The best way to become a biker

Course will stack the safety odds in your favour.

Due to my very limited experience of motorcycle riding, I was afraid of getting on a two-wheeler.

I can drive any car like I stole it but with motorcycles it has been a whole different affair – terrifying, in fact.

The BMW Rider Academy changed all of this when they invited me for a Novice Course at the Zwartkops Raceway. You may be thinking “How hard can it be? I have been riding bicycles since the age of six”.

But here is the thing – unlike bicycles, a motorcycle can go from standstill to 100km/h quicker than you can read this sentence. Also, you get no airbags or seatbelts – you are out there in the wind.

With a motorcycle, you wear your protection. Screw up in a car and you might bend sheet metal – screw up on a bike and you might die.

Riding a motorcycle will always include an element of danger – there is no way around that. But there are ways to put the odds more in your favour. Now, a new rider has a lot of information to take in.

There are many ways of learning to ride a motorcycle. A friend can teach you, you can learn from books, or you can take a motorcycle training course.

You will be much safer and better equipped if you take a Novice Riding Course with BMW Motorrad.

Making use of Yamaha 250cc motorcycles, the course has proved to be useful and suitable for new riders with no or limited on-bike experience.

Conducted in a controlled environment, the course provides theoretical and practical training, which covers all the essential elements of riding and preparing new riders for the road.