Signed up to RoSPA Training

[Lonewolf]

I wish you luck on the test. I do intend to do mine again just for the hell of it as I was extrememly disappointed with my final grade. Some weeks after my assessment I did have another session with my tutor and he couldn't understand how I'd not achieved a better grade but thats life.

Ironically I did have to wait at one stage for my tutor who was obviously a gold standard rider to get his bike back from the workshop as he misjudged an overtake and ran into the back of a HGV, it seems nobody is perfect! He was ok, just a few aches and pains but his GS was a bit battered.

I enjoyed the training though despite the outcome. 

[mecki]

Only point about riding was that I used gears to slow down a lot, rather than losing speed first, then changing to the correct gear for the hazard ahead. It makes sense when I think about what I had been doing and going away have worked on ridding myself of this habit.

Now why is that supposed to be wrong? I don't think it makes sense at all.
Using the engine to reduce speed saves fuel as well as brake pads and discs. 

[cpettifer]

Now why is that supposed to be wrong? I don't think it makes sense at all.
Using the engine to reduce speed saves fuel as well as brake pads and discs. 

Basically I had a tendency to try to lose too much speed by changing down gears, putting more strain on engine etc, which is more expensive to repair / replace than a set of pads (although they ain't as cheap as I imagined, having just done this).

Anyway, I now roll off throttle, so am using engine braking still (acceleration sense), but if I'm not going to lose all the speed I need for hazard (corner, etc), then I'll apply some brake, then change down to the correct gear. It's really just muddling up the system (Information, Position, Speed, Gear, Acceleration) by switching the Gear and Speed phases round. There were a couple of specific occasions where I got in the right gear for a corner, but still needed to lose some speed before I got there; a specific observation about my ride really and a habit I'd got into.

[mecki]

Sorry, but I think whoever told you this is full of  .
Engine braking doesn't put any more strain on the engine than accelerating.
Especially if you know how to change down properly.
Switching down through the gears while approaching a corner has to be much more effective than closing the throttle in overdrive while applying the brakes and then switching three or four gears down just before the corner with the clutch pulled.
Maybe you may save a split second on the racetrack if you pull the clutch, slam on the brakes hard at the last possible moment and while doing so switch down a couple of gears, but on the road?
It is a public road and not a racetrack!
No wonder some people change their brake pads and discs like other people their underwear. 

[cpettifer]

Well I definitely have more control doing what I'm doing now... and that's the point.

[Winston Smith]

Mecki, you miss the point.

It is quite an art to learn and can't be explained very well in a few short sentences on here.

It isn't a load of shit as you so eloquently put it but a sequenced and slick way of making progress and being in the correct gear at the correct time and at the correct speed for any given hazard.

Nothing to do with the race track, infact quite the opposite, but it does help safe and progressive riding without strain on the gearbox and drive train, and can be quite economical too.

It is part of the system and when used in conjunction makes perfect sense.

[MarkyMark]

Interesting thread.

Thanks for the blog cpettifer - keep it coming.

I am a member and tutor, so very interested in your perceptions, experiences and feelings. Very valuable feedback and opinions prompted.

[cpettifer]

Hey folks, been a long time again.

Sorry to say that I've not completed my training due to simply not riding my bike enough... So I've stopped my RoSPA training. Hopefully at some point I will pick it up again as I was pretty close to taking my test.

[Rusty]

Please do pick it up again .... Any training is good, for all of us as it helps not just when we are on 2 wheels but 4 too. Train train train ride ride ride and it falls into place !