Which riding school should I choose?

[masterchief]

The three schools I'm looking at are RTI, Humber and Centennial. They all seem very good, with very good things to offer but I'm torn as to which one I should do my test at this spring.

Any suggestions?

[egypt_rider]

Rti

[masterchief]

is that the one you went to? can you tell me a bit about your experience there and why you would recommend it?

[FiReSTaRT]

Any one of them will be good. I haven't heard bad things about either. I had great experiences with Humber. Choose whatever you find more convenient.

[fyrebug]

I suggest against RTI, but I didn't go to other courses so I have no basis of comparison, other than a few scattered comments.

RTI focussed on keeping the bike inside the marked lines, emergency breaking, and 'proper' turning on and off of the bike, but little things like, actually riding in traffic or even just street parking were completely glazed over. this might be normal for all moto courses but if you don't already drive a car, whch many people in this city don't, it leaves you on shakey ground for the 1st month when you lounge out into busy toronto traffic on a brand new bike

pro's were it's easy to get to, instructors were kind and helpful, easy to pass (con?)

con other than above was the classroom course. I felt like the instructors assumed we were asleep and they were also asleep. it was a total waste of a night that didn't cover anything useful.

[tribal250]

some of the schools only offer certain bikes , other than that its all pretty much standard stuff they teach u

[egypt_rider]

with Rti u get to try out different bike styles (cruisers, dirt, sporty) and i know its a free retest there also the staff i find is very friendly and helpfull..and yes i did mine there back in 2004.. it was a great experience.. good luck

[Rotten_Ronnie]

Weight your criteria based on what's most important to you:

Location
Cost
Curriculum
Variety of bikes

Now you need to know that regardless of the school, their curriculum must meet MTO standards as does the lot. The Motorcycle Operator Skills Test MOST is standard as well, but will vary from school to school slightly.

IIRC Educational institutions such as Humber, Cenntennial and Sheridan tend to allow you to claim an educational tax credit in the amount of $50 dollars on your taxes, but also tend to have be higher in tuition I believe.

If you know for certain you are going to ride a sport bike post course, or a cruiser, then variety is not as much of an issue as you might think. In fact, many students blame poor control on the bike, yet when they change rides they learn that it's their skill that needs work, not the bike. Keep that in mind when hopping from bike to bike the day of. :P

As far as RTI not preparing you for real traffic, you'll find that none of us do, but we do encourage every student to commit the basic skills to "muscle memory" before throwing themselves out into traffic. Soccer Moms are out there waiting to step on the brakes. People are out there waiting to turn right while you're struggling to stay in your lane while turning left. None of that changes, so listen up on the theory night and ask questions. We all love the sport or we wouldn't be here.

[Pr0spect0r]

Delete

[Rotten_Ronnie]

That was most likely our fearless leader Don.

Now I'm really hoping I'll be on that weekend and make some more friends. There is nothing better than people who like teaching riding meeting up with people who like learning it. You both want to be there and it's a total win win.

You'll have a blast no matter which school you choose provided you dress for the weather, and show up willing to listen and put in an effort.

[matthew]

The three schools I'm looking at are RTI, Humber and Centennial. They all seem very good, with very good things to offer but I'm torn as to which one I should do my test at this spring.

Any suggestions?

Choose the location that is closest to you. As far as I know, the curriculum at the schools you listed is going to be the same for the most part. The deciding factors between the school is location and price

[250R-ICE]

I can't offer any opinion on the others. I went to Centennial and found the experience excellent. One word of advice is that if you take the course at a certified College (Humber, Centennial, etc) you can write of the course on your taxes as Tuition expense (continuing education). I don't think RTI qualifies.

I also took a weekday course. Less people in the class, better bike selection, more time on the bike, more one on one instruction time.

Good Luck..

[Jayv]

Humber has the ice cream truck in the afternoon's

[rafiki911]

I enjoyed RTI, did the in class down town and the staff was really nice. Did the lot portion in King City and loved it. Had no issues going from their two day riding course to riding on the road. Also Hammie has a special on the course at Humber and the money raised goes to Ride for Site. Here is the link:

http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforum...Hershey-Centre

Also Cutekill has a special going on until Jan 30th at Learning Curves. Here is the link:

http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforum...n-2011-UPDATED

[Baggsy]

I went to Humber and learned on the little 250 yamaha Virago cruisers.
They tend to be consistent from bike to bike, although some complained that the amount of clutch action was different causing them issues during the test.
If you're tall they had some bikes with a different handlebar setup, so that you would not have to later break the bad habit of tipping your knee out, as I did.
I found it thoroughly enjoyable and have been back for an advanced course every year since, as a spring refresher.
Paul took a great deal of interest in his students. Pedro, changes things up in the advanced course as he gathers more information, and Frank Jr and Sr are still living down the incident that happened during my M test.
They had over 100 bikes going at the Humber north campus when I took it, although they've moved some to the new location now.
I'm not sure if RTI still has a wide variety of bikes, it did when my neighbour took his course.
That would be cool if you had some experience riding, but I'm not sure if switching part way through would be good for first timers.

[Aliki @ VnM Sportgear]

Look for a course with smaller numbers of students and a variety of bikes to choose from. RTI and Learning Curves have a smaller number of students. I'm not sure about the other schools. As mentioned Humber has Virago 250s so if you like cruisers and want a sure fire opportunity to ride on all weekend then Humber could be your choice. Keep in mind they have a higher number of students.
I have heard no complaints about instructors from any schools and they change on a weekly basis. assume they are all great peeps

[DemonPig]

Humber uses small cruiser/standard bikes, whereas RTI has a variety of different types of bikes.
Mainly for that reason I chose RTI - to be able to try all kinds of motorcycles. It is fun to do that and trust me, you will not often get a chance to ride other bikes, unless all your friends are riders and love you dearly.
Not sure about other schools policies but RTI offers free retests which gives you a peace of mind.
Reputation wise, I've heard mostly positive comments about all of them.

[adri]

I chose RTI because re-tests are free. I don't know if this is still the case, or whether or not other schools are also doing this, but it's something to look into.

[Myztyk]

Took RTI myself, and my girlfriend it taking the course there on the 25th-26th. She was just like me, wants the opportunity to try a bunch of different bikes.

I think the skills you learn are all pretty similar otherwise.

[IRONLUNG]

I took the humber course. Loved it. It was fun, and the instructors were really good. They convey to you ideas in a manner a new rider would understand, even under pressure, so key concepts that come into play during test time are nailed time and time again. Even where there were breaks (lunch), for people who wanted more practice, an instructor stayed around, and let us play on the huge open course. As for variety of bikes, from what I saw from all of us newbies back then was EVERYONE wanted as much experience on 1 machine as possible. While I agree that getting to play with a variety of bikes when you are new is definitely cool, for me I was thinking I want to perfect my clutch control on 1 bike, because it all comes down to how well you can control the bike you are on. I have heard nothing but good things about every school though.

Good luck on your tests.