Question for IAM members....or those in the know!

I have been riding for just over one year and would like to do the Skill for Life package but I'm not sure whether I have enough experience.

My instructor on my DAS course said I was v good and learnt v quickly but I wouldnt say I'm great or anything remotely close to it.

So, should I get more experience or should I be OK to do it?

Cheers,
Andy

I only started riding 12 weeks ago and have now done 6 weeks at IAM, observers said it was good as I didnt have any bad habbits yet. I went as i want to ride as competently as I can so that I enjoy my riding and get home safely. I've found it to be very helpful and feel its improved my understanding of riding and awareness of the associated dangers no end, hopefully my riding has also improved, I'm definately a lot faster than I was and have a lot more confidence. I would recommend it to anyone,
To sum up I dont think there is a best time to do it as it should be beneficial to everybody, Go for it, Go along to a meet and if you dont like it then you dont have to join or go back.
Hope it works out for you as well as it has for me.

I think it would be an ideal time to do it. Rather than spending a long time picking up bad habits, getting set in your ways and so on, do it while you're still fairly fresh to riding. I think a year riding will have been plenty enough to get used to riding.

I can thoroughly recommend it. You don't have to be great before you start - that's the point of the training, to make you better. I enjoy riding much more since doing it.

[SoulKiss]

On a related matter.

I enquired via email about the Bikesafe training, and what level of experience was
required to do it.

Forgot about it, then got a call last week from them.

Was told that getting it done ASAP was a good thing.

So asked them to call me back at the end of this month as I had not passed my test yet.

I agree with what other have said - I dont think that you can do enough training, and if they will have you, go join up.

Will probably try and get into IAM stuff ASAP myself,

David

Go for it. I think the IAM only require you to have held a full license for three months before you can become a member, that won't be a prob. I'd been riding for, ooh, 30 years (albeit with a 20 year break ) so had plenty of bad habits to break. Wasn't too difficult once I: a) knew what they were, and b) what the alternative was. I passed the test late July having started back in November.

You certainly don’t need to be a skilled rider before you take up skills for life.

I’m doing Skill for life at the moment.

You need to find an IAM club that can suite you. Although the aims of the course are broadly specified by the IAM nationally and the test is taken with an advanced police rider, how you gain the skills is down to each club.

Some clubs do skills for life “one to one” others as a group.

Once you have found a club you will be invited to have an initial ride with the chief observer for that club, (s)he will assess you and may or may not critic your riding. This assessment is to partner you up with a suitable observer.

The club I am with at the moment (SWAM) runs the skills for life every Sunday afternoon. Members, observers (Ob.) & associates meet at a central place, from there we may go our separate ways, usually having arranged to meet up again someplace. If for any reason your named Ob. cannot make it, there’s always another there to take over. I have been lucky enough to be assigned to the Senior Observer (S.Ob). Some of the observers are competent yet still novices, so we ride in a group of three. Me, Ob. and S.Ob.

The observed ride is usually broken into short segments of about 1/2 hour when we stop and debrief. These at first were hard to swallow, no-one likes to be criticised, but the value one gets from them is enormous. For me these debriefs usually take the form of go for a short walk while S.Ob and Ob. get their story straight, before it’s my turn under the spotlight. I’m normally asked “How did you think that went”. Normally I can’t recall anything other than the last 2 miles. They will then point out areas where I can improve.

I thought before joining, the club would be a group of old farts preaching at me and never going faster than 50mph. I could not have been further from the truth, they take their motorcycling seriously for sure, but they do so though lots of harmless banter and p1ss taking.

I look forward to my Sunday afternoon rides, if (when) you sign up I’m sure you will too.

Yes, so long as you can comfortably reach and sustain the national speed limit, you should be ready. I belong to the same group as Mogs (see you this Sunday BTW) and can also vouch for what a good experience it is. You may initally find it stressful/unenjoyable being "watched" (it feels like you're back on DAS), but after a few weeks, you'll get used to it and you'll get better, so there's less of a telling off at each debrief too.

If you're slow it'll make you faster (and safer), if you're already fast, it'll make you safer (and possibly faster in places, without breaking the limit too). Only thing you have to lose is your cash if you don't like it.

Thanks for all the replies, I have emailed my local group in Salisbury to find out how they operate and when they meet etc.

I have no probs getting upto and sustaining national speed limits and am even practising active counter steering. I have got the Police roadcraft handbook thingy so will have a read of that in preparation!

Keep the replies coming, theyre good to read! Glad no-one has had any bad experiences yet!

Originally Posted by andyb

Thanks for all the replies, I have emailed my local group in Salisbury to find out how they operate and when they meet etc.

I have no probs getting upto and sustaining national speed limits and am even practising active counter steering. I have got the Police roadcraft handbook thingy so will have a read of that in preparation!

Keep the replies coming, theyre good to read! Glad no-one has had any bad experiences yet!

Re: Reading (and putting into practice) the Police Roadcraft book. Good idea. I did that before commencing my training and they actually thought from my riding style that I'd already done advanced training of some sort. IAM and the Police riding styles (based on the book- I'm not a bike cop so I can't comment on the "in practice" part...) are close, so most of what you learn in one will be useful to the other.