IAM for newbies

Passed my IAM today!

Highly recommended to anyone. As a relatively inexperienced rider my technique has improved significanfly - apart from that there's nothing like going out on a ride with enthusiastic, decent guys who know great routes. Cheaper than a dynojet and I'm using more of the SV's horse power at last! ha ha!

Is anyone familiar with Thame --> Postcombe --> Stokenchurch ??

pm me if you want more details

JG

Congrats.... I found the course very useful but never got round to taking the test. Which IAM group are you with ?

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I've been training with Middlesex A/M. Nice bunch.

I was out this morning having a great ride with a few of the members plus one of the police observers.
A lovely morning was somewhat spoiled by Thames Valley Police doing safety checks on bikes.
I was escorted to Gerrard's X police station for a roadside inspection and the issued me with a producer and a advance prohibition notice for my can and excessive chain wear. Well, they got me on the can but the chain def isn't worn - it could do with a little bit less slack
I think the checks are a good thing if they discourage people from using dangerous (or stolen) machines but I felt that they were being a bit OTT about it. I've got 7 days to re-MOT it

He was telling me a few statistics etc but I wonder how many of those accidents were caused by mechanical failure or loud cans?!

Being someone who's brought up to be respectful of the law and officers, I find myself mildly irritated.

The MET officer I was riding with (who b*ggered off when I got pulled - something to do with his can )had a few choice words to say about him afterwards.

Anyway, I just had to get that off mt chest....

JG

Congratualtions! passed mine a year ago now. has helped me considerably. Ive felt much safer since then.

i am currently training for my iam pass with EAMG in essex.

finding it really good indeed, dunno where the steriotype about old men in high vis jackets and goldwings came into it tho - most of the guys are on supersports bikes.

and im becoming much much faster.

had a slow riding day today that was brilliant.


have a look on the back of the highway code, it says 1 in 4 of all accidents involve someone under 25,

is it me- or is this statistic a bit strange,
its breaking people down into 4 groups - so basically, its saying that you have the same chance of being in an accident no matter what your age ?

Congrats

Hopefully I should take mine early August <gulp>

Originally Posted by bikageboy

on the back of the highway code, it says 1 in 4 of all accidents involve someone under 25,

is it me- or is this statistic a bit strange,
its breaking people down into 4 groups - so basically, its saying that you have the same chance of being in an accident no matter what your age ?

No, that's not what it means. Remember that the age groups are not all the same size - in this case 'under 25' means people aged 17-25 or so, an 8 year spread. You also have to consider the different ages people start riding to understand the profile of the whole biker population.

This is really a special case of the general theme that young men are a high-risk group in all sorts of ways. You are more likely to be involved as victim or perpetrator of violent crime as a man between 16-25 wherever in the world you live, you are also more freqquently involved in accidents on the roads esp when driving or riding, probably because young men tend to be more aggressive, less risk-averse than their even slightly older brothers. They have also had fewer 'near misses' from which to learn.....

The staistics on bike accidents are very interesting, there's always been a peak in that younger age groups but now we also see an increase in accidents in the 35-55 age group (roughly, depending on whose staistics you use). This is usually explained as caused by people like me who had bikes maybe 20 years ago and then get on a modern much more powerful bike which they can't handle and they go and crash it.

The safest bikers should therfore be those over 25 who have ridden regularly for a number of years.

[Sir Trev]

Originally Posted by greeno76

Is anyone familiar with Thame --> Postcombe --> Stokenchurch ??

JG

Yes. I'm just down the A40 in High Wycombe. Thame to Bicester is another great one!

Thame - > Bicester? I'll have to try that. Sounds good.

Did anyone else get pulled yesterday in the Thames Valley region under the premise of safety checks?
They were literally stopping every biker they could. Funnily enough they missed the supersports going down the A413 on their back wheel and 2 scooters with pillions riding through Hillingdon without helmets....it must have been some consolation that they busted an SV650 doing advanced training with a loud can. not bitter.....MOT booked.

re. Stats. As a market research analyst I can safely say that what evey you want to prove there's a convincing statistical answer.

Sometimes I think it would be nice if people would just use common sense, eliminating the need to confuse people with stats and spin that are mis-interpreted/mis-quoted. Probably not that likely to happen, though!!!

congratulations