Things you wished a motorcycle course taught

[Baggsy]

Forum Sponsor

blah blah blah ...

The trick is to ride, drive,run,walk ski,skate at your own ability.
YOUR brain,use it for YOURself.

The problem is that at sixteen, most have a vastly over-rated view as to their ability on a motorcycle.
At eighteen they know everything there is to know about everything.
The other thing is that if you buy a new bike and crash it, the manufacturers won't have resale competition.
Some unscrupulous ones may see this as an incentive to sell more powerful bikes which are more likely to be crashed. We've all heard stories of people who crash leaving the dealer lot.

That's also one of the reasons that the training programs aren't as difficult as they could or should be, since they're sponsored by said manufacturers, who want more people on bikes. The trainers do try to cram as much knowledge into those thick heads as they can though, so kudos to them.

 

[Roomie]

The trick is to ride, drive,run,walk ski,skate at your own ability.
YOUR brain,use it for YOURself.

No no. You won't win that argument. Bad idea. Supersports have no business being on public roads. We should all drive a Prius and nothing bigger than a Vespa. Noobs should be limited to skateboards.

I agree with the part about bringing in a speaker or having some better material to open peoples eyes than some dated movie. Let new people see what happens when you really crash or how cool you look after for only wearing a douchevest. Might help smarten some of the semi intelligent folks up.

Sent from my piss poor iPhone while sitting on my squidly gixxxxxxxxer sippin on kool aid

 

[meme]

Then at 16 or 18 most will learn a very sorry lesson.

Society (dealerships, schools, instructors) should not have to teach that. Most of us learn early that falling down is bad and this shouldn't be forgotten in teenage years.

When I went to high school there were two of us that rode. Only one of us is still riding 25 years later. He killed himself on an rz350, looping it and hitting a tree as he tried to learn how to wheelie. No amount of instruction on a licensing course or limits on ccs would have prevented that. Some people take bigger risks and most pay higher consequences.

 

[pylonn]

The one thing that baffled me was what bike to get first. No one should twist the throttle on a 1K before they have some experience. But how many do it anyway?
I think a general walk through of good things to look for in a good fist bike, including how long you should expect to be riding it, would have helped a lot.
My first was an FZ6R and i learned respect for it on the first twist of the throttle. But it was a tame teacher and I'm grateful I got it.


Sent from the void.

 

[SlowMo]

Body position.
How to brake hard - squeeze tank with knees.
Let riders know that modern naked/standard/sport bikes are very rarely used to even 40% of their limits - if you're trying to avoid an accident, don't dump it and hope for the best, actually try to avoid.

And for the love of God get aspiring cruiser riders to use the front brakes, and not only the rear.

Understandably things will have to be removed for extra braking practice - at least 50% of the time on bike at the school is spent doing ultra low-speed maneuvers around pilons etc (at least it was at the school I went to years ago).

 

[Low rider]

You went to a very bad school. All that stuff should have been taught.

Body position.
How to brake hard - squeeze tank with knees.
Let riders know that modern naked/standard/sport bikes are very rarely used to even 40% of their limits - if you're trying to avoid an accident, don't dump it and hope for the best, actually try to avoid.

And for the love of God get aspiring cruiser riders to use the front brakes, and not only the rear.

Understandably things will have to be removed for extra braking practice - at least 50% of the time on bike at the school is spent doing ultra low-speed maneuvers around pilons etc (at least it was at the school I went to years ago).

 

[油井緋色]

You went to a very bad school. All that stuff should have been taught.

RTI does not teach proper body position when compared to advanced riding schools and I wouldn't consider RTI a bad school or an unpopular one.

....the other two points they do teach though so I wonder if SlowMo was paying attention in class lol

 

[meme]

Sigh, who didn't pay attention?

Second lesson bud. Remember keeping your knees in, balls on the pegs and hands on the grips and not hovering over the levers?
Slightly bent wrists and relaxing your shoulders? Turning your head? Eyes up? All good ideas for correct body position

It does not teach body position for a track, no

 

[Emefef]

You went to a very bad school. All that stuff should have been taught.

I wouldn't have concluded that it was a bad school, but yes that stuff should have been taught. It's part of every curriculum I've ever reviewed.
Sometimes students' focus is on very specific points, and not even all the significant points make it through. Also, while the riders are practicing the exercises, coaching is more focused on the riders that aren't getting the basic skills. If a rider looks comfortable, and is stopping within the established parameters, it's difficult to tell whether they're squeezing the tank or not. If they're falling forward, and staring at the ground, they're more likely to get some feedback about posture and position.

 

[xfactor]

Covering the rear during 1st gear pow pow power wheelies. Damn near looped the beach.

 

[mstram]

So by those standards we should rid the road of everything other than a smart car or Prius?

Ridiculous comparison.

A more realistic view is that Lamborghini's, Ferraris, Porche, etc should not be street legal.

But those cars are so expensive they are much more rarely seen compared to SS bikes.

Making SS bikes $60K-$100K might be the solution.

Or they just shouldn't be street legal.

 

[mstram]

Back on topic, the biggest flaw I see in the schools is training at un-realisitically slow speeds.

Highway speeds may not be feasible, but 50-80 km should be, as those are normal "local-road" traffic speed limits.

I'm guessing one of, if not the main reason for the slow speeds is the $$ involved in renting the training areas ? (Bigger training area = > $$)

 

[油井緋色]

Ridiculous comparison.

A more realistic view is that Lamborghini's, Ferraris, Porche, etc should not be street legal.

But those cars are so expensive they are much more rarely seen compared to SS bikes.

Making SS bikes $60K-$100K might be the solution.

Or they just shouldn't be street legal.

You joined in July 2013.

You just started riding.

And you're making incredibly stupid comments that would kill the entire supersport industry because of some baseless opinion?

I don't even....

Back on topic, the biggest flaw I see in the schools is training at un-realisitically slow speeds.

Highway speeds may not be feasible, but 50-80 km should be, as those are normal "local-road" traffic speed limits.

I'm guessing one of, if not the main reason for the slow speeds is the $$ involved in renting the training areas ? (Bigger training area = > $$)

Your flaw isn't a flaw. Having a motorcycle move at speed is much easier to control than one at slow speed. This is especially obvious during u-turns (which I still hate doing). Getting the basics down, which RTI did sufficiently, helps you control a motorcycle. With regards to traffic flow, there was plenty of theory for that during class. Considering that my gf took RTI, hasn't crashed into any cars, and has never driven a car before in her life, I'd argue that they did a pretty damn good job.

Not saying RTI or the intro courses are perfect though because what they teach you isn't sufficient to tackle any corner with speed.

 

[mstram]

The entire supersport industry is something we can all live without on the streets.

 

[油井緋色]

Ignore list you go! =D

 

[CafeRay]

Back on topic, the biggest flaw I see in the schools is training at un-realisitically slow speeds.

Highway speeds may not be feasible, but 50-80 km should be, as those are normal "local-road" traffic speed limits.

I'm guessing one of, if not the main reason for the slow speeds is the $$ involved in renting the training areas ? (Bigger training area = > $$)

Those slower speeds teach you about how the bike behaves without the gyroscopic effect at higher speeds. Plus, you don't want to insure noobs at higher speeds.

These training courses are ok for new riders, but everyone at some point should go a Superbike school. In fact, it should be a requirement with a SS bike.

 

[Matt Rain]

but everyone at some point should go a Superbike school.

Is there such a thing here?

 

[Roomie]

The entire supersport industry is something we can all live without on the streets.

Oh god not another one

 

[油井緋色]

Is there such a thing here?

Racer5 and FAST here. There are some very expensive ones in the states, one that comes to mind takes place at Laguna Seca.

 

[Matt Rain]

Thanks 油井緋色 (just rolls off the tongue) I'd heard of FAST before - thought CafeRay was talking about street-oriented superbike training. I'm definitely planning to register for a course @ FAST next spring. Itching to try a 600cc SS.

Forum Sponsor