Bikesafe on a WC

[Yonkyo]

Just booked a Bikesafe jobby on a new WC GS this Saturday.
I've never done Bikesafe before, so i dont know what to expect, but I'm looking forward to spending 2hrs on the new bike though.

 

[RATCATCHER]

BIKE SAFE

you will have a great time and learn a lot!!!

 

[Dave56]

It's a bit strange having a police bike following you for 20 minutes, but boy do you learn a lot, and I've been riding over 20 years. Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it and learnt loads.

 

[Yonkyo]

you will have a great time and learn a lot!!!

Thanks mate...

I've never bothered with stuff like Bikesafe or advanced rider, as i figured that after having been riding bikes for 37yrs and half a million miles, i'd be pretty clued up.

So i'll let you know how i get on..

 

[Geldof]

I did it last year in Birmingham..... Really enjoyable day. Fantastic ride through the
Warwickshire countryside with a bike copper on my back wheel (devoid of pen)

 

[Bryn]

It'll take you a few miles to relax... once that happens you'll have a great time

 

[Yonkyo]

I used to be a bit of a biker hooligan back in the day. So Yeh, its gunna feel strange having bike copper following me, without his blues flashing, and a sick feeling in my gut.

But i'm a much nicer law abiding chap now.......

 

[Engineer]

I used to be a bit of a biker hooligan back in the day. So Yeh, its gunna feel strange having bike copper following me, without his blues flashing, and a sick feeling in my gut.

But i'm a much nicer law abiding chap now.......

Did it a few years ago in Peterborough - it was very good, there is always something to learn even after 38 years in my case.

 

[Giles]

I used to be a bit of a biker hooligan back in the day. So Yeh, its gunna feel strange having bike copper following me, without his blues flashing, and a sick feeling in my gut.

But i'm a much nicer law abiding chap now.......

When you go for a ride yerself or with yer mates, you probably put all your attention where it should be - a couple of hundred yards down the road. It is very easy on these sorts of days to loose all your normal flow and planning, because all of a sudden your attention just isnt where it normally is - you're thinking ''I'm being watched', 'where is he now', 'Oooo, he's on that line, I wonder if I should be?' etc etc, and as a consequence your 'attention' spends almost as much time behind you rather than up the road.

It's hard, (and it is hard at first ..), but completely ignore the bloke who's following you. Don't worry about his lines or his positioning, do what you do every time you go for a spin. keep your attention way way up the road and ignore him.
That's the best bit of advice I can give you.

 

[bodge it]

I used to be a bit of a biker hooligan back in the day. So Yeh, its gunna feel strange having bike copper following me, without his blues flashing, and a sick feeling in my gut.

But i'm a much nicer law abiding chap now.......

I did it and was surprised how bloody fast they went all the time out of the limited zones, 30mph in a 30 and 40mph in a 40.

But bloody hell they don't hang about on the open road.

"Making good progress" is what they call it. Learnt loads

 

[blindbill]

Giles is right....the key to good riding/driving is forward observation and planning

 

[JASONBC]

Just booked a Bikesafe jobby on a new WC GS this Saturday.
I've never done Bikesafe before, so i dont know what to expect, but I'm looking forward to spending 2hrs on the new bike though.

I did bike safe years ago at Truro we had 1 copper and 2 students. First thing he said was "Don't ride like angels, ride as you would normally or i can't asses you properly and make sure your doing 30 in a 30 zone and 40 in 40 zone as the traffic department are out today" it was a Sunday.

First they check the bikes are safe and then you go on the road with them taking turns to swap positions but always with the police rider in the middle. Going up over the hill at Porthtowan made a load of holiday makers cack there pants and wonder what was happening as a black and yellow firstorm came up over the brow of the hill nearly doing 3 figures in a 60 zone being chased by police BMW which was being chased by A VFR750 the holiday makers were standing on the cliffs taking photo's of the sea. Possibly 2-3 times i blipped it to just over the ton to see what happened, rsult was no issues and no bollocking.

All in all they were great guys and it was a great day, about 15 students went out for the day with 6 or seven coppers then around 3pm we arrived back at Truro county hall for the assesment results we left county hall at 9am sharp so it was a full days riding. Now i believe you have to pay £50 then claim it back when i did it, it was just register and turn up.

 

[Giles]

Giles is right....the key to good riding/driving is forward observation and planning

yeah yeah yeah ... that's bleedin obvious

But when there's a copper up yer chuff looking like a giant banana 12 feet from yer mirrors it's easy to be intimidated and distracted from your normal standard.

That's my point

 

[JASONBC]

yeah yeah yeah ... that's bleedin obvious

But when there's a copper up yer chuff looking like a giant banana 12 feet from yer mirrors it's easy to be intimidated and distracted from your normal standard.

That's my point

Not so, i was so relaxed i couldn't of cared who was there, in fact i didn't.

Another thing that was funny was having a competiton going around a large quiet roundabout on an ind est to see who could lean over the most. Was obvious the BMW would win he only had to bank 5 degrees and the cylinder heads were hitting the ground i had a very narrow v twin so was never going to be near the limit of the bike

 

[Giles]

Thats good. Some peepes struggle to relax

 

[Yonkyo]

Did it a few years ago in Peterborough - it was very good, there is always something to learn even after 38 years in my case.

i'm starting to look forward to doing this now..

It's hard, (and it is hard at first ..), but completely ignore the bloke who's following you. Don't worry about his lines or his positioning, do what you do every time you go for a spin. keep your attention way way up the road and ignore him.
That's the best bit of advice I can give you.

Thanks for the sound advice Giles.
That’s very insightful, and obviously comes from your personal experiences as an observer copper..

 

[Yonkyo]

I did it and was surprised how bloody fast they went all the time out of the limited zones, 30mph in a 30 and 40mph in a 40.
But bloody hell they don't hang about on the open road.
"Making good progress" is what they call it. Learnt loads

Sounds good, lets hope my local bike bobbies are as enthusiastic.

I did bike safe years ago at Truro we had 1 copper and 2 students. First thing he said was "Don't ride like angels, ride as you would normally or i can't asses you properly and make sure your doing 30 in a 30 zone and 40 in 40 zone as the traffic department are out today" it was a Sunday.

Cheers for that Jason.
I now know exactly what the bobbies are looking at, and gives me something to aim for.

 

[y2blade]

Thats good. Some peepes struggle to relax

Some peeps struggle to tie shoe laces
Yonko, relax and enjoy the day...look/think as far ahead as possible.


Don't forget the sidestand

 

[Yonkyo]

Some peeps struggle to tie shoe laces
Yonko, relax and enjoy the day...look/think as far ahead as possible.


Don't forget the sidestand

Cheers dude.

At first i was just looking forward to riding the new GS, but now i think i'm looking forward to to Bikesafe bit too..

Question for Giles.

Do you think that i'll get away with pulling the occasional Minger, seeing as i'm on a completely new bike, and, 'i'm, er, getting used to the power delivery officer sir'....

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

When you go for a ride yerself or with yer mates, you probably put all your attention where it should be - a couple of hundred yards down the road. It is very easy on these sorts of days to loose all your normal flow and planning, because all of a sudden your attention just isnt where it normally is - you're thinking ''I'm being watched', 'where is he now', 'Oooo, he's on that line, I wonder if I should be?' etc etc, and as a consequence your 'attention' spends almost as much time behind you rather than up the road.

It's hard, (and it is hard at first ..), but completely ignore the bloke who's following you. Don't worry about his lines or his positioning, do what you do every time you go for a spin. keep your attention way way up the road and ignore him.
That's the best bit of advice I can give you.

Yeah, I'd echo that

I did one a few years ago with Bryn. It took quite a while for me to properly relax but I did eventually. Like you Yonkyo I've been riding years, race, IAM etc but I learnt loads and the ride was very much tailored to mine and the one other riders ability. I was shattered by the end of the day but very happy with what I'd learnt. I keep meaning to do another and this thread has reminded me to get one booked up this year.

Oh, and beware having a concentrated session of following the vanishing point. Following hedges, at speed, for some miles only to find the hedges suddenly stop and open onto a flat, open series of bends with no reference points - eh Bryn - still don't know how I made it round that first bend

Andres