On the other hand, I have never taken, nor know anyone personally that has taken the MSF courses. For the most part as long as you can get lined out on the operation of a bike (shifting, blinkers, brakes, etc.) everything else will come naturally. When I learned, I had no previous experience outside of cars and I was only showed how the ignition (to restart when I killed it), clutch and brakes worked before being left to my own accord. After an hour or two I was riding (without permit/license) around the block and surrounding neighborhoods, avoiding main roads to stay out of traffic. Most of what you will learn in MSF is, in my opinion, common sense (the ‘ride sense’ mentioned earlier, or counter steering, which I’d never heard of nor knew I was doing until a year after getting my license). If you’re a sharp cookie you don’t need someone telling you what to do, but if you’re slow and don’t understand that you are the smaller and more unprotected vehicle on the road and have to ride accordingly (because while the driver of the car that just merged into you may be at fault, you’re still the one with a couple of broken arms and totaled bike- true story of a buddy that got smacked on his week old Ducati 848) then please take the class. Like I said, most of riding is intuitive or common sense.

So the answer is no, you don’t need a specific course or instruction to learn to ride. However it is encouraged to do so with a MSF class. Doctor Jelly

For road use many modern engines will happily accept clutchless upshifts, you will need to reduce throttle though, some will accept downshifts but not all. Tim D