| Author | Message | ||
     Submax |
Just finished a 4-day motorcycle training course that is offered here in Oregon and it was AWESOME. The school was started quite a few years ago by a couple of retired motorcycle cops from Seattle who based it on the training that they give to officers in King County. Intense class. They provide the motorcycles (retired KZ1000 cop bikes with big crash bars) so there is no fear of dropping your own bike. The class goes 10 hours a day for a total of 40 hours in 4 days. Lots of low speed maneuvering through intricate cone arrangements. Emergency braking from 40 mph. Emergency weave maneuvers at 30 mph. Lots of practice maneuvering the bikes in tight areas around concrete barriers, gravel, curbs, etc. On the last day you get to see if you can meet the benchmarks that are required of the King County cops. There were 8 of us in the class (3 from Oregon, 1 near Seattle, 1 Vancouver BC, 1 Pittsburgh, 1 AZ, 1 San Francisco) and we became good friends during those 4 days. Everyone was helping each other out, everyone left their egos at home, and everyone was humbled by how challenging the skills were to master with everyone dropping a bike at least once at some point. The instructor, Curt Erickson, was a really great guy who genuinely loves to help people develop their skills. If you ever get a chance to take this course, I'd highly recommend it! It was expensive ($1300), but worth every penny in my opinion. http://www.ridelikeacop.com/ | ||
| Hootowl |
Strange. I thought the only requirement to be a motor cop in Seattle was webbed feet.  | ||
| 86129squids |
Cool! Sounds very similar to "Ride Like A Pro", which was started by a Florida motor cop. You can buy the materials (cones, DVD, etc.) from their website, been a while since I checked them out. $1300 is waaay too steep for me. Cool- they've got new stuff on their site! https://www.ridelikeapro.com/ | ||
| Submax |
I'd seen the Ride Like a Pro website before. Good stuff! However, their in-person classes are only 4 hours long, you have to supply your own bike, and they don't do any of the high speed braking/weaving practice. I agree that $1300 is steep, but getting to practice hard without having to worry about dropping your own bike and getting training on such a broad range of skills is more than worth it in my opinion. In fact, one of the guys who was in the class with me was there because he is trying to open his own Ride Like a Pro franchise and they sent him to the Northwest Motorcycle School for training before he could move forward. | ||
| 86129squids |
Far out, man! And, given that most basic MSF courses will cost around $500, might as well go all in. Especially with the depth of training you'll get. My dealership down the road has the back lot marked with all the paint lines to practice- I like to noodle around back there a while when I visit. |
