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Recently signed up with my local I.A.M group and last Sunday had my 1st observed ride.We did a 50 mile route round the local roads. After about 40 miles we stopped for a debrief where my faults were explained to me which was basically my postioning on bends. tended to either stay in the middle of my lane or to near the middle especially on right hand bends plus my speed in built up areas, So for the last 10 miles i followed my instructer.
Most the time he approached bends right on the other side of the road which at first i found a bit daunting but gradually it made sense. Its all about making smooth and rapid progress.Anyway at the final debrief he summed myself up as having good riding abilty but need to work on my lines and watch my speed. Another 3-4 outings with him and he thinks i will be ready for my advanced motoring test.

Result
Can't fault a man who wants to better himself and is not afraid to seek help
Even better if it's an enjoyable experience doing something you love

Good on you Grumbie

gumbie man wrote:Most the time he approached bends right on the other side of the road .

PeteL, see I told it was a good thing , I always use all the road on entry to bends!

If I can learn all the other skills I could be an IAM instructer

Good luck Gumbie-let us know how you get on

AMCQ46 wrote:

gumbie man wrote:Most the time he approached bends right on the other side of the road .

PeteL, see I told it was a good thing , I always use all the road on entry to bends!

If I can learn all the other skills I could be an IAM instructer

You might have a little trouble with the speed signs though I'm sure they don't set them as a target not to drop below

Pete.l

you may have a point there Pete............I am very good with the 30 & 40 signs, they are there for good reason, but the new 50 limit on country roads I believe is just a suggestion for minimum speed

they're not speed limits, they're lean angles

Having started a series of replys at a complete tangent to the main topic, I would like to get back to the subject that Gumbie man started.

I am kind of interested to do the same, having sat in a pub with Goedude , and having ridden with off duty policemen I can sort of see how they are thinking, but I like the idea to learn new tricks to improve speed and safety.

So my questions was, what does it cost to sign up, and where do you go to identify your nearest IAM ?

Google IAM AMCQ-you can then identify your nearest group.

Mine meets on a Sat morning. You have to sign up for the Skill for Life course-about £130ish.

You'll then be assigned an "observer" they'll ride with you-as gumbie is- assess your riding, give you instruction and advise on how to improve. You'll receive continual assessment, eventually leading to the test.

Once passed you get your green badge (reduction on insurance) an improved sense of road craft and bike control. You can further advance things and become an observer yourself if you're at the right level.

Forgot to add, you'll probably need to cover fuel costs and maybe a bacon sarny/cuppa for your observer

Got my green badge almost a year ago I found it to be really useful. One thing I was disappointed about was they never taught you to wheelie. Never mind, there's schools for that

I'm going for my observer-ship (become an IAM observer) next year, then onto RoSPA after that. I might try and get RoSPA Diploma but apparently that's dead hard!!

I got quite a reduction in insurance through IAM Surety.

The Skill for Life package is £139 That includes a book and exam. Worth every penny in my book.

Go for it. What ever your style of riding, you will learn useful stuff.

Good luck Gumbie. Keep us informed of ya progress. If you down south at all (Hampshire) let me know

I did a council funded one day rider course having had 15 years off bikes and straight back on a Storm.

we had police instructors/ private ones and IAM - they were great and introduced us to the Skills for Life, however, the IAM lot have a regular meet and were more than happy for anyone to turn up for an informal ride and assessment. Bikesafe does the same I think but not round here http://www.bikesafe.co.uk/

Jbrebel wrote:Forgot to add, you'll probably need to cover fuel costs and maybe a bacon sarny/cuppa for your observer

Everytime i go out with my observer i have to pay him £15 to cover his petrol and it`s not a option but its possible other groups have a different policy.

Its £139 to sign up and you can have up to 6 runs with your observer plus join in on the groups weekend runs.
Each time you go out with your observer he will give you a debrief with the ultimate aim to past your test. My observer thinks i should only need 4 runs with him.

Did have a runout on my own today putting things into practise and it just makes riding so much easier and a lot safer. Even if you dont do the test you will become a better rider.

gumbie man wrote:

Jbrebel wrote:Forgot to add, you'll probably need to cover fuel costs and maybe a bacon sarny/cuppa for your observer

Everytime i go out with my observer i have to pay him £15 to cover his petrol and it`s not a option but its possible other groups have a different policy.
.

when i did mine the observer never charged me for fuel and always insisted on taking turns on buying the bacon sarnies an cup of tea

I am all in favour of learning new riding skills and roadcraft but i just dont like the IAM style of riding. The method of the further you can see the safer you are is sound, both in theory and practice but........I always try and stay in my lane regardless, if you happen to have an off or some type of collision whilst 'making progress' in the on coming lane of traffic you will be always judged to be at fault by a court of law. I drift to the best possible area of the lane that allows the furthest view of the road ahead (but still in my lane). I ride quite frequently with IAM members and instructors but to me it spoils a good blast, straight lineing bends when possible defeats the object totally IMO. Fast is not fun, lean angles are fun. As a rule (not always though granted)they ride big comfortable bikes that arent the most nimble so to engage in knee down frivolity would be dangerous and very tiring. My dad was a Police motorcyclist so I know a bit about the subject, good luck to anyone that goes for it but sorry its not for me. A friend just passed out as an IAM member so I was very suprised when she had so little bike control that a slightly wet field at Cadwell had her down on the ground twice! I am only playing devils advocate and IAM memebrs that are also friends have given me some good tips in the past, it just does not work as a whole for me thats all.