Fjr Friendly Vendor - Total Control Riding Clinic

[USMCretFJR]

I took this class last Saturday in Frederick, MD with Tracy Martin (fellow FJR owner) as the lead instructor. Tracy and the other instructors put on a great class. There were 3 instructors and 11 students. I can honestly say that everyone of us learned a lot and showed improvement in cornering skills. While, in my opinion, the class was worth the $295 price, Tracy will refund $50 to FJR owners making it an even better deal!! For FJR owners in the Mid-Atlantic regoin this is a great deal.

 

[throttlejockeyTJ]

Sounds Great! Could you give us more information about the class. What did they have you do & what improvments did you make. Did they eliminate any bad habits? TJ

 

[Vstar2FJR]

I'm signed up for the Labor Day weekend course in Gilbert AZ. Any information on whether this $50 off would be good there?

Agree with throttlejockeyTJ, any more detailed information available on what the drills were like, how were they different from the experienced rider course drills, etc.

John

 

[USMCretFJR]

Sorry for the delay in getting you additional information. I will do my best to give you the Readers Digest version of the class.

First, regarding the discount, I think that is something Tracy Martin does for his specific students in Frederick, MD. It is my understanding that while each location follows the same curriculum each site is independently operated. My guess is that Tracy offered the discount because he owns an FJR and to generate interest in the area. I do know that the discount was between Tracy and me - the Community College that hosts the course was not involved.

About the class. The class was held from 8:00 to 5:00 on a Saturday. We arrived, signed the mandatory releases, adjusted tire pressure and got to work. Although it was only their second class at the site, all the logistics were very well organized and efficient. The students' experience ranged from 5 years to 25+ years.

The class itself is based on Lee Park's book "Total Control - High Performance Street Riding Techniques". Reviewing the book before the class was beneficial, I thought, but certainly not essential. Since the book is pretty comprehensive not everything could ever be covered in one day.

We began in the classroom with an overview of the days objectives. Classroom instruction covered dicsussion of traction, steering, suspension and setup, fear, concentration, attitude, vision, line selection and throttle control as they relate to maintaining control and cornering. The time spent inside was enough to cover what needed to be covered but not so much that it took away from time on the bikes - in my opinion.

The drills were conducted on a closed course ( ie. parking lot). The condition of the course was great. Good pavement and free of any debris - Tracy and his guys had swept the area before we arrived. This was good as it allowed us to focus on what we were dong rather than look for potential hazards.

The first drill we did was on throttle control. Basically it was practice rolling on and off the throttle very slowly in an effort to keep the suspension stable. After a while we went to throttle/brake transitions - Simultaneously rolling off the throttle while shlwly applying the brakes.

The next drills were conducted using a 40' circle marked with small cones with one larger cone in the middle. It was a progressive exercise which began by simply going around the circle in both directions and slowly adding the use of a turning point, focus on making a sharp turn and using the 10 steps of cornering (from the book) and adding additional speed. All the exercises led to the final drill which was a figure 8 anround two 40' circles in which we practiced transitioning from one turn to the next.

At the end of the formal instruction we were given the opportunity to practice more, work on slow speed turning or have our suspension measured ( we had already done three bikes earlier).

During the drills we were broked down into two groups. After each drill an instructor would offer advice or provide feedback and we would get back into line to go again. The waits were long enough for you to digest what the instructor said and think about what you needed to do, but not long enough to be frustrating at all.

I know this is long but I hope it answered some of your questions. If you have any further questions please feel free to send me a PM.

VStar, I didn't ignore your email. Instead I though that answering here may serve to answer your questions and potential questions of others.

Regards,

Dennis

 

[Vstar2FJR]

Received your email, Dennis, thank you. This sounds like it will be very beneficial to me in my quest to become a better rider.

John

 

[throttlejockeyTJ]

Thank you! I sighned up to take Lee Parks Class in Olympia on September 3. So more information was benificial. TJ

 

[sparky3008]

I took the Motorcycle Safety Course in Frederick MD 5 years ago even though I had been riding by that time for 10 years but didn't have a license. Anyway it was $100 and seemed to cover much of what you describe in this course. May be something people might want to look into for $145 cheaper... Or did that course go up in price?

 

[Vstar2FJR]

What I found in the MSF experienced rider course about 1.5 years ago was that it was little more than the stuff from the basic MSF course. Lot's of low/slow speed stuff in first gear (20 mph), and except for the time actually doing the drills, you didn't have time to practice while there. I believe that the information provided by USMCretFJR, and the information on the total control web site https://www.leeparksdesign.com/miscpage_002.asp shows that this is more than an ERC.

 

[sparky3008]

I am just going by his description of what they did in the course and in Frederick MD where I took the MSF we did figure 8's throttle control, we did controlled braking and doing turns and braking so that we had to bring the bike upright before braking. Many of the things USMCretFJR describes sounds just like what we did in the basic msf course. Now looking at the webpage you supply the course looks much more advanced that what USMCretFJR describes so maybe I am just missing something in the description.

Thanks

 

[USMCretFJR]

Sparky...you probably didn't miss anything I probably left out some detail....that happens more often as I get older.

This is not the MSF BRC. This course is designed (per the instructors) to fill the gap between the MSF Experienced Riders Course and a track day. I have not taken the MSF ERC but there were several students in the class that had and from what I heard all of them thought this was a step up from the ERC. All the students were serious about becoming better riders and at no time did I hear anyone communicate anything but positive input regarding the day's instruction.

PM me if you have any questions....like I said in the earlier post I was going to give the Readers Digest version so between trying to be brief and advanced dymentia I probably left things out.

Regards,

Dennis

 

[Thug]

Good read thank you.