The Ugly. “…Half ofthe fatalities in single vehicle crashes relate to problems negotiating a curve prior to a crash; Over 80 percent of motorcycle fatalities in single vehicle crashes occur off the roadway, a crash occurring on the shoulder, median, roadside, outside right-of-way, off roadway…” —National Traffic Highway Safety Commission — Motorcycle Safety Program
The Bad. Motorcycle groups have had their share of crashes, and the vast majority relate to problems negotiating a curve.
The Good. Given the above facts, the Motorcycle Safety Association, which is a not- for-profit Michigan corporation, was formed to offer training seminars. This training is offered exclusively at this time to members of riding groups that endorse the Motorcycle
Safety Association’s Twisty-Road Riding program. To those persons, the seminars are offered for a $60.00 fee which provides membership in the Association and entitles the member to take the twisty road riding course AND to take the course again, without any future charge, on a space-available basis.
There are three elements to the twisty road seminar:
First, riders are provided a written seminar outline and requested to complete a few items: a motorcycle inspection checklist, a simple calculation for assessing what would be the ideal RPM range for best engine braking for their motorcycle and a few short videos.
Second, we follow that up with a Zoom meeting to discuss the seminar and answer questions.
Third, the best part, the riding portion of the seminar. We have selected a particularly curvy road section in Stockbridge that allows us to go through 18-curves in approximately 10-minutes. We stop briefly for coaching after each 18-curve circuit and then repeat the circuit. The riding portion lasts approximately 2.5 hours. That is a lot of curves.
When we meet in Stockbridge, the first thing we do is have riders mount their motorcycles, one at a time, and we review their ideal: leg, hand, arm and posture positions for twisty road riding. Everyone is
provided a range card, or cheat-sheet of sorts, of the three exercises that will be undertaken. The goal of the three exercises is to advance through exercises 1-2 as soon as possible, as each exercise adds 2-tasks— a building block approach. Then we repeat exercise three for the balance of the riding.
On the course, coaching will focus on speed control with the throttle, utilizing best vision techniques, using the safest lines through the turns, posture in the straight-away and posture in the turns, etc.
In making a decision on whether to take the seminar, take a look at what others are saying at: https://motorcyclesafetyassociation.com/what-others-are-saying/
If you decide to sign-up, and we hope you do, it can be done online at: https://motorcyclesafetyassociation.com/sign-up-for-training/