Not a ride report

[kulwen]

This is not much of a ride report, rather a teaching report.

As some of you may know, I am a RiderCoach that avoids teaching on the Buell Blast motorcycle. I consider them unsafe for beginners who do not having riding experience. The community college I prefer to teach for runs three ranges, one of which is at the HD dealer using their bikes. The dealer was late turning in some paperwork to HD and was told they needed to wait two years to be approved for Riders Edge. Therefore, the dealer lets the college run the program on their parking lot and bikes.

This weekend the college only had two ranges scheduled and HD was not one of them. Mid-week I learned the main range was getting some cracks sealed and my class was move to HD. Not to happy about it, but I will make the best of it.

The other RiderCoach was teaching the Friday night portion so I met the class on Saturday morning. The other RiderCoach told me the class had a handful of dirt bike riders. This is good, maybe the class will not be two bad. Then I learned we have six students who have never been on a bike. I am now worried.

To make me a little more worried I learned one of the riders who have never ridden is part of a family, mother, son, and daughter. The mother (let us call her Sue) was not in the class because she wanted to learn, rather she lost a bet to her son.

On Saturday during exercise two (using the friction zone), three students who had never ridden were struggling. I am not talking about a typical student who struggles. These three ladies were really struggling. One was Sue, and we will call the other two Jane and Betty. We parked all the riders but these three and continued to work on if for an extra 20 minutes. During this exercise, Sue dropped the bike once.

Don’t miss understand me here. Sue is a great person to talk with and a pleasure to be around. However, she is not the not the smallest person I have ever taught. I was worried when she fell, but she jumped right up and was ready to go.

Exercise three (starting and stopping drill) was a bit stressful for these ladies, and two of the other new riders. As Sue was power walking to the line on the other side of the range I hear her RPMs climb, her feet are dragging the ground like skis, I yell “pull in the clutch”, and I see Sue’s feet leave the ground and the rear tire lifts of the ground a good two feet.

I thought for sure I was going to be filling out an accident report. I was wrong, the bike and rider dropped to the ground without falling over. She was a bit scarred and we talked about it. I was surprised the bike and the not so small Sue got that high in the air. I think to myself, I hate teaching riders with zero experience on these damn Buell Blasts! As we continue to work on the same exercise Jane and Betty and struggling with clutch control.

The other coach and I talk about our concerns with each other, and how we might need to send one or two students home early. We do not take this lightly, last year this coach and I taught 324 students together and only sent one home early for safety concerns. We decide to push on, as we do not want to send someone home, knowing if we were not using the Buell Blasts our concerns would be stalled bikes, not someone running off the range into a building of going over the handlebars.

Exercise eight (matching gears to speed) was another scare for us. We ran this exercise in first and second gear as the adjusted range and some safety concerns for us. Our triple cones are way to close to a curb and we wanted to bring the speed down some. As the other coach stops the students in a straight line to get the ready to return to the parking area I see Sue panic and the rear wheel lifted even higher off the ground. She landed it without dropping the bike.

That is it. We are done for the day. We will work on the stopping quickly exercise Sunday. We are also running about two hours behind. A short lunch is called and we hit the classroom.

Sunday morning the other coach and I give a lot of thought about the braking exercise and our concerns about stopping quickly for Sue, Jane, and Betty. We decide to see how it goes today. We send the students out for a few laps to warm up the bikes. While parking the bikes with the other coach in the staging area I see Sue’s rear tire lift again, engine RPMs climb, she starts to go over the front, rear wheel drops, out goes the clutch, front end lifts up and the small fairing catches her in the face (3/4 helmet), RPMs drop, front wheel touches the ground, front brake is locked, rear tire begins to spin and smoke, and the rear of the bike swings out putting the bike and Sue on the ground. Sue is okay, but a cut lip, inside and out. Hurt her pride more than anything.

Break time. Sue and I talk and I explain my concerns for her safety. The whole time thinking to myself, I would not be having this discussion with her and she would not have a cut lip and a sore knee if I were not using a Buell Blast, I hate these bikes.

Sue also decides it is wise for her to step out of the class. She is going to watch her kids ride the rest of the class from her car, with AC, I might add.

The other coach and I are still worried about Jane and Betty. We push on and pay close attention to the riders who concern us. Exercise 16 (avoiding hazards) Jane completed a swerve to the right and stops beside me for coaching. Her swerve was good. As the range is adjusted, there is only a single swerve lane open and the other coach is standing at the line with the students. Jane starts to make her right turn to head for the weave on the perimeter.

I am watching her turn and hear her RPMs go up. This is not something new, Jane has been revving the engine, but managing it with the clutch. A couple head pumps as she could not figure out where she should be looking, she target fixates on a building, pops the clutch, and off she goes. She hits the curb for the sidewalk in front of the building, up and over the handlebars she goes. Head first into the building! She comes to rest on the sidewalk and the bike came to rest on the sidewalk with her, on her leg.

She is appears to be fine, as I watch her kick the motorcycle with her free leg and begins to yell at the bike. I am walking over, calmly, and her husband comes running from the line of bike by the other coach. Well, it is time for another break.

Jane and I talk a bit and she is fine. Her leg is sore, but her pride is hurt more. The other coach and I agree to let her continue, as this was her first dropped bike. I think to myself, I have taught over 500 students and this is the second time I have had a student lose control and run off the range. The first time the student hit a bush and managed to get some good airtime, but landed it and got back on the range. This time was not so lucky. Of course, both times were on the Buell Blast!

We get everybody back on the range to continue the avoiding hazards exercise. We were just about to start part two where we add the stop signal. I call the first rider, he is coming down the range, up shifts to second gear, finds a steady speed, and I give the stop signal. He “grabs” the front brake and I see he is lifting in the air, I see the handlebars beginning to turn as I start to see the rear seat. He is continuing to rise in the air. He clearly is going to go over the handlebars. He lets go of the handgrips in anticipation of hitting the ground.

Oh crap, the bike is going to land on his back as it flips over. It does land his back, and falls off to the side. Let us call him Joe, he is one of the other riders with zero experience. He jumps up and tries to pick the bike up. His pride is hurt as his bother just witnessed this. He appears to be fine, but we are off to another break to calm everyone down and fill out more paperwork.

Every time I teach on the Buell Blasts I see front wheel skids and riders lift the rear wheel off the ground. How can these bikes be safe for beginners? How can a bike with this stopping power be a good “learner” bike? I cannot count the number of times I have seen someone pop a clutch on these bikes and the bike take off. I am not making this up, this is the only bike I am aware of that will routinely take off and not stall if the clutch is let go, no throttle needed.

Okay, let’s finish this class. With push on and complete the class. Only one student failed, Betty.

This is the most dropped bikes I have ever had in a single weekend. In fact, it is the most bikes I have had dropped in a month. Would I have this many dropped bikes on the 250cc bikes? No, I am very confident I would not have. Would I have had someone go over the handlebars on a 250cc bike? No, I am very confident I would not have. Would I have had a student go head first into a building (less then a foot from a window) on a 250cc bike? No, I am very confident I would not have.

I am also convinced there is more to it then a 250cc versus a 500cc bike. I have ridden more then a few 500cc bike and have not had a problem lifting the rear wheel off the ground during braking. However, I can very easily lift the rear wheel off the ground on the Buell Blast by accident. There is just something wrong when I weight 275lbs and lift the rear wheel so easily.

This will be the last time I teach on the Buell Blast. Period!!!

Just a side note, I really dislike the Buell Blast as a training bike.

 

[happyPuppy]

Wow what a class. Some of the stuff Wendy Moon points out in MCN I agree with, such as HD and its $$ bought its way into MSF with the OK to use the Blast, which clearly as you have related is too much bike for most to learn on.

 

[old&slow]

John T ,, WOW ,,

your report brought back lots of memories ,,, I did MSF for about 3 or 4 yrs.

Can't count the number of times my heart stopped ,, when I heard a engine rev.

and / or launch their 250 across the range or towards a hard object...

Can't even imagine what it would have been like if they had 500's,,,

A Very Scary Thought,,,,

The majority of the MSF instructors I worked with were very good ,, with some of them

being outstanding... ( plus it's a lot of hard work )

Dealing with the worry ,, the heart stopping launches ,, and the paper work was on thing..

then jumping thru all the loops for the state ,,, Just more than I wanted to deal with ..

My hat is off to the MSF instructor..

 

[Auburn]

Man am I glad the Blasts were not made when I taught. The biggest thing we used was a 250 shadow. Hated that bike too.

 

[nofreeride]

Question for you MSF instructors concerning the 250cc cruiser style motorcycles. In the class I took one guy left early and he was on the only cruiser style bike in the class, a Virago. He simply would not take his feet off the ground and put them on the pegs. In my wife's class, it was exactly the same thing. Only one student did not complete the class and she was on a 250 cruiser-style bike. My question is why do the instructors put the least experienced riders on the cruiser bikes, which puts the rider in an awkward, lean back riding position? Again, it just doesn't seem to be the best bike to learn on.

 

[old&slow]

Question for you MSF instructors concerning the 250cc cruiser style motorcycles. In the class I took one guy left early and he was on the only cruiser style bike in the class, a Virago. He simply would not take his feet off the ground and put them on the pegs. In my wife's class, it was exactly the same thing. Only one student did not complete the class and she was on a 250 cruiser-style bike. My question is why do the instructors put the least experienced riders on the cruiser bikes, which puts the rider in an awkward, lean back riding position? Again, it just doesn't seem to be the best bike to learn on.

In the classes I was involved with ,, we had a variety of bikes styles ,,, majority being

standards (like the honda 250 nighthawk ) and cruiser ( like the 250 honda rebel )..

(we also had other brands ,, those are just the ones I remember off-hand)

Sometimes a rider coach would make a suggestion ,, but the student picked their bikes..

Some folks didn't want any thing but a cruiser type bike,,

 

[CHRIS_D]

Question for you MSF instructors concerning the 250cc cruiser style motorcycles. In the class I took one guy left early and he was on the only cruiser style bike in the class, a Virago. He simply would not take his feet off the ground and put them on the pegs. In my wife's class, it was exactly the same thing. Only one student did not complete the class and she was on a 250 cruiser-style bike. My question is why do the instructors put the least experienced riders on the cruiser bikes, which puts the rider in an awkward, lean back riding position? Again, it just doesn't seem to be the best bike to learn on.

I agree I don't like cruiser bikes as a training bike. Thanks god I don't have to worry about those Blasts. :dribble: :dribble: We have few Honda rebels in my program, which IMO aren't harder to ride, however they can be awkward to maneuver at times if you have long legs. If I had a choice I wouldn't use the cruiser at all, but I don't since at the site that I teach we have to use at least one Rebel per class (there's only so many bikes). If there's no vertically challenged riders I usually just ask for a volunteer to ride it instead of assigning it to someone.

 

[Silver Penguin]

My question is why do the instructors put the least experienced riders on the cruiser bikes, which puts the rider in an awkward, lean back riding position? Again, it just doesn't seem to be the best bike to learn on.

I'm still a new rider coach, so am learning techniques from the more experienced folks. There seems to be a couple of ways to assign bikes. Most common is to let the students choose. Another way is to line up both the students and the bikes in size order. That way, the cruisers (with their typically low seat heights) usually go to the shortest riders. Bear in mind that not everyone feels that the cruise position is awkward.

As for the Buell Blasts, I agree 100%. That is absolutely NOT the bike for a rookie to learn on. There are plenty of things to challenge a new rider without adding the extra problems described. My favorite bikes are Suzuki's little GN125, for the smaller riders and the Honda Nighthawk for the taller folks. There are several other bikes that work well on the range too, but the Buell and also the Ninja 250 are not the best choice.

 

[SPORT]

WOW! Sounds similar to some of my own experiences..though not quite as extreme.

I've taught double doubles the last 5 weekends now and two of the courses had several incidents leaving students either under a chain link fence or slammed on the ground in an attempt to avoid a wall. Fortunately the injuries were no more than some lacerations and some bruised ego's. however, every one of them was due to a panic situation.

None of these ended with the rear wheel going head over heals (no Buells). If this is a potential issue, then I would agree, they should be removed. The Eliminator, GZ's, Nighthawks and DR's are what we use and have served extremely well.

As to the feet not being on the pegs, it doesn't matter what typ of bike their on, if they are uncomfortable with balancing, they will drop their feet and act like their the Flinstones...no matter what bike they ride. I teach them to turn it into a game and see if they can make the wheels stop moving before putting their feet down. It seems to work a little.

 

[Fred W]

This is some crazy, scary stuff. Running into walls head first, popping wheelies and brakies...

Maybe they should make everyone ride a small dirt bike off the pavement first?

 

[bandit]

I have only had one student on a blast. I think they are terrible learner bikes for the same reason you stated. I dont have trouble with cruisers or standards, Only other bike that was extremely tippy was the older ninja 250. I dont care for them either. Sine I teach only on a military base without having student bike, The students often borrow someones beter bike or bring theri own. I get do do all my demos on my FJR. Its not the way the MSF intended it, But we have to work with what we have. We are persuing dealer bikes , but for now, its bring your own.