Bike Safe course

Went on the Bike Safe course yesterday - have to say it was superb, great fun and extremely well run by Hampshire Constabulary. I'm sure some of you will have done one but for the benefit of anyone thinking of doing it I can strongly recommend it.
Started at the Ambulance station in Eastleigh with a morning of talks and information videos, some real and some simulated 3D ones (these showed all the crashes but it still made you wince!). All good natured banter, there is no patronising lectures whatsoever - very informative - what we all should know but it helps to spell it out and discuss it.
I was least the experienced rider as most had 20 years plus and the poor old Trident was the oldest bike by miles but there was a nice Sprint 1050 and a Rocket III to keep it company.
After lunch you get the ride out with normally two riders per police biker but we went in a group of three due to numbers. The lead bike is followed by the police bike and watches for his indicator signals, there is no radio link. The others just follow on. You make regular stops (every half hour) he then observes how you rode and points out any thing of concern and then you swap over the lead bike position.
In all, you spend about 4 hours out on the ride and, in our case, end up at Loomies - funny watching the look on other bikers faces as a total of 8 police bikes rock up around the same time - made space in the car park!
Found out my speedo reads 8 mph slower than it should so got told to ride quicker, but the Trident did not disgrace itself in the company of a Ducati Multistrada 1200 and an Aprilla 1000.
The emphasis is on making progress, so you are expected to ride up to the speed limit and to overtake where necessary. They are happy for you to do this as quick as possible - I had originally planned on taking the Bonnie but to be honest it would have struggled to keep up when accelerating away. Following the police bike is great fun - like having a personal escort - and cars seem to want to get out of your way for some reason.

PS. You don't even have to wear Hi-ViZ.

 

Sounds good have you got any more info ?

 

Contact your local copshop for details in your area - all forces do this sort of thing.

I went on a couple when I was working for Northants force - well worth doing.

 

Having done my IAM test 23 years ago I still find myself talking my way into the approach of bends etc. taking the right line in the right gear attempting to not need to use the brakes. The hardest thing to remember is the "police boot shuffle" at lights (stop, left boot, put it into neutral. right boot, on brake. left boot , put it into gear. right boot on brake til pull away. Its not as easy as it sounds, you have to remember to keep the opposing boot on the ground or it could get messy!! Anyways the bike safe course sounds similar to having your observers follow you around on the lead up to the test. Thoroughly recommend it to anyone old, young, experienced or inexperienced.

 

I've done 3 and each one has been excellent. I did my last one about 5 years ago. Having ridden for 35 years I was aware I was getting sloppy and the Bikesafe course pulled it all back together for me. Probably time to do another!

Check here for your local course Bikesafe

 

I did one with Humberside police about 10 yrs ago , after a few yrs of not riding on the road because of racing & not being able to afford to do both . Anyhow , it was very enjoyable & the feedback helped me get back into sync . I did it on an old xj600 Yam & the copper said to me "you can go a bit quicker in the national speed limit areas if you like you know" to which I replied "sorry but I really can't , not without it blowing up anyway" , poor old girl was flat out at about 78 mph it turned out . The funny thing was that a year later I got pulled over by a bike cop on the way home from work one night , doing 72 mph in a national speed limit area & he did me , I did recall the bikesafe to him , but he appeared unmoved & continued writing out a ticket

 

If you get a chance - the FBOS course is a superb weekend. As a rule day one is Bike Safe and day two is with the paramedics. They show you first aid in a traffic situation. Snatch recovery, helmet removal where required etc etc. End of the course - you get supplied with a superb first aid kit.

 

Very good,something I think I'll look into