We avoided the big rain yesterday in Houston and I got in my Experienced Rider Course over at Mancuso HD on the west side of town. There were six motorcyclists in the course. There was my F6B, an HD Electra Glide Ultra Classic, an HD Softtail Breakout, an HD Wide Glide, a Yamaha 1300 Stryker (bike I traded for my Honda) and a BMW R 1200 that would not start or run worth a crap.
I was late to the event as driving through downtown Damascus would have been easier than driving through west Houston these days. But it allowed for a grand entrance as I drove through the barrier cones and circled the other bikes like a shark preys on a wounded flounder. Everyone watched me park the bike, I apologized immensely for being late, signed my waiver and we were off and driving.
The instructor was a red headed Opie looking man that was a former B-52 pilot in the USAF. I knew I was golden being prior Air Force. Andy, not Opie, was an extremely experienced motorcyclists. 30+ years driving, drives in every weather type and every day of the year. The demo pilot Damain was another very experienced rider. He was a good 250 pound dude that just looked out of place riding demo's on a Suzuki GW250. The only class time was waiver signing which I bypassed being late and you go to the practice area and begin. We had 5 hours of good practice and learning about our machines and how to be a better defensive driver.
Half the class was experienced riders, the other half not so experienced. And I guess there is always one person in the class that you pray for right from the get go. He just struggled through a lot of the course, struggled to control the bike. It may have been the newness of the bike as the Breakout had paper tags. The HD Electra Glide pilot and myself had the most time riding other than the Beemer guy who was just coming back to riding after being away for 20 years.
I only scraped once in some S-curves which I'm glad I did as the instructors seemed to be wanting to hear some scraping. Mine was the only scrape other than Damian on the Suzuki. I made it through the 8 inside the basic course lines (in the ERC they allow you another 4' on each side) but it took several attempts. I tried my best to scrape in the 8 but she wouldn't do it.
The favorite part of the class was the finale where they let 3 of us go on a course of riding that was a lap consisting of a straight away with a real tight u-turn then back down the course but in a very tight set of S-curves to another tight u-turn and then repeat. So it was like a go cart course. I was lead for our pack and it was a thrill to leave the Wide Glide and Breakout and I eventually caught the Breakout. I so wanted to pass the kid but I pocketed my aggression and just tailed him for the last lap. After a few of those we reversed course and repeated with opposite direction turns.
What did I learn? Well I definitely do not utilize my front brake nearly enough. The instructors saw my timidness and keyed in on it during the hard breaking exercises. That was worth the $100 entry fee right there. By the end I had a ton more confidence of using the front brake. Clutch control was weak and probably still a bit weak. I'll practice some slow speed parking lot stuff to get better. Slow speed throttle utilization was another good point they drove home. I think I will make this a yearly event. $100 to drive with valued instruction on a closed course? Worth every penny IMO.
All in all it was a good morning and as the title says, the F6B stole the show. Both instructors had questions about what this animal was. All of the students were checking out the bike during water and snack breaks. I had a lot of questions to answer about the bike. Everyone seemed very impressed with the performance and the looks of the bike.
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Originally Posted by stroguy
