No sense writing a *review*.. plenty of them out there on the web, but figured I'd share my experience and observations with you all.
I have to start out by saying I had a blast! It was really fun to experience what it's like to push the bike far past street-acceptable levels, in terms of both speed and lean angles.
The school-provided BMW S1000RR is a very smooth and responsive machine with ridiculous amounts of power, but to be fair I've only test-ridden other supersports.. have never owned one.
Let me put it this way.. the BMW makes my FZ1 feel very VERY slow. I did 1st 2 sessions in rain mode and last 3 in sport mode. Having said that, I still don't get why anyone would want it (or any other supersport bike) for street use :don'tknow:
I did find it interesting that the school does not require certain amount of experience to attend level 1. The requirement is: "Students must have some riding experience - we do not train first time riders."
I have many years and miles or riding experience and this was anything, but easy, with tremendous amount of information to learn in a relatively short amount of time. I have to imagine that someone with few months of riding experience would be heavily overloaded.
It was really good to be a student for a change. I believe any teacher / coach / instructor should experience what it's like to be a student every now and then, so this was definitely a bonus for me. It was great to get instructions from coaches on new skills as well as on skills which I felt I already possessed, but realized I could further improve.
The hardest thing for me was switching off my street riding approach. I am so used to constantly scanning for factors and seeing well through turns (very late apex) that the concept of earlier turning points was eluding me until turning points were marked on track. There are no intersections and there won't be a car approaching you head on in a blind curve.. that's guaranteed. Can I be 100% sure that there's no bike / rider lying on the track in my path just as I make it up a hill? But anyway..
Once I knew the correct (suggested) turning point for every corner, things changed dramatically. It went from 1st session being physically and mentally exhausting to 2nd session being fun and educational.. and it kept getting better from then on.
Looking forward to doing level 2 next year (and hopefully 3, same year).
I have to start out by saying I had a blast! It was really fun to experience what it's like to push the bike far past street-acceptable levels, in terms of both speed and lean angles.
The school-provided BMW S1000RR is a very smooth and responsive machine with ridiculous amounts of power, but to be fair I've only test-ridden other supersports.. have never owned one.
Let me put it this way.. the BMW makes my FZ1 feel very VERY slow. I did 1st 2 sessions in rain mode and last 3 in sport mode. Having said that, I still don't get why anyone would want it (or any other supersport bike) for street use :don'tknow:
I did find it interesting that the school does not require certain amount of experience to attend level 1. The requirement is: "Students must have some riding experience - we do not train first time riders."
I have many years and miles or riding experience and this was anything, but easy, with tremendous amount of information to learn in a relatively short amount of time. I have to imagine that someone with few months of riding experience would be heavily overloaded.
It was really good to be a student for a change. I believe any teacher / coach / instructor should experience what it's like to be a student every now and then, so this was definitely a bonus for me. It was great to get instructions from coaches on new skills as well as on skills which I felt I already possessed, but realized I could further improve.
The hardest thing for me was switching off my street riding approach. I am so used to constantly scanning for factors and seeing well through turns (very late apex) that the concept of earlier turning points was eluding me until turning points were marked on track. There are no intersections and there won't be a car approaching you head on in a blind curve.. that's guaranteed. Can I be 100% sure that there's no bike / rider lying on the track in my path just as I make it up a hill? But anyway..
Once I knew the correct (suggested) turning point for every corner, things changed dramatically. It went from 1st session being physically and mentally exhausting to 2nd session being fun and educational.. and it kept getting better from then on.
Looking forward to doing level 2 next year (and hopefully 3, same year).