I took the classroom portion of the BRC tonight. Very interesting to me after my training in Germany.
Some notes...
The guy in the alcohol section of the DVD is kind of cute in those yellow Vansons.....
The overall focus of the classroom work was far less technical. I know that this is due to time limitations.
The average intelligence of the students was not going to handle serious technical discussions about how ABS and gyroscopic precession work, either.
The videos were good. I was pleasantly surprised by this. The diversity of bikes was great, and of course there was the ubiquitous yellow F650GS just like in Germany, so I did pay attention to something. That acid yellow KLR, though.... Nasty!
The main message I got was "please don't kill yourself". The two RCs doing the classroom segment did add a bunch of life to the materials and their love of riding definitely came through. I did not get a warm and fuzzy feeling about their technical chops, though. Maybe I am just too technical of a rider.
Fine-C is utterly useless on an F650GS. We use KOCSNS - Key, killswitch On, Clutch, Sidestand, Neutral, Start.
When they mentioned that Suzuki(?) required the clutch in to start, I said "BMW, also" and the guy said "oh, you're BMW.... so, uh, know your bike. Yeah." This made me giggle a lot. Mostly because they identified BMW as strange. Which it is.
The horn button and blinker button are totally unclear in the book. And they are often swapped on various motorcycles.
There were so many little things that as a somewhat experienced rider, I just didn't connect properly. Like what do you look for when coming up to a corner? The apex and exit, duh. Well, the real answer is assess the road condition, slope (which I call camber) and radius. Or upshifting - preload, blip, and yeah. No, it's this horribly complicated clutch and throttle thing. and preloading the shifter is not part of it!
Ahhhhh... in the alcohol section, they mentioned the reduced visual capacity. This is how KC came to the concept of reference points - riding impaired. I don't want to ride impaired, but it was so weird not to hear the good stuff that came from an intelligent rider realizing that riding imparied was a really bad thing.
And every time they said slow look press roll, it was hard for me not to finish the sequence with the rest of rule 1. I kept thinking of the German technique, too - look and lean.
I was pleasantly surprised that they mentioned using your chin in turning. They soecifically called out wearing a full face helmet and bringing the chinbar to the shoulder. No real explanation of how it works by aligning the body properly, but at least they brought it up.
Tomorrow, I have two two-hour range sessions. Apparently, they have TU250s, Nighthawks, and "Honda Trainers". I plan to go for a TU250 or a "Honda Trainer". I was hoping to see a WR or comparable dual-sport, but no love. I will show up early and take whatever looks ratty and fun.
I am definitely aware that I will look funny with my euro gear on.
Some notes...
The guy in the alcohol section of the DVD is kind of cute in those yellow Vansons.....
The overall focus of the classroom work was far less technical. I know that this is due to time limitations.
The average intelligence of the students was not going to handle serious technical discussions about how ABS and gyroscopic precession work, either.
The videos were good. I was pleasantly surprised by this. The diversity of bikes was great, and of course there was the ubiquitous yellow F650GS just like in Germany, so I did pay attention to something. That acid yellow KLR, though.... Nasty!
The main message I got was "please don't kill yourself". The two RCs doing the classroom segment did add a bunch of life to the materials and their love of riding definitely came through. I did not get a warm and fuzzy feeling about their technical chops, though. Maybe I am just too technical of a rider.
Fine-C is utterly useless on an F650GS. We use KOCSNS - Key, killswitch On, Clutch, Sidestand, Neutral, Start.
When they mentioned that Suzuki(?) required the clutch in to start, I said "BMW, also" and the guy said "oh, you're BMW.... so, uh, know your bike. Yeah." This made me giggle a lot. Mostly because they identified BMW as strange. Which it is.
The horn button and blinker button are totally unclear in the book. And they are often swapped on various motorcycles.
There were so many little things that as a somewhat experienced rider, I just didn't connect properly. Like what do you look for when coming up to a corner? The apex and exit, duh. Well, the real answer is assess the road condition, slope (which I call camber) and radius. Or upshifting - preload, blip, and yeah. No, it's this horribly complicated clutch and throttle thing. and preloading the shifter is not part of it!
Ahhhhh... in the alcohol section, they mentioned the reduced visual capacity. This is how KC came to the concept of reference points - riding impaired. I don't want to ride impaired, but it was so weird not to hear the good stuff that came from an intelligent rider realizing that riding imparied was a really bad thing.
And every time they said slow look press roll, it was hard for me not to finish the sequence with the rest of rule 1. I kept thinking of the German technique, too - look and lean.
I was pleasantly surprised that they mentioned using your chin in turning. They soecifically called out wearing a full face helmet and bringing the chinbar to the shoulder. No real explanation of how it works by aligning the body properly, but at least they brought it up.
Tomorrow, I have two two-hour range sessions. Apparently, they have TU250s, Nighthawks, and "Honda Trainers". I plan to go for a TU250 or a "Honda Trainer". I was hoping to see a WR or comparable dual-sport, but no love. I will show up early and take whatever looks ratty and fun.
I am definitely aware that I will look funny with my euro gear on.
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