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Safety and training; two words that tend to elicit a yawn or an eye roll from most people. Motorcycling, though definitely not the safest activity you can choose, is pretty exciting and challenging, yet for the most part, the safety training associated with our sport is quite boring.

Riding around a parking lot, MSF style, is not particularly difficult, and does a terrible job of emulating real world threats. Track days, though fun and offering the chance to push the limits of your motorcycle in a controlled environment, don’t typically present the kinds of dynamic threats we need to see in order to stay safe on the road.

So if parking lots and tracks don’t offer the training environment you want, how do you get the training you need? Well, over a recent weekend, I had the opportunity to attend Stayin’ Safe Advanced Rider Training.

Stayin’ Safe is owned and operated by Eric Trow. A motorcycle training professional with over twenty years of experience, Eric offers on-street rider training.

Part training and part tour, Stayin’ Safe offers courses from two to three days through some of the nicest riding areas in the country. I had the opportunity to take the Southern California class which lasted for three days.

I’ll just say up front, this was a great experience and I learned much more than I thought I would.

What American child of the 1980’s didn’t dream of going to NASA’s Space Camp? Maybe my dorky self is alone on this one, but as a kid, I always wanted to go to the Kennedy Space Center, get spun around in an Aerotrim, and shoot-off rockets.

But, I’m too old to go to Space Camp now (sad trombone), not to mention they closed the USSC in 2002 (double sad trombone), and now I’m also too old to go to the next best thing: Ducati’s Summer School Fisica in Moto.

The concept is exactly what you think it is, high school level students learning all about science via motorcycles.

The Spanish-speaking community is increasingly becoming a part of the American motorcycling landscape; and according to the MSF, Hispanic riders already account for 7% of American motorcyclists…that’s almost as big of a piece of the pie as female riders (12% at last count).

To keep up with that trend, and to increase the adoption of safe motorcycle riding in America, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation has released its recently updated Basic RiderCourse handbook, as well as three “Quick-Tip” sheets, in Spanish.

These new materials compliments the already existing all-Spanish 15-hour hands-on Basic RiderCourse that the MSF teaches hundreds of times each year across the United States, with fluent Spanish-speaking MSF RiderCoaches.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation announced today announced that it has officially recognized the Yamaha Champions Riding School, making it only the second third-party curriculum to receive this distinction by the MSF.

A hat-tip to the curriculum at YCRS, the recognition by the MSF doesn’t seem to mean that you will be able to substitute a YCRS class for a motorcycle practical exam; though it does mean that the YCRS curriculum meets the high standards set forth by the MSF, which reviewed the school’s coaching methodology and key principles.

It is no surprise that statistics from the NHTSA show that motorcycle accidents and injuries are on the rise. According to the 2012 Motor Vehicle Crash report published by the NHTSA, motorcycle fatalities for that year rose to 4,957, up seven percent from 2011, while injuries increased 15% to 93,000.

While the NHTSA statistics are misleading because the motorcycle category includes mopeds, scooters, three-wheelers, pocket bikes, mini bikes, and off-road vehicles, new riders need every advantage they can afford.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation has taken notice of these statistics and has revised the curriculum for its Basic RiderCourse to include a new Basic eCourse, which students will take prior to in-person instruction.

Keith Code is right, riding a motorcycle is all about learning the art of cornering. Any idiot can grip a ton of throttle, and blast down a straightaway; but when it comes to tipping a bike over into the corner entry, hitting the apex, and gassing out of the exit, a bit more finesse is required.

That is why the California Superbike School curriculum focuses so much on taking a motorcycle through a race track corner. Making a short video at the Willow Springs Raceway, Code gives a preview into his classroom and two-wheeled philosophy.

It’s an interesting watch, even if it is a glorified commercial. After all, we are pretty sure the “Twist of the Wrist” author has forgotten more about motorcycle control than we will ever learn.

Back in October 2008, one of the first stories I ever covered on Asphalt & Rubber dealt with an interesting statistic: in the prior 12 months, more Marines had died from riding their motorcycles here in the USA, than did from enemy gunfire in Iraq — worst of all, all of those 25 of those deaths were on sport bikes. The statistic wasn’t a fluke either, as in 2009, the Army National Guard announced a similar trend, where it lost 36 Guardsman to motorcycle crashes that year, compared to the 25 lost fighting in Iraq.

Evaluating the causes for these motorcycle fatalities, the Army National Guard discovered an alarming trend in the paperwork. Almost without exception, the ultimate reason given for why a Guardsman died while riding his or her motorcycle was “a loss of control due to inexperience.” These crashes were typically in the 70-100mph range, and more often than not, the crashes featured soldiers who had recently bought a new sport bike.

Part of a larger program by the US military to better train and protect our soldiers with mandatory MSF courses and minimal riding gear requirements when on-base, the Army National Guard took things a step further, and setup a free program where Guardsmen could get their hands-on advanced motorcycle training in a track environment. The man for the job was none other Jason Pridmore, whose STAR Motorcycle School now features military-only school days around the country.

It was our supreme privilege here at A&R to recently attend one of Pridmore’s STAR classes for the Army National Guardsmen, and witness first-hand what the US military is doing to protect its soldiers — not only when on the field of combat, but also when they have returned home from duty.

As a California native, I’ve always wanted to ride around Laguna Seca on a sportbike. However my passion for track riding didn’t manifest itself until I moved away from the Golden State to Pennsylvania, making a Seca track day all but implausible. Having just moved back into California, and the warm weather finally upon us here in the San Francisco area, track days and Seca have been on my mind. So when Michael Czysz, Lead Instructor at the Skip Barber Superbike School (and of MotoCzysz fame) shot me an email asking me if I wanted to ride for two days around the fabled circuit and take Skip Barber’s two-day superbike course, I of course took him up on the offer. With perfect 70°F weather, I made my way to the Californian coast, ready to take on The Corkscrew with the brand new 2010 KTM RC8 motorcycle and with the help of Skip Barber’s instructors.

I’ve always heard how Laguna Seca is a special track, and how technical the course is on a motorcycle (or any vehicle for that matter). Driving into Monterey from Salinas, you get about half the distance between the two cities when the track entrance jumps up on you. Most tracks you can see for miles as you approach them, but Laguna Seca is nestled behind a hillside from the roadway, and sits inside a Monterey County park. This topography not only provides a scenic venue to enjoy when you’re not going full-throttle around the race track, but also accounts for Seca’s 300′ change in elevation as you go through the 11 turns that comprise the circuit.

Driving into the park I can already feel my nerves acting up. I went through eight years of competitive sailing, two Junior Olympics, and three Nationals with this same physiological response. On a typical track day this sensation would subside after my first session, and be greatly reduced after the first full-pace lap, but upon entering into the Skip Barber office the apprehension quickly disappears.

MotoStudent competition is a competition created by the Moto Engineering Foundation in Spain. While the scope is Spanish and European for now, it has promise to expand to encompass schools from across the globe. The goal of the competition is to have student design and build motorcycles in a fashion similar the Formula SAR competitions in American colleges, which are sponsored by marque companies who use the events to recruit top talent engineers and future employees.

Source: Motostudent via The Kneeslider

Have AutoCAD, will design motorcycles for food.