Advanced training

[MementoMori]

Hey, I'm wondering if there are any advanced motorcycle training courses available in NZ that you can take?

Thanks!!

[justsomeguy]

Hey, I'm wondering if there are any advanced motorcycle training courses available in NZ that you can take?

Thanks!!

Depends on what you mean by advanced.

Attending local rides alone will go a long way towards improving your riding.

Then there are trackdays where an experienced racer supervises a group - like the Honda Riders Club trackdays.

On a more informal basis there is the KB Mentoring programme.

[Sparky Bills]

What about SpeThal training?

Im speThal!

[Hitcher]

Without wanting to dispel any benefits from controlled riding environments, or to denigrate the skill that competent track riders clearly have, I remain to be convinced that track riding adds meaningful value to road riding: no on-coming traffic, all other traffic moving at similar speed, no need to use the brakes in anger or even stop at all, no need to stay in a lane, no roadworks, sheep, etc.

I would definitely be a starter for an advanced skills course based on the needs of a rider wanting to survive on the road.

[Ixion]

What Mr Hitcher said. I suspect that track days are good training experience for racing, but contribute little or nothing toward improved safety on the road. They may even be negative - a rider goes to a track day, determines that he can take corners at speed, goes out on the road, attempts to take corners at the same sort of speed - but - oh no, on the road the corner has a pothole or bump mid corner, or over night has aquired a scattering of gravel - and BANG. Track days encourage riders to dispense with the safety margin that is indispensable on the road.

[dawnrazor]

Hey, I'm wondering if there are any advanced motorcycle training courses available in NZ that you can take?

Thanks!!

I'll echo hitch and ixion here wrt the track days, a great way to experience the limits of performance in a reasonable safe environment, but of little practicle application on the road.

I assume the original question was enquiring after a professionally run advanced road craft training programme, of possibly a one on one tutorial nature or small intensive classes, held in a number of road situations including theoretical practices as well as practical applications for improved safety on the road.

I think its a GREAT question and if anyone knows of such a course then let me know, doesn't matter how long we have been riding we ALL can learn more.....

There are a tonne of courses like this in the UK, some better then others - I did one a few years ago and I learnt heaps in a very short time...epic.

Someone start an "advanced riding school", and save some lives......

[quallman1234]

roadsafe.co.nz

[justsomeguy]

I remain to be convinced that track riding adds meaningful value to road riding.

Simply put, it doesn't.

Almost all of us who do trackdays don't give an iota of care about being safe, we just want to learn to go fast. Then we road race as it's more dangerous and gives us better kicks - and that my dear oversensitive, paranoid moderator is the unvarnished truth.

I would definitely be a starter for an advanced skills course based on the needs of a rider wanting to survive on the road.

That's where the BRONZ ride right ride safe course comes in.

[MementoMori]

Just found the link for that here.

Seems pretty interesting as I desperately need to pick up on my theory stuff... even if it is all the way up there in Auckland!

Some interesting sites and advice given, so thank you. I shall look into these further.

[Hillbilly]

That sounds like it sux! Here there are schools that teach advanced riding, and it's one on one tuition. You get sharpen your skill, and have an instructor point out bad riding technique, and how to correct mistakes. You can talk to the instructor about what you think you need to brush up on or would like to learn. But the tuition is taylored for the individual. The tuition also includes riding on the road in traffic! If you don't want to use your bike, you can hire the schools. Only costs $125 a day too.

Now if you wanna race, there are two superbike shcools! The one at Eastern Creek used to have 20 or so Daytona 600s, but have switched to 22 new K7Gixxer 600s! These are fully set up race bikes, and you can hire the leathers as well.

[MementoMori]

Yeah, there were police-organised advanced training courses (some encouraged speeding where it was safe to do so), wheelie and stoppie schools and superbike schools back in the UK.

But I'm not there any more, so it no longer matters lol.

[Ralph]

This is the only place that I know of that offers Advanced training, expensive but sounds like it might be worth it,
I plan on doing it hopefully in the near future.
http://www.riderskills.co.nz/
The others are right to about track days and riding with others its helped my riding and confidence a lot!

[Hitcher]

and that my dear oversensitive, paranoid moderator is the unvarnished truth.

Hey! I represent that.

[90s]

Look up the Ride Right Ride Safe course (RRRS) here in the forums - its a sticky in survival skills and someone has posted a link as well.
I have done this twice - both times attended by learners and by people on serious machines, some of whom had over 25 yrs experience and still thought they learnt a lot on the day. (I've got 20 yrs exp. but its very patchy with years off bikes then a recent jump from the 150 to a 600 with pillion so I found the course very, very helpful. Geared to road and reality not track and fantasy).

On the course I also talked with KBers who have heard about or taken other commercial courses and heard very mixed things about them. RRRS is non-profit by BRONZ and run by bikers for bikers. It's only $50 too - steal.

[El Dopa]

I'm running the risk of going against my elders and (possible) betters here, but I learnt two major things at the track that I think are applicable to road riding safely. You won't learn either of these on RRRS, and possibly not on other road safety courses.

In my opinion, both of these are very applicable to newbies. Possibly less so to more experienced people who ride closer to the limits of their machines, and are more aware of the machines limits.

1) It takes a lot of road to slow down from high speed.

Yes it's obvious, but unless you've actually had your bike up to high speed (as a lot of newbies will do on the road), and then had to slow down in a hurry, you might not actually realise how much room you need. Knowing the stopping distance has stopped me riding at speed along certain straights where farmer brown might pull out suddenly on his large immovable object within my safe stopping distance.

2) The bike will almost always lean more than you think it will.

Very useful if you end up in a corner thats hotter than you thought. Which can happen even when you're riding within what you think are your limits. I've been on newbie rides where exactly this has happenned. The rider has done what is instinctive to the newbie, and grabbed the brake. Result: bin.

I'm willing to bet there was more grip available on the tyres if they'd leaned the bike in instead of grabbing the brake. That way all they'd have needed was new pants, not a new front end.