Author Topic: Bikesafe (Read 10973 times)

Cellarman · « **on:** 20 January 2016, 08:55:26 pm »

Just booked a bikesafe training day in March, anyone on here done one, just wondering what to expect
Cheers Tim

Arfa · « **Reply #1 on:** 20 January 2016, 09:42:07 pm »

Yeah, couple of years ago. Was a good day overall, bit of class room batter first, then out on road, bit of rural, bit of urban. Copper follows you and then gives you a bunch of decent feedback. They'll take you out for lunch for bit of chin wag and hand out a goodie bag too. Go with open mind, and you'll get a lot out of it.

mtread · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 January 2016, 10:46:01 pm »

They point out it's not a 'training session', it's an observation and comments session. They do recommend you follow it up with ROSPA or IAM formal training. The cops are all good fun. Volunteers, and you'll be surprised what they can do with a Beemer

BBROWN1664 · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 January 2016, 08:22:11 am »

It is off putting at first when you are "making progress" and have a fully marked up plod bike in your mirror but it is a great day out.
If they have unmarked bikes you will see a lot more of their abilities. They don't do it on the marked bikes though as the general public see things like "off-siding" as dangerous, even though it is actually safer, so start calling up the police stations to report dangerous police bikers.

locksmith · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 January 2016, 09:24:28 am »

I always remember the copper asking me if I always ride that slow.

fazersharp · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 January 2016, 11:00:45 am »

Do they still do it if its raining !. If it starts raining can I go home.

DILLIGAFF · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 January 2016, 11:32:10 am »

Well worth it

celticdog · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 January 2016, 12:47:58 pm »

Quote from: BBROWN1664 on 21 January 2016, 08:22:11 am

It is off putting at first when you are "making progress" and have a fully marked up plod bike in your mirror but it is a great day out.
If they have unmarked bikes you will see a lot more of their abilities. They don't do it on the marked bikes though as the general public see things like "off-siding" as dangerous, even though it is actually safer, so start calling up the police stations to report dangerous police bikers.

I had to check what off-siding was! Your right it does look safer, at least the Cagers can see you coming- better than being side swiped!

http://www.theaa.com/public_affairs/reports/aa-advice-the-offsider-rule.html

BBROWN1664 · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 January 2016, 01:09:13 pm »

No - That's not it.

off-siding is sitting in the gutter on the right had side of the road for a left hand bend (assuming no solid white lines) so you can see further round the bend. Most people think this is dangerous until you actually get out into that gutter and realise how much further round the bend you can see. It is especially useful if there is a queue of cars on your side of the road and nothing coming the other way

fazersharp · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 January 2016, 01:37:40 pm »

Quote from: BBROWN1664 on 21 January 2016, 01:09:13 pm

off-siding is sitting in the gutter on the right had side of the road for a left hand bend (assuming no solid white lines) so you can see further round the bend.

Well that's another one I have always done and never knew it was "a thing" with a name, just like counterstearing.
Maybe not as far as the gutter, that's asking for a nail or some other crap in the tyre. And you cannot do it on all bends either, I also sort of peer around the corner with my head.

maddog04 · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 January 2016, 01:49:59 pm »

you'd think the AA would know better, if a high end motoring organisation cannot get it right then God help us.....

as for the Bike safe course.......get on it and enjoy, you will learn from some of the best riders about and when you've completed it, get on a RoSPA course

Grahamm · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 January 2016, 03:34:27 pm »

Quote from: BBROWN1664 on 21 January 2016, 01:09:13 pm

off-siding is sitting in the gutter on the right had side of the road for a left hand bend (assuming no solid white lines) so you can see further round the bend.

I wouldn't advise going as far as the gutter, but it is perfectly legal to cross the centre line into the opposite carriageway on a left-hander for a better view *provided* you can do it without causing an on-coming vehicle to have to alter their speed or direction and especially that you can do it without compromising your own safety.

Exupnut · « **Reply #12 on:** 21 January 2016, 03:44:07 pm »

Agreed.....and obviously the line u cross has to be broken.

BBROWN1664 · « **Reply #13 on:** 21 January 2016, 04:32:50 pm »

When I said in the gutter, I didn't mean it literally. Should have guessed with this site though

What I meant was as far out to the right hand side of the road as possible, without being silly, rather than just across the line or worse still, staying on the left of the line.

Robbie8666 · « **Reply #14 on:** 21 January 2016, 06:56:04 pm »

was gonna say the type of off-siding the AA write about is very ileagal!! I got done for that 2 hours after buying my 1st ever Yamaha! it was a 75cc step thru like a Honda cub lol!!

Val · « **Reply #15 on:** 21 January 2016, 11:40:53 pm »

Expect tea and biscuits

Seriously I've done it last year and there was free lunch too.

Morning ride was out of town, afternoon in London.

It was fun, you meet different people. You ride two riders and one cop. The cop was always last. The riders change lead place after signal from the cop from time to time. They put me together with a block on a Ducati Scrambler.

The out of the town ride was on my regular ride outs country lanes where I know all the bends. The Ducati was struggling to keep up with us when I was the lead rider

I was trying to calm down and do my calm London filtering. The cop has asked me at the end why the rush and that I need to calm down, seriously?

It was really fun in London all the cars were slowing down as soon they see the cop bike and giving you nice place for filtering.

They give you rating at the end of the day. A is the safest rider ever seen. B is good. C is acceptable. D is you will potato yourself any minute now.

I've got C so all the other guys...a lot of lessons learnt I am still analysing it. The major one I suppose is ride slow

maddog04 · « **Reply #16 on:** 22 January 2016, 12:57:14 pm »

Val......maybe he thought you were riding fast in areas that could be rode a bit slower and safer and then you could ride faster in other areas?
when I started advanced riding, I was told similar to you by one instructor and I had come to realise he was right when I thought about it......because I was doing advanced, I thought that I had to prove myself and always be seen to be making good progress (going fast, I was doing corners and bends this particular week and tbh, I was riding out of my comfort zone)
most Police riders know the lines to take (bit like top end racers) and a lot of time is made up here when using the system .....IPSGA....smoothness/safety is key

take on board the advice they gave you and go and practice then do an advanced course to consolidate and learn further

Cellarman · « **Reply #17 on:** 23 January 2016, 10:25:06 am »

Thanks for the reply's, really looking forward to this & learning some new skills

hotmetal · « **Reply #18 on:** 23 January 2016, 05:51:06 pm »

It's a worthwhile exercise and a good day out. As others have said, they won't really teach you new skills as such, but they will observe you and tell you what you need to pay attention to in order to ride better. They will also give you loads of tips and answer any relevant questions you may have. When I did it the other rider was a Dennis Waterman lookalike (out of Minder) on a Zx9r. He was riding like a nun cos he couldn't get the idea out of his head that the cops were watching. When it was my turn he said 'I hope you're going to turn it up a bit - I'm getting bored doing 40 in an NSL". Oh and he stopped to bollock some ho in a car on her phone which made me laugh. Good lunch at Ace café as well. To actually address the points he told me to work on, I joined the IAM.

Cellarman · « **Reply #19 on:** 18 March 2016, 09:07:00 pm »

Tomorrow is the day, wish me luck

dickturpin · « **Reply #20 on:** 18 March 2016, 09:27:40 pm »

We want a full report afterwards.....and good luck!

Cellarman · « **Reply #21 on:** 19 March 2016, 07:53:06 pm »

Well had a really enjoyable day, as has been mentioned not a training day (they stress that) even so still picked up plenty of tips.
The observed ride was on a one to one basis witch made things easier, enjoyed the ride helped by riding roads I'm reasonably familiar with, got good feedback from the observer & got a B rating (apparently no-one gets an A) so very pleased with that

Overall a great day & I would recommend it to anyone hasn't done anything like it.
Next up I'm going to do the performance plus course, this is a proper training day at Cadwell park, so looking forward to that
Cheers Tim

maddog04 · « **Reply #22 on:** 20 March 2016, 10:06:19 am »

glad you enjoyed it Tim, I think peeps are put off by the mention of "training" in certain quarters and the fact that the Police are involved. As others have said tho.....very worthwhile and enjoyable so spread the word
give us some feedback on the performance plus day (is this training for the track?) and get on a RoSPA course too

dickturpin · « **Reply #23 on:** 20 March 2016, 10:12:15 am »

Spill the beans.....tell us the tips and what you think you learned!

maddog04 · « **Reply #24 on:** 20 March 2016, 10:21:44 am »

just go on one dickturpin.....you'll learn and enjoy at the same time