Tips for City Motorcycle Training in London

Of all the places to learn to ride a motorcycle London has to be one of the best, because its landscape offers some of the best tests of your riding skills possible.

Motorcycle training in London is popular for that very reason and as the top training school Metropolis Motorcycles uses its streets as the ideal test bed to turn its pupils into some of the best and most prepared new motorcyclists in the UK.

City Motorcycle riding is particularly testing and in response to the many requests for motorcycle training tips we get we have created this short and sweet guide to staying safe riding in London…

1. Trust no one on the roads as drivers do unpredictable things in London. Be paranoid may sound like strange advice but it keeps you alert. And keep a keen eye out for taxis, vans and couriers as they are most likely to cut you up!

2. Be aware of other people’s blind spots. This goes hand in hand with the motorcycle tip above as sometimes other drivers simply don’t see you. Be very aware of these traps as they are easy to fall, or ride, into.

Position yourself so that if the driver fails to see you in the mirror, you still aren’t in danger of getting tagged. You will know when you’re riding well and staying clear of blind spots because you are no longer using your horn to warn encroaching drivers of your presence; they’ve already seen you in the mirror, alongside or ahead.

3. You must also learn to be defensive with your motorcycle riding in London. Defensive riding means being aware of your space and maintaining that space by positioning yourself in surrounding traffic. Riding defensively is a way of looking at traffic to predict its effect on you, and making sure that effect is minimal. Put yourself in a position with an escape route if your worst-case predictions come true.

4. Other motorcycle riders and drivers WILL make mistakes, so give them time and room to make them. A car’s blind spot varies according to the vehicle, mirror size and mirror adjustment. Anytime you’re parallel to a car, truck or van, you’re in the most dangerous spot on the road. Learn to move through this Death Spot aggressively; don’t ride in a blind spot, even for a few seconds.

There’s no reason to get upset, violent, aggressive or reactionary; once you begin to make room for mistakes, it becomes almost humorous to watch the stupidity around you because you will no longer be taken by surprise or put in danger.

5. Perhaps most importantly of all when you are taking your motorcycle training in London, or you are out after you have passed your test you MUST learn to slow down. By riding to fast you make reading the road ahead far too difficult and that means mistakes. Slow down to be seen; slow down to avoid being misread.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Training Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.