Sheridan College M1 Exit Course - REVIEW

[Crush]

Ok I just got back from todays lesson.

There seemed to be about 30-40 students in all. This was split up into sub groups of 10 or so with 2 instructors a different parts of the parking lot.

I arrived at 7:45 AM and ALL the good bikes were taken. They had a kick-start that 1 unlucky person was forced to use.

You guys won't believe this.

Right off the bat, I kid you not, the head instructor get CONFRONTATIONAL with everyone!

He said this I kid you not "IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE HERE - GET OUT!!".

Now here's where it gets interesting. Some older people around me started to actually mumble stuff like 'what the hell is his problem and stuff'.

The head instructor goes ON AND ON lecturing us about basically if you don't want to be here, "THEN LEAVE.. I WILL WRITE A LETTER AND SHERIDAN WILL REFUND MOST OF YOUR MONEY BACK". I kid you not.

So we get to our spots of the Oakville Sheridan parking lot. The lot is in HORRIBLE shape with dust, rocks, and small pot hols. I kid you not.

And sure enough, the experienced drivers were in their own group and right off the bat they are doing cute little circuits on their bikes.

Guess what we were doing till 10am? PUSHING A PARTNER ON OUR BIKE WITH FULL GEAR! So we had a completely different course than everyone else.

The pushing exercise was completely useless and did nothing for us. It was like a 'why are we doing this for?' If it was useful, it would be done at other schools and be on Youtube and such.

Our instructors were pretty nice. One had an accent but very mild and wasn't a problem. The other guy was older and a bit confrontational. After all, the head leader is confrontational so it kind of spills down to the other instructors I guess.

OH YES! And you know what the head instructor said? He said in front of everyone this: "We have real jobs. We DON'T need to be here. WE can make more flipping burgers. This isn't for the money. We sacrifice a lot to be here so you should be grateful to these people that they're even here."

Just always something negative coming out of their mouths.

A couple of people fell down on their bikes. They said they don't like it when people fall because 'we don't like to fill out the paperwork'! I kid you not. That was their motto was the whole time. Just general negativity.

Guys seriously. STAY AWAY from Sheridan (in my opinion of course)! Go to a private school if you can. I honestly can't see anyone recommending this school.

I seriously did not take much away from this course. I could have just ridden by myself in a parking lot and got similar experience. You don't get a break on insurance either with this course. I just want them to issue me my M2 and I'm never going back to Sheridan again. I'll do a private school for my M next time. Lessons learned.

[joy]

I arrived at 7:45 AM and ALL the good bikes were taken. They had a kick-start that 1 unlucky person was forced to use.

it happens. you have to go early for the good ones.

You guys won't believe this.

Right off the bat, I kid you not, the head instructor get CONFRONTATIONAL with everyone!

He said this I kid you not "IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE HERE - GET OUT!!".

with your attitude, i'm surprised thats ALL he said.

So we get to our spots of the Oakville Sheridan parking lot. The lot is in HORRIBLE shape with dust, rocks, and small pot hols. I kid you not.

do you plan on riding on the road ever? I'd say get used to it.

And sure enough, the experienced drivers were in their own group and right off the bat they are doing cute little circuits on their bikes.

i think thats because like you just said... they are EXPERIENCED.

Guess what we were doing till 10am? PUSHING A PARTNER ON OUR BIKE WITH FULL GEAR! So we had a completely different course than everyone else.

no you didnt. they make every newbie group do that. I did it, and if i had to push some big dude on a bike before i got to ride one, so be it. I learned alot from Sheridan.

The pushing exercise was completely useless and did nothing for us. It was like a 'why are we doing this for?' If it was useful, it would be done at other schools and be on Youtube and such.

it's not rocket science. you have to learn how to corner and use the breaks properly before you are allowed to power up the bike. It's a class in SAFETY.

Our instructors were pretty nice. One had an accent but very mild and wasn't a problem. The other guy was older and a bit confrontational. After all, the head leader is confrontational so it kind of spills down to the other instructors I guess.

the head instructor is a very easy going guy. but i could certainly see him putting someone who was causing trouble in their place.

OH YES! And you know what the head instructor said? He said in front of everyone this: "We have real jobs. We DON'T need to be here. WE can make more flipping burgers. This isn't for the money. We sacrifice a lot to be here so you should be grateful to these people that they're even here."

I'm not sure what your issue with this is? It's true, those guys do it cause they want to teach people to ride safely. If you didnt want to be taught that, you should have taken your M1 exit at the MTO.

Just always something negative coming out of their mouths.

i have a feeling this happens to you alot. Law of attraction maybe.

A couple of people fell down on their bikes. They said they don't like it when people fall because 'we don't like to fill out the paperwork'! I kid you not. That was their motto was the whole time. Just general negativity.

they said that a couple times when i was there, but i can assure you, I kid you not that it was said in jest. And when people actually fell they had no problems with the paperwork and making sure everyone was ok.

Guys seriously. STAY AWAY from Sheridan (in my opinion of course)! Go to a private school if you can. I honestly can't see anyone recommending this school.

I recommend sheridan to anyone. It's a great course and a great bunch of guys. I struggled with a few things and they went above and beyond to help me.

Lessons learned.

I hope if anyone else learns a lesson from this thread, it's to not take the advice of everyone on the internet.

Sheridan is awesome. Yeah we couldn't wear certain helmets either, but after watching a couple a newbies wipe out really bad, I fully understand why they have that rule. I saw a guy take a dive on his face and he ruined his new full-face helmet... I was suddenly worried that i was just wearing one of their open faced ones.

Really though, the guys are great, yeah some of the info is dry for the theory part, but they have no control over that. And yes that night is alot of paperwork, but it isnt their job to do it, it's yours.

Everything is in baby steps, and thats for a reason... you're all newbies! It will keep you safe! Every emergency manuever in that class, i used in the first week of riding on the road.

If you go in there eager to learn with a smile on your face, i'm sure you wont have a problem

It's a great course and i hope no one dodges it because of one person with a crummy attitude.

[ScoTTY88]

+1 for Sheridan in Oakville. I enjoyed it, great teachers and environment.I was in the noob group as I put down 0 riding exp. Sure the class sucked, but who likes paperwork and stuff, suck it up and deal with it. I learned alot from the course.... and yes pushing the bike has lots to do with learning to ride. If I put someone on a new Hayabusa and said K I just want you to learn to use the clutch and the brakes, do you really think you'd be able to feather the cluch and just slightly get the thing rolling foward under the engines power? No, chances are they'd loop it or take off across the parking lot..... its to get used to breaking and balancing the bike. Dont get a hate on for the "course" because your not in shape enough to push someone around on a motorcycle... Did I get bored and get comfortable with the bikes and try and do wheelies on my bike at times.... maybe, but it was because other people were having troubles with certain tasks. Nothign I could do but offer my advice and try and help them...

I learned the basics to keep me alive on the street and ride my motorcycle and last week after about 30,000KM under my belt sine August 2008 I have my M license now.

Crush, from what I gather, your are a 33 year old, 220lb woman who dislikes people who cant speak english (ie. not white) and does not treat you like gold..... did I miss anything?

During my course, two people during lunch decided to race their Mustang and Audi down the road to the mall at Trafalgar and the 403. Guess what? Peel saw them.... radioed a uniformed officer, rolled in with two tow trucks and impounded their cars and took away their license... guess what.... no license.... no reason to be at the course anymore.... so ya, maybe his " If you don't wanna be here, act like it or leave" speech is warranted....

[joy]

I learned the basics to keep me alive on the street and ride my motorcycle and last week after about 30,000KM under my belt sine August 2008 I have my M license now.

congrats!

[taximan62]

WELL i wouldn't slag Sheridan you should slag the Canada Safety Council the course was developed by them over the past 36 years, what do they know I guess.

Same course being taught by all colleges providing the program.

I have been teaching it for 8 years now and what do I know? 28 years of riding, over 1,000,000 kms of riding.

I guess you should have just hopped on your Virago and taught yourself and gone to the MTO and taken your test as it seems you know everything and anything we teach you is useless and has no merit!

A tried and tested method of adult learning techniques applied to a motorcycle, designed to take a rider that has never ridden to bring them to a level that allows them to ride on the street with some skills to keep you alive.

Oh right I forgot you are not an adult so these methods would not apply what was I thinking.

[Amazon]

did you ever think the the instructor was confrontational because he read your "review"? 'cause you clearly do not want to be there.

[anka]

I personally enjoyed the little kickstart Suzuki I got to use last week. Plus, they told us we could switch bikes, so I got to use three different ones over the weekend. CC (my instructor, who along with Sachin, was awesome) pointed out the advantages of each kind of bike when I got to switch.

[yomomma]

I was in the same course, and based on Crush's review probably the same group and I actually had quite the opposite experience. I can understand and appreciate that the instructors keep wanting to drill in all riders heads that we need to be careful and develop an 'awareness' beyond the 4 wheeled automobile. I thoroughly enjoyed todays lessons and was very happy with our instructors. I may have a different perspective as I taught driving (manual) to student drivers as a part time job in uni, so I can understand the responsibility on their shoulders. Also contrary to the post we had a rider that had a fall and the instructors rushed over to assist and make sure the rider was okay and were genuinely concerned. Everyone I spoke to in the course believed it had at least met expectations for setting a safety foundation.

Cant't wait until tomorrow!!

[ali]

Hey dude, did you wonder why they said no to the DOT approve beanie? Guess what? It is not your ears that they are concerned with, it is your brain stem. Yea, the part that controls our breathing. The 3/4 helmet covers that, not a beanie!

[ygrowup]

There seemed to be about 30-40 students in all. This was split up into sub groups of 10 or so with 2 instructors a different parts of the parking lot.

You counting needs a little bit of improvement. Three groups of ten students equals 30 students. Lucky you are not at some colleges where they do 120 at a time.

I arrived at 7:45 AM and ALL the good bikes were taken. They had a kick-start that 1 unlucky person was forced to use.

Oh poor baby. Having to kick a 125cc motor over all by yourself. Hope it did not wear you out too much....

You guys won't believe this.

Right off the bat, I kid you not, the head instructor get CONFRONTATIONAL with everyone!

He said this I kid you not "IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE HERE - GET OUT!!".

Gee, I wonder why he said that???? Maybe your instructors are member of this forum. Could that possible be the answer??? Was he being nice and not signaling you out to the whole group????



The head instructor goes ON AND ON lecturing us about basically if you don't want to be here, "THEN LEAVE.. I WILL WRITE A LETTER AND SHERIDAN WILL REFUND MOST OF YOUR MONEY BACK". I kid you not.

That was strictly for your benefit. Since you obviously know everything, he was giving you the chance to leave with your money and go to some other place who would appreciate your wisdom.

So we get to our spots of the Oakville Sheridan parking lot. The lot is in HORRIBLE shape with dust, rocks, and small pot hols. I kid you not.

Lucky for you, Tim Horton parking lots are in perfect condition which is where I gather you will be spending most of your biking time anyways.

And sure enough, the experienced drivers were in their own group and right off the bat they are doing cute little circuits on their bikes.

All groups did exactly the same lessons. Some just finished faster than others.

Guess what we were doing till 10am? PUSHING A PARTNER ON OUR BIKE WITH FULL GEAR! So we had a completely different course than everyone else.

The pushing exercise was completely useless and did nothing for us. It was like a 'why are we doing this for?' If it was useful, it would be done at other schools and be on Youtube and such.

I did not know Youtube ran a safety course???? All colleges across Canada teach this same course the same way.

Our instructors were pretty nice. One had an accent but very mild and wasn't a problem. The other guy was older and a bit confrontational. After all, the head leader is confrontational so it kind of spills down to the other instructors I guess.

Boy you don't like anyone. Do you have any friends except for you internet friends........

OH YES! And you know what the head instructor said? He said in front of everyone this: "We have real jobs. We DON'T need to be here. WE can make more flipping burgers. This isn't for the money. We sacrifice a lot to be here so you should be grateful to these people that they're even here."

Just always something negative coming out of their mouths.

Instructors don't do this for the money. We could be having way more fun up at the cottage instead we spend the day trying to keep future bikers alive and safe on the roads.

A couple of people fell down on their bikes. They said they don't like it when people fall because 'we don't like to fill out the paperwork'! I kid you not. That was their motto was the whole time. Just general negativity.

You really confuse negativity and a light hearted approch to safety. Lighten up........

Guys seriously. STAY AWAY from Sheridan (in my opinion of course)! Go to a private school if you can. I honestly can't see anyone recommending this school.

I wonder why you thing a private company who is in it for the money would be better than a college that has been doing a great job for over 35 years would be better?

I seriously did not take much away from this course. I could have just ridden by myself in a parking lot and got similar experience. You don't get a break on insurance either with this course. I just want them to issue me my M2 and I'm never going back to Sheridan again. I'll do a private school for my M next time. Lessons learned.[/QUOTE]

I guess you were asleep during the "push steering" leason. Too bad, it was quite important.
Most insurance companies count this course as two years experience. If your company is not giving you a discount, you must have a really bad record.

Enjoy your day tomorrow. We are so looking forward to your words of wisdom after you finish.

[joy]

hey i recognize that bike I think i was in your class last April

Come to think of it, it was the instructors at sheridan that told me about this site

[ygrowup]

[quote=ygrowup;1314280]There seemed to be about 30-40 students in all. This was split up into sub groups of 10 or so with 2 instructors a different parts of the parking lot.

You counting needs a little bit of improvement. Three groups of ten students equals 30 students. Lucky you are not at some colleges where they do 120 at a time.

I arrived at 7:45 AM and ALL the good bikes were taken. They had a kick-start that 1 unlucky person was forced to use.

Oh poor baby. Having to kick a 125cc motor over all by yourself. Hope it did not wear you out too much....

You guys won't believe this.

Right off the bat, I kid you not, the head instructor get CONFRONTATIONAL with everyone!

He said this I kid you not "IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE HERE - GET OUT!!".

Gee, I wonder why he said that???? Maybe your instructors are member of this forum. Could that possible be the answer??? Was he being nice and not signaling you out to the whole group????



The head instructor goes ON AND ON lecturing us about basically if you don't want to be here, "THEN LEAVE.. I WILL WRITE A LETTER AND SHERIDAN WILL REFUND MOST OF YOUR MONEY BACK". I kid you not.

That was strictly for your benefit. Since you obviously know everything, he was giving you the chance to leave with your money and go to some other place who would appreciate your wisdom.

So we get to our spots of the Oakville Sheridan parking lot. The lot is in HORRIBLE shape with dust, rocks, and small pot hols. I kid you not.

Lucky for you, Tim Horton parking lots are in perfect condition which is where I gather you will be spending most of your biking time anyways.

And sure enough, the experienced drivers were in their own group and right off the bat they are doing cute little circuits on their bikes.

All groups did exactly the same lessons. Some just finished faster than others.

Guess what we were doing till 10am? PUSHING A PARTNER ON OUR BIKE WITH FULL GEAR! So we had a completely different course than everyone else.

The pushing exercise was completely useless and did nothing for us. It was like a 'why are we doing this for?' If it was useful, it would be done at other schools and be on Youtube and such.

I did not know Youtube ran a safety course???? All colleges across Canada teach this same course the same way.

Our instructors were pretty nice. One had an accent but very mild and wasn't a problem. The other guy was older and a bit confrontational. After all, the head leader is confrontational so it kind of spills down to the other instructors I guess.

Boy you don't like anyone. Do you have any friends except for you internet friends........

OH YES! And you know what the head instructor said? He said in front of everyone this: "We have real jobs. We DON'T need to be here. WE can make more flipping burgers. This isn't for the money. We sacrifice a lot to be here so you should be grateful to these people that they're even here."

Just always something negative coming out of their mouths.

Instructors don't do this for the money. We could be having way more fun up at the cottage instead we spend the day trying to keep future bikers alive and safe on the roads.

A couple of people fell down on their bikes. They said they don't like it when people fall because 'we don't like to fill out the paperwork'! I kid you not. That was their motto was the whole time. Just general negativity.

You really confuse negativity and a light hearted approch to safety. Lighten up........

Guys seriously. STAY AWAY from Sheridan (in my opinion of course)! Go to a private school if you can. I honestly can't see anyone recommending this school.

I wonder why you think a private company who is in it for the money would be better than a college that has been doing a great job for over 35 years would be better?

I seriously did not take much away from this course. I could have just ridden by myself in a parking lot and got similar experience. You don't get a break on insurance either with this course. I just want them to issue me my M2 and I'm never going back to Sheridan again. I'll do a private school for my M next time. Lessons learned.

I guess you were asleep during the "push steering" lesson. Too bad, it was quite important.
Most insurance companies count this course as two years experience. If your company is not giving you a discount, you must have a really bad record.

Enjoy your day tomorrow. We are so looking forward to your words of wisdom after you finish.

[ali]

Too true, let's enjoy the ride and those who help make it safe for us!!!

[ali]

Ooops, we haven't heard words of wisdom from you. Could you be out partying? Wonder how tomorrow will go for a real positive guy like you?

[ygrowup]

Hi Joy

If I was your instructor, I thought you would be wearing a good jacket in you pick. I thought I taught you better.......

[ali]

it has those invisible sleeves.

[joy]

Hi Joy

If I was your instructor, I thought you would be wearing a good jacket in you pick. I thought I taught you better.......

lol... I *think* if i recall you were teaching the advanced group... but you tried to help me out before the test by offering me another bike cause i was having troubles with the honda titan i was on...

I always wear my gear, no worries... the pic was from a parade where I was pretty much walking my bike the whole time... I really should change my avatar

[Crush]

No one has to get upset at my description of the Sheridan experience. It's all just personal opinion and some people really value the $450 they are spending. Gee that's almost a week vacation in Cuba.

No one can dispute my claims of what actually happened. You be your own judge there and see if you want to spend $450 on this. Oh yes! I forgot.. He also went on about Fathers day and how he had to be there and the sacrifices they all make. Umm.. well we all just sacrificed $450.

Everyone has different standards of what this kind of money should be buying them. Some will run away from the idea of Sheridan. Others won't mind it. I am the 'run far away from Sheridan' type of person. If I knew the course would be like this, I would NEVER have signed up and I wish I could have seen a post like this.

I would personally recommend something else for your money. If the course was $150 I would say it was great. It feels like a $150 course. I honestly put that as the value of the course.

Many can disagree, and that's fine. We can all just agree to disagree and be happy and friendly to one another.

[wings]

this has to be a joke.

I don't want to believe that there are people in this world that are this oblivious.

[MotoStark]

No one has to get upset at my description of the Sheridan experience.

This is very true. And I'm sorry it is/was a bad experience for you.

I took this course about 5 years ago, and I thought it was pretty good. For at least 2 years after I took the course when out riding, I couldn't believe how much I retained and put into practice from what they drilled into our heads during that weekend, such as panic braking, looking where you want to go, etc.

IMHO, any new rider who doesn't take one of these courses would be making a foolish mistake.

.