How To Ride Videos ???

Hi

I am looking for advice on any good "How to ride a bike safely" videos.

I passed my DA in August, bought the SV in September but have only had about 6 weeks of riding before I had to put it away for the winter, so confidence (and ability) are still pretty low. I know everyone says get out there and get your confidence up, but I would just like to get some more info while the weather is still too bad to take the bike out.

I have been reading Motorcycle Roadcraft, tips in some of the monthly bike mags and also some stuff on the Internet, including some good tips here and at Survival Skills (http://www.survivalskills.clara.net/rskills.htm) Whilst they are very good, with lots of useful tips on how not to get yourself killed, I was wondering if there were any decent videos that would complement them.

My bike is still on its paddock stands in the garage (where it has been for the last 4 months). Planning to give it a good clean, change the oil, adjust the chain and give her a bit of TLC following its time off the road. Weather up here has been awful but fingers crossed for a good few months on Gods roads. Starting to get itchy feet, so need to swot up before I commit to the roads again.

Thanks for your time. Ride safe.

Stradders.

Bump

When has the weather been too bad to take the bike out????

Must of missed that 5 minutes.

Seriously you will gain more skills from riding in all weathers than only riding on those few and far between perfect sunny/dry days. The key to good riding is being smooth. Smooth throttle, smooth braking and smooth cornering and gear changes. The best peice of advice I could give is when you go out for a ride, concentrate on one aspect of your riding that you wish to improve. It can be a little overwhelming when startng out to get everything right at the same time. I don't mean forego all other area's but you know what I mean. Try to look as far ahead as possible, but not at the expense of being aware of your immediate surroundings and road conditions (micro climates too). Pick up a copy of Roadcraft, it may be boring as hell but has lots of great information. Practice is the biggest help, just get out there, it will come to you eventually. You could also sign up for something like IAM if you wish or even better; get some extra advanced training from an instructor but this will cost you more. You get what you pay for I guess.

I picked up a couple of DVD's with not so much a "how to ride" but at least some good tips. Let me look at them to see if they are any good for you and see if they can be copied or ripped to MPEG or something.

[fizzwheel]

Why not join IAM or do a bike safe, teach you more than watching somebody else ride will.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Why not join IAM or do a bike safe, teach you more than watching somebody else ride will.

I didn't rate Bike Safe really. All the guy did was have us following him to give us positioning advice and tell us what we'd already read in Motorcycle Roadcraft, and watch us ride for 10-20 mins each then give each of us a bollocking for anything we shouldn't have done. For me it was that I gave it too much beans and broke the speed limit by 10mph when I overtook a vehicle, and that I had enough distance to the next oncoming vehicle to take it a bit easier. Felt like we'd just been tugged for something and the guy used the same patronising, pompous approach "now can you tell me what the speed limit was on that stretch of road?", I was half expecting him to get his book out. Didn't really give any advice. I know however some folk have had a lot of time spent with them and found it really useful.

IAM I would like to do but my local meet is a Wednesday night at 6pm in Glasgow and it's impossible for me to get to it on time. I could be on a customer site in Dundee until 5:30 pm one Wednesday, then in London the following Wednesday.

Fizzwheel. Thanks for the tip but I'd like to get a bit more experience before I go for stuff like IAM or Bike Safe. I agree with HooliganDans comments about just getting out and riding, but I would like to do it to try and build up some confidence and also I would like to do it in some decent weather (not the 3 inches of snow we had here last week, or the 40 mph winds we have got today).

I have also heard of some problems with a local Bike Safe group, much along the lines of Ralph. I know I am **** at the moment. What I don't need is someone who consistently confirms it. I would rather have constructive comments, as opposed to the usual "Well I can do it, why can't you" b******s. I also have issues with work, as I am not sure what I am doing from one day to the next, let alone a week in advance.

Ralph. Thanks for looking out for the videos. Even if you can just let me know the titles, (obviously once you have watched them and they seem any good), then I might have a look on the web and see if I can pick them up on Amazon. I'm plodding through Motorcycle Roadcraft, but I will admit to finding it a bit dry.

Thanks for the comments, Ride Safe.

Stradders.

Originally Posted by Stradders

I'm plodding through Motorcycle Roadcraft, but I will admit to finding it a bit dry

It is a bit tough going but stick with it. Many consider it to be the best riding manual there is as far as books can be. Every ten pages or so you read something really valuable, unfortunately you're just about asleep for the next 9 pages. I've read it twice, once when I was a teenager and again when I returned to biking, it was even worse 15 years ago, a fair bit has changed in it. I can never remember the "riding system" that it uses on the road so I use other simpler systems I've picked up elsewhere.

The DVD's I've picked up are freebies, not stuff you could buy on Amazon.

This guy sells a good DVD. Well worth watching many times and based on the Police system.


http://www.mikewaite.co.uk/front/


Cheers,

Garry

Originally Posted by Stradders

I agree with HooliganDans comments about just getting out and riding,

Blimey, someone agreed with me! I would be really tempted to get a motorcycle instructor to do a couple of hours of training with you. They will go over whatever it is you need work on and I found it a god send for my confidence and general riding. I improved (please no comments ) no end in a very short space of time. If you use your own bike it should not be all that expensive for a two hour session.