Advice pls of Adv Riding Courses

[ADE THE BLADE]

This one will be in Exeter on Sunday 29th of November, but don't hang around matey as I'm sure they will have limited places

Let me know if you decide to go, we can meet up for a cuppa first. It is at Westpoint, the county show ground.

if you see a big purple dinosaur wearing slingbacks drinking coffee.......that`ll be me enjoy !!

[Hotgloves]

Concidently I passed my Advanced motorcycle test this morning after going through the IAM Course. My local group is Mbeam based in Morecambe. It cost me £129 to join both the IAM and Mbeam for 12 months. I've has 6 1-2hour observed rides (which cost no more than a brew for the obsserver). I have all ready saved £60 Odd on my AA cover just for being a member of the IAM. Unfortunatly I have just had to re- insure my bike before I could get a test date.
I feel so much more confident now as a rider and also SEE SO MUCH more when out riding, I overtake half as often but twice as safely now. And I would say the training saved my life once or twice because I was getting very Throttle happy without the ability to match. I feel now that my speed matches my ability to ride smoothly and safely. (Great feeling leaving a frustrated boy racer on a GSX1000 in my wake riding along the side of loch ness, while fully loaded after the national in Ullapool)
All in all a well worth while course to take and you meet some really good guys along the way if you attent the group meetings/rideouts.

[iainnic]

Similar to Hotgloves - passed the AIM in September. Saved £80 on the bike insurance (and a much better policy as well) and AA is next.

Excellent course and tuition - would recomend it to anyone
Iain

[steinberg]

as above - did the IAM course and advanced test 10 yrs ago.....thought I was a good rider until I did it! It focusses on planning, observation, road positioning etc. and it's to be thoroughly recommended, plus it's run by dedicated types virtually for free. And that was just the start - through the local IAM branch one can progress to the 'enhanced' advanced test, plus they run slow skills courses etc.
Bike safe days are very worthwhile and essentially condense similar stuff to the IAM training into one day.
For improving riding & cornering ability the California superbike school is good albeit a bit pricey www.superbikeschool.co.uk/

[Curzon]

One of the best riding courses I ever did was the Honda MAC course, several years ago. Its a great shame that the big H don't still offer this course.

[Grendel]

I'm looking into the Southampton IAM group since I keep missing the Hampshire bike safe dates since they get booked up too quick. Anyone know if a non IAM member can join them on a ride out just to get a feel for the group before I sink £100+ into it?

[jarl]

I'm looking into the Southampton IAM group since I keep missing the Hampshire bike safe dates since they get booked up too quick. Anyone know if a non IAM member can join them on a ride out just to get a feel for the group before I sink £100+ into it?

I was planning to do exactly what you describe; join for a rideout and then bum off back to uni . I think it says something on the website along the lines of "everyone welcome, but please join if you like it".

[Bluff]

if you see a big purple dinosaur wearing slingbacks drinking coffee.......that`ll be me enjoy !!

Excellent, I will be the one in the safari suit with a rifle and Jurassic park written across my back

IAM sounds great, well done to the recently passed My brother passed a few years ago and advised me to really get to know this bike before joining, it sounds like groups certainly vary his were very conscious of speed in that they wanted maximum all the time, if you were doing 57mph behind a car I'm a 60 then you failed making progress was their be all and end all it seemed.

The fellas that have done the IAM, I assume your experiences weren't like this?

[Frad]

I did my Advanced test with the Warrington Group, they were all very friendly and I would be surprised if any group would not let you go for a ride to see if it what you expect or not.

I think they all like to meet new people and if you pay up all the better.

Our group does a ' Chippy run' on a thursday night and a end of month social run on the last Sunday of the month.

So give the organiser a call and tag along for one of those and se how you get on

[steinberg]

it sounds like groups certainly vary his were very conscious of speed in that they wanted maximum all the time, if you were doing 57mph behind a car I'm a 60 then you failed making progress was their be all and end all it seemed.

The fellas that have done the IAM, I assume your experiences weren't like this?

Yep, that's exactly how it was when I did it - making progress was very important but only in a safe way....as you say, why dawdle behing a car at 57 when a safe overtake would put you in front and eliminate the hazard of being behind another vehicle. I'm still not sure I agree with this philosophy, but I suppose it was geared to taking the IAM test where you need to demonstrate beyond reproach the observation & planning needed to conduct safe overtakes.