Harald
Member
All this time and I've never seen this thread.
I can't remember seeing this thread either. Must have come up while I was on vacation.
Back in 1980 when I started riding a motorcycle, the state of Georgia didn't require anything other than a normal drivers license. I moved to Florida in 1983 and only needed to take a written test for their motorcycle endorsement. It wasn't until I moved to Washington state in 1989 that I had to take my first riding test.
It's really ironic that I probably had 100,000 miles of riding experience due to not owning a car for most of my adult life and Washington state tells me that my Florida license is no good and I have to prove my riding ability. But first there's a problem because I can't just get a motorcycle license without first getting a car license and I don't own a car to take that test in. Luckily a guy at my new job let me borrow his Mazda RX7 so I can take that test.
So finally I can prove that I am capable of riding a motorcycle! I was riding a 1983 Suzuki GS1100E at that time. They did have the U-turn in a box test that was a Large box (for over 500cc bikes) with a smaller box within for small bikes. Of course I had to thumb my nose at having to take the test by riding my 1100cc bike in the smaller U-turn box! I recently rode a Yamaha R1 and couldn't imagine making that U-turn with that bike because it just doesn't turn sharp enough.
I really wish they would have had MSF classes back when I started riding because it probably would have saved me from a crash when I first started riding and greatly increased my odds of staying alive as a fearless teenager. BTW, they subsidize the MSF classes here in WA and so if you pay your $125 and pass the class, then you get your license! We don't have graduations by bike size, only a separate license for 3 wheeled motorcycles.