Did Arnold Schwarzenegger pass the idiotic CA DMV motorcyclelicense test?

Does anyone know if Arnold Schwarzenegger ever passed the idiotic
California DMV motorcycle license (circus act) test on his Harley?

The news a few years ago was all abuzz with the fact that Arnold (like
many others in California) rode his bike sans a license. In California,
you can ride for years without a bona fide license (renewing the permit).

I googled using the search term:
"arnold schwarzenegger motorcycle license"

But all I found was the classic irresponsible journalism which talks
about the start but never the finish.

By now, we all know that Arnold "promised" to take the California license
test ... and most of us know that the circus act DMV test is designed to
make you not take that test ... but I hope Arnold ... as a rider ... saw
the idiocy of that California test (which is simply a money-making
maneuver by the MSF to funnel millions of dollars into their coffers).

Does anyone know if Arnold has a license yet and if he took the idiotic
California DMV motorcycle test?

 

Who knows? Who cares?

But anyone who can't pass the basic riding test required by the State
of California as an alternative to passing the riding/safety class
shouldn't be aboard a kiddie-car, much less trying to ride a
motorcycle on crowded California streets or freeways.

Expecting a rider to be able to precisely control his motorcycle isn't
expecting a "circus act", and if you think the present test is
difficult I suggest you look into the training and testing that every
motor officer in California, local police *or* CHP, has to undergo
before they're ever allowed to hit the streets.

*Those* skill requirements are demanding. The everyday California DMV
riding test isn't.

 

You're joking, right? Have you ever taken the idiotic California DMV
riding test?

The entire test CA DMV riding test is DESIGNED by the MSF to funnel money
to them instead, with the DMV's complicity. It serves BOTH their
purposes: The DMV doesn't need to provide the free test; they only need
to paint the lines on their pavement. The MSF gets all the money.

Interestingly, have you seen the MSF test? It's absolutely NOTHING like
the test they designed for the DMV. And, perchance, have you noticed the
grading factors between them? The MSF stipulated the DMV test allow zero
mistakes while the MSF test allows multiple mistakes.

While the MSF riding test is still a money-making farce (e.g., they don't
all you to take the test on a real bike, like your own, for example ...
you must use their toy bikes instead) ... at least the MSF test in
California is realistic. The test the MSF designed for the California DMV
is idiotic (which few could ever say is even slightly close to realistic).

It's all about M-O-N-E-Y and has nothing do do with rider skills;
otherwise the MSF would allow you to indemnify them and allow you to ride
your own bike, which is likely 1,000 cc or more.

With your own 1 liter bike, if you were competent, you could easily pass
the MSF test; but you'd never pass the idiotic California DMV test.

BTW, I know that some bloke is going to say "I passed the California DMV
riding test on my Goldwing with my eyes closed and a package of groceries
in my lap"; but talk is cheap. If they don't show proof, (and they
can't), then I wouldn't believe them.

Back to the question (although I already know, in my heart, the answer):

Q: Did Arnold pass the California riding test on his own bike or did he
cop out (as everyone with a large-bore bike must), and pay the bribe to
the MSF to pass the much easier but more realistic MSF test on a tiny toy
bike?

 

(A) It isn't idiotic just because you found it to be too difficult.

(B) Of course I've taken it. Passed it on the first try on a Honda
VFR800; a top-heavy sport bike with a touchy throttle response that's
not exactly well-suited to precise slow-speed manuvering.

Yeah, that's right. It's all a conspiracy to get your money and steal
your freedom. And Bush blew up the World Trade Center, we never
landed on the Moon, and innocent citizens are being abducted and
anally probed by Space Aliens even as we speak.

That's odd: people do it every day, you know.

And if someone of *my* admittedly modest riding skills can ace said
test on the first try, that doesn't make the test look too terribly
difficult.

Shrug. It's obvious that you know all the answers to everything
already, and that you'd ignore any evidence to the contrary, so your
beliefs -or lack of same- don't come into it. (Although how you'd
expect any sane person to have "proof" that they'd passed the test is
beyond me. Did you think that everyone took along a film crew to
document their riding tests?)

See? You know all the answers to everything already.

Goodness, you certainly do have issues.

Once more, I suggest that you look into the riding skill requirements
for becoming a motor officer, or, just as good, check out the hoops
you'd have tro jump through to just to get a normal everyday
motorcycle lisence in, say, Germany.

The standard California DMV riding test pales in comparison to either
of them, and since riders on all sorts of bikes continue to pass that
CA DMV test every single day, your only point seems to be "If I can't
pass the test then there must be something wrong with the test."

Shrug.

 

So I'm just speculating here, but did you perhaps
take and fail the California DMV test ? Or are you
pissed because you felt it was too easy ?

I took it about 1976 or so on a bike that I'd just bought
and ridden over to the DMV. At the time, the test consisted
of the keyhole and cone swerve. I suspect it still does.

Took me two tries that afternoon to pass it.

 

<snip>

****, but you're stupid.

 

There's a circle-riding test now too, or at least there was when I
took it. The circle is circa 30' in diameter, and consists of two
concentric white lines that are about 30" apart. The idea is that you
ride twice around the circle in each direction -at whatever speed you
find most comforable- without letting your tires cross over either the
inner or outer lines. It was mildly challenging, but only mildly.

Not only did I pass on the first try, but the neighbor with whom I
sometimes ride passed on his second attempt; and according to him he'd
not ridden a motorcyle for 20 years when he took the test.

When he failed the first time I advised him to go down to the DMV
parking lot on a Sunday when the DMV is closed and spend 1/2 hour
going around the circle in both directions. He did.

That's all it took.

 

It's smaller than that, it's about 25 feet in diameter, with 24 inches
between the inner and outer circle.

Riding the circles have *nothing* to do with normal motorcycle riding,
even parking lot riding, because looking at the ground disrupts the
normal sense of balance which is dependant upon using the horizon as a
reference.

The rider of a larger motorcycle has to slip the clutch and drag the
rear brake to negotiate the circles, all the while being graded by
some Filipina(1) bureaucrat who never drove a car before she arrived
in California, let alone ride a motorcycle!

A few years ago I could barely ride the circles on a bicycle, let
alone a motorcycle, because my sense of balance was so deteriorated.

(1) Go ahead. Call me a "racist." The term "Filipina" must be a
"slur," right?

 

Actually, it is. It demonstrates that you can precisely control your
motorcycle at low speeds, and that's a *good* thing. It demonstrates
something else, too. It's a form of intelligence test.

Ya see; *anyone* can find out well in advance *exactly* what the test
includes. They can walk out and look at the course itself any time
they want, they can watch other riders take the test if they wish, and
they're even free to set up their own duplicate course -or use the one
in the DMV parking lot on weekends in most cases- and practise for as
long as they desire before taking the test.

Given these factors, if you fail the test it's because you either
thought you were a whole lot better than you really are or because
you're not bright enough to understand that arguing about whether or
not the test requirements are "realistic" isn't going to get you
anywhere. It's akin to arguing with gravity, and is just as
rewarding. The test is what it is; and people who are even minimally
bright understand that -and take the time to be certain that they can
meet the test requirements well *before* they show up to be tested.

Now: since the State lacks the funds to set up a realistic high-speed
testing course for potential motorcycle riders they use this simple
form of intelligence test instead, thinking, "Someone who doesn't
bother to prepare for the test probably isn't very bright in the first
place, so if they can't pass the riding test we'll require them to
pass a motorcycle safety course instead. That way *our* collective
asses are covered when they laminate themselves to a Peterbilt, and
the survivors aren't going to be able to claim in court that we let
their late-laminated-loved-one out on the highway without knowing the
basics."

Smart people see a problem and immediately start figuring out how to
solve it. Dumb ones just complain about the problem, bitch about how
life is terribly unfair to them, and never bother looking around to
see how others have solved the problem that stopped them cold in their
tracks.

Shrug.

 

So? You don't know what the words "circa" or "about" mean?

Idiot, you don't watch the ground right at your front wheel while
you're riding the circle: you look at where you're going to be in a
few seconds; about 20' ahead.

In other words, you ride the circle exactly like you ride everywhere
else. (Duh.)

Oh bullshit. No street bike idles so quickly in 1st gear that you'd
have to slip the clutch or use the brakes. Those are just excuses made
by incompetent riders.

(See "intelligence test", in the post below.)

Then you shouldn't be riding. But we all know that you don't, because
you know nothing about motorcycles or riding them, so it isn't a
problem.

Poor sad little idiot. The word "Filipina" isn't a racist slur so far
as I know, but the way you *used* it -as an insult- *was*.

And you're too stupid to even understand what you did.

 

You're joking, right?

20' ahead is well past a line of parked cars on both sides of the tiny
circle.

Yes, in "normal" riding, you look ahead; but you can not possibly do so
on this 'circle' because 20 feet ahead is about 90 degrees to your side.

I guess nobody knows the answer to the question though.

Q: Did Arnold take the idiotic CA DMV test or did he too cop out by
taking the MSF bribe?

 

I took a day off from work and watched EVERY SINGLE ONE fail; and yes, it
was a series of Vietnamese lady & Filipino inspectors with a hat and
clipboard who couldn't possibly have ridden a bike in their lives who
were the "judges" of your riding skill.

NOBODY is going to pass that test "on the first try" like someone said,
at least not on a real bike of any decent size. They lie and they know
they are lying.

Nobody provided an answer to the original question.

QUESTION: Did Arnold take his own test on his own bike or did the
Governor cop out & take the vastly easier MSF test on a toy bike?

 

I watched for an entire day and not a single rider passed the test in
Santa Clara California's DMV off of El Camino Real.

It was sad to see the cocky ones fail. One by one, they came riding in
with their bright leathers. I asked each one as they all had to wait for
the examiner. It was their first test for most of them. They didn't know
what to expect (the DMV does not tell you ahead of time what the test
consists of). Everyone failed. Miserably.

One guy, who rode in and obviously rode well took one circle around,
missed, and then just rode off without completing the rest of the test or
stopping to ask the examiner for details.

Nobody on a Harley or K1100 even tried. Apparently they were too smart.
They knew they'd fail, or worse, drop the bike, the damage on which would
cost vastly more than the MSF bribe.

The only guy who got close was on his third attempt. By now he knew what
the test consisted of (since they don't tell you ahead of time). He told
me his technique was to lock the handlebars, press HARD on the rear
brake, and clutch his way through the circle never touching the throttle
(which he had raised for the purpose of taking the test).

Another guy told me he was on his second pass, his uncle was with him who
had passed the test years ago, who also said you just lock the handlebars
and stick your leg out to the side as far as it will go as a
counterbalance. He passed on the first set of circles (where his outward
leg was his shifting leg; but he failed on the second set when his
braking leg was the counterweight).

But, still, the TEST itself isn't the quesiton. There's no question that
the California DMV motorcycle riding test is idiotic. Nobody can defend
it given that the MSF alternative is NOTHING like the DMV test, not in
scope, not in size, not in grading, etc.

The question is:

Q: Did the governor of California take his own test on his own bike or
not?

 

Interestingly enough, people do in fact pass the test riding
large motorcycles.

This Youtube url shows the test, common mistakes and riders
successfully negotiating the course.



I competed in a similar slow skills event at a rally this summer
on a liter bike. In addition to the circle and cone weave though
they also required a figure eight in a tight circle, a serpentine
course and a couple of feet up full stops. I still have difficulty
executing a full stop and go without without putting a foot down
and lost points on this one.

 

So you're saying you could easily pass the MSF test on "your own 1 liter
bike,"
but for some reason find this difficult to do on "their toy bikes"? (If
the MSF
in CA is anything like here, that would mean a fleet of somewhat-dinged but
mechanically-sound Nighthawk 250s and similar.) So - come again? Why
would the test be harder on their bikes?


Bob M.

 

No. No, it isn't.

The circumference of a 25' circle is 78.5', which means that looking
circa 20' ahead of you would be looking only about 1/4 of the way -
about 45 degrees to your right or left- around the circle.

Since this is exactly what motorcycle riders do when going around an
average downtown street corner, it shouldn't present an overwhelming
difficulty to anyone with an IQ better than that of your everyday fire
hydrant.

It would have really helped your thought processes to use the real
figures (see above) instead of just pulling random numbers out of your
ass.

Q: Did you think that nobody else had ever heard of Pi, or did you
sleep through that part of your math class?

 

Now you're just making it up as you're going along. And BTW: it
doesn't exactly take a GP rider to tell whether or not you've crossed
over a white line.

You're raving.

 

[SarcasmSnip tm]

I stopped for lunch today at a restaurant with a small (2 rows of
cars) parking lot. One row of cars was full, the row I was in had,
when I came out, two spaces to my right open, and all other spaces in
use. I had parked headin as it was slightly uphill. I got on the
Street Glide, cocked the handlebars full right, eased out the clutch,
put my feet on the boards and rode out of the spot, continued into a u-
turn between the rows of cars, and proceeded out of the lot.

If you can't ride your motorcycle in a 30-foot diameter circle, you
can't properly ride a motorcycle.

 

Bullshit. You're just pulling this struff out of your ignorant ass.

Except, of course, that you're lying through your tooth.

Not only does the DMV supply written materials showing exactly what
the riding test requires, they even took the time to upload a video
showing you how to do it.

This one:

And of course there are many other online sources that show
essentially the same thing....

http://www.ducatigirl.com/california/dmv_moto_test.pdf

So, as anyone can see, if you go into the DMV without prior knowledge
of the riding test you get exactly what you deserve.

Q: Could you possibly look any more foolish?

 

Maybe you *should* take the MSF class. There, they will teach you to
look *through* the turn to see where you INTEND the motorcycle to
go. If you were looking OUTSIDE the circle with your head straight
ahead (or down at the ground as the krusty kritter suggested) then of
course you couldn't maintain your intended path of travel AROUND the
circle.