Motorcyle Training / Coaching

Pass Your Test:

As a police trained motorcyclist and member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists we can provide coaching once you have passed your Compulsory Basic Training) known as CBT, to help you gain the confidence needed to pass your test.

Having successfully got my two motorcycling children to pass their tests with a little coaching, they both now ride large machines of their own all year round.

We believe that riding a motor bike is fun! It should be tempered with a lot of safety, and our belief is based on the fact that if you like riding your bike so much, you should not place yourself in a position of danger that might mean you can never ride your bike again! Does that make sense? Another way to look at it is that if I bend my bike doing something 'too exciting' right now, it'll be in the garage getting fixed for a long time and while that is happening, I'm not riding it. You can have all the fun you need - and more - and still be sensible with it.
I'll never forget the look of sheer joy when my second son then aged 17, came in from college one winters afternoon, cold and wet, with a beaming grin on his face. His comment was. "I love my life! I love my bike! Thank you dad for not letting me have a scooter last year"!

This rubs a little with some other bikers, but at the age of 16, my son would not have been ready in his mind, to ride any form of mechanised vehicle on a public road. You know what I mean by that mums and dads. You just know certain facts about your own children. He pestered for a scooter. We had several youngsters racing along our one way street - the wrong way - on one wheel, without wearing a helmet, often with a mate on the back, with no helmet, no 'L' plates and hence, no insurance.

One of his friends who did have a scooter once said to me. "Mr. Gould. I've only had my bike for six months and I've fallen off it every other day. I can't understand it". Then he raced off on one wheel, round the first turning in the road and struck an oncoming car! My opinion, some young people should not be allowed to ride until they are sensible enough to appreciate what life and death are all about. We all reach that age at different times. So placing a minimum age limit of scooter riders is pointless. The CBT should, in my opinion, have a part of the test designed to evaluate the riders ability to show common decency and an understanding of when to use speed.

That's me off that soap box for a while. Riding bikes is GREAT FUN!
We need to temper FUN with SENSE.

Another example might be - we all drive too fast. That's a fact. Ask yourself how often you have to stop at traffic lights? Did you overtake someone on the way to the lights? Almost certainly you did. Were you doing a speed within the speed limit as you approached the lights? Probably not. All the way from the last set of lights? It's almost certain that if you had to stop, you were racing between the sets of lights. And the point on going that fast was what? You used more fuel than you needed to - you had to brake harder than you needed to if you had stayed within the speed limit - you undoubtedly had to concentrate even harder and were closer to 'the edge' than you needed to be - and lord help anyone that stepped out or pulled out in front of you! It was obviously their fault that you had to swerve or brake hard to avoid them! Even though it was YOU that was breaking the law.

It's a frame of mind. Settle into safer driving habits by taking your time. I don't mean you need to hold everyone else up. By all means keep up with the flow of traffic if you're happy and confident enough to do so, but also allow yourself time to think. That way nothing takes you by surprise. Don't use that phone. The world will carry on spinning round outside your vehicle even if the phones rings and you don't answer it. If you have someone else in the car / van / lorry with you, let them answer your blasted phone! You've got peoples lives at stake here guys and girls! How'd you like it if someone was taking such an important phone call while driving, that they knocked down and injured / killed your nearest and dearest? You'd want them hung from the nearest tree! DON'T DO IT YOURSELF THEN!!!

That's another soap box put to rest.

A lady turned up late on one of my training courses recently - every day she turned up 40 minutes late. Now I don't mind if you don't come to the courses at all. I still get paid. Her attitude was funny though. She said that it was the bus company's fault. The bus left her area at 09:40 each day and then there wasn't another one until 10:20. The journey takes her 20 minutes. The course began at 10:00 every day for four days. On day three, she said. "I don't know what I'm going to do about this. I always miss that bus at 09:40. What can I do about it"? The answer is SO obvious, isn't it? Get up a few minutes earlier each day then...I put this to her as politely as I dare. The next day she was on time! She said. "Do you know what Roger? I took your advice and got up ten minutes earlier today and look, I'm here on time"! This was fully grown up human being! Should she be allowed out on her own? She drives a car for Pete's sake! This is not a sexist thing - it could just as easily have been any number of men too.

Human beings often cannot manage their own time effectively, so why when you are driving, do you expect them to be sensible? If you expect everyone else driving / riding on the roads to be an idiot, you'll never be disappointed or surprised again. SIMPLES! Compare the drivers.com

Happy Days! If you're in our area and need help to get through your motorbike test, give us an email to rogergould13@googlemail.com

Roger G