Bikesafe course in Eastbourne

[duncanpage]

Hi all

I'm considering booking myself & possibly my dad (if his bike is back on the road in time) for a bikesafe course in Eastbourne.
It's £50 each rider.
Has anyone done this course & especially in or around Eastbourne?
If so did you learn anything new or was it mostly just common sense?
Does it help bring down the cost of insurance at all?

[P.]

Probably won't touch the insurance.

Wouldn't bother personally.

[barrkel]

Negligible impact on insurance, but a good day out. I learned stuff, particularly about reading the road - for me specifically, looking at what the council has spent money on, like barriers, signs, road paint, etc. - point being that most of these things are because of past incidents, and if you think about them you can almost visualize the previous accidents. Another is doing safe overtakes in the wet - pulling out before accelerating, and accelerating in a straight line, minimizes the risks of spinning up, and if you do spin up, it's controllable, whereas a swervey overtake that spins up will likely end in a crash.

If you ride in the advanced style (motorcycle roadcraft book), they'll give you constructive criticism about how you can improve. If you don't, well, that's really the style they advocate, and the day is sort of designed to feed into IAM or RoSPA, which in turn use roadcraft as their course book.

The advanced style is useful as a system for analysing dodgy situations you've been in, and figuring the best way to fix your style to minimize the problems. It's mostly common sense, but having it exhaustively listed is useful to make sure you haven't forgotten anything. If you adopt that style (for the day at least), you'll get the most value out of it.

The one bit of the style I don't really follow is straightlining to minimize steering actions. I like taking corners in the dry, so if the road wanders around, I'll follow the road, and if a totally clear roundabout has multiple lanes, I won't straightline it unless it's wet. Got me told off by a bike copper at a traffic lights, my one and only telling off, but I was having fun.
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ

[duncanpage]

[barrkel]

[duncanpage]

I suppose that would be how they ride when chasing someone, use less energy, keep up speed, etc, but it must be tiring riding like that all the time!
Like you say, sometimes you just want to enjoy the ride!!!

[Nick_Giles]

[illuminateTHE...]

Do you get like a certificate at the end of your course?
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Theory: PASSED Module 1: PASSED Module 2: PASSED 12/2012!!!

yzf r125 [SOLD] sv650 [CURRENT]

[barrkel]

[Ichy]

Enhanced Rider Scheme is a better option if you can find a subsidised course locally.

https://www.dft.gov.uk/fyn/enhanced.php
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https://www.metacafe.com/watch/1972097/how_to_behave_on_a_forum/

[Matt B]

[barrkel]

[Rogerborg]

I wouldn't pay for it. It costs less to buy Roadcraft, and then get a free "assessed ride" with the local IAM or RoSPA.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Nick_Giles]

[Rogerborg]

And now you've heard from one person who says otherwise.

It entirely depends on the local outfit and indeed who you go out on the road with. The Strathclyde one was massively over-subscribed, and turned out to be a (fairly good) lecture on what I already knew from Roadcraft, some non-committal Q&A, and then we got palmed off on the local IAM to do the assessed rides anyway.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[illuminateTHE...]

[mikester]

shameful that your force is making you pay. it was and is still free in Staffs, i wouldn't say it was worth £50 either.

I did it for something to do, not for any insurance reasons. Had a good time and had some decent advise.

[Nick_Giles]