I saw a poll that indicated that 79% of motorcycle riders are self-trained or learned to ride a motorcycle from a friend or family member. In the old days -- 20 years ago -- that's the only way you learned. There were no widespread courses available. Such is not the case today.

I can not emphasize this enough: You must take the Motorcycle Safety Course, a formal course given by the Saskatchewan Safety Council or at least a course by a school that uses the MSC's methods and whose instructors have been trained by the MSC. These courses are usually given over 2 ½ days with both classroom instruction and field exercises. The motorcycles are provided as part of the class. You just show up with long sleeves, jeans, gloves, and heavy boots. You don't even need a permit.

Even if you are already an experienced rider, I guarantee that you will learn to be a better, safer rider if you take one of these classes.