i2i motorcycle academy off road experience

[Paul the 6th]

My ah-meh-zing beautiful fiance Dani got me an 'off road experience' with the i2i motorcycle academy last christmas.

Riding off road on real slick KTM EXC 250's and 450's, the day is broken down into sessions - in the morning they get you riding the bikes, teach about body positioning, rear wheel slides accelerating out of corners, locking the front wheel without falling off, descending and climbing hills, then finally jumps.

In the afternoon it's all brought together as you attack the circuit which features all of the above. I approached the day with 4 years of riding experience, several track days, knee down action, riding like a nutcase on the isle of man, all that willy waving stuff etc... since I'd never done any off road riding, I thought I might learn 30-40% of extra info on top of what I already knew, since riding off road is a different surface, different kind of bikes etc.... After the day was over I felt like I'd learned 200% more than what I already knew - more so than just off road riding, but the very nature of how motorcycles perform, how bikes are inherently stable on their own & if they hit a bump/rut/object in the road, without any input from the rider they will happily sort themselves out, and that it's the interference from the rider which causes the bike to lose stability..

In the afternoon circuit sessions I had a bit of a moment where the bike hit a big rut and skipped off the track onto the uneven ground with 3 foot high grass.. It felt a bit like riding a bucking bronco through a miniature forest & for about 3 seconds I was convinced the bike was going to spit me off................ but the way that the instructors had broken everything down & taught us the individual techniques in the morning, I gripped the bike with my knees, relaxed my grip on the bars, let the bike sort itself out rather than trying to get involved, then rode back onto the track - all without so much as putting a foot down or crying like a little girl. Back on track one of the instructors who had been following on his own KTM gave me a massive thumbs up before racing off and leaving a cloud of dust (cool bast!).

For £150 you get:

• a whole days instruction
• use of the i2i KTM's (250 or 450 EXC's)
• all the gear (helmet, goggles, gloves, shirt, trousers, body armour, knee/elbow pads and boots)
• a whole new understanding of motorcycles
• massive shots of adrenaline & excitement
• but you have to bring your own sarnies... Rip off I know

Considering some track days cost just as much and you have to bring your own bike/gear/pay for instructor training, I think i2i offers outstanding value for money. Even though it's off road based, I know for a fact it has changed my view of bikes & will influence my future riding on & off road.

The off road experience has levels 1, 2, 3 with various skills like wheelies, stoppies, riding over wet logs etc.. I'm definitely doing these when time & money allows I would definitely recommend this to everyone - whether you're a relatively new rider or have been riding for years, it will change your attitude a big way

Anywho, here's some pics from the day:




Practising the rear wheel slides, I opened the gas a little bit too quickly




At the start of the day, I would have bet £20 that I wouldn't have pulled this off, let alone tried it! Thanks to the teaching style of the instructors, they give you the confidence and simple clear instructions to do this kind of stuff.. (yes, BOTH wheels are off the ground)










Thank you so much babe - best christmas present ever...

Looks fab, and as you say relatively inexpensive, one to consider for another time = next year, how fast do you go on them paul, depends how good you are i spose?

Awesome write up! Sounds very tempting now you put it like that, I'd not considered one previously, discounting it purely as lunacy trying to ride a motorbike off road like that but perhaps there is more to it. Thanks for the informative post!

[Paul the 6th]

I guess as fast as your mental processing speeds & the terrain dictates - to get the bike airborne you have to be travelling around 15-20mph as a minimum, otherwise you just drive over it and the bike stays on the ground.

Other bits, maybe upto 30mph I guess? I was knocking up and down 2nd & third gear. Didn't really look at the speedo too much, but the instructors didn't seem the type to be signalling to slow down unless someone had fallen off up ahead.

[Paul the 6th]

Originally Posted by Brettus

Awesome write up! Sounds very tempting now you put it like that, I'd not considered one previously, discounting it purely as lunacy trying to ride a motorbike off road like that but perhaps there is more to it. Thanks for the informative post!

Honestly mate, go & do it if you look at the testimonials on the i2i website there's alsorts of people saying the same things as me - I did wonder whether any of them were spiced up at all, but I'm very pleased to say the whole experience has just blown my mind. I still can't get my head around some of the things the bike did without any drama

I need something like this to stop me crashing my off road bike I dont think my knees, head and back can take much more pounding.

[andrewsmith]

ORG day out anyone?

This sounds really cool, appeals to me! I may have a look into it because I do fancy a bit of off roading.

ive been to a lecture by one of the i2i guys and it all seems really good. I thought you had to do lev 1 before anything else tho? would love to do that to overcome my fear of gravel!

[hindle8907]

Looks cool would really like to do this the only thing that bothers me is my left knee, I cant kneel down any more due to the pain when I put weight on my knee so I'm just a bit worried about of coming off and doing more damage.
Even with knee protectors if I landed with force there's a fair chance I could do damage.