the worst experience with: RIDE LONDON MOTORCYCLE TRAINING

If you or someone you know are contemplating gaining or upgrading your bike
licence, do yourself a favour, don't waste your money with RIDE South
London.

They'll charge you a small fortune, around £600, and what you get in return
is a disorganized, slap-dash, non-standard, and perhaps even illegal
training program.

First, expect the "5-day course" to be a 5 half-days' course, if that.

Day 1: 1 hr 15 mins off-road, 1hr 30 mins on road riding
Day 2: Supposed to start at 9.30am, actually left site at 11.45am (comical
problems with radios, bikes giving trouble, etc.) 2hrs 30mins total riding
time.
Day 3: About 3hrs and a bit total riding
Day 4: 2 hrs, break, 1hr 30mins
Day 5: 1 hr pre-test ride

Total on-road experience: less than 3hrs per day

Not surprisingly I failed my test. Next date offered: 3 1/2 weeks away.

I had three different instructors on-road, and 3 different instructors gave
pre-ride talks/lectures during the five days. Overlapping information was
welcome, but some discussions were totally missed. I realised this when
eavesdropping on some instructors' talks and thinking "my guy hasn't covered
that!".

When clarifying certain points, I received very confident, but also very
conflicting responses. For e.g. you should filter during a test or you may
fail / you shouldn't filter during a test. During the U-turn you can ride
forward quite a way before performing the manoeuver / you should start the
manoeuver almost straight away. Etc., etc.

On Day 2, we had 4 learners to 1 instructor. Naturally, after almost every
big junction, we had to stop and wait for those that couldn't make it past,
and ocassionally the instructor had to double back to find people took the
wrong turn/exit. Some learners, self included, never got a chance to take
the lead.

At least one customer was charged £15.00 for the hire of a 125cc bike used
to get home with, the rest of us £10.00.

Speaking to fellow learners and hearing their comments & opinions confirmed
my sense of dissatisfaction with the course, services, equipment & bikes
being provided. Never 1st rate, mostly 2nd rate, and sometimes 3rd rate.

So that's the way I see this company now: 3rd RATE Motorcycle Training.

 

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 19:40:26 +0000, James Barr wrote:
<snip>

Admit it, you are just crap

 

James Barr says...

Makes me glad to be old, I never had a lesson and the total cost of
getting a full bike licence was 7 quid for the test.

 

I had to buy a learner legal bike too, that B100P cost me 65 quid

Regards, Ian

 

Not the only ones I'll wager. There's at least another one up here in
Bolton.

The one I know gave one guy one full day on a Bandit before his test.

Most of what you need is in the Highway code anyway. Riding is mostly common
snense with a bit of "I can guess what "they" will be looking for" thrown in
for good measure.

Why would you WANT to ride forward quite a way? If you want to U turn, you
want to do it asap in the real world, so why should a test be any different?

AIIUI, that's illegal, but I could be wrong. 2 trainees to one instructor is
the usual.

Some learners, self included, never got a chance to take

So why didn't you mention this and tell them you'd rather not continue with
them, then find a more professional setup?

And yet I bet you're going to go with them for your 2nd test.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Makes me glad to be old, I never had a lesson and the total cost of

And it shows in your rif\ding ;-)

Paul V (GPZ)
ZX636

 

Blame anyone except yourself?

Eeeee, when I were a lad we didn't have no poncey rider training.

 

says...

I never said I was any good.

 

Lozzo wrote

<smug grin>

 

steve auvache says...

In your day you sent a carrier pigeon with 3 farthings to King Edward's
licencing office requesting a motor vehicular conveyance permit, and
they sent one back by return pigeon.

 

You ****, you let the horse starve?

 

My "auto_feedline_responder" just blue screened

 

Lozzo wrote

Aye laddie and NSL meant what it said on the sign.

 

Scraggy wrote

Nah, flogged it to the frogs while it still had some meat on.

 

steve auvache says...

National Speed Limit, same as it does today

 

The Go-Faster Stripe.

 

Just remembered another possible violation of procedure, if not the law, by
the RIDE instructors: none of my group (6 learners) on the 1st Day CBT part
of the course was asked to read number plates. So the eyesight test was
skipped completely.

Oh, and a couple of guys had their riding tests cancelled without
explanation the day before their test! I wonder how often that happens?

Is there is an organization that regulates driving/riding schools? Maybe
they could look into the dodgy, potentially dangerous standards & possibly
illegal procedures RIDE South London is delivering.

 

James Barr wrote

Terrible, terrible but nowhere the same sort of breach as top posting to
ukrm, now **** off and read the ukrm ffaq, you may be surprised what
sort of useful information is available there.

All to frequently I am afraid.

You may not need to ask this question if you read the ffaq, have you
fucked off and read it yet?

Maybe you should consult a good brief regarding the libel laws as they
apply in this fair land. The ffaq will be no use to you at all for
this.

 

Oh do give it a rest, you tedious embittered ****.

 

A mistake certainly, but hardly the biggest of deals I'd have thought.
Apart from anything else, any sight problems would be caught by the
examiner when you do your test anyway.

Quite often recently. There was a day of industrial action on the first
day of my DAS training - the examiners were on strike (although the
motorcycle examiner in the test center I used wasn't a union member, so
was working - all of the car examiners were out though). That was only a
few weeks ago and I'm not sure if it's been resolved or not.

You'd be better off complaining to the school than here, I reckon. And
if you're not happy with how they deal with your complaint, maybe speak
to the DSA (www.dsa.gov.uk), who run the whole show. If the school
didn't deliver the service they advertised and you paid for, then you're
probably legally entitled to a refund - the CAB or some other consumer
body may be able to help if you're unsure.

To be honest, although it's on-topic, I doubt anyone here is all *that*
bothered. Most posters seem to have passed their tests years ago so all
you're likely to get is people (quite rightly) having a go because you
haven't read or understood the FAQ or (again, quite rightly) just poking
fun at you for their own amusement.

Tough old world, innit?

If you want a recommendation for a decent training school in SW London
(I assume you're not going back to RIDE for more training), then try
www.thinkbike.co.uk - they did a good job for me.