Completed the Experienced Rider Course

[jrd]

I had the opportunity to attend the Experienced Rider Course yesterday. (It was a Birthday Gift) What a great class. I just got my Nomad a little over a month ago and I am still getting use to it. It rides and corners different than the Ventures that I had. The course was a great chance for me to see what the Nomad would do. It's surprisingly nimble for such a large bike. Corners very well. Stops on a dime. and the list could go on and on. I would highly recommend the class to anyone who may be kicking the idea around. Even if you consider yourself to be highly skilled I think the course will challenge and sharpen your riding skills.

John

[blowndodge]

Good post John. Taking that course shows quite a committment on your part to become a better rider. Yes Nomads are good handling big motorcycles. I know it sounds nuts but I've touched both floorboards at 80 and it was rock steady. I don't ride that way as a rule but I have a long history of riding and have pushed the Nomad a little to see where it lacks and it's a surprisingly well behaved mount at spirited speeds.

[dantama]

JRD, I took the experienced riders course on my Nomad in 1999. At that time there was an owners club through Kawi that cost the same for one year of membership as the experienced riders course.

If you joined the club, they would reimburse the price of the ERC. I don't remember if I got a thing out of the owners club, but it got me into the ERC course. It seemed like the ERC was worthwhile thing for anyone to take.

Be sure to let your insurance carrier know that you took it, there is usually a discount on your rate if you have taken it.

[flightdoc]

jrd,

what did you find the most challenging part of the course and what techniques did you learn to deal with them?

vin

[jrd]

Originally Posted by flightdoc

jrd,

what did you find the most challenging part of the course and what techniques did you learn to deal with them?

vin

The one handed weave was weird at first. I never even thought about trying to weave my bike with one hand. The hardest part of that exercise was not pulling the throttle while turning to the right. Also the figure 8 was a challenge as it was the tightest figure 8 I have ever been in. The counterweighting that I learned years ago helped me to get through that exercise. All in all in was a great course. I would take it again just because it was so much fun!

John

[Idaho]

I have a lot of miles on motorcycles. Took the beginner course 6 years ago and think that I would like to take the advanced course. I just keep wondering if I'm a good enough rider to get through the course. Yeah, I'm intimidated by the name.

They usually recommend the course if you have at least 1000 miles. When I took the class I was one of the better ones and I probably only have 15,000 miles or so on a bike. Most the people seemed really shaky and not confident.

[ells]

When I took the "Advanced" course, it was billed as good course to really learn a bike that is new to you or just a refresher course if you hadn't ridden all that much recently, no one in my group was overly confident but got a lot better. Now there is the "Experienced" course which is for everyone who rides and has a considerable-recent-experience requirement. In my Experienced course there were a couple new instructors taking the course for about the 6-7 time, the idea is to just get better. Then there were the actual instructors and they talked about getting better at their demonstrations that they do before each exercise. There probably aren't too many of us who couldn't get better with practice at the basic challenging skills level. No offense to anyone out there who knows they're great, Dan L. practices.

Originally Posted by Ells

There probably aren't too many of us who couldn't get better with practice at the basic challenging skills level.

Thats very true. I would encourage anyone to take it as long as you can opperate the clutch. I felt I made a lot of improvement and in fact the first time I touched the floorboard down was during the course on the big sweeping u turn thing. The course isn't there to be mastered your first time taking it but it shows you things you should be practicing everytime you ride. Head and eyes, slow look press roll, and emergency braking.

[dantama]

Even though when I took it I didn't particularly learn anything that I didn't already know how to do, it was still very worthwhile in getting me in the right frame of mind for riding.

Haven't taken it for 9 years, would be good to do again just for that frame of mind help.

[flightdoc]

jrd,

Thanks for the report. I've always thought taking ANY rider course is a good thing. For me personally, I practice quite a bit so I can do my demos better and almost everytime I practice I remind myself of the things that have slipped by the way side. Even ten minutes , once a week, in a parking lot can make a huge difference in your riding.
By the way, many of us are always mentioning "scraping our floor boards". I don't recommend doing it as a rule because you could catch one to heavy and get dumped BUT I think it's important to be able to do it without it bothering you. You never know when you may have to push your bike to that limit and you need to know what that limit is. I remember the first time I ever did a scratch, it surprised me so much I immediately pulled the bike upright.....if that had happend at the wrong moment it could kill you.

vin