Goodman4
Pressing on
Well I made it back after both classes. I enjoyed and benefited from both the BRC2 and the Total Control level 1 class.
The BRC2 was a lot of review but good review nonetheless. I took it with a group of friends at our church parking lot where they host the BRC every month. It was fun doing this with people I knew and our instructor was top notch in my opinion. I was in frequent trouble for not looking through the turn far enough. This was very helpful prep for the Total Control class because looking through the turn is much more important there. If you're thinking about taking the BRC2, I recommend doing it for a refresh.
After it finished I drove 230 miles up to Georgetown, KY for the Total Control class the next day. The surprise from the Total Control class was that the other guys were even older than me. The instructor said that was typical. He said that most younger guys think they don't need to learn or want to figure it out themselves instead of doing training. Two guys were on BMW K1600 GT's and the other two were on small sport bikes but they were older guys too. He said the most common students were sport-tourers and next most common were Harley riders. The cornering technique is even more important on cruisers because it increases the cornering while also increasing the clearance.
The primary focus of the Total Control class was probably the 10 step cornering technique. Learning the sportbike lean was not something I had planned on ever doing, but it was pretty fun for us old dogs to learn a new trick for quick cornering if needed. I liked learning the pre-lean to load the suspension before the curve and then do a late flop. I didn't get a lot better from the exercises because they are pretty complex, but they did a great job explaining the whys and get you a feel for it. Again, the challenge for me was looking through the turn. But the training enabled me to get a lot closer to the right technique while practicing in the parking lot today and I think it is coming together.
I like the instructor's strategy of turning every ride and every situation into an opportunity to practice. I kind of always do that already, but they gave me lots of new things to work on.
As to the original question of braking in a curve? We hit on that, but that is not practiced until level 2 and it really is about trail-braking for the most part. It's all about throttle control and traction stability. I know a lot of the MSF guys think Total Control is a little aggressive and our Total Control instructor was clear that there were things he was going to teach us that were opposite of MSF, but I didn't see it that way so much other than not covering the clutch. The main things were still the same main things.
If you experience fear on the curves but want more capability, I am confident this would be well worth your money and time.
Thanks for all the advice. Now I've got to decide on whether to do the track day at Barber in a few weeks. I know I may get some advice to hold off and have more training first, but I really need a safe way to practice what I've learned and I am leaning toward the track option. Total Control level 2 is in Nashville in October, but I'd rather solidify more of what I have so far with some track practice. My instructor at Total Control strongly recommended it for me on my FJR and he said as long as I go to practice I will do great. On the other hand, he said if I go to find out how fast my bike will go, I will have a very different (unpleasant) experience, which I have no doubt is true.
The BRC2 was a lot of review but good review nonetheless. I took it with a group of friends at our church parking lot where they host the BRC every month. It was fun doing this with people I knew and our instructor was top notch in my opinion. I was in frequent trouble for not looking through the turn far enough. This was very helpful prep for the Total Control class because looking through the turn is much more important there. If you're thinking about taking the BRC2, I recommend doing it for a refresh.
After it finished I drove 230 miles up to Georgetown, KY for the Total Control class the next day. The surprise from the Total Control class was that the other guys were even older than me. The instructor said that was typical. He said that most younger guys think they don't need to learn or want to figure it out themselves instead of doing training. Two guys were on BMW K1600 GT's and the other two were on small sport bikes but they were older guys too. He said the most common students were sport-tourers and next most common were Harley riders. The cornering technique is even more important on cruisers because it increases the cornering while also increasing the clearance.
The primary focus of the Total Control class was probably the 10 step cornering technique. Learning the sportbike lean was not something I had planned on ever doing, but it was pretty fun for us old dogs to learn a new trick for quick cornering if needed. I liked learning the pre-lean to load the suspension before the curve and then do a late flop. I didn't get a lot better from the exercises because they are pretty complex, but they did a great job explaining the whys and get you a feel for it. Again, the challenge for me was looking through the turn. But the training enabled me to get a lot closer to the right technique while practicing in the parking lot today and I think it is coming together.
I like the instructor's strategy of turning every ride and every situation into an opportunity to practice. I kind of always do that already, but they gave me lots of new things to work on.
As to the original question of braking in a curve? We hit on that, but that is not practiced until level 2 and it really is about trail-braking for the most part. It's all about throttle control and traction stability. I know a lot of the MSF guys think Total Control is a little aggressive and our Total Control instructor was clear that there were things he was going to teach us that were opposite of MSF, but I didn't see it that way so much other than not covering the clutch. The main things were still the same main things.
If you experience fear on the curves but want more capability, I am confident this would be well worth your money and time.
Thanks for all the advice. Now I've got to decide on whether to do the track day at Barber in a few weeks. I know I may get some advice to hold off and have more training first, but I really need a safe way to practice what I've learned and I am leaning toward the track option. Total Control level 2 is in Nashville in October, but I'd rather solidify more of what I have so far with some track practice. My instructor at Total Control strongly recommended it for me on my FJR and he said as long as I go to practice I will do great. On the other hand, he said if I go to find out how fast my bike will go, I will have a very different (unpleasant) experience, which I have no doubt is true.
