Gray Harrower
If you're a sport bike enthusiast with the desire to race you'd go to a racing school at the track. You'd choose a school that has been proven to work that is taught by racers with winning records. Only makes sense.
But you're a big bike rider on the street. Who's the pro that can teach the skills to stay alive on the street? The MSF course you probably took to get your license and the other MSF courses offered as refresher and advanced are good courses, don't get me wrong, but they get you to the starting line for riding skills. If you want to go to the next level in street riding you learn to ride from a motorcop.
A police officer on a motorcycle is part of a tradition that teaches how to stay alive on the street. A motorcop has to use the skills of situational awareness and outstanding control of the motorcycle as they're spending 40 hours a week out there in traffic dealing with the same situations you and I see when we ride.
In recent years the motorcycle skills competitions, long used for training and practice by motorcops, are opening up to the civilian rider. And so schools are opening to teach the advanced skills needed to compete. When you advance into this level of training your first discovery is the gap between where your skills are now and where you see they have to go. It's a big gap!
And a big gap needs some big work to fill. The first course needs to be several days long, not several hours. And look for a progression of classes from the very beginning to the elite classes taken by national motorcycle skills competitive riders. Make sure you can rent a quality motorcycle up to the task. The HD Road King is a crowd favorite. I learned early on that you can use your own motorcycle, but if you really want to challenge yourself you're going to have to pick it up. I'd rather pick up someone else's, thank you.
And make sure your instructor staff has the goods. Like Ben Wolfe and his team at Lock & Lean. Ben is an active motorcop from a family of motorcops. He's a national skills champion. And he knows how to teach you how you can best express your skills.
The last class I took with Ben he worked with me one on one to help me find my riding style and how to make it work for me in a tight situation. It's one thing to tell the rider to balance the clutch and throttle with the rear brake, and it's quite another to make it happen. Like refining a golf swing in just a few minutes Ben had me working my eyes, hands and right foot and the magic began to happen.
When you've been in Lock & Lean's courses people are going to notice when you ride into the lot. Your confidence and precision are obvious. But best of all you're confident in your skills and awareness on the street.
But you're a big bike rider on the street. Who's the pro that can teach the skills to stay alive on the street? The MSF course you probably took to get your license and the other MSF courses offered as refresher and advanced are good courses, don't get me wrong, but they get you to the starting line for riding skills. If you want to go to the next level in street riding you learn to ride from a motorcop.
A police officer on a motorcycle is part of a tradition that teaches how to stay alive on the street. A motorcop has to use the skills of situational awareness and outstanding control of the motorcycle as they're spending 40 hours a week out there in traffic dealing with the same situations you and I see when we ride.
In recent years the motorcycle skills competitions, long used for training and practice by motorcops, are opening up to the civilian rider. And so schools are opening to teach the advanced skills needed to compete. When you advance into this level of training your first discovery is the gap between where your skills are now and where you see they have to go. It's a big gap!
And a big gap needs some big work to fill. The first course needs to be several days long, not several hours. And look for a progression of classes from the very beginning to the elite classes taken by national motorcycle skills competitive riders. Make sure you can rent a quality motorcycle up to the task. The HD Road King is a crowd favorite. I learned early on that you can use your own motorcycle, but if you really want to challenge yourself you're going to have to pick it up. I'd rather pick up someone else's, thank you.
And make sure your instructor staff has the goods. Like Ben Wolfe and his team at Lock & Lean. Ben is an active motorcop from a family of motorcops. He's a national skills champion. And he knows how to teach you how you can best express your skills.
The last class I took with Ben he worked with me one on one to help me find my riding style and how to make it work for me in a tight situation. It's one thing to tell the rider to balance the clutch and throttle with the rear brake, and it's quite another to make it happen. Like refining a golf swing in just a few minutes Ben had me working my eyes, hands and right foot and the magic began to happen.
When you've been in Lock & Lean's courses people are going to notice when you ride into the lot. Your confidence and precision are obvious. But best of all you're confident in your skills and awareness on the street.
Stan Howarth
Recommendation
Stan Howarth
Graduate of Lock and Lean’s 101 and 102 classes, and currently registered for the advanced 201 and 301 Elite rider classes in 2017.
Lock and Lean is an established motorcycle training organization that provides police and civilian rider education for those that are serious about advancing their riding abilities and improving their street survival odds. The organization provides classes at increasing skill levels to ensure riders gain a solid foundation for the natural progression to learning more demanding riding skills. Classes typically run three to four days in succession to allow students to learn through repetition and direct supervision. The one-on-one interaction and multi-day repetition that riders receive far exceeds alternative training formats like DVD videos or single day sessions. Lock and Lean takes a serious approach to rider education, but delivers their program in an open, fun and supportive environment. Class sizes are kept small to optimize course exercise time and interactions with the instructors. Lock and Lean is committed to delivering riding programs for the long term, and have consistently grown the number, quality and depth of their classes year over year, and now include advanced motorcycle instruction , street motorcycle survival, extreme slow-speed control and balance, street speed control instruction, and reactionary "Motor & Muscle Memory" Instruction.
Ben Wolfe and his highly experienced instructors provide exceptional instruction quality. Each instructor is genuinely concerned about ensuring that every student learns as much as possible to make them a better and safer rider. Not every student learns at the same pace, and instructors are patient and regularly spend extra time and effort to ensure everyone gets as much as possible out of the exercises.
The skills you learn in this rider education program could save your life. Ben often points this out during class. While the exercises may consist of drills and cone patterns, Ben constantly reminds us that “It’s not just a cone – it’s a bumper, a curb or someone’s child you just failed to avoid hitting!”
Seriousness aside, it’s a ton of fun and Lock and Lean delivers an exceptional program!
Stan Howarth
Graduate of Lock and Lean’s 101 and 102 classes, and currently registered for the advanced 201 and 301 Elite rider classes in 2017.
Lock and Lean is an established motorcycle training organization that provides police and civilian rider education for those that are serious about advancing their riding abilities and improving their street survival odds. The organization provides classes at increasing skill levels to ensure riders gain a solid foundation for the natural progression to learning more demanding riding skills. Classes typically run three to four days in succession to allow students to learn through repetition and direct supervision. The one-on-one interaction and multi-day repetition that riders receive far exceeds alternative training formats like DVD videos or single day sessions. Lock and Lean takes a serious approach to rider education, but delivers their program in an open, fun and supportive environment. Class sizes are kept small to optimize course exercise time and interactions with the instructors. Lock and Lean is committed to delivering riding programs for the long term, and have consistently grown the number, quality and depth of their classes year over year, and now include advanced motorcycle instruction , street motorcycle survival, extreme slow-speed control and balance, street speed control instruction, and reactionary "Motor & Muscle Memory" Instruction.
Ben Wolfe and his highly experienced instructors provide exceptional instruction quality. Each instructor is genuinely concerned about ensuring that every student learns as much as possible to make them a better and safer rider. Not every student learns at the same pace, and instructors are patient and regularly spend extra time and effort to ensure everyone gets as much as possible out of the exercises.
The skills you learn in this rider education program could save your life. Ben often points this out during class. While the exercises may consist of drills and cone patterns, Ben constantly reminds us that “It’s not just a cone – it’s a bumper, a curb or someone’s child you just failed to avoid hitting!”
Seriousness aside, it’s a ton of fun and Lock and Lean delivers an exceptional program!
Darren Trejo |
Some things, regardless of perspective, are just better than others. Properly aged wine from a French Bordeaux is better than wine-in-a-box that has been sitting in the backseat of your car for two days. Leonardo da Vinci's worst painting is better than my 4-year-old nephew's drawing of his dog.
When it comes to motorcycle training, Lock and Lean Precision Motorcycle Riding is just better than most, if not all of the other schools out there. I state this with full confidence having taken training at other schools and seeing the quality of riding from students of other schools. But you don't have to take my word for it. Consider the following when choosing a motorcycle training school:
What do the instructors do to improve their riding ability?
Ben competes nationally and internationally in police motorcycle competitions every year and usually wins or places at the majority of them. Ben learns something from every competition and then applies that knowledge to his curriculum for the benefit of his students.
Can the instructor demonstrate superior riding capability?
All you have to do to answer this question is go to the Lock and Lean channel on YouTube.
Is the curriculum based on real-world scenarios?
Yes. Each exercise is set up to either simulate a real-world scenario or is the result of something that has happened in the real-world. For example, in the basic U-turn box, Ben has a very specific approach to negotiating the exercise and provides the real-world reasoning as to why the pattern should be negotiated in the manner he teaches. There is a purpose for everything you learn at Lock and Lean. You don't just go in circles and weave around cones for the fun of it. It is fun though.
How much time will you be spending on the range learning new techniques and practicing them?
Lots. Expect to spend most of your time in class on your motorcycle and don't be surprised if you find yourself staying late. But not because you have to, because you want to. If you want to keep working, Ben will too.
Will the school be there when you want more training?
Yes. Ben has an amazing passion for what he does. Lock and Lean will be around for a very long time.
What standards will you be held to as a student?
The highest. There is no sliding scale at Lock and Lean, for good reason. Is there a sliding scale out on the road? Will that teenage girl texting away in her VW Beetle give you a pass and look up from her phone because you don't have the ability to take action when she's about to rear-end you at the stoplight? If an exercise is set up at 18 feet wide, you will do it at 18 feet wide. It will not be opened up to 24 feet because it's too hard. But don't worry. You will get all of the instruction you need to do that 18 foot exercise successfully. Count on it.
Can students of the school demonstrate superior riding capability?
Yes. Students of Lock and Lean regularly place or win competitions all over the country. If you watch motorcycle competition videos on YouTube, a lot of those riders are Lock and Lean students. But it's not just about being able to do well in a competition. Most Lock and Lean students can tell you a story about how something they learned saved their hide out on the road. Personally, I avoided a crashing into a car making a left-hand turn into my lane because I learned how to brake in an emergency situation. Oh, by the way, does the school you're considering teach braking and other road speed techniques?
There is one more thing to consider when choosing a motorcycle training school; the personality of the instructors. Ben is very easy to get along with. He will work with you on an individual level to ensure your success. Every student is different and no one knows this better than Ben. If you don't give up, neither will he. I've seen riders on day one that couldn't get anything right. By day three, they were holding their own with the rest of the class. In fact, I’ve been that rider. Ben has proven time and time again that he can turn an average rider into one of the top 10% in the country.
Some things are just better than others. Do you want to be a better rider? Then you need a better school. Why not go to the best? Take a class at Lock and Lean.
When it comes to motorcycle training, Lock and Lean Precision Motorcycle Riding is just better than most, if not all of the other schools out there. I state this with full confidence having taken training at other schools and seeing the quality of riding from students of other schools. But you don't have to take my word for it. Consider the following when choosing a motorcycle training school:
- What do the instructors do to improve their riding ability?
- Can the instructors demonstrate superior riding capability?
- Is the curriculum based on real-world scenarios?
- How much time will you be spending on the range learning new techniques and practicing them?
- Will the school be there when you want more training?
- What standards will you be held to as a student?
- Can students of the school demonstrate superior riding capability?
What do the instructors do to improve their riding ability?
Ben competes nationally and internationally in police motorcycle competitions every year and usually wins or places at the majority of them. Ben learns something from every competition and then applies that knowledge to his curriculum for the benefit of his students.
Can the instructor demonstrate superior riding capability?
All you have to do to answer this question is go to the Lock and Lean channel on YouTube.
Is the curriculum based on real-world scenarios?
Yes. Each exercise is set up to either simulate a real-world scenario or is the result of something that has happened in the real-world. For example, in the basic U-turn box, Ben has a very specific approach to negotiating the exercise and provides the real-world reasoning as to why the pattern should be negotiated in the manner he teaches. There is a purpose for everything you learn at Lock and Lean. You don't just go in circles and weave around cones for the fun of it. It is fun though.
How much time will you be spending on the range learning new techniques and practicing them?
Lots. Expect to spend most of your time in class on your motorcycle and don't be surprised if you find yourself staying late. But not because you have to, because you want to. If you want to keep working, Ben will too.
Will the school be there when you want more training?
Yes. Ben has an amazing passion for what he does. Lock and Lean will be around for a very long time.
What standards will you be held to as a student?
The highest. There is no sliding scale at Lock and Lean, for good reason. Is there a sliding scale out on the road? Will that teenage girl texting away in her VW Beetle give you a pass and look up from her phone because you don't have the ability to take action when she's about to rear-end you at the stoplight? If an exercise is set up at 18 feet wide, you will do it at 18 feet wide. It will not be opened up to 24 feet because it's too hard. But don't worry. You will get all of the instruction you need to do that 18 foot exercise successfully. Count on it.
Can students of the school demonstrate superior riding capability?
Yes. Students of Lock and Lean regularly place or win competitions all over the country. If you watch motorcycle competition videos on YouTube, a lot of those riders are Lock and Lean students. But it's not just about being able to do well in a competition. Most Lock and Lean students can tell you a story about how something they learned saved their hide out on the road. Personally, I avoided a crashing into a car making a left-hand turn into my lane because I learned how to brake in an emergency situation. Oh, by the way, does the school you're considering teach braking and other road speed techniques?
There is one more thing to consider when choosing a motorcycle training school; the personality of the instructors. Ben is very easy to get along with. He will work with you on an individual level to ensure your success. Every student is different and no one knows this better than Ben. If you don't give up, neither will he. I've seen riders on day one that couldn't get anything right. By day three, they were holding their own with the rest of the class. In fact, I’ve been that rider. Ben has proven time and time again that he can turn an average rider into one of the top 10% in the country.
Some things are just better than others. Do you want to be a better rider? Then you need a better school. Why not go to the best? Take a class at Lock and Lean.
Eric Peabody
When I was looking for advanced motorcycle training in 2014 Ben Wolfe of Lock and Lean came highly recommended to me by one of his peers. Ben is a motor cop that incorporates real world situations into his curriculum. Since that initial class in 2014 I have since taken two more classes and currently signed up for a fourth class. My riding skills have greatly enhanced with each class. Ben is passionate about what he does and is constantly evolving his curriculum and techniques. If you want to become a better rider and are willing to put in the time you will not be let down with the results. When I say put in the time it is not uncommon for Ben to turn an 8 hour class into a 12 hour class. Thanks again Ben for the time and effort you put into each class.
Disclaimers
The material provided on this site is meant to be informative or illustrative. No description, language or communication, linked material or download provided, stated or available on this site and/or on any page, whether or not prepared by Lock & Lean Precision Motorcycle Riding, LLC, and/or any of its representatives, agents, vendors, sponsors, web designers, web administrators, licensors and licensees is intended to provide instruction, direction, advice, guarantee, warranty or support of the operation, maintenance, control or use of any motorcycle or motorcycle riding method.
No link, reference or referral made by Lock & Lean Precision Motorcycle Riding, LLC, constitutes a guaranty, warranty or representation of the quality or professional standard of any services rendered or to be rendered, or of the safety, intended use or quality of any goods.
The material provided on this site is meant to be informative or illustrative. No description, language or communication, linked material or download provided, stated or available on this site and/or on any page, whether or not prepared by Lock & Lean Precision Motorcycle Riding, LLC, and/or any of its representatives, agents, vendors, sponsors, web designers, web administrators, licensors and licensees is intended to provide instruction, direction, advice, guarantee, warranty or support of the operation, maintenance, control or use of any motorcycle or motorcycle riding method.
No link, reference or referral made by Lock & Lean Precision Motorcycle Riding, LLC, constitutes a guaranty, warranty or representation of the quality or professional standard of any services rendered or to be rendered, or of the safety, intended use or quality of any goods.