1st Gear Motorcycle Training School

First Gear is awesome. I took the weekend course and passed the MSA with no issues at all and I had started the weekend by having never ridden a motorcycle. The instructors are personable, friendly and professional. Your safety and learning to be a safe and competent rider is their primary concern. They made the course a lot of fun with a variety of riding activities, games and course work. There is a mix of male and female instructors and I feel like the course is designed to help anyone of nearly any age to learn how to ride. Thanks First Gear!

Awesome training course! Highly recommended it to anyone who is learning to ride and want to feel safe and confident on the road.

I’m writing this review so late but 1^st gear is amazing. Fastest and easiest way to learn safe riding. No other riding schools have this variety of bikes we can learn on. Awesome instructors and very interesting classes, so worth it! Great job Lee!

Took the course feb 26 — mar 1. had a lot of fun. It was my first time riding a motorcycle. I feel this course was really useful as I probably would have dropped, crashed, etc my bike multiple times had I tried to learn on my own. The only ‘riding’ experience I had prior to this was on my honda ruckus scooter. which I now see as even slower than before.
The instructors Lee, Lionel and Larissa are all friendly and very helpful. They let you ride and practice different skills and they introduce them in a orderly way so you’re not confused. They also keep things entertaining too.
After they demonstrate the skill or maneuver they give you tons of time to become proficient in that skill. They then offer helpful advice in order for you to be confident in the skill.
In the end everyone passed the MSA, which allows you to ride on your own.
Even after the course these guys are here to help and I’m very glad to have taken this course here.

Just finished getting my class 6!
I credit a large part of it to doing the practice test through 1^st gear before the real thing. Going through the test environment and being scrutinized on every move is the most helpful thing I can think of before preparing for the test. It boosted my confidence and fav me the ability to focus on my weaknesses which could have led to a fail.
Thanks again fellas! Time to hit the highway!

1^st Gear’s facilities and instructors are amazing! (And amazingly close to downtown Vancouver, which was very convenient)
My girlfriend recently booked for a day of in lot rider training as a refresher before taking the MSA and I joined the group as well (any chance to ride is something I’ll never pass up!). The instructors were very friendly and it became quite obvious that they know how to contribute the right information to a developing rider at the right times. Within a couple of hours I could see a huge improvement in my girlfriends comfort level on the motorcycle and this positively impacted her enjoyment on the bike as well as the smoothness of her riding. They also encouraged her to try a couple of different bikes which helped her understand the nuances that the bike can bring to the table and seemed to help her focus more on the skills important to riding and separate the idiosyncrasies of each bike from the equation.
In short, the few hours spent with 1^st Gear clearly helped improve her riding as she left the lot with a much better feel for riding motorcycles in general and went on to pass her MSA the next day with no problems. Money well spent and we would both highly recommend 1^st Gear to any aspiring rider in the Lower Mainland.
Thank you!

I’ve been commuting to work on a 50cc scooter for almost 2 years, so I have a LOT of (bad) traffic experience. Vancouver’s reputation for bad drivers is true.
2 days of classroom instruction from Lee was very informative. I knew most of it but I did learn some new things. The class was never boring and Lee was excellent in answering questions.
2 days of instruction on the HUGE parking lot was great. There was a variety of bikes to choose from. They were all small displacement (125cc –225cc) ranging from ‘sport’, ‘dual-​sport’ and ‘cruiser’. Both Raymond and Lee gave excellent instruction on how to handle the bikes at VERY slow speed. They even gave some ‘advanced’ tips on turning, braking and down-​shifting. All but one person passed the MSA at the end. Due to the MASSIVE parking lot that they trained us on, we even had a cone-​course set up so that we could practice on a track after the MSA’s were done.
2 days of road rides in Richmond and Vancouver (west) let us test out what we learned. Both Lionel and Marcel helped instruct us on what to watch out for, for the motorcycle road test: hill starts, shoulder-​checking, school zones, rail road tracks, etc. They picked some great routes and really showed me how much fun riding around this city can be.
In Summary:
— Awesome instruction from very obviously experienced, safe riders that know how to have fun.
— Passed the MST with ease
— Gained not only knowledge but CONFIDENCE
— Recommend to EVERYONE. Take the course, you will learn something and make you realize that you have bad habits as well.
I now have a brand new Honda CBR500RA. I’ve only had it for a few days but I am riding it with more confidence than I did with my 50cc scooter. Now on to the road test. Wish me luck.

I took the course last week and it was awesome!
For $ 700 you get:
2 evening in-​class sessions
2 full days (9am-​3pm) of parking lot riding sessions and
2 evening rides
The in-​class sessions were fun and informative. The two full days of riding were great, as we learned a ton of skills, each one building on top of the last one. From clutch and throttle control at low speeds to looking through turns and emergency braking procedures, their curriculum covered it all. They have a bunch of different styles of bike for you to learn on and yes for the record I totally did go down on a bike once, but better their bikes than your own right?!
At the end of the second day of parking lot riding, we took the MST test which basically graduates you from a motorcycle L to a motorcycle N, removing the restrictions of requiring an instructor to ride along with you at all times and allowing you to ride by yourself from dawn til dusk.
The evening rides really blew me away. Not only did we get to cruise all over town to some fantastic spots but they included many teachable moments for application of our skills in the real world. Things like starting and stopping on hills, rider formation, and safe lane position and signalling all came up during our rides.
I really can’t say enough about the value in this course. Oh and the instructors are really great too. They always have something useful for you to try and they can instantly recognize and point out when you’re doing something wrong like assuming too rigid a posture or not giving the bike enough throttle.
I left feeling confident that I would be able to pass my upcoming road test and more importantly survive the worst that Vancouver’s terrible drivers can throw at me. If you’re going to get a bike, take this course. It’ll teach you to build the reflexes that will save your life in a tight spot.