Anyone done an advanced motorbike course?

ShaneH1

I’m interested in doing some advanced training and maybe a rospa test, has anyone done these?
What level were you at prior to doing them?

I got my full licence a few months ago and ride nearly daily, but I’d like to do something before I develop too many bad habits.

KildareMan

ShaneH1 wrote: »

I’m interested in doing some advanced training and maybe a rospa test, has anyone done these?
What level were you at prior to doing them?

I got my full licence a few months ago and ride nearly daily, but I’d like to do something before I develop too many bad habits.

Did an advanced course years ago. Well worth the money and time. Stephen?? Can't remember last name. 1st Rospa test was silver. Gold since then - x3

ShaneH1

KildareMan wrote: »

Did an advanced course years ago. Well worth the money and time. Stephen?? Can't remember last name. 1st Rospa test was silver. Gold since then - x3

Fair play. Did you do the course through rospa or through a instructor and do then just do the tests with them?

I was looking at their website but it was a bit confusing. When you go into the bit about advanced training it just tells you about the tests.

Does it give you lower insurance?

KildareMan

ShaneH1 wrote: »

Fair play. Did you do the course through rospa or through a instructor and do then just do the tests with them?

I was looking at their website but it was a bit confusing. When you go into the bit about advanced training it just tells you about the tests.

Does it give you lower insurance?

Through an instructor.
The Rospa group wasn't set up at the time. I'd go the instructor route personally. Then did the test with Rospa.

KildareMan

KildareMan wrote: »

Through an instructor.
The Rospa group wasn't set up at the time. I'd go the instructor route personally. Then did the test with Rospa.

No change in insurance. Bit of a fallacy tbh.

septictank

Just out of curiosity KildareMan, how come you keep taking the courses?

Is it something to do with your job, just nosey.

KildareMan

septictank wrote: »

Just out of curiosity KildareMan, how come you keep taking the courses?

Is it something to do with your job, just nosey.

No mate just wanted to see how good I could be. Only did the one course. And plenty of practice.

septictank

Never done one myself, not that interested to be honnest.

Is the focus on rules of the road/filtering/anticipation, or does it go into advanced driving at speed, track driving for beginners sort of stuff.

KildareMan

septictank wrote: »

Never done one myself, not that interested to be honnest.

Is the focus on rules of the road/filtering/anticipation, or does it go into advanced driving at speed, track driving for beginners sort of stuff.

The "system" of motorcycle control, as used by gardai / police - so pretty much all you listed except the track stuff

Idleater

I did the RoSPA too. When I did it, it paid for itself insurance wise, I just kept it up with the (mandatory) retests every couple of years. For me it was great being shown how to think while driving, I use what I learned daily though unfortunately I don't drive motorbikes at the moment.

Learning how not to get into situations was important for me being a "vulnerable" road user, but to be honest it was a great reaffirming of my driving.

I'd recommend it to anyone, but generally those who "know it all already" are probably those who could make most from such lessons.

two wheels good

Well worth doing some advanced training - IAM or RoSPA, with a professional trainer or a local group e.g. RosPA IART or Munster Riders.
For riding benefits but also social activities and touring trips if a member of a group.
Training improves observation, anticipation and concentration; and lots more - e.g. slow riding technique.
Don't be concerned that you need to be more experienced before starting adv training. The System is straightforward and easily understood. No rocket science involved.
A little while back the RoSPA magazine was celebrating a teenager, their youngest member to get a Gold pass.

[EDIT]
When I say IAM I mean the long-established UK charitable org. now called IAMRoadSmart. There was an effort to revive an Irish group a few years ago.
If you search IAM you may turn-up a commercial driving instruction business. Some countries have regulation about the use of the name "Institute" - but not in Ireland it seems.

ShaneH1

two wheels good wrote: »

Well worth doing some advanced training - IAM or RoSPA, with a professional trainer or a local group e.g. RosPA IART or Munster Riders.
For riding benefits but also social activities and touring trips if a member of a group.
Training improves observation, anticipation and concentration; and lots more - e.g. slow riding technique.
Don't be concerned that you need to be more experienced before starting adv training. The System is straightforward and easily understood. No rocket science involved.
A little while back the RoSPA magazine was celebrating a teenager, their youngest member to get a Gold pass.

Looking forward to it. Been driving a car for 10 years, always been a good driver but I’ve never felt the urge to do extra training to get better, but for some reason I want to put a lot more work into my roadcraft on a bike.

Maybe it’s the risk of impending doom.

galwaytt

ShaneH1 wrote: »

Looking forward to it. Been driving a car for 10 years, always been a good driver but I’ve never felt the urge to do extra training to get better, but for some reason I want to put a lot more work into my roadcraft on a bike.

Maybe it’s the risk of impending doom.

I've done RoSPA twice - and you have to resit it every 3 years to keep it. Its a requirement for anyone joining Blood Bike West for example as well.

And it helps all aspects of your riding and is well worth it.

And it not only gets my insurance down, it gets me a few €€ off my car insurance as well.

Rafal

I did a 1-day instructor 1:1 IAM in 2006, but it was only last year that I joined IART (RoI RoSPA group) see http://www.rospaiart.ie/

I’ve been riding with the group on a regular basis, met great new friends, and I got plenty of excellent advice from Noel, my assigned tutor. If you join—and you should join once you get your full licence and maybe a couple of months riding experience—you will be soon paired with a tutor who is guaranteed to make you safer and faster in a matter of a few months or so.

Passing the test was great for my insurance on the new (new!) bike, saving just under 300, as Liberty gave me almost 30% off, which was then matched by Carole Nash (who originally did not recognise the pass). I gave my business to Liberty, as I appreciate they officially recognise RoSPA (bronze = Liberty advanced skills level 2, silver & gold = level 1). Go on their site and see the discount in the online quote tool. The discount was not as valuable on an older and cheaper to insure bike.

Above all, it is fun while making you a better rider.

galwaytt

Rafal wrote: »

I did a 1-day instructor 1:1 IAM in 2006, but it was only last year that I joined IART (RoI RoSPA group) see http://www.rospaiart.ie/

I’ve been riding with the group on a regular basis, met great new friends, and I got plenty of excellent advice from Noel, my assigned tutor. If you join—and you should join once you get your full licence and maybe a couple of months riding experience—you will be soon paired with a tutor who is guaranteed to make you safer and faster in a matter of a few months or so.

Passing the test was great for my insurance on the new (new!) bike, saving just under 300, as Liberty gave me almost 30% off, which was then matched by Carole Nash (who originally did not recognise the pass). I gave my business to Liberty, as I appreciate they officially recognise RoSPA (bronze = Liberty advanced skills level 2, silver & gold = level 1). Go on their site and see the discount in the online quote tool. The discount was not as valuable on an older and cheaper to insure bike.

Above all, it is fun while making you a better rider.

Hi Rafal,

BM004 are you out on the road this Saturday? ?

Rafal

galwaytt wrote: »

Hi Rafal,

BM004 are you out on the road this Saturday? ?

Hello! If the weather is ok, planning to go to Mondello for the day. Will decide in the morning. Fingers crossed!

zubair

I had issues sorting RoSPA with iart. In fact any contact I had was poor, they didn't respond to emails and any responses I did get were, we'll get back to you soon. I gave up trying.

Paulw

zubair wrote: »

I had issues sorting RoSPA with iart. In fact any contact I had was poor, they didn't respond to emails and any responses I did get were, we'll get back to you soon. I gave up trying.

I'd the same experience with them. I signed up, assumed I'd be paired with an instructor in a month or two, six months later I asked about being paired, and they said they would get back to me, I contacted again a few times, and all the same response. and then when the year was up, I gave up and didn't renew.

I may do advanced riding directly through an instructor, and ignore RoSPA.

KildareMan

Paulw wrote: »

I'd the same experience with them. I signed up, assumed I'd be paired with an instructor in a month or two, six months later I asked about being paired, and they said they would get back to me, I contacted again a few times, and all the same response. and then when the year was up, I gave up and didn't renew.

I may do advanced riding directly through an instructor, and ignore RoSPA.

You are I think mixing Iart with Rospa. Iart is an irish group of Rospa for sure but Rospa do not control/administer iart.

Do the advanced training with an instructor, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, then apply via rospa website for test. You will get good comms with Rospa. Not so much with iart.

Rafal

Unlike the three of you, I had a good experience with IART. I payed €25 annual fee last summer, and I promptly went to the monthly rideout a week later. The day before the ride out I was assessed by that ride’s leader, Brian, to make sure I would be ok with the group style.

The ride out was wet but fun, and it already opened my eyes to how Roadcraft works. There were about 25 bikers. I met new friends, with whom I ride a few times a month since, incl last winter.

About a week after the ride out I got an email from Andy, the group tutor coordinator, assigning me to my tutor, Noel. It took another 3 weeks before we went on our first observed ride. We met a good few times thereafter, and I applied for my RoSPA test in October. I took it in November. It saved me €240 off Liberty fully comp policy in January.

Two weeks ago there was the first IART ride school of the year. It was attended by about 80 members. The talk by the chief Garda motorcycle tutor was interesting. There were also two other talks, one about suspension tuning, and one on first aid if you are first on scene of a bike accident. I have enjoyed the afternoon slow speed tutorial, gymkhana-like—wish I were better at that.

However, I am 100% sure that if anyone wishes to speed this up, going the paid, commercial route, rather than a volunteer organisation, is faster and perhaps more predictable.

On that matter, I can also recommend Advanced Machine Control training from i2imca.com—I did MC1, MC2 and MC3 aka “Kneedown” in UK, last year, but they run it in Ireland twice a year: May (mostly sold out) and August.

Sorry to drag up and old thread, how does this work?

When I go to RoSPA Ireland website it brings me to a UK website to register for a test that requires a UK address is this only UK based or how does it work?

From reading this thread it appears I can be trained by someone in Ireland but is the test UK based or Irish based, did anyone get discount off both car and bike insurance after passing?

Rafal

The membership fee for RoSPA and the fee for the tests is paid on the UK site, but you select Ireland as the place where you want to take it. This gets passed to the examiner here who contacts you a bit later (I waited 2 months both times I took it) and off you go.

It is well worth getting to know the likely test routes and to take tutoring beforehand. That is what RoSPA IART does in Ireland, but due to the lockdowns all activities have been curtailed. It costs €25 for the year, it is paid on their Irish site, it is entirely volunteer run, and takes a few months of weekly-to-monthly ride outs with your tutor. Alternatively you can do a much faster (and more expensive) commercial course. Unless you are well versed with Roadcraft the chances are that just going for the RoSPA test without some tutoring is not going to work out no matter how good a rider you are because machine control skills are quite different from roadcraft, and, ideally, you should get good at both.

Having bronze should get you 25-30% off full-price (ie before NCD) insurance with Liberty, while silver or gold is worth 30-45% off. This is what Liberty call level 2 and level 1 advanced training. I got 40% off my policy on a new GSXR1000R a couple of years ago. Other insurers vary but can match (Carole Nash matched for me though I went with Liberty). I have not heard of bike RoSPA reducing car insurance, but there is RoSPA for drivers, too—no experience of that, sorry.

Good luck, enjoy, feel free to ask more questions.

markm5ireland

Has anyone done https://www.preferentialsafety.ie/rospa 3 day course costing €1k so not cheap. Just wondering for feedback etc. Cann't find any feedback etc,

galwaytt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120931222#Comment_120931222

never heard of that one tbh.

I resit my RoSPA every 3 years (as mentioned above) and have done it......4 ?...times now. For me it's about keeping sharp.

I've also undertaken other courses e.g. i2i (all of them both here & the UK), Ride Like A Pro (in the US), and I've done a couple with Andy Maslen at https://skillsmotorcycleacademy.ie/ I'm sure I'm forgetting others too.

I like the training, but 1k for that one you mention seems OTT (unless, say, you have work paying for it, or it's job-related) etc. You can achieve it for a fraction of that via any of the RoSPA groups that exist around the country. If you contact RoSPA they'll advise of any tutors near you too.

At the end of the day, you never stop learning.

markm5ireland

Agree it does seem over the top pricing wise.

Wanted to do the i2i but was full in June and I;m away for August (full in any event). Thanks for the advise