Superbike School - Worth the cash ?

[Gosling1]

For what its worth, even after riding bikes for 35+ years, I think I will do one of these schools at some stage shortly, just to see what they can teach me.....even if its something as basic as getting your knee on the deck, I will be happy - apparently you need to do that to go fast .....

[Aussie Ninja]

I learn't nothing at my pre licence rider training. Go to the school, you will learn at least something if not several somethings. It is worth it, and if you find you find you knew what they teach you, you have to do level 1 to get to level 2. If top class racers use CSS I recon you could pick up a trick or two.

[MrStompy]

Do it!!

i too was a "noob" when i went and for me personally it gave me a lot of confidence for out on the road which i didnt have before and taught me stuff about the track that some of my other riding mates who have ridden longer and havent done the course still havet figured out.

also it made me faster so for $400 it was a cheap mod to the bike.

[Dr Nick]

I cant recommend it enough. I did level one last year and learnt more in one day there than i had in all my life. Mind you, i had only been riding on the road for a couple of years, and im from the country where there is no rider training. Basically if you can ride around the block and make it back to the RTA, you get your licence! I'd definatly say do it. If i had the money, i would go back and do every other level.

[I-K]

i get all my "lessons" by riding thru the hills with mates..if sum1 is faster than me, i get em to sit behind me and see if they can pick up my problems...

That works provided that the faster person is faster because their technique is superior to yours, not because they just push harder.

There's a bloke I rode with occasionally back in the day. Had a green 2000-model 12R and he was a bit faster than me; get me on a good day and him on a bad day and I could hold him. The one piece of riding advice I heard him espouse...

"Keep your arms stiff, so you're ready for when you have to brake."

mostly i kno my problems, i just cant seem to eradicate them tho...

This could prove interesting... wanna lay those problems out, see if we can nut out a solution.

Until very recently, I used to have issues with downhill corners and low-speed corners. What fixed that, respectively, has been me getting into the habit of not hanging off to the max all the time and learning to cog down into first when necessary, and what cemented that solution was just doing a whole pile of riding back in 2005.

[MickLC]

As far as the theory section of the CSS goes, get a copy of Twist of the Wrist 2 and read it from cover to cover...it'll have everything that they tell you in the classroom, without having to watch Steve Brouggy posture in front of the whiteboard

As far as practically applying what you get taught in the classroom, read in a book, or pick up off one of these forums, probably one of the hardest things to do is to be self-analytical of your riding style. You may think you are tipping in quickly, picking the right turn in point, looking through the turn etc. but the best, most useful bit of doing the CSS is that you get to spend time on the track with an instructor watching what you are doing and demonstrating how to do it correctly. They then finish every session with a debrief to talk about what you just did, what was good and what you could do better.

Some people get good instructors, some get bad, but by and large they are good and where you will learn the most from.

[Neka79]

i get all my "lessons" by riding thru the hills with mates..if sum1 is faster than me, i get em to sit behind me and see if they can pick up my problems...

That works provided that the faster person is faster because their technique is superior to yours, not because they just push harder.

There's a bloke I rode with occasionally back in the day. Had a green 2000-model 12R and he was a bit faster than me; get me on a good day and him on a bad day and I could hold him. The one piece of riding advice I heard him espouse...

"Keep your arms stiff, so you're ready for when you have to brake."

mostly i kno my problems, i just cant seem to eradicate them tho...

This could prove interesting... wanna lay those problems out, see if we can nut out a solution.

Until very recently, I used to have issues with downhill corners and low-speed corners. What fixed that, respectively, has been me getting into the habit of not hanging off to the max all the time and learning to cog down into first when necessary, and what cemented that solution was just doing a whole pile of riding back in 2005.

mostly they are superior in technique to me.... but not always..sum just have less fear...

my major issues over the years have been

1.no insurance
2.no points on licence.
3.fear of the cost of fixing bike

after binning the blade a few times i backed right off.... before i left syd (and started crashing a lot more) i was a lot quicker than i am now, albeit maybe not as smooth or safe...

however before i left i wrote off a VTR1000 and that caused greif..it was heavy and the comp braking use to catch me out, that and i didnt look thru corners far enuf, and i out rode my own ability.

now that im getting my mojo back, my bikes insured (still i dont wanna crash it tho) and my licence still isnt particularly safe, so im not picking up a lot of speed.... i guess i just got use to riding slow and not caring if i was last one there...

Plas has picked up that i dont look far enuf thru the corner, and i tip in too early and wash off too much corner speed on entry..its just sumthin im trying to build back up...

wow..sorry for the long post guys...

[Kwak addict]

I've recently had this very discussion with a group of my mates at a trackday, all of them had done the L1 & 2 Superbike School (I haven't) The general consensus was that the school days had told them what to do but only doing trackdays had actually improved their technique & yes, those improvements had transferred to their road riding.
All of them said Brouggy is a bit of a wanker & loves to overstate the value of each "tip" & over analyses into WAY more detail than is required, all said that if he just said "try this, this is how you do it" & let them out on the track to practice it, the results would have come much faster. They all reckon he gets far too hung up on the theory & wastes too much time crapping on when they could be out on the track learning.
The boys reckon all they got from their L1 & 2 experience was;
1/ Get all your braking done in a straight line.
2/ Keep your head level & look ahead & through the corner.
Apparently, these pearls of wisdom were the only things that made any difference to their riding (& yes, they ARE both very important)
From a non school attendees perspective (mine) I think they've wasted lots of money on something that any decent racer could have told them in less than 1 minute & they're all still slow!
Do some trackdays, follow faster guys around, practice the above 2 tips & you'll be flying in no time.
That'll be 2c thanks.

[Nucci]

1/ Get all your braking done in a straight line.
2/ Keep your head level & look ahead & through the corner.
Apparently, these pearls of wisdom were the only things that made any difference to their riding (& yes, they ARE both very important)

Interesting that..

Im an average rider but those two points are fundamental to the way I try and ride. At the pace I ride on the road I dont actually have to brake that often or hard for that matter unless I am on a road with a lot of tight turns twixt some straight stretches. I definitely try and adopt the slow in/fast out approach but I feel I like to throw my bike in at a decent pace, and use throttle and body position to adjust my line - I really dont have to brake that much.

I have been on rides following riders who use their brake a lot more than I do but with no extra pace as a result so I guess it comes down to what youre comfy with.

I remember on a run down the Clyde once I got a bit more adventerous. I got on the throttle earlier and a bit harder coming out of corners (which resulted in some nice wheel spinning) and braked nice and hard in a straight line before I got to a corner but my corner speed felt like it was pretty much the same. At the end of the trip my tyre looked a lot worse for wear and I got to the roundabout at the Bay probably 30 seconds quicker then I normally do.

So all the extra effort, while it was fun and got a bit more adrenalin going really didnt do much in terms of real world pace.

If I do go to a track day I would really like some on one training with a professional (for want of a better description) rider. So they can look at my particular quirks and faults and offer some solutions.

The things that really helped me once I learnt them was being gentle with the controls, not gripping too hard with my hands, setting up body position/line well before a corner and of course looking through the corner. The last point there I sometimes suffer with as I tend to look not too far through a corner on bad roads as I try and avoid corrugations/stones etc.

[Mr Sparkle]

Full report tomorrow