if you possibly can, and good luck!

I rode before MSF existed and paid in injuries. Take the class.

Education is always a good investment. You can study, practice, and hope you pass next time. Or, you can get some rider education (MSF or similar) and find out what you need to know to ride safe AND come away with the paperwork to get your license. Many insurance companies offer a discount if you have taken an MSF course.

Money well spent.

Chalk marks? Get thee to a sporting goods store and pick up some soccer cones! The smaller ones will fit in a top case or backpack.

In my state, the BRC also got me a moto insurance discount for 3 years. Take certificate to insurance company as proof of completion so they can make a copy for your record. Depending on how much your insurance is, that might recoup the cost of the course.

Take the course, learn new skills. I took it at a California Jr College. If you pass that course, you get your license. It was several evening of course work and a couple (I think) days of riding. They show you all the skills needed to pass the test. And then you ride the course using all those skills. At the end of the last day, they put you thru the riding test. They give you feedback and a signed certificate if you pass. You bring the certificate to DMV to get a new license with a Class M1 license. They use their motorcycles at the course I took so if you drop it, its no big deal, the bikes were all a little banged up anyway. They used 175-250cc motorcycles with clutches. There were 16 people in my class. Many had never ridden a clutch before. All the riding was in a parking lot. You never rode in the street. Everyone learned and I think everyone passes the test.

Go do the class. You won't regret it.

Miguel

Practice, practice, practice.

Over my career a lot of the jobs I went to required a make or break welding test regardless of whether you were certified or not, or how many years of experience you had.

One place I worked just east of St Louis in Illinois was notorious for failing really good welders. I got the call from the hall and went to take the test at the beginning of the shift with about 28 other people.

Union job we have scheduled break times, at firs break when I came out of my welding booth I was shocked to find out myself and two others remained and we still had multiple opportunities to fail. Bechtel is really super ridiculous strict on testing requirements. Almost everyone fails the first time.

To a person everyone I met complained about the requirements, to a person everyone I met said it made us better welders, all of us. They raised the bar and we had to practice jumping.

I have often thought when observing idiots driving vehicles on the road the driving skills test is not near difficult enough. I don't mean to be unsympathetic but the fact is for a skilled rider that test is simple. Even if it is psychological for you that will go away with improving your skills.

greasy125 said something about pain of ownership is where the love of the vintage machines come from and it applies analogous here, you have to pay your dues and practice until it becomes easy enough that your confidence overcomes your mental blocks and you can pass.

No shame in not getting it as quick as some or starting from the beginning. Often times the welders that are the worst in their first welding class become one of the better ones just because they have to work at it really hard and they carry that work ethic through as they progress. I know because I are one!

I have heard it said that achieving a black belt means that once you have accomplished that you can begin to learn. With welding you are not going to get on the job until you pass the certification test and only when you get to the job and put 40 plus hours in a week of practice do you begin to learn. The practice you have to put in to pass the motorcycle skill test is just the same, you don't even qualify as a beginner until you can easily pass that test and then you still have so much more to learn, so much more practice to do. Don't quit, but don't complain about it being difficult or expensive brother this is the path...

Ok Ill take the course! Thanks all

it's $39 for written exam and 3 chances to pass the riding skills test after which you have to start over again.

Meanwhile you should practice tight handling. What I know is that it's very helpful to lightly drag the rear brake against a bit of power to the rear wheel while you are doing the move, a corner or a circle or a u-turn. When you go slowly and try to regulate power a scooter will want to surge forward a bit when the clutch engages. So, keep the clutch engaged against the rear brake and the scooter will feel very solid. It's hard to explain but when you get the balance right you'll know it.

I'm glad to hear you've decided to take the MSF course, you won't regret it! They will almost definitely be able to give you tips to teach you how to do those tight maneuvers which have been evading you on your own. I was a newbie to 2-wheel riding when I took the MSF in 2020, and I was surprised to discover that many things weren't "intuitive," like counter steering... I can't imagine how I would have learned those things without taking the course and getting the hands-on coaching.

Plus, when testing through the MSF, you do get a bit of wiggle room on errors-- some things are automatic-fail (like falling!), but most of the exercises seemed to have point values, and you had some do-over opportunities with many of them. I flubbed one of the stopping exercises twice-- the first time I didn't get up to the required speed before stopping, and the second time through, my foot got caught up in the footpeg, so I had to steer out and safely stop. They didn't give me a 3rd chance at that exercise, but I did well enough in the other phases that I passed anyway.

In California, some of the MSF locations have scooters and others only motorcycles. If you want to take the course purely on a scooter call around and you will find one. not that taking it on a motorcycle is a bad thing, but it's up to you.

caschnd1,

Same same here in Minnesota. If you take the basic safety course it passes
you for the motorcycle endorsement.

I signed up for and took both the basic and advanced course. Well worth taking.
Within an hour, on the advanced course, they had me weaving between cones
at low speed one handed. Also, what Kraig noted on an earlier post - turn your head
and look where you want the scoot to go. Saved my bacon more than once.

I do not recall the courses being so expensive. They may be pricy if you use
the motorcycles provided by the course administrators.

So, be cool and go to school.

Bob Copeland

take the course.

the basic dmv course is extremely easy to pass for someone who has been trained thru a MSF class. you need to learn the proper skills or be a statistic later

Tell them Modern Vespa sent you and see if they'll give you a 15% discount

CaliScooterGuy

Wanted a refresh after being away from riding for several years and signed up for the MSF class this weekend in San Jose.

Took this class many years ago while living in Florida and it was the right choice for me as a new rider, saved my bacon on two occasions.

Only now the class portion (x2) is via ZOOM 6-9p, ride time (x2) is 7-12noon, Th, Sat, Sun.

I remember enjoying the class room time in person, our instructors where quite the comedy team and it made the day go by fast.

Understandably, times have changed and I am actually cool with sitting at home eating dinner and learning more about riding.

Assuming you have already spent money on riding gear look at the MSF course as another if not the most important protection you can buy.

Good luck!

I do not know about classes in CA, but in Illinois where I took my classes, while there were classes you could pay for, the state sponsored a number of classes which cost about $20, which would be refunded after the class, but most people donate it. I took both the beginner and intermediate class. With the beginner class almost everybody got their motorcycle license, as did I. But more important, as everybody has said, you learn a lot from the class, that may save your ass someday. While riding is fun there is danger and being properly trained makes a lot of sense. Now the classes were very popular so I had to spend a lot of time on the internet to get scheduled but it was worth it. Hope this helps

I'll add one more to the chorus of "Take the Course".

When my wife got her GTV a few years back she took it and I'm glade she did! She had rode mini-bikes and small motorcycles off-road a little as a teen but never on the road.

To major advantages of taking the course I see are: first hopefully the instructors have been trained in how to teach, that is very different from knowing how to do something itself! Second The instructor does not have to go home with the student so does not need to worry about hurting the students feelings.

Wife did have a little trouble as they used small motorcycles with clutches as opposed to scooters so that added a little more to the mix, but she handled it good. She had the advantage that in her younger years she actually drove a few cars with clutches so the basic principals were there already.

Shortly after getting her license she was out for a ride by herself and just as she crested a hill she see a dead dear laying across her lane of travel. As the course had included having them ride over 2X4's with the bike she just aimed at the legs and went over them just like the 2X4's in the class NO Problem!

Yup, do the training. I did the advanced motorcyclist course in the UK which is like the MSF on steroids, and it still took quite a bit of practice on the CA 'lollipop' to nail it good enough to pass the test. You have to feather the rear brake while going round the circuit on a CVT scooter, and both that rear brake and the clutch can get pretty hot... far easier on a small shifty scooter or motorcycle.

The MSF course will teach you all sorts of things you don't yet know you don't know - but they all contribute to greatly enhance your safety on the road.

Save up your money and find the time to do that course. Apart from anything else you'll find it very enjoyable.

jimc,

Spot on. After a number of years riding, the course taught me things I
didn't know I didn't know. Actually saved me on a tight curve that was
unsuspected and taken to fast with an on coming car. Tight right curve.
I moved my head (taught in the course), looked hard right and the scoot
took me there out of a front end impact. The vehicle was actually
cutting the turn into my lane. Was the safety course worth it - at
any price.

Bob Copeland

Take the course. They will teach you the skills to not go outside the inner circle. And how to deal with the crazies it there.

To this day, my favorite maneuver is the emergency stop in a curve, which my instructor affectionately called the "oh shit it's a moose!" maneuver. He had a great practical application story from riding near Canada to go with it.

I use bear instead of moose... I also have a story. The easy version was on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The difficult version involved my driveway and carport after dark, a neighbor's stinky trash, a HUGE black bear, and a stop plus a really tight 180 degree u-turn I don't think I could do again if I tried!

How much do you lose taking time off work to test and fail? At this point you've got failure in you head and that is hard to overcome. You need to work on skills. I know long term riders who take the MSF course to refresh their skills and always come away with something new or forgotten that helps their riding. You also typically get a discount on your insurance as well.

Or, borrow someone's Yamaha Vino 50. People who take the test on it, in States where it has to be plated as a motorcycle, usually pass. Then you can immediately go out and get a Gold Wing or Hayabusa and go down the road in style or at 160 mph.

Aren't US motorcycle licensing laws fun and sensible? Wouldn't it liven the roads up a bit if everyone took the test on a Vino 50 and then bought an R1?

You may have to face the possibility that scootering/motorcycling just isn't for you.

I can't knit for instance.

Check out motojitsu videos on YouTube. He's a great teacher and will help you a lot with your low speed maneuvers.

How many times have you actually tried to knit?
And I mean really tried to, like it mattered a lot.

I took the CMSP class, so I didn't have to do the lollipop exam. However, I've heard that a lot of people misunderstand that both wheels need to track in the circle the whole time, and that you only need to keep one inside.

If you take the MSF class not only will you be a more aware and better rider, you don't have to do the riding portion of the DMV test when applying for M1 at DMV, just the written.

Go ride the DMV test circle after hours. With sunset at 7pm and later, that's two hours a day for practice, plus all day on weekends- remember your permit daylight limitations.

To give you something to look forward to, there are some great rides around Jackson:

https://www.pashnit.com/ca-roads

I have a friend called Andrew who used to own a GTS250 and how he passed his test I honestly don't know.

He had no balance, rode through red lights and pulled out in front of cars at T junctions as he had a poor judge of speed and distance.

It was frightening to watch. I suggested that he calmed down and tried to hone his craft or he was going to have an accident. He honestly shouldn't have been riding.

On the way back from my place he hit a speed hump at the entry to a village and totalled the GTS and his face connected with the road giving him a Harry Potter like scar on his forehead.

Some people just don't have the ability to ride safely no matter how much training they have.

What is this "rain" you speak of? The combination of letters looks familiar but I can't fathom the meaning of the word.

Don't take this seriously. I wasn't a natural either. I failed my test too. Thought there was no chance in hell I would ever pass. The weird thing was I had ridden my scoot across town to the test just fine, I was just getting too in my head, like what you're describing. Got some practice in, came back and did just fine.

Fast forward 15 years and I would leave my cushy manager job with 3.5 weeks paid vacation to make a full time living self employed helping motorcyclists. Life is good. Just gotta give things time and practice.

No. take it seriously as I may have just saved your life.