Edge 44 (aka Bikesafe)
Discussion
On Saturday I went down to Winchester to meet up with a bike mounted traffic policeman for a two hour one-on-one road assessment. The PC involved was on his own bike and was off-duty, he was using a BMW R1000. The afternoon started with questions about my riding experience, riding in groups, bike maintenance and security, we then covered the route which was done in three stages, heading South towards Corhampton via the A32. The first ride was lead by me with the PC taking mental notes of road position, anticipation of hazards, reading the road, observation of road signs. On the second ride, the PC lead allowing me to see what I was doing wrong. The police use a very interesting 'system' which allows them to make progress regardless of what they are riding, a lot of it is common sense when you think about it. The third ride was the final part of the assessment where correct high speed overtaking was used, this leading us down to Portsmouth where we stopped for coffee and the written test. This was a fairly simple multichoice test with two parts made up of bike maintenance and road knowledge. I got a couple of questions wrong on the road knowledge, however, I feel that some of the questions could have been worded better. Overall an enjoyable rideout with superb conditions (bar the prats in the silver Sierra estate overtaking both of us on a blind bend entering a village with a car coming the other way in a 40 limit shouting abuse at us) They shall no doubt be receiving their summons soon. I would recommend this course to anyone looking to gauge how the police view their riding style. Then you can make a choice of whether you want to build the feedback into your riding or not. It cost £65 and has reduced my insurance with Carole Nash by 10% which covers the price of the course. Not a track day by any means, but I enjoyed it and soon started to relax with the fact that I was hitting 85 on twisty A and B roads being tailed by a policeman.
www.hants.gov.uk/roadsafety for anybody who is interested.
www.hants.gov.uk/roadsafety for anybody who is interested.
Quality banter... lol
I did 4 hrs of police rider training when I got my YZF600 around 4 years ago. As I remember, the copper had done some racing in his time and rode his FJ/XJ or whatever it was, pretty briskly. I remember being surprised by this at the time.
Anyhow, I thought the course was excellent and I learnt the police roadcraft line that day and have used it (mostly) ever since.
Well worth doing if you're new to biking or if you've simply fallen into bad habits on the road.
B
I did 4 hrs of police rider training when I got my YZF600 around 4 years ago. As I remember, the copper had done some racing in his time and rode his FJ/XJ or whatever it was, pretty briskly. I remember being surprised by this at the time.
Anyhow, I thought the course was excellent and I learnt the police roadcraft line that day and have used it (mostly) ever since.
Well worth doing if you're new to biking or if you've simply fallen into bad habits on the road.
B
The Termi's stayed on and no comments were made!! I was thinking of showing him my new wheelie off the clutch tecnique but thought it was not appropriate. He was riding a 1988 BMW R1000 out of its skin. Quite amazing really. He has two young children and he mentioned that he is going to upgrade to something nicer when he can afford to. I reckon he would be pretty good on track. Went out yesterday to practice all that I had learnt down the smae route that we all went on Stir Crazy 1. Great time as we ended up following the A272 right down to Billingshurst. The course was good as I havent ridden a bike since 1993 until this summer, so didnt fancy becoming a statistic on my first season. I need a track day and soon!! I have got to get rid of the knee down urge on the roads. These new titanium sliders are just begging me to scratch them up! Bastards.
I think anything the BiB do to improve road safety is worth listening too. There are few who ride as fast as they can with the same level of safety. All the guys from the Met Bikesafe were headed over the channel for a weeks riding together when I met them. Genuine bike enthusiasts no question about it. Great to hear you had a good tim M3EVO and £65 is not exactly a fortune either!
Steve
Steve
sounds like fun , any other time that plod follows you though at 85 you will be getting a ticket 
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