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-   -   Riding school session for Team-BHPians (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/207898-riding-school-session-team-bhpians.html)

Trying to get a sense of the best ride training options out there. Kindly requesting those of us who have attended one or more schools to please vote and also take a minute to explain your choices in posts.

From this list, we will pick the schools with the most votes and open a second thread to vote on their offerings for the next few months. Subsequent steps will be decided at a later date once we get a sense of the level of enthusiasm in the forum.

Please note that each person can vote for more than one choice. This facility is enabled to allow experienced people to feel free to suggest all the schools that are good in their opinion, rather than feeling forced to pick just one.

Also please do not let my no-vote influence your decision to vote. I am not voting because I don't yet have an opinion. Why? Well, because I have not been to any of these schools. Hopefully, that will change with this thread.

Thank you
Cheers

I voted for IndiMotard's Throttle Wide Open (TWO) as I've gone for a couple of track weekends organized by them. They provide the facility to transport your bikes to the track for a fee as well. The advantage of this is that you can drive down or catch a bus / train on Friday and return on Sunday night without worrying about a 6 hour journey both ways. You can also rent a bike at the track.


I have great respect for all their trainers who are immensely skilled and more importantly know how to teach. Having knowledge does not always translate into being able to impart knowledge. Also, as I mentioned on the other thread, they ride with the learners and watch and point out mistakes that students are making. This also helps them run a tight ship, no on track antics of any kind are entertained. As a result you get a good sensible crowd as well to join for these race weekends. And best of all, the organizers are swell guys as well.


I have already invested in a full leather suit and race boots and hence the following point isnt a negative for me but it might be for others. TWO doesnt give you the option of renting riding gear at the track. For many of our forum members who might be visiting the track for the first time, renting gear is a very sensible option.


P.S - I know that TWO has conducted their last few track days in Chennai and not Coimbatore. That said, today they announced that they are running a track day on May 6 - 7 at Kari motor speedway (Coimbatore).

Thanks for taking the initiative! I'm on for any weekend.

- Request: Please keep a simple session for us bike newbies. Last I'd ridden a motorcycle was 6 months back, and that too a Harley.

- Should have the option to rent motorcycles for those who don't own one.

- Would be great if we could hit the track either in the morning or evening if plan is made during the summer months.

I voted for the ones I have read/heard about. Haven't experienced any of them yet but itching to go. So if you are organising a Bhpian track day, pray count me in.

Though I haven't attended any of the options personally, I voted for RACR purely on the basis of word of mouth good publicity. Few factors that went into voting for this option:-

PROS
====
1.Cost is VFM considering what other schools charge.
2.Option to bring your own bike or rent out one.
3.Option to rent out leathers. For once in a blue moon event, I don't see the value in buying full leathers yet.

CONS
====
1.The big boys on liter class bikes and the noobs on rented bikes are on the track at the same time. It could lead to tricky situations and crashes.

2.There doesn't seem to be an option to attend this school in the cooler season. I might be looking at the wrong places but a published itinerary could help.

3.On track one on one lessons, even for a single lap, which complement the class room techniques are missing. I don't know how the class room instructions will translate to real world effectiveness without this!

You have been eying this for quite some time.

I haven't attended any riding schools however still voted based on either proximity or instructors.

I am in for Mumbai based events as long as they are on the weekend.

I am a newbie though. I have ridden bikes for over a lakh Kms but the 150 cc category and hence consider myself to be a newbie on the track with advanced high powered machines.

Request if we could rent the following at the event, as purchasing the same for one off events will be a No-Go
> Bikes starting from 500 cc onwards
> Riding gear

Those voting for Mumbai please note this:
Source

Location for Top gun street riding session keeps changing, next one is likely to be in Mumbai; sharing screen shot of chat with them 2 weeks back.

Indeed. I am happy to see this poll getting some traction. Once we get to 50 some people voting, I would imagine that we can open the second thread showing the training calendars of the most popular schools from this thread.

They do not hold the sessions in Kohlapur anymore. They are trying to establish a track in Mumbai. That is a challenge considering Mumbai's lack of space.

But, in my observation, Top Gun is unlikely to invest lots of time in track riding training sessions. I say this because their main focus appears to be their off-road sessions with that guy Bret Tkacs from youtube. Those sessions are quite popular with a bunch of people who own Tigers and BMW GSes. Aside from Bret's amazing engagement technique, another reason for the popularity of these sessions is their relatively low cost. There are no rental expenses for a track or for racing leathers. The costs of mitigating risk are also significantly lower (since off-road riding is done at lower speeds). On the other hand, for track riding, you need medical aid people, plus a bunch of scouts at various points in the track, not to mention a well maintained track with wide shoulders and lots of safety features.

I have no personal experience with any of the riding schools - but voted for T.W.O based on whatever little I've seen and heard of these schools.

I haven't invested in track riding gear - nor do I plan to do track days regularly (beyond learning days) - so any option to rent the suits would be a decision maker for me.

Regarding bikes - Given a choice I would like to rent an RC or R15, but worst case scenario - I'm open to taking my bike for the track as well.

From what Ive heard CSS is supposed to be hands down the best school. Do not know from first hand experience.

There are quite a few considerations to bear in mind of which school may suit the best.

1. Track location in the context of where you live.
2. Facility to use their bikes if you do not want to transport your own.
3. Gear requirements in case you are not a regular superbike rider and do not have requisite gear.
4. Gear rental facility from venue or any other source.

This is outdated. These sessions have already happened in late 2018 / early 2019. I am quite sure Bret is not coming back anytime soon although of course Vikrant at Top Gun will organise more off road and track sessions.




Saw this ad showing the venue as Wadala. They have a small make shift track near iMax. I guess it can't host a training session of the scale of what the big schools are doing in Coimbatore / Chennai etc but maybe its something which could be used for a very basic training session for Team BHPians by Vikrant or someone. Unless of course he has a better alternative in mind.

I am planning to do the Ten10 course this month. Was not able to do it in March. There are not many reviews/videos available on the internet. They have a 3 day course with 2 days being on the track and 1 day is for the off-road track in Big Rock dirt park. They provide bikes and full gear on rent as well as food and accommodation at a very reasonable cost.

If anyone has any kind of experience with the Ten10 course, it'll be great if you'll can share it here.

@Mohan - great initiative of initiating this thread. Would love to learn the trucks and tips of handling & managing big bikes and riding then the right way. Have clocked a lot of kms on motorcycles upto 200cc but the mid segment machines are a totally different game.

Have selected Top Gun India basis the location. Somewhere in Maharashtra would be doable for me. Other than that have heard of the famed CSS a lot. But traveling to Chennai would be a big ask at this time.

Cheers