Participants drive through the slalom course during the Expert Riders Academy motorcycle course at Shannonville race track in June 2024.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
The best motorcycle riders never stop learning. But even the best motorcycle riders still pay exorbitant rates for their insurance, especially in Ontario. David Grummett wants to fix that.
“Let’s face it,” he said. “If we don’t do something about insurance, it can strangle motorcycling in Ontario.”
Grummett is a product specialist with My Insurance Broker Corp. and a seasoned instructor of both novice motorcyclists and would-be racers, and he was asked by his company to develop a training course for riders who already have experience on their machines, to improve their skills and – potentially – reduce their claims. The first course was held here at the Shannonville race track near Belleville, Ont., in June, and it was a learning experience for everyone. A second course will be held Aug. 26.
There was no charge for the course, known as the Expert Riders’ Academy, and most participants were invited from among visitors to this year’s motorcycle show in Toronto. Riders brought their own motorbikes and professional instructors guided them through exercises on the closed track and its nearby skid pad.
“It really helped to have somebody else watching me, watching my hand movements,” said Shelley McAdams, who is from Stockdale, Ont., has been riding for about five years and owns a Yamaha FZ6. “I was downshifting too much, with the clutch in for too long.”
The most valuable exercise for many riders was how to brake and stop safely while leaned into a corner. It’s not easy to brake hard and safely when the bike is leaned to one side. A few expensive motorcycles offer “leaning ABS” software that helps to prevent slides, but most riders will take much longer to come to a stop while leaning through a curve than driving in a straight line.
I was no different on my Harley-Davidson Low Rider. There’s a balance to be found between braking and shifting down gears, so you’re prepared to leave quickly from a stop when the vehicle behind you is getting too close. It pays to find that balance through practice on a safe and closed track instead of on the highway when the need arises.
“I learned I’ve been riding a motorcycle incorrectly,” said Mackenzie Leies, who is from Brantford, Ont. and called himself an imposter because he’s only been riding since last year. “I was steering completely wrong, leaning the bike and not my body even at higher speeds. I had a great teacher [on the 2023 motorcycle training course], but he had a lot on his plate.”
Peter Newcombe, from Waterdown, Ont., agreed that most government-approved training courses are limited in the amount they can teach, especially for new riders. He’s a certified instructor and examiner and was there as a student on his Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom to keep learning, focusing on his lane positioning and stopping in the turns. He said the new riders he teaches rarely leave second gear in the parking lot.
“We elevate them as much as we can in skill, but we agree there’s a gap with what we can teach in two days,” he said. “I’ve always wished there was another course, where we can call them back after maybe a month of seat time. I love that they’re teaching here how to brake in a turn. We can’t teach it at my school’s level. We just teach it at low speed.”
There’s a cost to renting the track and providing professional instructors, and in future, students will be charged to participate. This time, however, My Insurance Broker paid the day’s $12,000 cost to evaluate the worth of the course. The second course in August will also have no charge to participants.
“This is our attempt to build a better rider,” said Dan Bleiwas, vice-president of group sales for My Insurance Broker Corp. “The idea being, if we can enhance rider skills, we can create better risk for us as an insurance brokerage. Then our carrier partners will hopefully recognize that and start to at least control rates and premiums, or offer discounting for people who do attend additional courses such as this, over and above the typical rider training course.”
From left to right: Mackenzie Leies, Peter Newcombe and Shelley McAdams, who each attended the course. Leies said he learned he'd been riding a motorcycle incorrectly.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
The average cost to insure a motorcycle in Ontario is about $2,500. To compare, the average cost to insure a car is about $1,500 and motorcycles are often driven much less and not in all seasons. But Bleiwas says the higher rates for motorcycles are necessary if insurers are going to break even because of the higher proportion of claims.
“The reality is that right now, motorcycle insurance is not profitable for the insurance companies,” said Bleiwas. “They’re paying out essentially what they’re taking in, and in some cases, they’re paying out more in claims than what they’re getting in premiums, and it’s tough to get discounted in anything.”
So Grummett created a course that allows riders to travel at normal road speeds on Shannonville’s track using their own motorcycles, with slaloms and braking points along the way. Over on the skid pad, students also practised slaloming and steering around traffic cones, all under the watchful eye of the course instructors. The Fast riding school at the track, which teaches racing skills on school bikes, is valuable for learning smooth riding, but it emphasizes speed over coming to a safe stop or negotiating tight turns.
“I don’t really believe that many people practise their skills,” said Grummett. “Street riding is about the ability to turn and the ability to brake. When was the last time you practised jamming on the [brakes]? And when did you last get to be taught on the bike you ride every day? If you ride a Harley decker – a fully loaded touring bike – and you go to Fast [school], you’ll spend half the day getting used to the sportbike.”
I’ve been riding for decades and my most valuable lessons at the Expert Riders’ Academy in June were in smooth downshifting on my low-geared Harley during turns, and in keeping my eyes up and far ahead, looking at where I want to go, not at where I am. These sound like small things, but can make all the difference in an emergency, when reactions need to be instinctive.
“Insurance costs are not about the $10,000 to fix a bike, or $30,000 to write off a bike – it’s the several hundred thousand dollars in medical costs and accident benefits should somebody suffer a catastrophic injury,” said Bleiwas. “The biggest thing we can do right now is try to stabilize rates, and that can be achieved through training. We have to start somewhere.”