The Institute of Advanced Motorists takes a look at how advanced riding skills might have changed things...

The cinema loves a chase scene – if it’s on two wheels, even better. But quite often these high-octane stunt sequences don’t end too well for our hero, who barely escape alive.

Here are the views of a motorcycle-riding expert on some classic bike chases from the silver screen. Where did the riders go wrong? Is there anything they could have done that would have meant things turned out differently?

The expert: Geoff Pretty*

1. The Matrix Reloaded (2003) Dir. Andy & Lana Wachowski

Trinity and the Keymaker steal a Ducati motorbike and head off against traffic on the wrong side of a busy motorway, pursued by police and the agents.

Expert view: “The filtering was done far too fast with a large speed differential between the bike and other traffic; any sudden movement by another vehicle could prove problematic (as seen when the silver car changed lanes). You should never accelerate into a closing gap, but wait until you have a clear exit and proceed gently through.”

2. The Dark Knight (2008) - Dir. Christopher Nolan

Our eponymous hero takes on the Joker astride his heavily-armed Bat Pod bike, tearing through the streets (and shopping malls) of Gotham City.

Expert view: “An even more extreme version of the Matrix scenario; the gap simply wasn't big enough, evidenced by the fact that the cars all lost door mirrors or had other damage. Saying that, the bike is pretty impressive - can I have one?”

3. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) – Dir. Stephen Spielberg

Indy and Sean Connery leave the Nazis trailing in their wake thanks to their trusty Dnepr MT-11 and a fortuitously positioned flagpole.

Expert view: “Riding any bike (particularly a road one) on a loose surface is pretty tricky. Better progress could have been made by positioning earlier for the bends, thereby increasing his view - this would have given him the chance of straight-lining at times, rather than treating each bend as a separate entity.”

4. Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (1995) - Dir. Nick Park

There are more side-car shenanigans as the plasticine pals hunt down some mysterious sheep rustlers.

Expert view: “Be aware of traffic that is closing up from behind, as it will seriously compromise your 'safety bubble’. If you feel at danger from another vehicle, find a place to pull over and let it pass; that way you are not pressurised into going faster than you are comfortable with.”

5. Knight & Day (2010) - Dir. James Mangold

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz belt around dodging bullets on the back of an Aprilia SXV 550, which was modified for the film’s stunt scenes to look like a Ducati Hypermotard.

Expert view: “Too much swerving from side to side will increase the risk of skidding and completely losing control. As with Indy, look well ahead to pick out parts of the road where you can ride in as straight a line as you safely can, thereby maintaining your momentum as high as possible.”

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part one) (2010) - Dir. David Yates

What is it with movies and sidecars? In this clip, Harry fends off Death Eaters and Voldemort himself alongside Hagrid’s flying Triumph.

Expert view: “The main point from this clip is at the end, where they manage to land in water. Whenever you make any manoeuvre (for example an overtake), you need to make sure that you have identified a safe place to return to - it's no good half-planning something as the end result is not guaranteed.”

7. Tron: Legacy (2010) – Dir. Joseph Kosinski

Futuristic Light Cycle battling is the order of the day here. Things don’t seem to end too well for our neon-blue front-runner.

Expert view: “Don't let your bike come into conflict with other vehicles, as there is a great possibility that you will come off; keep as big a safety zone around you as possible. The rider failed to notice the green bike cross his path; his gaze was fixed ahead so intently that he failed to pick it up with his peripheral vision - this may have given him a chance to take avoiding action.”

8. The Great Escape (1963) – Dir. John Sturges

Steve McQueen and his Triumph T60 lead the Nazis on a merry chase before being cruelly felled by a barbed wire fence.

 

Expert view: “Once he started to make his getaway he should have picked a road and stuck to it. By going off-road and constantly stopping and starting he lost too much time. In sticking to a more decent surface and applying the system, he could have made good progress and put a lot of distance between himself and his pursuers. Don't know if he would have made it to safety, but this would give him the best chance.”

9. The Terminator (1984) – Dir. James Cameron

Our cyborg super-villain hunts down poor Sarah Connor with murder on his mind. In this clip, he blasts away with a machine-gun from his Honda CB 750 Four K2 as the humans attempt escape in a bullet-riddled pickup.

Expert view: “A motorcycle has the edge over a car/van in respect of acceleration, but will suffer on bends/swerving, as four tyres give much more grip than two. Also, riding with one hand will limit his ability to change direction effectively by using positive steering. He could have caught the vehicle up by riding two-handed and looking further up the road (ahead of the van), in order to see the layout of the road and plan his ride accordingly, rather than reacting at the last minute to what was immediately ahead.”

10. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) – Dir. Adam MacKay

Ron is enjoying a delicious-but-filling burrito with his loyal friend Baxter, when Jack Black pulls up alongside him on a Yamaha chopper. The rest is history.

Expert view: “This is one of the basics of advanced riding: never put yourself in a position of potential danger. Anything could have been discarded out of the window (cigarette end etc) - also the driver could have lost control due to many factors e.g. a puncture, changing a CD, being distracted by passengers, especially children. You should be either in front of the vehicle where the driver can definitely see you, or positioned behind so that you are visible in their mirror. Thus both he - and the dog - would have come out of it a lot better!”

11. Transformers 4: The Age of Extinction (2014) – Dir. Michael Bay

The perennial battle between man and machine comes to a climax with a two-wheeled tear-out through the streets of Beijing. Bad guys transporting a nuclear bomb on a bike – what could possibly go wrong?

Expert view: “They were travelling much too fast for the conditions ahead, thus giving them little, if any, time to react. This was exacerbated by the fact that much of the weight was too far back, thus compromising handling. Finally, heading down the tunnel meant that they were accelerating into a closing gap, with the inevitable consequence of a fall, as they were unable to stop safely in the distance they could see to be clear. Now if they had been able to get hold of a Transformer-cycle…”

If you’re interested in a smoother, superior ride, visit the courses for bikers section of the Institute of Advanced Motorists website. Even great riders can improve: 97% of participants said the IAM advanced test increased their enjoyment from riding.

Article and images supplied by Geoff Pretty a Senior Observer at the Middlesex Advanced Motorcylists group within the Institute of Advanced Motorists, and the consultant motorcycle trainer for IAM Drive and Survive.

A former police motorcyclist, Geoff has ridden all size and types of motorcycle both professionally and for pleasure. He holds an NVQ in Advanced Motorcycle Instruction and is a member of the DVSA Register of Post-Test Motorcycle Instructors. He has been with IAM since 2004.

Follow Kevin Turner, also known as ‘The Hapless Biker’, and his great Russian motorcycle adventure as he sets off with nothing more than an 11-year-old Ninja 636, Michelin Pilot Road 3 tyres and the challenge of reaching Moscow on two wheels…

Last August I embarked on a 6,000 mile motorcycle adventure, from London, up through Norway and across Finland to Moscow. I gave myself three weeks to squeeze in a trip that should rightly have taken three months (or rather, my employer gave me three weeks…)

Still, over those 21 days, I experienced some of the most wonderful moments of my motorcycling life, and also some of the worst. I rode along the extraordinary Trollstigen pass in Norway and felt my heart skip a beat as I looked down on the majestic Geirangerfjord; I experienced first-hand the beauty of St Petersburg and felt the presence of so much history in the Russian capital. And I also came very close to a horrible, mangled death beneath the wheels of 1,000 enormous trucks as I bounced across the loose rock and rubble which constitute so many of Russia’s roads.

The journey represented the culmination of ten years of riding: it was a challenge set for no good reason; a mountain to climb simply because it was there. Throughout, my only companion was my bike, an 11-year-old Ninja 636; stock, except for the after-market exhaust, a tinted screen and a few too many stickers.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s nigh-on impossible to pinpoint a single highlight from a trip packed full of discovery and surprise, but my time spent riding through Norway was very special. The beauty, the silence, the isolation felt like one long soul-cleansing experience after so many frantic rush-hour battles across London.

As a counterpoint, the brutal reality of the Russian roads could not have been more striking. For 13 terrifying hours I weaved my way through a never-ending convoy of tankers and juggernauts as I rode first towards St Petersburg and then onwards again to Moscow.

It seemed unimaginable at the time that the journey from the border to St Petersburg would not represent the very worst that Russia could throw at me. It was dreadful in a way I was completely unprepared for. The M10 was a road without embellishment; a patchwork mess of crumbling tarmac, potholes, trenches and gravel, its surface pounded into parody by the relentless motion of heavy traffic. At its edges, among the detritus, stood a ramshackle collection of sad-looking people, selling trinkets and bits of fruit. A broken line of hopeless faces dotted along the highway, like desperate refugees that had stumbled from the trees, hoping ‘the road’ would bring salvation. But it didn’t; not to them and not to me, nor anyone else stupid enough to try and ride a sports bike along its decomposing surface. *

At such times it’s very easy to forget that the angst, the fear and the desperation are all part and parcel of a journey that felt at times like a very real metaphor. But the lows were almost always followed quickly by towering highs, as was the case when I finally staggered off the Kawasaki late at night in central Moscow and felt myself overcome by a wave of jubilation upon reaching my goal.

If the ride was tough for me, it was ten times worse for my bike. The Ninja is a sports-tourer, but it is not an adventure bike. It was not designed to ride across hundreds of miles of rubble, lugging two heavy panniers, a tent and a hapless biker way out of his depth. I lost count of the times I felt sure the poor machine was about to grind to a halt, its chain and sprockets thick with congealing mud and its suspension hammered beyond belief. But it just kept going.

As did the tyres, a set of new Pilot Road 3s that I’d had fitted a week or so before I left. I had read that the Pilot 3s were very good in both wet and dry conditions, and in truth that’s all I expected they would have to contend with. I had not anticipated so many miles of lunar-like surface, so many huge pot-holes and loose gravel tracks. I could have forgiven them for expiring at any time, especially on the return leg. But like the Kawasaki, they not only survived, they excelled.

As I write this, the Ninja is parked outside my house, clean and polished and fully recovered from the adventure. In fact, it’s just returned from a rather wet track day at Donington Park, followed by a weekend’s touring in Wales. It’s still wearing those same Pilot Road 3s that I left for Russia on nine months ago, and barring errant nails and broken glass I suspect those tyres will remain wrapped around the stone-chipped wheels all summer long. Hopefully that will include a few more adventures, though perhaps none quite as epic as my Russian marathon.

Kevin’s Russian adventure features in his new book: From Crystal Palace to Red Square - A Hapless Biker’s Road to Russia, published by Veloce Publishing and available from Amazon and all good bookshops. More information on Kevin’s books can be found at www.haplessbiker.com

* Extract From Crystal Palace to Red Square - A Hapless Biker’s Road to Russia

... including "I get married to the love of my life soon and we are having a motorbike themed wedding.

I was wondering if you had anything spare that may help us decorate the room or the tables?"

Booklets, stickers and a BIKER WELCOME banner were sent.

Congratulations to Richard and Lisa Lumb!

Like the Bennetts 500cc Classic TT Race, the Okells Brewery 350cc Race is set to be a thrilling affair and it could well be even more closely contested with evenly matched machines and a stellar line up of riders offering the potential for a close race. The class, like all races at the 2014 Classic TT presented by Bennetts, was oversubscribed with a full grid of almost 90 entries eventually accepted.

With last year's race winner Chris Palmer absent from the field, a new winner will be garlanded but Roy Richardson on the FCL Racing/Bullock Motorsport Aermacchi, will be one of the favourites having won numerous 350cc Classic races at the Manx GP. The opposition is strong though with anyone in the top 20 more than competitive and capable of standing on the podium.

Honda lead the way in terms of numbers with Jamie Hamilton, Olie Linsdell (Flitwick Motorcycles), William Dunlop and Alan Oversby (both Davies Motorsport), Jamie Coward (Ted Woof), Chris McGahan (Hales Honda), James Hillier (CSC Racing), James Cowton and Nigel Moore all electing to ride the iconic Japanese marque.

The British challenge is more than considerable though with AJS and Norton having numerous potential race winners, none more so than last year's podium finishers Cameron Donald (Ripley Land Racing AJS) and Dan Cooper (Molnar Manx Norton). Cooper is joined in Andy Molnar's team by the man who dominated this years TT Races Michael Dunlop while another top TT runner, Keith Amor, will ine up on Tony Dunnell's rapid Manx Norton.

Italy has representation in the form of Dean Harrison and Lee Johnston (Black Eagle Racing MV Agusta), Chris Swallow (Mike Fawcett Aermacchi) and Doug Snow (Ducati Sebring) and all three will be pushing hard at the head of the field while other names expected to feature include Mark Herbertson (AJS), Alex Sinclair (Honda), Paul Coward (Honda), Dave Madsen-Mygdal (Honda), Ken Davis (Honda) and Chris Petty (Honda).

Although there isn't a separate race this year, there are still numerous 250cc machines spread through the field aiming to win the new Phil Read Trophy to recognise the class win, with multiple Manx Grand Prix race winner Bill Swallow back for another outing around the Mountain Course, this time on Phil Price's Velocette. The T20 Suzuki's will be expected to be the highest placed though particularly in the hands of Alan 'Bud' Jackson, Karl Fox, Tom Jackson, Jeff Ward, Maria Costello, Dan Sayle and Billy Cummins.

Dave Edwards (TD1C Yamaha) and Pete Symes and David Crussell (both Kawasaki) add further variety to the 250cc field.

The Vintage Motor Cycle Club are delighted to announce that next year will see The VMCCs Festival of 1000 Bikes returning to Mallory Park on the weekend of 11th/12th July 2015.

With the support in principal already flowing in from our partners Footman James Insurance Brokers, Bonhams Auctioneers, Mortons Motorcycle Media, The National Motorcycle Museum & ERIKS UK, the 2015 event will be another weekend to remember.

As in previous years the event gives enthusiasts the opportunity to ride their own machines in multiple track sessions over the weekend. On the Saturday of the event we cater for all classes of road machines from the earliest Veterans (discounted entry fee available for pre 1925 machines) through to machines of the superbike era which reflect the wide range of interests within the VMCC. With lesser noise restrictions Sunday is the day for riders to display their race machinery in special track sessions running throughout the day.

The VMCC festival of 1000 Bikes is unique in its sheer breadth & scale. This includes showcasing one of the best line ups of “Past Masters” and famous machines assembled during any given year. At previous VMCC festivals this has included many unique happenings such as “King Kenny” Roberts first UK Track appearance in 30 years at the 2011 event, Kevin Schwantz’s (in conjunction with Michelin) return to Mallory Park for the first time in a quarter of a century in 2012 and 1987 500cc GP World Champion Wayne Gardner (Courtesy of Michelin) headed up 2013s’ line up and took to the track on a genuine works Honda RS500. Announcements for 2015s’ line up due early in the New Year!

More details and features will be released over the coming months. However as the Track sessions for both road and race machines sold out early in previous years, entry forms will be distributed in the autumn to all previous entrants.

They will then become available later in the year (dates to be announced) via VMCC HQ direct or downloading from the dedicated event website @ www.vmcc.net/1000bikes