Well guys Early start for me In a bid to get to grips with this ere blade I have a session with IAM instructor focusing mainly on cornering / position / control Fingers crossed I'll let you know how it went Cheers
I wouldnt go near em personally, was on a rideout the other week, right hand corner, in my own lane, when a bunch of IAM's came round the corner on my side of the road so that they could 'keep' their view, i tense up, bike sits up.... twats, i was on the verge of turning round and going after them to rip a few pieces off, but i got dragged away, and calmed down with a cream tea
well guys my day.......... meet instructor have a coffee half hour chat about what i'm looking to get out of the day and anything i have problems with yea corners...i reply we finish our coffee and he briefly gives me a history of his riding/training so off we go follows me for 20 miles and same old story for me " approach bend start comfort braking, lose my line and then somehow get round the bend " so we stop and he explains about gearing and especially with the torque the blade has keep it in higher gear and leave the brakes alone. so i set off and follow him with him constantly chatting via radio what gear to be in , when to power on/off and keep to his lines . We do the set of twisties a few times . Then we stop and he says now i'll follow you and we head off on a 20 mile section of road i've never been on. So off we go .... i hear nothing from him all the way untill we get to the agreed coffee stop. Where he gets off his bike walks towards me and ask's " ARE YOUR BRAKES WORKING " i hadn't touched them all the way the corners felt smooth and fluid he taught me to hang back and my overtakes were smooth and planned I continue to do the same for another 2 hours heading back home. Now guys bear in mind this is all at national speed limits or there abouts so i'm no stoner and never will be but i've come home grinning and feeling good about the bike and my riding so in my opion the best thing i've done so far and he was a really great bloke and i can't thank him enough. can't wait to get out and practice again but bloody work gets in the way. Mel sorry about your run in , but this is my expeirence off the day sorry for going on a bit guys but i feel ( i've turned a corner ) so to speak ps he had a ZZR1400 Gray
Shit hot Gray. I'm really chuffed for you mate. It proves you already had what you needed under your hat, saying it out loud to somebody just bubble sorts the info to the surface.
Sounds like a good day I did the Bike Safe course a few weeks back and learnt a fair bit.. maybe I'll look at doing something more like this.
i'm glad you enjoyed it, a lot of it can be helpful, no doubt.. I am trained to a high level (cant slow manoeuvre to save my life though) just be cautious of some of it, if its mis interpreted it can be dangerous.
Brilliant Gray I've often wondered what these days are actually like. It sounds like you really benefited from it. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Gray... if its not too cheeky to ask, can you tell us how much such a course costs? I recently did a "Rider Performance Safety Day" at Castle Combe... lots of tuition, handling practice (slow & fast), and a few sessions on the track to round the day off... has really whetted my appetite for some more constructive tuition.
Excellent! Glad to hear you had a great day out with the IAM. What you described w.r.t trusting the engine braking over comfort-braking is a recurring theme of BikeSafe, CSS and now IAM, it seems. I saw the IAM stand at Goodwood yesterday, so briefly contemplated possibly doing an advanced course, mainly for insurance premium reduction more than anything else. Did your instructor steer you towards doing a full course?
Great to hear you learnt from your day with I.A.M. I did the full skills for life IAM course 2 years ago and in my view was invaluable, I learnt so much and has made me a smoother, safer and now quicker rider. Being able to read whats going on and then planning for it its like a second sense, best money I've spent.
Not my cup of tea I'm afraid. Once saw an "advanced rider" nearly crash on the motorway due to badly packed luggage wrapped around his rear wheel. Tend to be a bit up themselves when IMO you be better off spending some tuition time on a track and learn about real smooth riding. When you realise what you and your bike are capable of it's so much easier on the road.
Mine Didn,t cost more than a few coffees, I had a great , laid back instructor, who Didn,t even want petrol money. Yes, some are a bit full of themselves.
