Oficially Licensed

[leomagnus]

PA-

If you get up to RI this summer and I am around, I would be happy to lend you my Kymco Xciting 400i for some rides around RI. I will be gone from June 28 to July 14th. But other than that, its a great bike to ride around the beach areas. Let me know. I keep my bike at St. Rita's Church garage in Oakland Beach, Warwick.


Dean

[pa-outdoorsman]

PA-

If you get up to RI this summer and I am around, I would be happy to lend you my Kymco Xciting 400i for some rides around RI. I will be gone from June 28 to July 14th. But other than that, its a great bike to ride around the beach areas. Let me know. I keep my bike at St. Rita's Church garage in Oakland Beach, Warwick.


Dean

That is a very generous offer of you. I think I would be too afraid to let anything happen to your bike to actually borrow it, but I am grateful for your offer. I do plan to get up there at some point. If it wasn't such a hassle to trailer my scooter and then pay however much extra it costs to take it on the ferry, I'd bring it along and go cruise Block Island.

[leomagnus]

Well, it is fully insured, so the offer is there if you change your mind. I am not worried about you crashing it. I am getting an AK550 at the end of the summer anyways

Dean

[Stig / Major Tom]

(Regarding pa's brother....he lies about a mile from the beach. Does he get more & more truthful as he nears the shore?)

Stig (with Indian Monsooned Malabar coffee beans in his arteries)

[pa-outdoorsman]

(Regarding pa's brother....he lies about a mile from the beach. Does he get more & more truthful as he nears the shore?)

Stig (with Indian Monsooned Malabar coffee beans in his arteries)

Har har. He lives about a mile from the beach. I suppose he could tell an u truth just about anywhere.

[jak51]

I'm a former MSF and Ohio DOT motorcycle safety instructor.  Remember that one of the long-term benefits to completing a motorcycle safety course is that your carrier offers a significant discount off your motorcycle insurance premium.  Just make sure you have a certificate of completion when you request the discount.

Jeff

[pa-outdoorsman]

I'm a former MSF and Ohio DOT motorcycle safety instructor.  Remember that one of the long-term benefits to completing a motorcycle safety course is that your carrier offers a significant discount off your motorcycle insurance premium.  Just make sure you have a certificate of completion when you request the discount.

Jeff

Yes, that would be a motivation for taking the intermediate level course next year. However, a full year of coverage is only about $165 as it is. The basic course includes a waiver of the state skills test and an automatic addition of your motorcycle endorsement to your license. But since I no longer need that, I would think the intermediate class would be more interesting and would still get me the discount. Also interesting that the discount is only good for three years from the time you take the course. So, after three years, I guess I could go back for the advanced class.

[jak51]

All of what you said is correct.  However, for riders on bigger bikes, the yearly premium is significantly more expensive, and the discount more meaningful.  In Ohio, successful completion of the beginner's course results in a motorcycle endorsement added to your driver's license.  I was not real comfortable in holding the responsibility of issuing a motorcycle endorsement to a new rider who had minimal experience on the road.  I did it for a few years, then I "retired" and stopped teaching courses.

I always recommend that every rider should take a refresher course - whether it be the beginner's course or experienced rider's course - every couple of years.  And if you can get into an experienced rider's course at the beginning of each season, it's a great way to start off your riding season.

Jeff

[Kansas kymco]

Jak51- When a good friend's son wanted to get a motorcycle I offered to pay for the course. The son had absolutely zero experience on riding a motorcycle.  He took the course and wouldn't accept my reimbursement.   I grew up riding motorcycles getting my first wore out used bike at 10yo for $35.. Learned a lot through the college of hard knocks.

[jak51]

Yep, I, too, started riding young when I was a teenager in 1966.  A little Honda 50 step through.  No experience, lots of "learning opportunities."  Fortunately, never a major accident.  Finally got my endorsement riding a Honda Hawk in the early 70's well after I already had my driver's license.  Graduated to bigger bikes, especially touring bikes, and have ridden in all of the 48 contiguous states.  It's been quite a journey.

It's the college of hard knocks you refer to that I wish every new rider could avoid by taking a beginner's course prior to purchasing their first bike.  When I became an MSF certifies instructor in the 80's, training programs were starting to take off.  Hopefully, I was able to help my students avoid serious issues after course completion.  One can only hope that's the case.

Jeff