[Flieger]

Originally Posted by Noah930

To get a motorcycle license, all you need to do is pass a written test (to get your permit) and then a riding test (to get your license). Or, in place of the riding test you can pass a MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) course. The permit allows you to ride on the street, but I think there are restrictions such as you must ride only during the day, no passengers, and there has to be another licensed motorcyclist (on another motorcycle) riding with you. That's theoretically how you practice for the riding test.

MSF has beginner (and advanced) classes. Universally recommended, as in: you're an idiot for not doing it. It's pretty short, with maybe 2 classroom sessions and 2 range sessions. Not expensive. I may have done it years ago at either Pierce or Valley College--they probably offer it closer to your home, too. If you pass the course (almost everybody does) you can avoid taking the riding test at the DMV. You still have to take the DMV permit (paper) exam, though. You don't need a motorcycle for the MSF course, as they will set you up on a beginner-type bike (125 or 250 cc) for the range days. These MSF courses are often pretty popular, so they may be booked out 3 or 4 months in advance.

Once you pass that (and have your license), you'll feel woefully unprepared to ride a bike on the street. That's good, as it's a healthy reminder of your newbie-level skills. It's the people who feel confidently invincible that are imminent dangers to themselves. So then you just start riding. You drive a manual-tranny car and you ride a bicycle, so you have a knowledge of traffic patterns and know how you're often invisible to cages. Go ride in residential neighborhoods at off hours. Weekend mornings, for example. Use empty parking lots.

There are track days for all sorts of levels. Even a beginner motorcyclist would benefit from learning bike control in the relatively safe environment of a track. But then you would have to figure out a way to get the bike to and from Willow, for example.

Thanks. I suppose I am most nervous about having all that extra weight and making sure I stop where I can put my feet down to keep from tipping over. That and the shifting.