AMST Police Motorcycle Technique Training
In two days of training, I had a great time, and greatly improved my slow speed maneuvering on a big bike. This may not sound like fun, but believe me, it was.
I had two days of private instruction from Glen Davies, a police motorcycle instructor, as part of the AMST training program. It was hot out, and very tiring. At the time, I didn’t know I was getting the flu, so that may have made it a little more effort. Who knows?
Because I have a lot of custom work on my motorcycle, I opted to rent one of the school’s police Harleys. I didn’t actually drop it (maybe because I am too chicken to push things), but it was comforting knowing that I could.
We did circles, figure eights, sharp u-turns connected by 90% turns, turns from a dead stop, and other exercises on the school’s range. Each exercise is aimed at a particular part of your riding, so that each part of your skill set gets a boost. They very quickly hone in on your weak spots, and you very quickly learn what they are. We made dramatic improvements in my ability to make tight turns comfortably.
One interesting thing is that the school teaches more or less steady throttle (about 2000 rpm on the police Harleys), with use of the clutch to modulate power. If you start to go over, let out a little clutch, and you pick right up. Most of the time, you are working in the “friction zone”. This spot is found by putting on the front brake, then letting out the clutch until the front end starts to dive.
An optional technique is to use the rear brake to steady the bike. It is also good to work without doing this.
I discovered that you can make a fairly tight turn just by keeping your weight to the outside, and turning the bars all the way to lock. However, for really tight turns, you must lean as well.
In addition to the slow, tight turns, we did hard stops from 10, 30 and 40 mph. From 40, you need to stop within 55 feet. (Remember that you know these stops are coming, so it is not the same as distances would be on the road). After awhile, we progressed to making the stop, then a right or left turn. This is preparation for dealing with a driver making a left turn in front of you.
For a reasonable amount of money, this was a great way to improve skills that often get ignored. Everything you do at slow speeds translates into better riding at normal and higher speeds. Incidentally, it was surprising how slow a motorcycle can be made to go.
Given the minimal time investment, I can give this course my unqualified recommendation.
