Motorcycle Safety Course - Broken Arrow Oklahoma - $FREE

[iflyvfr]

Have any fellow Oklahomans taken this course? I have signed up for the basic course on 9/30/18. It's for experienced riders and I'll be riding my ST. The basic course is a prerequisite needed to sign up for the advanced class later.

I planned to pay for training since I'm back in the saddle now, but you can't beat free. I'll post a review after 9/30 and let you know what I get out of it. Thanks to Broken Arrow PD for offering this to the community.
Broken Arrow Motorcycle Safety Course


-Eric
07 ST1300

 

[drtyrrel]

Good on them! It's probably similar to the MSF BRC-2 class. I took an ARC in Dallas taught by a Motor officer. Great class with a different perspective from a police officer that makes a living riding a motorcycle vs. your average Ridercoach.

 

[okckeith]

I took one with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol a few years back. I’ll t was also free. It was a very good class. Plus it gives you a 10% discount on your insurance.

 

[iflyvfr]

Thanks Keith. I'm going to remind myself to call my insurance company for that discount. I'm looking forward to that class and think it will help me get out of the comfort zone that is already developing for me on the ST.

 

[iflyvfr]

I completed the course on Sunday. I found this video online which does a better "review" of my experience than I could do here in my own words. Although the video is from Edmond, this course was nearly identical. There were 17 students yesterday in Broken Arrow, OK. I was the only rider on a sport-touring bike. In addition, there were two riders on lighter weight street bikes, one was a Yamaha FZ01. The remaining 14 bikes were all heavy weight cruisers, mostly Harleys of course.
The day started out easy with clutch friction zone work. I will list the maneuvers I remember practicing:

basic circles in both directions.
basic slalom
offset cone slalom
braking in a straight line
turning left or right from a stop with the handlebar fully locked in the left or right position
counter-steering obstacle avoidance
braking in a turn (or more accurately, braking in a straight line having just been in a turn)
a box U-turn (2 parking spaces wide)
a tight figure-8

I was quietly amused by all the bikes going down. I recall at least 8 bikes dropped. The full-lock left or right turn from a stop caught a few of us by surprise (it got me!) I am now in the tipover club Sure, I was slightly embarrassed but glad to know I can dismount unwillingly and survive at low speed unscathed.

Here's my main take-away: All of the above requires practice. Especially in my case, tight u-turns and tight figure 8s. I'm going to make an effort to throw in some practice on a regular basis whenever I can find some time an an empty parking lot. Cones are nice but not really needed at all for practice. By the end of the day I was making the tight u-turns and the tight figure 8's.

Thanks to Bygdawg's tipover bars my 07 doesn't have a scratch on it from the drop on Sunday. However, had I remembered how much I paid for the Bygdawgs, to be honest, I should have wrapped them in heater-hose or something prior to taking this class. Some gloss black paint will make the damage hard to spot.

I think I will make it a personal goal to attend a class every year or two. Graduating this "basic" class for experienced riders is a prerequisite to be able to sign up for the advanced class.

Overall it was a great day. I rode 2 hours there, attended the course between 9am and 3pm and rode home another 2 hours. I sure love my "new" ST.

 

[okckeith]

Glad you took the course. I thought it was a good class when I took it. I need to take it again.
I was probably just ahead of you coming home Sunday on my ST. I came through Tulsa around 3:00. I think the ST was in a hurry to get home. I was having an extremely hard time keeping it down to the posted 75 mph speed limit.

 

[iflyvfr]

Keith I left broken arrow at about 3 PM but I never caught up to you although I must say at times I may have been in excess of the posted speed limit it is kind of hard to go slow on a wide-open turnpike with good pavement that’s for sure!