Stay Upright Motorcycle Techniques

We receive a number of emails from people who have completed our training courses. Read their testimonials below: -

To all the Sayupright guys,, + gals...
Hey thanks for a great day on Monday - an absolute sensation on bike control, avoidance, speed, steering, mindset etc..
Say many many thanx to the Wayne's, Terry & especially Elaine - who did most of my courses.
This is the most professional training day I have ever experienced - what a sensation - Wayne said it can be the best fun with your pants on - guess what - he is wrong... it is the best.
Just a little note - some F'wit from the R.T.A. or Council decided to put a steel plate in the middle of Woronora Bridge, that sits about 25cm above the road,. I noticed it at about 6.00pm in traffic. The immediate response was left-hand counter - missed the bastard.. Say thanks to the guys for me having a few less bruises and scrapes on the bike..
I mentioned to Terry and Wayne that we do a big skit at Oran Park each year before Christmas. Mostly for Camp Quality, Canteen, Down Syndrome and M.S. + special invitees. Check out the Web Site www.kidsraceday.com.au We have heaps of volunteers, supporters etc, + Dave Scanlan does some bike stunts, the Kobblers come as Santa etc - good day we take about 400 kids for rides in Race Cars, Sports Sedans, Rally Cars, Skid Pans, 4 x 4's etc... Then we feed about 3,000 people..
Maybe you may like to do a display or show some of the more health ones some bits about riding, or do demo bike racing??? Next Date is Sunday 17th December.. Would love to see you there..
Anyway enough of the adds.. - say very special thanks to the Instructors - it was really appreciated. I have a couple of Mates wanting to buy bikes and have told them even though they think they can ride - they must do your course. I will probably join them again...
Doin well and Ta...
Monkey....

Hello to all Stay Upright staff,
I recently had the opportunity of enjoying a truly brilliant weekend of motorcycling by firstly completing your Advanced course followed by the Cornering & Braking course the next day being the 16th and 17th of June respectively. These two days in addition to the Defensive Riding seminar held on the Friday evening, personally made for an experience which has dramatically changed my overall riding pleasure.
I came away from the experience with a newfound wealth of knowledge which now sees me riding with a level of alertness and hazard identification not previously engaged. I also now have a bag of skills up my sleeve to not only enhance my sport bike riding pleasure, but to call upon in time of need and avert an undesirable situation. I have set to work everything learnt and ride with a new level of confidence that I can safely co exist with other road users.
The instructors were friendly and great to work with, I cannot offer enough praise for their efforts and the value of their personal attention. A tremendous amount of feedback was offered in a positive and encouraging manner and at no time was there pressure to exceed individual limits.
The running of the whole weekend was extremely efficient and with great catering to boot.
To Warwick, Matt, Jason and Liam… Sincere thanks for a memorable experience, your time and the opportunity to tap into your collective knowledge base.
Kind Regards
Chris
Cairns, QLD

I just got home from attending the Stay Upright Advanced Course at Oran Park & wanted to thank you for the excellent training I received. I am soaking wet after the 3 hour trip home in the pouring rain and I would do it again tomorrow if I knew I would learn that much again.
Like many of the others there on the day I have been riding for the past 30 odd years with a bit of a spell in between. Over this time I had picked up a few bad habits & the excellent instructors soon got me doing things the correct way. I learned so much about improving my riding skills both in the 3 hr seminar & the 8 hrs on the track.
Using the "systems" taught me how to do things properly, from the emergency braking, which I have never really done before, to the proper posture & riding positions. Even the low speed manoeuvring section really helped as this wasn't done when I got my licence & I have never done anything like this before.
I especially enjoyed learning how to get the bike around corners faster, safer & with more confidence.
The fact that it was raining really made me concentrate more on getting the instructions right & I could see the dramatic improvements in my riding. The "one on one" sessions were extremely beneficial & I feel that me & my Buell are now a team.
Once again, thanks for a great day & I will definitely be doing the Cornering & Braking Course in the very near future. This was, without a doubt, one of the best investments I have made for my future.
Regards,
Larry

Would just like to say a big thanks to all you guys, Enry (well he is a Londoner), Max, Craig & Dave I think ......for a really good couple of days on the Advanced Course 19th & 20th May '06. I learnt more in those couple of days than I have riding on and off since the '60s, coming back to riding after a 12 year layoff was a bit daunting ...........Not Anymore. I'm enjoying my riding (got the big smile) and yes I keep practicing. The whole course was great and well worth the money.
I would recommend the course to any rider, forget the aftermarket goodies get on this course first it could save your life, I found all the instructors to be very professional and the help and feedback from you all was invaluable.
Thanks again
Barry
Bribie Island
I'll be back!!

Good Afternoon,
Having taken part in the Basic Off-road Skills Course last Saturday along with my wife, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say how much we enjoyed ourselves.
Never having ridden off road before we were both worried that we were going to struggle, but the enthusiasm, professionalism and very clear instruction meant that we were able to fully take part and feel that we were progressing and improving all the time.
The pace of the course was just right for us in that we were being challenged but we never felt that we were being left behind. We were never put in the situation were we felt that we were unable to do something or that we were being forced to do something that we were unhappy with.
We will both be signing up for other Stay Upright courses in the future and if you ever decide to introduce further off-road courses beyond the Basic we will be there like a shot!
Many thanks to the Stay Upright team once again.
Regards
Clive

I just completed my 2nd advanced riding course at Wakefield Park on 8 Feb with Canberra HOG. Wayne is a superb instructor.

When I did the course 2 years ago I learned a whole bunch of new skills from him that have kept me upright and alive. This time, Wayne taught me some new tricks (eg front brake feathering) and I had more fun on the track than I've had in many months of road riding. Wayne gives great feedback, not just bullshit, and motivates riders to learn safely. He's one of he best instructors I've seen. I look forward to doing the course again in the next couple of years.

May i congratulate you on the professionalism of your instructors, in particular Terry, at your Rouse Hill centre. His knowledge and vast experience was demonstrated to me last weekend whilst on course. His ability to communicate and instruct on the various tasks was excellent. His no nonsense approach was refreshing. A real straight shooter. Thanks Terry.

I participated in the 1 day course on Sunday under the instruction of Dave. I would like to say that I found him to be an excellent instructor and the course in general was great - in fact it exceeded my expectations due to Dave's personality and conduct and I would definitely recommend your business to others in the future.

A big thank you for the seminar and practical day on the weekend. It was a lot of fun. Both Brett and I got a lot out of it.

It was just as much fun the second time round as it was twenty years ago when I did it at Amaroo in N.S.W.

We are going to try and get a larger group together and get along to another Advanced Course later in the year.

To Whom It May Concern:

Today I completed the Advanced course at Oran Park and have gained and enjoyed so much that I am compelled to give some feedback.

The instructors were excellent. Wayne, Terry, Elaine and ‘some other bloke’ who thinks he can ride! (Ha-ha. Make sure ‘he’ reads this). They were a lot of fun to listen, observe and learn from. Most of the feedback showed what I was doing right but more importantly highlighted how to do it better. (And safer) Even the smallest suggestion for improvement would bring immediate positive results.

One of the most surprising things to learn was how to recognise my own mistakes, then have the knowledge to analyse and rectify these mistakes to minimise their reoccurrence.

The biggest benefit for me was getting to know the bike and myself, with the distinction between ambition and capability. This was highlighted by the emergency stopping exercise.

During the last two months I attended your Pre -Learners Course and yesterday the Provisional Rider's Licence course .

When I decided I wanted to get my Rider's Licence -that was my only goal and I thought that having to go through what was effectively three days worth or courses after having ridden bikes before was , frankly, a bit of overkill.

I was mistaken . Your courses are indeed worthwhile and I have come out of your courses not only with my riders licence - but more importantly a far more educated , aware and humble person.

I had Steve on my pre -learners course and then Terry for my P's course.

Both these men are a credit to your organisation. They are professional and dedicated persons who care about what they do. It became very clear to me that this was not "just a job" to them - both Steve and Terry genuinely cared about our safety and the safety of others on the road. It is the dedication that prompted me to write this email as it is rare to find these days. Congratulation to choosing your staff well.

There is no doubt in my mind that - your courses do save lives. Probably saved mine.

Thank you and I wish you all the success in the future.

I thought I would drop you a quick line to let you know I had a great day yesterday at Oran Park.

I did my previous Advanced courses way back at Amaroo Park in 88 and 1990. Recentlly back on a bike I booked in straight away to do another advanced course. Alot of the old skills were still there. But with the great instruction from your team small adjustments were made and improvements were instantly noticable.

I have just ridden home to Bathurst, the long way of course. With the improvements to my posture and vision techniques I had a great ride with no 'mid corner moments' which were once common.

The one other skill which I thought was a bit weird at first but now use it all the time and can see and feel the benefit is 'dragging ' the rear brake for a few seconds when taking off from a stop.

I will be hopefully lining up for a cornering and braking course soon.

I noticed while reading AMCN that Stay Upright has reached 25 years and I felt congratulations were in order. I was lucky enough to attend one of the few courses you and Max ran in New Zealand, at Manfield in 1996, as a rather rusty ‘returning’ rider. Ten years on I am still doing around 30,000 km a year on bikes; my current mount is a ZX-6R that provides transport for the majority of my daily cross-country commuter trips, at 130 to 170 km per day. I still remember to practice emergency braking and the counter-steering swerves periodically. To come to the point, the course I attended at Manfield did more to bolster my confidence and instill good practice than any other road-riding focused motorcycling activity I have participated in. I also enjoy the occasional track ride-day, the general bike handling boosts skills, but much of the technique does not really directly transfer to the road, (not wet, pot-holed, cowshit splattered country ones anyway!).

My name is Albie and I completed as well as gaining my Learners at Hoppers 2 weekends ago.

I just wanted to write to you guys and make mention, not only I totally ecstatic at passing my Learners, being the first time ever riding a motorbike, but our Instructors, Steve Bye and Garry Yin were the BEST!!

Their unique style of instructing held us all captivated, and made everything look very easy as well as explaining it well, having us all in stitches, making it so much fun - even when I was stressed or not relaxing, they managed to put a big smile on my face.

I just want to say these gorgeous Guys, Steve and Garry are fantastic and are a credit to Stay Upright!! Well done and spreading the word to friends that this is a fantastic course.

I hope that one day I may be able to ride beside Garry and especially that beautiful Harley that Steve rides ..

Thanks and a merry christmas to all ....

I have been meaning to email since the recent Stay Upright course at Symmons Plains. I have been recommending the course to anyone I know who has, or is thinking of getting a bike. And to anyone else that will listen!!!

Thank you so much to all the guys involved. I appreciate you all.

Yesterday, 14 Dec 05, I attended the Intermediate Course conducted at the Wilberforce Go-Kart track near Windsor. This was the 4th training session run by Stay Upright that I have attended and I am writing to congratulate you and you instructional staff for the excellent and highly professional manner in which your courses are conducted.

I have over twenty years experience training and testing military heavy vehicle drivers and have some understanding of the requirements of effective driver training. From my experience at Stay Upright, I can say that the course content and instructional expertise is as good, if not better, than any I have ever seen.

Thanks for another excellent day! I think you could tell by the mile wide smiles on everyones face that Saturdays Corporate training" went over really well.

I've received a lot of email this morning, and "face to face" messages, all asking that I pass on to you a "well done" for the advanced course. For example John said he had high expectations, but these were easily surpassed by what he learnt on the day. Kim said that it always surprises him how much he more learns every time he does the course.

Everyone went away having learnt something, and with improved skills. Personally I'm stoked at the improvement I found over the last time I did the course. Some are already talking of doing another next year (don't know if that'll be another corporate day, or your normal scheduled course) and three are planning for a "Cornering and Braking" course. On a personal note, I believe everyone should be doing this course as a pre-cursor to getting off the "P" plate to an open licence, or at least before being allowed to ride a bike above a certain power to weight ratio (ie "LAM's").

Once again, thanks for the professionalism, the excellent instruction, and all the positive feedback during the day, well done!!

Oh, and say thanks to Ted from Woollongong, if he's still around ;-) & pass on all our thanks to the two loverly "Flag Marshalls" and all the helpers.

I went for both my L's and P's there. Although, it was about 5 months between the two courses, I distinctly remember the experience then and now. The delivery of both my instructors was clear, thorough and fun. I was fortunate to have Lachlan as my L's Instructor and Terry for my P's. I am a much better rider, a more confident rider and I will definately be using Terry's words during my 'commentary riding'.

Needless to say, it is so important to develop the best riding techniques in the beginning, thanks to my instructors I'm well equipped with this knowledge.

Both Terry and Lachlan have made the whole experience a pleasure (even when the pressure was on), and deserve some recognition for doing the job that they do, so well. Please pass my sincere thanks on to them, and let them know that the job that they are doing is appreciated.

I'll be back for the advanced riding course and I will be recommending friends to go there as well.

I recently attended a MOST training course at your Clyde/Granville centre. My instructor was Terry. I was very impressed with the professionalism of the School and, in particular, the instructing skills of Terry who took my course. He has that great ability to be able to communicate a fairly rigid training syllabus in an easy and practical way. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and learned a lot, and thought that you should know how highly Terry's group thought of him.

to max, henry and wayne

I want to congratulate you guys on running a sensational course at the mako track. I attended both courses on saturday and Sunday - advanced and braking and cornering, and learned more in that short space of time than in god knows how many years of learning by my own mistakes.

When you come back I would be pretty keen to do the course that follows this one, performance, i think.

I just wanted to send my thanks to my fantastic two trainers that helped me through both my Pre - Learner and Pre - Provisional Courses. Carston and Wayne, you guys are the best. Thank you so much for your patience (especially Carston when i arrived at the Pre - Learner and had absolutley no idea!), positive and encouraging attitudes (especially for Wayne when i was so nervous doing the MOST test) and above all your professionalism. These guys both did the greatest job and i hope you can pass my thanks on to them.

Steve Rothwell (Motorcycles Editor, CARSguideThe Cairns Post) re-learns how to ride a bike – properly this time – on a Stay Upright Motorcycle Techniques advanced riding course

As a mad-keen motorcyclist and long-time disciple of spirited riding, I thought I had built up a solid set of safe, quick riding skills. That was until I enrolled in a Stay Upright advanced course. Then the real learning began. I quickly discovered that good fortune, not superior riding skills, have kept me alive all these years – especially in light of the all-too frequent bike crashes around FNQ of late.

During the course of a three hour theory session and a full eight hours of practical tuition at Mareeba’s Makotrac, instructors Max Thompson and superbike ace Wayne Clark unerringly pointed out areas of my riding that needed some serious overhauling. This is no classroom or punitive driving test folks. The Stay Upright guys are real pros – and fellow bikers - that are here to give vital tuition and feedback that’s designed to instil a systematic and safer approach to riding.

The Stay Upright system is all about developing a series of conditioned responses to real on-road situations - a hard-wired plan that delivers a suite of preventive and defensive riding techniques, culminating in the most appropriate reaction to all on-road hazards.
For example, I had wrongly assumed my emergency braking was up to scratch – yet when pressed to reveal exactly what I would do in a crisis other than mash the brakes, I had no real riding plan to fall back on. I quickly learned the importance of systematically ‘setting up and squeezing’ brakes in a variety of traffic situations – a strategy designed to transfer enough weight to the front tyre to ensure a clean, skid-free stop in the least possible distance. This I found to be especially useful as a precautionary measure when approaching intersections.Other safe riding strategies are less obvious, such as the practice of leaning from the waist into a turn to lower the overall C of G, and thus minimise the lean angle for any given cornering speed. Okay, we all know GP riders hang off to go quicker in turns and indeed most sportsbike riders do their best to ape these techniques – but it is surprising how much difference even a moderate upper-body lean can make to one’s lean angle through a turn.
Timing is crucial though. By shifting bodyweight at just the right moment, useful gains in cornering clearance can be made, and safer and faster riding achieved.

Putting Skills to Practice

Many of these strategies we already know, but the whole point of doing a course such as this is to find out whether you’re really getting things right in practice. This is where the surprises start. For my part, I was told with great tact and humour that I wasn’t looking nearly far enough through corners, even though I thought I was. My arms were locked rigid to the handlebars, and I needed consistent reminding and reinforcement that a relaxed upper body is essential to leave room to manoeuvre; to allow for road imperfections and overall, for controlled and steady progress.

I also learned for the first time how to consciously initiate sharp countersteered turns to avoid obstacles and by practicing this skill, became far more capable and comfortable about dodging the inevitable mid-bend lump of 4x2. My placement on the road became more accurate as a result of being conscious about countersteering.

I continued to soak up road placement revelations. I found out the right order of control inputs when braking for a turn; while in the turn and through the exit. As I tried one new skill after another, at times it seemed like learning how to ride all over again. Thankfully I was honest enough with myself to take on board the feedback and tuition from Max and Wayne, and to bin a wide range of personal assumptions about riding, and to replace them with a whole new set of skills.

In practice, these sorts of measures can mean the difference between ‘heart in your mouth’ and ‘control in your hands.’ It’s all about being able to recognise and respond to road situations appropriately and properly. It’s not just about riding fast, but about riding consistently and intelligently with a good safety buffer up your sleeve so you can enjoy your riding more while being smoother, more controlled and relaxed.

Tangible Benefits

This is not so much a course as a vital part of your riding kit. After all, what’s the use of wearing top-notch kit and riding cutting-edge bikes if you can’t actually USE them properly?Incorporating these strategies into my daily riding has transformed my awareness, understanding and approach to riding. Now I am able to read the traffic better and react to its vagaries with a definite plan in mind. I am able to scratch around the ranges with more ease, relaxation and fun.

In summary then, it is only by hard-wiring these strategies and skills into your daily riding that you will be sure to act the right way when you need to. When that do or die moment comes, the right tuition can make difference between a close shave and a personal apocalypse.There’s a lot more to riding bikes than cars and that’s a good thing. It gives us a depth of immersion and experience that’s incomparable. The flipside is that we need to improve our skills as much as possible in line with our vulnerability and our slender contact with the road. As motorcycling enthusiasts, we should embrace courses such as these for the great opportunities they present to add depth to our riding skills and make it safer for all, especially our Precious Pillions!

I look forward to taking Stay Upright’s Cornering and Braking Course on the 24th of July, and hope to see many of the riders there that took the Advanced Course with me. Those who haven’t yet taken the Advanced Course – well it’s an absolute must for all road riders.

I dare say after my taking these courses, Cairns bike dealers will feel more comfortable about letting me loose with their new bikes. Then again, after what they’ve read here …

Oh, and kind thanks to Wayne Leonard for donating his bikes for the instructors to ride.
Go on, take up the challenge. I hope to see you at the track.

Just to let you know i had a blast at Oran Park yesterday.
I have only had my licence for 7 weeks and only been riding my Ducati for a month. I didn’t think I could progress so quickly.

Thanks to the Guys and Girl I am very happy I did the course, You are all a great bunch of people and worth their weight in gold to the organisation.