Training

[vtuner]

I've been riding and racing motorcycles for several decades and have
participated in and conducted rider training classes to the racing level.

I'm curious to know if ABATE is doing anything to improve the skill set of
its member's and if so where and when those classe are held, who is teaching
them and what are their credentials.

Just curious. I've never seen a cruiser rider with anything but rudimentary
skills and most boarder on dangerous.

There are, of course, poor riders on all types of bikes... but cruiser
riders seem to have a larger percentage of under-skilled operators.

Yes, I ride a cruiser too...

[Steve Leazer]

"vtuner" <dusty...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:IfadnZNcmYr...@adelphia.com...

I think you paint with a pretty broad brush here.
There are some really underskilled riders out there. There
are also many with excellent riding skills. Many riders who
come back for some training make a lot of "discoveries" that
might save their lives. The bottom line is that there is a
very broad mix of skills out there on the road. Some, who
have lots of training are so dangerous to themselves and
others that I would prefer to be as far away from them as
possible on the road. Training is a good start. -- steve

[Chuckabutty]

"Steve Leazer" <ec-13...@thegrid.net> wrote in message
news:13gd050...@corp.supernews.com...

> |
> I think you paint with a pretty broad brush here.
> There are some really underskilled riders out there. There
> are also many with excellent riding skills. Many riders who
> come back for some training make a lot of "discoveries" that
> might save their lives. The bottom line is that there is a
> very broad mix of skills out there on the road. Some, who
> have lots of training are so dangerous to themselves and
> others that I would prefer to be as far away from them as
> possible on the road. Training is a good start. -- steve
>
>

That's a good way of looking at training, Steve. The trained rider who
thinks he knows it all, is a dangerous rider. Even after I passed my riding
test and got my license, I took the 20-hour novice course at a Vo-Tech
because the only previous training I had was when I was 16 and my father
stood in the street, yelling at me in an attempt to teach me from scratch
how to ride, even though he wasn't a rider, himself. Following the novice
course, I took three advanced rider courses. It wasn't long after my third
course that counter-steering saved my life when a van came across a double
yellow line straight at me. Hitting the brakes, as many might have done,
would have been fatal.

I've now been riding as safely as possible since 1989 without even a get-off
(not including my teen years of long ago). I confess I am now a fair weather
rider but used to put in around 15,000 a year, riding with ABATE of Delaware
and a few other organizations. And I'm a cruiser rider, by the way.

As you said, training is a good start.