Well guys, as of Saturday morning, I am now an officially licensed motorcycle operator in Pennsylvania. You might recall that after my recent scooter purchase, I had said I was going to take one of the state motorcycle safety courses that also included a waiver of the driving test requirement at the DMV.
Well, long story shot, every single MC safety class in the state is COMPLETELY BOOKED. Seems the pandemic has made riding so popular there is a wave of new riders and not enough slots to accommodate them in the training classes. So, with the 15-hour safety class not an option, I simply made an appointment with the local DMV office to take my "motorcycle skills test" and have my permit privileges upgraded to a full motorcycle endorsement on my driver's license.
The "test" consisted of exactly two items:
1. Making three figure 8s inside a painted box without putting your foot down on the ground, and,
2. Weaving in and out of some cones, accelerating out of them and then coming to a quick stop.
It literally took me two minutes to complete the test, and within another 10 minutes, I had my update card in hand and was on my way.
Still would have been nice to get some pro training, but at this point, there isn't much incentive to take the basic course. They do offer an intermediate-level class, so perhaps after riding this season, I'll look into that for 2022 and see if there are some spaces available.
Closing this out with a gratuitous pic of my scoot. Honda did not see fit to include any body decorations on the U.S. version of the ADV 150, so I ordered some OEM Honda decals from the Thailand version and installed them this past weekend. I felt like the plain black/silver color scheme needed just a little "something" and was very pleased with how this turned out.
