Another bunch of motorcycle riders just graduated from our Cornering School Day 1 to 3, and finished the street rider part. Some of them will continue with the track/racing orientated part- Day 4 on 7/236/2017.
I am proud for each one of them. May the force always be with you! :-)
Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp
Not many people talking about this actually , so here am I again with ‘another’ controversy, because I can’t keep my mouth shut about things which should have been said a long time ago. I’m looking forward to see in comments if the subject deserves to be ‘controversy’ in your eyes at all, so here we go…
In Europe as a kid of the 70’s, you had to make a drivers license and to ride a 50cc moped for 2 years. It cost 50 Euros, 6 classes and 1 riding hour. Don’t think you just open that motor to get 70 km/h hour out of it, because it was restricted by law to 25 km/h, so about 15 miles per hour! The cops new our games well, and it was not just costly to get caught… they could also locked your next drivers license step away for another year.
By the age of 16, you ramp up to 80cc lightweight bikes. The drivers license is comparable with the one for riding a moped, but comes with more required class and riding hours before you can make the driving test. That education cost about 1500 Euros, 11 riding hours and 24 hours of classroom! Those bikes are top speed restricted to 80 km/h, and you are riding them for another 2 years.
Now you’re 18, and since you went through a riding odyssey of 4 years- you are looking at another 400 Euros to get a drivers license to ride all kinds of motorcycles as long they are restricted to a maximum of 48 horsepower. You think that’s tough?!… there is more to come, because if you have crashes or fool around with the traffic laws- you will extent the 2 years period before you finally make it to a non-restricted motorcycle.
Now let’s say you are ‘mom-in-laws-favorite’ and stick tightly to the rules for another 2 years… yes, then it is time to make the A-license for another 1700 Euros, 12 hours of classroom and 11 hours of riding including a drivers test. Then… yes, finally then you are qualified to ride any motorcycle with all of its horsepower’s. At that point I should mention that when I was 20, that the entire motorcycle industry agreed with the laws to restrict the horsepower to ALL models to 100 hp maximum- to protect the riders from aggressive horsepower-marketing by the manufacturers. Makes kinda sense to me today, I must say. But I come back later to this once more. However, I don’t know if that ‘self-restriction’ is still ongoing over there, because I live in the country of my heart, the United States of America, since 2008 now.
So I had to renew my license as I emigrated and I didn’t complain hearing that I can make a motorcycle drivers license for only 28 bux. I mean… compared with the 3500 Euros I’ve spend… that’s a smile on the face right there. So I answered those funny questions in a written exam to get a temporary drivers license for 12 months… WHAT?! I mean… at least back then, nobody knew that Can Akkaya- a ex-racing pro from Europe, actually really can ride or not… right?!
Yes ‘I can’, but this is maybe like a ‘suicide permission’ or a ‘license to kill’ for someone else, because nobody (!) even asked me if I can ride… they just gave me a motorcycle drivers license. Just like that. I’ve passed my DMV circle riding test one week after my written exam. Maybe I was an exception getting so easy to a drivers license?… unfortunately not, but there are at least some more rider orientated looking options out there… but are they really?! Let’s see…
My wife Marion wanted to make her M1 drivers license here as well, so I started teaching her from the scratch. She made it for about $270 bux and a weekend of time after the written exam. Would she be ready to go after this without having me continuing her training?… no she wouldn’t! Then I meet students almost every day who are coming out of ‘Certified Riding Schools’. They ‘past’ the test or got kicked out to go and learn to ride on their own, to finally come back to be some kind of ‘good enough’ to make it then. So that’s what this is about, isn’t it?! To be good enough for the big ‘test’. However, new riders like this find a place to learn from the scratch in my ‘Basic Rider 1on1‘ program. That’s how Anne-Marie-Pham got in contact with me, and it took a while until my confusion faded. Her journey is the trigger for this article btw.
Anne signed up for my Basic Rider 1on1, which is designed to teach riders who don’t know how to ride AND who are not having a motorcycle drivers license yet. So I ask questions where she’s at and find out that she actually just achieved a drivers license, so I am referring her to my Road Skill 1on1 program which would be the logical next step. She had a hard time to make me understand that she need to learn from the scratch, and rejected my suggestions. My confusion… I am in a conflict thinking that a rider needs to learn from the scratch, even though the drivers license has been successfully mastered already. Feel me here?!
Since I don’t want to charge or offer a not suitable program, I offered to just transfer her Basic Rider to Road Skill after seeing her on a motorcycle and she would have to live with my decision… I was glad I didn’t! Anne-Marie was totally terrified and told me her story with that ‘certified school’ she took at some dealership parking lot:
I signed up for CMSP and I came into this class excited, I came out of this two day class as scared as I can ever be! I can’t even tell you how many times I dropped the bike, I lost count. And get this…. I passed!!!
Read Anne-Marie Pham’s full review here
What I’ve seen was a totally lost soul, but not ready to give up on a new hobby, and I had to win her trust first. I don’t even start talking about the curriculum what those schools have to go with, and which produces fears and hold backs towards braking. It was all showing- and shocked me a lot. Anne’s confidence grew by the hour, and she hired me for another Basic Rider session before I will give her my OK for the Cornering class, where she will learn all survival skills my way!
Comparing the European system with the regulations in the U.S., it seem to be bad for the economy over there and also it makes it hard to recruit new riders, because more and more kids are skipping the pain and just wait till they can drive their stupid VW Golf GTI once they are 18 years old. This is what this is all about friends… the economy. A ‘quick’ drivers license makes a quick sale. For me, this is almost like giving a new rider a unlocked gun and to say… “Just point it where ever you want- and this here is the trigger!”
Sure- if you would have asked me when I was 16, to make a drivers license for only 28 bux by pretty much answering 36 questions correctly and for doing some circles on a parking lot… I probably would have declared that day a Holiday, especially if you also would have told me that I could just go and pick a 210 hp liter bike right away! Would it been healthy for me?!… no it wouldn’t. Don’t you tell me you’ve done wise decisions from 14 till 25 years of age… so I didn’t, and so it would be not too bad if someone helps keeping things in check a little. The system has to change… now!
Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp
I’m hearing it every day. First I see 99.9% of my students braking, and their performance is actually shockingly bad. Straight up… ‘BRAKING’ IS THE PRIOR SKILL TO STAY ALIVE. Then I ask them who taught them and what was the message, and their answers are even more shocking…
In fact, ANY curriculum of motorcycle drivers license giving institutions are telling new riders to “Stay away from the front brake when turning/leaning!” I believe that this is already a CRIME to say, because I would say that you gotta be be able to make a use of your brakes AT ALL FREAKING TIMES! But there is much more coming with this message- mental blockades which I as a Coach who is teaching the total opposite- have to remove manifested habits and overly produced fears!
Now how is that?!… well, if you tell a new rider stuff like that- you automatically manifest a certain hold back towards the front brake, which is actually our primary weapon against scary situations. The blockade is so deep in their heads, that most of the riders are not even using 50% of their front brake potential- which is another guarantee to get hurt or even to die. Besides this, it also leads them to an over-usage of rear brake which causes even more confusion and extends their learning curve… which is time they might don’t have.
You think a street rider don’t need this?… You’re dead wrong! Superbike-Coach teaches ‘Trail Braking’, a MotoGP riding technique since 10 years in Cornering School Day 3, and that is the key to lots of good things the top racers of this planet take advantage of. Priority for them… to lower lap times- and for the street rider to gain the chance to SURVIVE dramatically. Why and how?… find out in the class and learn it, because reading and learning won’t work here.
Is this a guarantee to get out of everything?… no it’s not, because there is always a ‘point of no return’, but it gains you chance to make it exponentially. Are there other schools teaching to trail brake?… probably- are they doing it right?… I don’t know. I do know that Superbike-Coach does it right- and that we have the environment and drills to do this even better. The curriculum and their message in this regard of license giving institutions has to change, because it is wrong and dangerous.
Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp
I can’t say enough how proud I am for the Superbike-Coach team for another amazing track day we’ve pulled off on 5/6/2017. Reading my report might gives you an idea how passionate we are, to make riders feel in the right place. I think that Superbike-Coach is different is given and known already, but that we run a track day which is fully booked out- with 120 riders whom can’t be more diverse- on a challenging track like this- and end it with only three minor crashes… that proves it pretty well, doesn’t it?! But there is more…
Marion and Gary opened registration on time and had lots of laughs with the participants already. Our Tech-Inspection is done in an blink of an eye- not like the typical 30 minutes wait, and everyone was very cooperative to our requirements in this regard.
The mandatory riders meeting at 8:15am is more or less my reality-check on them, and i truly enjoyed their attention, which is good for a general safety awareness and respect. I could dismiss our B+ riders early so that they can prepare without stress for their first stint, while our C-group riders stayed to receive a track orientation.
Gary opened the gate punctual at 9am for 20 minutes sessions with B+, then B, and then C group which I lead out for a two laps sightseeing tour with my control riders Brian, Julie and Ben. Introducing entering and exiting the track is our priority, because showing ‘the line’ doesn’t make any sense at that point- but we’re on it anyway. We got this clean and quickly done, so that the C rider had plenty of time left to go out on their own again.
I started the ‘Ideal Line West Seminar’ at 12:30pm, so that everyone would have all afternoon sessions to work on it. I kept it short n’ sweet, but I do believe that my audience get a picture of that there is much more I would have for them. It was fun, and I enjoyed seeing lots of students again, as well as lots new faces- which i hope to also get to see at my Cornering School programs.
From there, I was out on the track to help and to have some fun myself on almost every session. My control riders Ben, Brian and Julie the same, and we all put lots of effort to keep an eye on rules- and track etiquette. Every violation or report (and that ain’t many), was issued and solved. Even the typical Superbike-Coach penalty for temporary brain failure came into force… doing pushups. Other than that- it couldn’t have been smoother, and those three minor crashes are reflecting it. I’ve been witness of 40 crashes in total at one track day of a other organizer ones btw…
Superbike-Coach photographer Dean Lonskey took 4500 pictures that day, and guess what… this is also something we’re different with… they are all coming for free! Dean picked some featured pictures first until he releases all of them for free download. I would appreciate a little tip for him to his PayPal (dlonskey33@gmail.com). Here is one shot :-)
Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp
Our 20 students were far away from where they wanted to be, and that showed in the warm up session. All kinds of bikes and rider levels need to be sorted first, and with this the track gets cleaner and more rubber to the asphalt at the same time. After that, we got into the classroom where it is all about body positioning, and how to do this responsibly but efficient for our goal… to drag knee.
The second session shows who still needs hands on, and since I let only 2-3 riders in my track oval- the personal attention is big. From the 3rd session on the knee pucks got grounded, and more and more students are finally got it done. Assistant Coach Brian Hunnicutt had to replace Superbike-Coach photographer Dean Lonskey, who couldn’t make it. He did a great job as his featured pics are demonstrating. In the end of the day, about 65% of the students got their knee down, by gaining safety and speed! We also got some feedback and get the waiting time down by half with the next knee down class on 8/13/2017
I barley couldn’t wait to tell my 30 students what surprise I would have for them… my self designed wheelie-machine! Yes… Superbike-Coach drove up some fat equipment with a goal… to make riders more successful, safer, and to make it even funner. Assistant Coach Julie Stargardter had a tough job to do, but she got rewarded every time she saw a face lighten up.
I lost my voice coaching 1on1 on the radio to students when Marion Akkaya put them on the seat of my AMA spec Supermotard with a mounted wheelie-bar which I designed (picture right, patent ongoing). Assistant Coach Brian Hunnicutt instructed them accordingly when the students applied what they’ve learned on their own bikes or our wheelie rental bike, which also has one of my wheelie bars mounted and comes with much more riding time as well.
Superbike-Coach’s newest member Ben McCrae kept the groups together accordingly to their schedules and station. That’s not quite easy and always goes a little bumpy in the beginning, but he got it down pretty decent and made sure that everyone gets water and snacks we bring out.
The action on our Mini-Bike couldn’t be more fun, and the way how we want our students make their wheelie attempts helps them tremendously before they are going back to their own bike- even if they don’t even realize it in the first place. But the throttle control and timing- not to forget to break fears, is what this is all about. Our motto… if you don’t break it… you’re not trying hard enough- and we’re fine with it!
Straight up… a 60% success rate and NO crashes- that shows we deliver. Yea, unfortunately not everyone makes it, but that’s the nature of ALL things in life, isn’t it?
Superbike-Coach photographer Dean Lonskey was back to shoot the wheelie course, and I must say that this here is my absolute favorite shot for now (all featured pics). I guess we get to see much more like this once he has them all on the server, ready for FREE download for all students.
