I just spent an exhausting, action-packed weekend on a motorcycle at the BMW Rider Academy Two Day Adventure Off road school. Classes were held at the BMW performance Center in Greer, SC, which is “… a first-class facility that’s dedicated to helping build the skills of no-talent pretenders like me who want to get the most out of whatever vehicle they choose that’s badged with the famous blue and white roundel.” (I drove a Ford to the venue). This entertaining review by Cycle World wonderfully captures the experience.
Firstly, this class is not for beginners. If you do not have any off road experience, this class is not the place to start. It was apparent to me that only a short time ago, I would have been completely over my head to try and ride a big adventure bike in this off road event. I find it very rewarding that my ability has increased enough that this class was appropriate to my skill level; I was good enough to both learn from and enjoy this experience. Also, guys, I’m 5’4″ and rode a 570lb R1250GS for an intense two days of what’s essentially a dirt bike class, I am EXHAUSTED and sore. I never would have made it if I’d had to pick the bike up by myself every time I dropped it.
While I had an excellent time trying to improve my riding ability, and certainly don’t regret going, I still left with some mixed opinions about this class.
Pros:
+Excellent coaching. The instructors were great, and were obviously products of the BMW motorcycle instructor school. BMW has high standards for their instructors.
+Excellent curriculum. They packed a lot of useful content and drills into two days, and I spent was a lot of time on the bike practicing (and let’s be honest, playing) on all sorts of varied terrain.
+The facility. Calling the venue the performance center is not exaggerating. Its incredibly nice. The off-road motorcycle class is not even the main function of the place (its really more about the BMW performance cars and the street track, and a really nice demo circuit for the X5 SUV). Even so, the off-road moto space was top notch and had plenty of room and every riding condition and obstacle imaginable. I don’t know how you could make a better training facility.
+ As advertised. This class unquestionably helped make me a better adventure rider. This is very well thought out and executed rider training, and definitely worth the time.
Cons:
-Very expensive. This was by far the most expensive rider training I’ve ever attended, even at the discounted rate I was lucky enough to get. I’ve been to a bunch of moto classes at this point, and at full price, this was easily 2-4x more expensive than any other training event. (Full disclosure – I was actually able to attend a dealer sponsored private event that provided a significant discount. It was still the most expensive class I’ve been to by several hundred dollars.) (Also, good luck not paying full rate – the classes in 2021 are fully booked for nearly the entire year. If I hadn’t lucked into the private class, the first open spots were in November. Demand for this class is very high right now).
While very, very good, I’m not entirely convinced this class is a good value (at full price). I suppose it depends on your perspective. Remember, price is what you pay, value is what you get. It seems like you are paying a significant premium for the excessively nice facilities, and to ride very large, expensive motorcycles; neither of which contribute much to improving riding skills. You can spend a day falling over on smaller, cheaper bikes, and still learn just as much (if not more). There’s nothing special about riding a BMW motorcycle that you can’t learn riding any other motorcycle (with the exception of the higher end electronic rider aids not available on all bikes). If there is such a thing as a premium, luxury motorcycle rider training experience, this is it.
Riding a BMW motorcycle is required for this class. Since I don’t own one, I rented one of theirs, which was fun. I enjoyed the opportunity to ride the big, fancy, famous German bike. Saving on the bike rental cost by bringing your own BMW certainly helps, but the class is still outrageously expensive even if you bring your own bike. Plus, dropping their bike a bunch as opposed to my own was definitely my preference. Everyone in our class used the rental bikes.
In contrast, the MSF trail riding class that I took in 2016 is about 25% of the cost, but is at least 80% as good (if not more) as far as content and instruction. The facilities in Alpharetta GA are also extremely nice, although naturally BMW found a way to make theirs more expensive than the Honda sponsored facility.
The value for the Honda sponsored MSF course is outstanding. (If that doesn’t sum up Honda vs BMW, I’m not sure what does). If you did not grow up riding dirt bikes, but want to get more comfortable riding off road with trail, dual sport, and adventure riding, the MSF trail riding classes are absolutely the place to start over the BMW class. The BMW class allows for practice on big adventure bikes, but working on the fundamentals on the smaller bikes is going to yield faster results at much lower risk and cost, and better prepare brand new off road riders to get more value out of the pricier BMW experience.
On the other hand, thanks to the BMW rider academy, all 5’4″ of me has ridden a big, heavy R1250GS on tight single track through the woods and launched it over a (very tiny) jump, which is definitely an unexpected life event. I did not anticipate getting into motorcycles in the first place all those years ago, and certainly never imagined I would ever do that. I had a great time and I’m glad I went.
That probably makes it worth the price of admission.
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