3-wheel motorcycle endorsement driving me nuts!

[SequiMike]

Oyster run

Thanks for the heads-up on the Oyster run in September - I was not even aware of it! After researching it a bit, I can see it will be a fun time for the bikes of W. Washington to gather in one place! It's on my calendar and, weather permitting, I will definitely be there! Getting to Anacortes from Sequim is a very pleasant ride - into Port Townsend, over to Whidbey Island on the ferry, and then a gorgeous ride up the length of Whidbey. Do the CanAm's hang out in any particular area?

You're right about highway 2 - it's possibly the best bike ride in Washington.

It looks like I will probably take the trike road test in Silverdale, once the state has completed their arrangements with some of the state motorcycle safety organizations. Based upon recommendations from others in this group, I tried to sign up for the 2-day safety course, but they are booked into October around here. So..... once the group in Silverdale has authority to provide road tests, I'll get on their schedule and get it done.

Good Luck on the test the written was made for the side car people keeping that in mind when you answer should help.
What irks me is that they only have 5 places in the state where you can go to get the driving test for trikes :banghead: ( unless you find a safety class with 16 hours of class time that isn't filled through September )
The choices are on the West Side Centrailia 50 miles South part of the State or Vancouver bordering Oregon, the other choices are Wenatchee in the middle of the state East of the Cascades and only one that tests on
Saturdays , or there is in the SE part of the State Kennewick ( Close to Hanford Nucler Site) the last is Spokane.
I live in Bellingham 25 miles from the Canadian Border by I-5 and I get to go to Wenatchee for the test. I find this ridulous when the tester in Bellingham is still here but the State feels they are saving them selves money.
With that said the best part is the road trip to Wenatchee Highway 2 and Stevens Pas is always Gorgeous

Hope to see you on the road soon and dont forget the Oyster run in Sept to Anacortes

 

[Seattle]

Hi Mike,

Your coverage limits are different than what I opted to have thus your premium is much lower. If I had chose the bare minimum coverage, my annual premium would've been sub $300 (sub $200 I lived in Sequim according to my State Farm rep - nearly a $100 difference from living in Seattle! Maybe I need to move ). Anyhow, I raised my coverage limits to be quite high since everyone these days tend to be somewhat sue-happy for cost for property damage to other vehicles and/or medical care which is through the ceiling. My coverage limits for a $425 annual premium are:
Bodily Injury/Property Damage - 100K/300K/100K
Comp/collision deductible - $100K
Uninsured & Underinsured (Bodily Injury & Property Damage) 100K. - this is most important so I have medical coverage for myself should anyone injure me if they're not insured.

Thanks for the info, Cindy. I did finally make arrangements with Geico, as I had to get something going before the bike arrives. I can always switch over to another company if I find a better deal. They are charging me $219/yr for 30/100 bodily injury, 20K property damage, and $500 deductible on comp and collision. Does that compare favorably with your State Farm policy?

 

[Cruzr Joe]

FYI in the State of Arkansas any State Trooper can give you the driving test, it does not have to be done at any Govt. facility, the Trooper can give it to you in front of your own house.

Joe


Sent from my iPad 3 using Tapatalk HD

 

[jerpinoy]

3 wheel endorsement

Good Luck on the test the written was made for the side car people keeping that in mind when you answer should help.
What irks me is that they only have 5 places in the state where you can go to get the driving test for trikes :banghead: ( unless you find a safety class with 16 hours of class time that isn't filled through September )
The choices are on the West Side Centrailia 50 miles South part of the State or Vancouver bordering Oregon, the other choices are Wenatchee in the middle of the state East of the Cascades and only one that tests on
Saturdays , or there is in the SE part of the State Kennewick ( Close to Hanford Nucler Site) the last is Spokane.
I live in Bellingham 25 miles from the Canadian Border by I-5 and I get to go to Wenatchee for the test. I find this ridulous when the tester in Bellingham is still here but the State feels they are saving them selves money.
With that said the best part is the road trip to Wenatchee Highway 2 and Stevens Pas is always Gorgeous

Hope to see you on the road soon and dont forget the Oyster run in Sept to Anacortes

I was told they are painting the coarse in bellingham, but can;t tell me when it will be ready

 

[SequiMike]

Insurance

Hi Mike,

Your coverage limits are different than what I opted to have thus your premium is much lower. If I had chose the bare minimum coverage, my annual premium would've been sub $300 (sub $200 I lived in Sequim according to my State Farm rep - nearly a $100 difference from living in Seattle! Maybe I need to move ). Anyhow, I raised my coverage limits to be quite high since everyone these days tend to be somewhat sue-happy for cost for property damage to other vehicles and/or medical care which is through the ceiling. My coverage limits for a $425 annual premium are:
Bodily Injury/Property Damage - 100K/300K/100K
Comp/collision deductible - $100K
Uninsured & Underinsured (Bodily Injury & Property Damage) 100K. - this is most important so I have medical coverage for myself should anyone injure me if they're not insured.

$100K deductible on comp/collision? :yikes: I know, I know- the "K" was a typo. Just couldn't resist......

You're right - with today's lawsuit-happy population, riding can be risky. My biggest fear is that someone will step in front of me as I'm driving through town. Otherwise, it shouldn't be a problem. Also, I usually put the bikes up for the winter and it's not uncommon for me to not ride for several months at a time. I'm considering dropping/altering my insurance during those periods to help keep the cost down. Between motorcycle insurance, car insurance, homeowner's insurance, RV insurance, health insurance, AAA insurance, and others I've probably forgotten, I'm starting to feel insurance-poor.

Still waiting for my CanAm. Shipper plans to pick it up today or tomorrow, so I should have it in less than a week. I titled it, and got new tags, the other day for pennies under ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,000), which included the "use tax". What a rip!

 

[jerpinoy]

Hi All,
Today I failed the 3-wheel written for the second time. Tomorrow I will go and have another shot at it. I know it sounds like sour grapes, but the questions are misleading and irrelevant. Am I the only one having trouble with this test? Is Washington the only state that requires a 3-wheel endorsement? I normally ride an old Goldwing, but decided it was time to get a 3-wheeler right after I laid the Wing on its side at a stop (again!). Bought a 2008 GS SM-5 on ebay recently and expect it to be delivered in the next two weeks. In an effort to make sure I could drive it when it arrived, I started the MC endorsement process and have been appalled by the strangeness of the written test. AND, I will have to take a road test some time within the next 180 days, and it's only given on one Saturday a month (August is full) and is 2 1/2 hours from here. My Can-Am experience is certainly getting off to a rough start!

Mike, Let me tell you my story. After I was done with the test in Mt Vernon, I was told skilled test in given in Belingham by appointment only.. I paid my test fee in Mt Vernon then called Belingham DMV to make appointment, found out that they are repainting the coarse and don't know when it's ready. The gent directed me to the nearest DMV which is Centrellia. Centrellia is 3.5 hrs away,,, held my cool and called Centrellia and after I was place on hold coz two people were ahead of me. I waited patiently then here the bumdmer last week was the last test will be given. Now what I asked She said call this 1 800 number in Olympia DMV office. Do you think I called? No Sir I need to cool off and wait a bit I might get mad to my phone. Anyone know where I can take the Skilled test?

 

[SequiMike]

Mike, Let me tell you my story. After I was done with the test in Mt Vernon, I was told skilled test in given in Belingham by appointment only.. I paid my test fee in Mt Vernon then called Belingham DMV to make appointment, found out that they are repainting the coarse and don't know when it's ready. The gent directed me to the nearest DMV which is Centrellia. Centrellia is 3.5 hrs away,,, held my cool and called Centrellia and after I was place on hold coz two people were ahead of me. I waited patiently then here the bumdmer last week was the last test will be given. Now what I asked She said call this 1 800 number in Olympia DMV office. Do you think I called? No Sir I need to cool off and wait a bit I might get mad to my phone. Anyone know where I can take the Skilled test?

I've been told that as of August 1st, the state will no longer be giving the road test. My guess is that many of the motorcycle safety organizations will be allowed to administer the test, but nobody knows for sure. When I spoke with the group in Silverdale, they were frustrated that the State was dumping it onto them so quickly, and they were scrambling to set things up. They told me that they couldn't post a testing schedule until August 1, so I plan to check back then and see what's available. This is the group I spoke with - http://pnwmotorcyclesafety.com/ Apparently they have a facility in Auburn too, so maybe that would be convenient to you.

 

[Shaku]

Endrosement

Hi All,
Today I failed the 3-wheel written for the second time. Tomorrow I will go and have another shot at it. !

Yes, WA is one of the states that requires a 3 wheel endorsement. I too flunked my written the first time as I have been riding for more than 40 years and thought it would be easy. After the flunk, I got the manual and memorized it. The reason for my first failure is that the idiots who designed the test have obviously never ridden. Not only was some of the info wrong, some was downright dangerous. So, I just regurgitated their wrong data back to them and passed easily. I gave them an earful regarding the glaring errors in the state material. The test is not for trikes only, the endorsement covers sidecars too. Silly and dangerous. The handling and control is different from a trike (esp. a front wheel) and a sidecar.

The driving part is easy. I got 100%, in the rain. Watching the bikers trying to pass was interesting. I hope some didn't pass. They needed work. When you pass, WA gives a class 7 endorsement which I assume means I can ride anything with wheels.

 

[SequiMike]

Finally - almost done!

At last I'm about to wrap this saga up! Went to Silverdale today and completed the road test, so all that's left now is for me to bring the passing grade to Port Angeles next week and have them issue the endorsement. It's been quite an ordeal, but I'm thankful the weather was really nice today for the ride down and back. There were four of us there to take the 3-wheeler test - - 3 CanAm's and 1 Harley trike. The CanAm's did OK, but the poor fellow on the Harley is going to have to return and re-test one day. I thought the road test was pretty easy and straightforward - much better than the confusing and strange written exam. Was fun meeting a couple of local CanAm'ers - hope to see you guys at Oyster Run next month!

 

[Riot]

Right on! glad to see you passed. I also have a silver 08 GS. rode mine for little over a year with only a 2 wheel endorsement, untill finally a cop that actually knew somethin told me to go get my 3 wheel endorsment, that 1st year in this state was pretty funny, was pulled over many times ( mainly to see what the heck i was rididng) and never once got a ticket. got to be so bad when I was over in Eastern Wa I just rode straight to the cop shop.hadfriends there. handed them my key and said anyone that wants to check it out and ride it go ahead. they took me up on it, spent half aday there, noones bothered me since.
looking forward to meetin ya at the Oyster Run.
Troy