I took the MSF/Riders Edge course two years ago with a buddy that was totally brand new to riding.
Yeah its gonna be a long post, so short version is I SERIOUSLY/STRONGLY recommend it to anyone looking for a course. (read more if you wanna know why
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Here's why
1) they provide you with a buel blast to ride for the course. If you havent seen/riden one, they are a blast. 500cc, not the lightest things but turn very nicely and dont get hurt if they fall over. also the exhaust is on the bottom so new riders dont have to worry as much about getting burned.
2) all you have to provide is long sleaves, pants, shoes/boots over the ankle, gloves and eye protection. They do have helmets at most locations to borrow. You also have to have a good attitude and want to learn
I went into the class thinkin, oh yeah 15yrs of riding what are they gonna teach me, but I learned some new tricks and even broke some really bad habits I had formed. (4finger braking vs 2finger was one of them)
3) they setup a nice road course and are actually a little tougher than the standard MSF course. From what I have heard, this class is almost a combination of the Adv. MSF and regular MSF. They do some of the emergency stops, riding over objects and things like that, also get you going fairly decent speeds at times. Nothing advanced about it, however it does give you a decent idea of whats going on.
4) did I mention you use their bikes
The only downside is that they do toss a good deal of HD stuff at you but I thought it was cool cuz I had no clue about HD's .... after the class I at least had sat on each kind and knew more about them.