The choice of your bike or one of my training bikes is up to the rider. Everyone one of us is different and has different ways of learning. As you can imagine I get ALL kinds of riders in the course. To some of the IronButt guys a parking lot drop is nothing. They have dumped their Aspencade GoldWings and Airhead Bimmers on dirt, gravel, grass, sand and to them another scrape, ding or gouge is like a badge of honor. Then I get the guys with 40K CVOs works of art, and to them a scrape is tantamount to a Joe Theismann compound fracture.
The thing I find is that if a rider is hesitant they will have difficulty commiting themselves to some of the exercise. Some of those exercises, like the full lock u-turn from a stop JC was talking about require a commited lean to the inside. I see it all the time, a rider starts a nice tight turn, and then suddenly uprights the bike and pulls out. They just don't want risk dropping their bike, and I don't blame them. But a motorcycle is a motorcycle is a motorcycle. All the mechanics and physics are the same. The seating position and controls may be ergonomically different, but the controls are located in the same area and operate the same way. The friction zone on a Ninja operates the same way as a friction zone on a Sportster. The rear brake on a Yamaha V-Star works the same way as the rear brake on a RT BMW. And a snapping chin on the shoulder head turn works is the same for all bikes. The benefit to a training bike is that it allows the rider to relax and NOT worry about their bike. This will let them focus and concentrate on learning the material. If they dump a KZ1000 police bike, they just pick it up, start it and continue on. Since the technique is exactly the same, they can go home and practice on their own bike and them return and repeat the course on their own bike. If a rider wants to use their own bike in class, no problem. But if they are going to spend the whole course worrying about NOT dropping it and damaging it they will probably not get as much out of the class as they could. Plus worrying is neither fun or enjoyable, and learning and practicing is always easier when you are having fun.
As for the clutches, one class is NOT going to destroy a clutch unless you are abusing it. In it's life time old '01 Ultra only saw two clutches and I rode that thing hard in class just about every weekend. Hydraulic or cable is no different to me. The Hydro may be easier and smoother but it all works the same.
I don't offer the motor officer prep course very often as I am VERY SELECTIVE about the attendees. I have to be confident that they have mastery of the basic RLAP techniques as the risk factor is greater. And that course requires the KZ1000 police bike because it will get dumped several times. And most of the exercises come right from the LAPD and are designed for that specific bike frame at a full lock with a hard lean. That fugitive "TrapperDog" took the course. He can tell you about it when he comes back from the road.
Author
Topic: Ride Like a Pro Course...Would you use your CVO? (Read 5439 times)