Why don't they teach this in DAS

I've been practising bends again today with mate Karl. He's the IAM 's Chief Observer for Shropshire, so I think he knows a thing or two about the subject.

And it's been a revelation to me. I've honestly learned more in the last 2 weeks than in 2 years. I now think I know how to go round a bend properly. That's not to say that I do it all the time, or with any great finesse, but when it goes right oh it's just sensational. I know when I do it wrong, it feels awful, once today I ended up thinking 'if I was an inch over I'd be in the hedge'. And slowly I'm getting better. One day I hope I'll get it right all the time. And that I'll get a bit faster.



But why the hell don't they teach this on DAS? They make you think you can ride a bike, yes I know they teach only to pass the test, so why isn't it included on the test? I was crap on corners and found out the hard way. And I know I'm not the only one. They don't even scratch the surface, and it would be so so easy to tell you. Yes there are a great many things they don't teach you on DAS, no time to do everything no doubt, but as more bike accidents happen on corners than anywhere else, I think it should be an essential skill - and taught properly. It really isn't good enough to make you think that you're half decent when really you're not at all.

Sorry to overegg this pudding but I do feel strongly about it....

The problem is that there just isn't enough time to teach you anything in any great detail. Like you said, DAS is designed to give you what is needed to be "reasonably safe" on a bike on the road. The real learning starts then....

With hindsight I think that most of us who came the DAS route would have paid for a day or two of additional instruction once we passed the test, when you don't know what you don't know, you can't do anything about it....

.

I think this varies from instructor to instructor.
My DAS instructror would spend about an hour or two each day on nice "B" roads teaching us about basic cornering (gear selectection, braking, road position, obeservation, judging the road surface, counter steering etc) also how to overtake properly.

The guy I went with also does a follow up course after you've passed to improve these basic skills.

i remember talking to the owner of the company i did mine with. He said when someone calls up to ask about lessons they ask 2 questions:

how long
how much.

if they want to make money they have to pass people as quickly as they can. If you could afford a couple of extra days training qwhen u were learning then u should ahve done it as further training. Not once was i ever told once i passed i didnt need to learn more, they simply said once u pass they believe u r ready to start learning on ur own.

At the end of the day the option has always been there to have more lessons, i guess maybe they should encourage it more generally though. |Mine were quite keen on getting me back for more lessons which i did.

[northwind]

I spent a long time just tear-arsing around b-roads on mine... But then, I was on a 4 day course and I could probably have passed by the end of the first day, so the instructors were under no pressure to get me trained... It was pretty good.

dunno - ive often wondered the same thing.

especially when the examiner is wanting to see you in the centre of your lane at all times (unless there are aditional hazards)
this is where all the oil and diesil drips down from cars and lorries.

but then again i suppose learning too much in one go can be really counter productive.

when i first started to train for my IAM test - i read the whole of the roadcraft book - and tried putting it into practice all at once, didnt really improve my riding- its only when i take one section and practice it lots that i become good at it - i move onto the next section.

Originally Posted by Wiltshire7

i remember talking to the owner of the company i did mine with. He said when someone calls up to ask about lessons they ask 2 questions:

how long
how much.

if they want to make money they have to pass people as quickly as they can. If you could afford a couple of extra days training qwhen u were learning then u should ahve done it as further training. Not once was i ever told once i passed i didnt need to learn more, they simply said once u pass they believe u r ready to start learning on ur own.

At the end of the day the option has always been there to have more lessons, i guess maybe they should encourage it more generally though. |Mine were quite keen on getting me back for more lessons which i did.

when I passed my instructor made it very clear I was only good enough to get through the test and not to assume I was a riding goddess and was brilliant.

Im getting training booked with a guy in maidstone who does different courses. When he asked what ones I wanted to do I said the day developmental one, the bends course, the london traffic course, the night course, the winter course...

Basically I sat there realising my skills have stagnated in 4 years and I really want to learn how to ride properly again and feels like I want to start almost from scratch tbh. Maybe its coming off the bike and slowing down so much this year thats put me in that frame of mind, even though it was definitely a mechanical fault on the bike and not really me.

My instructor Steve who teaches at ART riding school in Royston taught us how to take a bend properly. Top geezer who went out of his way to teach us stuff not normally covered in the DAS. I know i was lucky as he is a rare find!

The girl who taught me to ride, actually she owns the school and her senior instructor offered after test training called the edge. this is proper road based training that gives you the skills to ride and corner safely.

Im still waiting to do it

One thing I did get on my DAS, was that it was about a 10 mile ride from the instructors house to the city centre. That always seemed to be done at a faster pace And there were a couple of nice bends and a roundabout on a quiet road. It was nice to go round those following one of the instructors with the other riding behind.

Originally Posted by TC3

My instructor Steve who teaches at ART riding school in Royston taught us how to take a bend properly. Top geezer who went out of his way to teach us stuff not normally covered in the DAS. I know i was lucky as he is a rare find!

He taught me too .


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