Hey, everyone! I was looking through my photos and was reminiscing about my experience last November at the Keith Code Superbike School in Las Vegas. My wonderful hubby, Mr. Sandi, gifted me with a two-day camp at said school for my birthday. What a guy! Thought I'd share some of the photos from that weekend. I'm not sure where this particular school has weekends in Europe but I do know that it has international locations. It was a great weekend. Lots of fun and lots of learning. We went from 8am -- 5pm both days. Whew! The package deal came with pretty much everything include the use of a BMW S1000RR bike, leathers, boots, gloves, and helmet. I brought my own helmet but availed myself of everything else. The bike was SWEET! The overall experience was terrific. We had class time for half an hour, then 20-30 minutes on the track working on the specific skill we focused on in class, then a 10 minute debrief with our coach when we came off the track (two students to one coach). Then repeat! Did this 5 x each day. Then, of course since we were in Vegas after all, a terrific dinner and cocktails to "debrief" the day. If any of you have had a hankering to do a Keith Code School experience, I'd be happy to share more info and details with you. Just let me know. More photos follow in my response to my thread starter..... View attachment IMG_3862.jpg
Hi Sandi, They run these over in the UK, my mate Scott has done a couple, basically he lost his nerve after crashing his RSV-R Aprilia on a track day with me back in 2003 (strangely enough at Castle Combe where I just raced). He did the school in 2017 on their bike, and last year he went on his first track day using his own bike since, he is off to Spain on his brand new R1 at end of next week for a week long track holiday, so I guess it worked for him!
It does sound like the track school worked for your mate, Scott, Billy!. I'd never considered doing it but Mr. Sandi asked if I'd like to for my birthday gift last year. It was great fun and a terrific learning experience. And it also led to my purchase of my Speed Triple and trading my Thruxton. This track school is based on "Levels". They have four instructional levels that are based on their particular and very specific curriculum. Everyone starts with Level 1 no matter one's experience or background then works up through the levels. Level 4 is customized to the rider's needs. There were several riders in Vegas who were doing Level 4 for the 2nd and 3rd times as their skills and needs changed over time. A number of the riders there were from areas of the US where the weather wasn't good and their bikes were put up for the winter. They said they do the track schools that are in the West when they can't ride in the East. I thought that was a pretty clever idea! Here's a link to the international schedule for the Keith Code school. https://superbikeschool.co.uk/schedule.php
I actually did understand that, Foxy1! Thanks! I like this helmet, too. It's a Bell "Vortex". A great "bang for the buck" helmet. Bell doesn't make this particular model any longer, however.
If you hire their bike (mine would never get past the 98db noise test at Donington) it is more expensive as doing a full 3 day race weekend with testing, so I guess I'll be sticking to reading Twist of the Wrist & trying to put some of it into practice!
Yes, I certainly understand that, Billy! If I'd had to foot the bill for my weekend, I probably wouldn't have done the school at all. I'm forever grateful to my generous hubby for gifting me the experience. I do have to say that reading "Twist of the Wrist" is a bit easier after doing the school since I now have a better frame of reference for the way that Keith explains things.
I didn't mention in my original post about the Keith Code School that I truly enjoyed riding the BMW S1000RR. I've never ridden a sport bike prior to this school. The closest I came was my 2016 Thruxton R. The Beemer was an amazing bike! I was pretty nervous going in since I'd not ridden a bike like this nor had I ever ridden on a track. But after the first session of five on the first day of two, I settled in and loved it. It was also the first time I'd ever used a quick shifter. I initially thought that would be weird and hard to get used to. It was awesome! Now I have one on my Speed Triple RS. I liked the bike and engine enough that the BMW S1000R was in the running for a new bike when I got home after the school. The RR version was out because after a 20 minute session on the track I was definitely ready to be off the bike--tough ergos on the ol' body. But I wasn't as big a fan of the engine as it was tuned on the S1000R. And when I test rode the BMW and the Triumph back to back, my decision to go with the Speedy was easy. P.S. Evidently the Keith Code School is now using the 2020 S1000RR for their schools. At least they are in the U.S. I'm not sure about their schools in other countries.
Having ridden both the Speedy RS & the BMW, I think you made the right choice, the RS has character the BMW for me was a very fast & capable bike, but it was a bit 'beige'.
That short and sweet description pretty much sums up my thoughts, too, Billy. "Beige"--yep. A term I used is "appliance-like".