Advanced motorcycle training

Check out your local Police force for one of their bikesafe courses

I am advanced trained though went solo training.

I were also going to apply for blood courier though bikes were proving pricey and unreliable at time for me.

Managed to get one point below an iirc A so a B. All due to a flat bed lorry half way over line on roundabout and I presumed it would continue and didn't leave enough room behind it when stationary.

A valuable frustrating lesson. Covers many pro tips of proper riding technique too.

It's been a while mind.

I'd love to work for the blood couriering service.

All best

Bikesafe is a good taster to advanced riding, but IAM or ROSPA to take it further. All are based on the police road craft manual and the systematic approach to riding/driving the police teach. I've done the ROSPA training and test. I did the test twice, passing at gold standard each time, you have to repeat it every three years whereas with IAM it's one test and no retests.

It massively improved the safety of my riding, and I would highly recommend it. The 'observers' who train you are all volunteers and as in any walk of life, there are some you gell with and some you don't, so finding an observer you get on with is important. The 'system' is quite formulaic and rigid, which some people don't like, but it does work.  I let my membership lapse a few years ago after moving as there was no ROSPA group near me, but there is an IAM group and I have recently considered getting back into it.

Good luck with it. Conicidently, I recently made contact with my local blood bike group to look to volunteer. They were fine with my ROSPA qual, but they do their own assessment of your riding, whatever quals you have. The stumbling block for me was that the nearest bike to me is 30 miles away, which is outside their response times, so I've had to can that idea ☹️

I did the IAM course a couple of years after passing my test. ( Passed it in 2017) I learned so much, would thoroughly recommend it. It takes a good while to complete the course, but I think that’s useful to practice all the information you’re being taught. I got to meet more riders in my local area ( Cumbria) and I know some of them are Blood Bike riders too.

I did eventually sell the motorbike for a mountain bike… some parts are cheaper if your bike has an engine, go figure!

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I've now registered with bikesafe so I'll look into that as well.  Any excuse to get out on the bike.
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I would see if you can do a taster before committing.

IAM can be very variable across different groups.

Not done RoSPA or IAM but I did Bikesafe and found it really useful. I also did some private training with a guy from what is now Weeksy's forum (revtothelimit) called The Spin Doctor. That was good too.

I've just gotten back into bikes this Summer and I find myself consciously applying stuff I was taught all those years ago.

Not done IAM or RoSPA but did the full police advanced through my old work. When I did it the jump between IAM and that was significant; the instructors said passing their initial assessment to get on the advanced course was the same level of riding as an IAM pass and you had to be a police advanced driver to even get on an assessment so don’t necessarily conflate IAM as a pinnacle of excellence (not a dig at IAM).

Because of that I would try bikesafe / anything local police do and see who they recommend. A lot of police / extra police do private training and they can be more real world useful. A decent first aid course dealing with trauma would also be useful.

There are some good private training companies around. Rapid training has a very good reputation and has instructors all over the country.  They do track and road based courses. Expensive though compared to IAM or ROSPA where the only ongoing cost (after your course/joining fee) is a voluntary contribution towards your observers petrol.

Track based instruction is excellent for learning about the capabilities of your bike in a safe environment. I did a day with California Superbikes a few years ago. Epic fun, but not massively relevant to road riding IMO. Safe road riding is all about dealing systematically with hazards. Junctions, vehicles, poor road surfaces and the tractor stopped on a blind bend. None of which are present on the track!

Rapid training has a very good reputation and has instructors all over the country.

I think some of the instructors from when I did my course were involved in setting Rapid training up - they were very good at both riding and teaching.

@Kilo, I've never heard anyone in IAM or ROSPA claim a pass in their respective organisations is the 'pinnacle of excellence'. Both organisations are full of serving and ex police instructors as observers and examiners and no successful test candidate is under any illusion that their skill or experience approaches that of a police advanced motorcyclist.

People do it because they recognise they are vulnerable road users and want to enhance their safety a little. No one thinks it makes them riding gods

Both organisations have more advanced diploma qualifications too which go beyond their standard test.

Probably, hence “ (not a dig at IAM)” in my reply.

A decent first aid course dealing with trauma would also be useful.

There are bike specific first aid courses. 'Biker down' has a great reputation (I've not done it myself). The link is for the course run by West Mids fire brigade, but I think there are other venues elsewhere in the country.

Probably, hence “ (not a dig at IAM)” in my reply.

Fair enough, I was just wondering what prompted the pinnacle of excellence comment. Apologies, I had a shit night's sleep so am unreasonably prickly this morning! A continuous coffee infusion is slowly improving matters

I did the IAM test a year or so ago. They do a 1:1 observed ride first to assess your riding. I'd taken my test 25 years before and not had any training in between. I found the change of style and rigidity quite tough but fully understood I was buying into their system so it was me that needed to change. No sense pitching up then arguing the toss with your observer.

I've found it's completely changed my riding. I rarely speed now and my hazard perception both on the bike and in the car are much better. I still ride weekly (weakly perhaps...) with my observer who was a friend before the training. I think it's important to carry on and tune up regularly to ensure you don't slip back into bad habits as I don't ride with the local group at all.

Any additional training has to be a good thing. My test observer was also a ROSPA instructor and the requalification angle might help to keep the training fresh.

Our local Police force ran a free advanced course, which I did years ago. Was absolutely brilliant, learned so much, lots of which is applicable to cycling.

I did the iams training years ago, it was very good, local group did a free taster ride and when you sign up you get paired up with a trainer who you just go riding with. I never really got the whole, making progress bit tbh but it helped so much.

There are bike specific first aid courses. ‘Biker down’ has a great reputation (I’ve not done it myself). The link is for the course run by West Mids fire brigade, but I think there are other venues elsewhere in the country.

Yeah, the Biker Down courses are country-wide. I did it at Harrogate Fire Station (North Yorkshire) a couple of years ago. It's well worth attending 👍