Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hey guys,

this is a general request for people's opinions or experiences of different rider training courses out there on the market in Sydney. As part of my 21st birthday present, my parents offered to pay for a rider training course, and seeing as i have the new bike now, i figure i should hit em up for it!!!

i know HART do a cornering skills course on their circuit at st ives, and have just read the thread regarding the stay upright course at oran park... the only other course i can think of would be one of the superbike school courses at the creek...

is there any other courses out there?? and can you share some experiences of the ones mentioned above??

im sure some of the other newbie's or oldies would be interested in finding out whats available by way of cornering or defensive rider training.

cheers guys

Owen

i had thought about asking them just to put it towards a track day, but not sure they'd buy it!!!

I did the HART intermediate course down her in vic last year. Fairly slow speed stuff on their course at tullamarine.
Learned a lot though and they picked up a few flaws in what I was doing.
The advanced course is at calder and is a bit faster. I'll do it later in the year.

Circuit Breakers do Race school days for alot cheaper then California Superbike School and from all accounts are pretty much the same day delivered by a different company. I have all intensions of doing one soon

Blurr wrote:Circuit Breakers do Race school days for alot cheaper then California Superbike School and from all accounts are pretty much the same day delivered by a different company. I have all intensions of doing one soon

Definately cheaper but a somewhat different day.. The race school teaches you how to lap the Creek faster, do race starts etc..
The superbike school is more general riding techniques for the road...

Well Ive done a couple of courses over the years . . .
* Hart at Tullamarine which for memory was an intermediate course - it was great, lots of slow riding - riding along rather narrow planks etc Was also a long time ago, hence the sketchy comments. I do remember that I fell in love with the Hornet

* Hart at St Ives was a braking and cornering course - also a good course - even better that you use their bikes, cause I dropped it in a corner

* Superbike School level 1 - this course changed my riding completely, for the better! My ex was very surprised at how much my riding improved after doing this course. And personally, yeh I loved it. I found it to be a real challenge . . . riding around EC using no brakes just throttle control (for me, that was a real experience).
Correct riding position which also changed my riding as a result of simply sitting correctly and how you position your body weight.
For me, this was worth the dollars. And tbh, I would love to continue moving up the levels. I've been wanting to book in for level 2 for a while now - and after finally doing a track day recently, I'm a lot more inclined to now make that phone call!

If we get a group thing happening on any courses - I'd certainly be keen! *nudges Madkaw*

IMO it doesn't matter which courses you do . . . . you can never do too many courses !!
It's all about learning, refreshing, practising, improving, confidence, experience etc and at the end of the day could be life saving!
So when it comes down to it . . . . how much are they worth ? ? ?

ive only done a hart course at st ives for whern i was a postie, was boring as bat shit, hence why im booking in for a circuit breakers course 4 august....bring on the 1.50's hahaha.....i can dream

the SUR coarse showed me alot , did the figure 8 section over the bridge , all they say is go a speed you are comfortable with , when i was doing the corners each time i went around i up'd the pace , in the end was just about scraping the black stuff , so have a go you'llfine , just listen and practice

I did handling dynamics at st Ives which is their intermediate course. Can't beat it for value for money, only $130. Group buy in for courses at the creek would definetely be an option for me in a month or two.

Sometime in July after Nabiac would be good for me! Anything to learn more and one day get a knee down

hmmm... the handling dynamics was what i intitally had my mind on... ill prolly just go for one of the track days later in the year when i got some more moolah...

thanks for all the feedback guys!!!

I've done the level 1 superbike school at EC, and, at $400, it's not cheap, but is money very well spent IMO. I've got to say that there were no great revelations as such, no one thing thing they taught you that made you go "wow, that's turned my riding around". For me, it was more about an opportunity to focus on one skill at a time, be regularly assessed in a non-threatening manner, given one-on-one guidance by a well trained adult educator and then build on each of those skills to form an overall package of skills to take away from the day. I can also say without a doubt it made me quicker around EC and safer on the road.

The skills they cover are:
- Throttle control
- Turning points (not necessarily race turning points, more "classic" flowing lines)
- Body positioning
- Quick turn (making the bike go from upright to leaned over more quickly)
- Vision through a corner

I'm going to book in to do the level 2 course this year and have even considered repeating the level 1 course some time down the track. I'll also do level 3 at some stage.

dave#3 wrote:I'm going to book in to do the level 2 course this year and have even considered repeating the level 1 course some time down the track. I'll also do level 3 at some stage.

Keep us posted hey Dave ? I'd been keen to join you. I also, have thought bout repeating level 1. And would ideally love to do all stages which is to level 4, and for memory; the entire session is one-on-one with an instructor.