Suzuki V-Strom Academy: lessons with Davide Degli Esposti

It finally opens Suzuki V-Strom Academy, off road school from the house of Hamamatsu, dedicated to his model Sports Adventour, V-Strom XT, in the 650cc and 1000cc engines.

A school that, as per the tradition of the house, gets down to business and immediately focuses on the concreteness of what it offers to its participants. It does so from the initial recipe, not wanting to standardize on the line that these courses often offer, but focusing on a new and specific formula for the characteristics of the V-Strom. Intensive courses, therefore, lasting one day, coordinated by Davide degli Esposti, multi-titled federal instructor, which take place at Tre Ponti cross track in Ravenna, where the students will be followed from a technical, theoretical and practical point of view, until they have training that will allow them to be autonomous and, above all, to safely tackle off-road journeys with their V-Stroms. The courses will have a limited number of participants, eight students, who will be followed in every way on a personal level by Davide and his assistants, in the two morning and afternoon sessions. This Academy offers the opportunity to learn in detail the off-road potential of the V-Strom, especially for the version with 1000 engine, less known and appreciated in this field in Italy, compared to its smaller 650cc sister, absolutely standard, and equipped with tires tessellated Goat X laid down by the Event, technical partner of the Academy, not only to owners who rightly want to deepen their experience, but offers the opportunity to try it in the field and discover its qualities to those thinking of buying it.

Once at the camp, the students are welcomed with breakfast, after getting dressed we start with the theoretical and technical session, where the instructor explains the day's program and introduces the off-road driving techniques, from the position on the platforms to the balancing of the weights, the movement of the legs, the use of the shoulders, the correction of the most common errors, everything first explained theoretically and then tackled technically on the bike, rider by rider. We then move on to the cross-track where the theoretical and in-depth knowledge is put into practice on specific routes, repeated until the participants learn naturally. Davide's experience, put at the service of the students, through his patience and immediacy, creates that ideal climate in which to lose one's fears and inhibitions, encouraging the participants to ask for more, without fear of being labeled based on their abilities, This is a fundamental approach, which allows pilots to grow in a short time, always followed personally. The entire session in the field is filmed pilot by pilot, and analyzed together with the debriefing by the instructors with the students, allowing the pilots to "visually" understand any errors or corrections to be made to themselves. This approach, already used in other disciplines, Basketball first and foremost, is just one of the fundamental points of the philosophy of the course, so dear to Suzuki, concreteness, no farmhouses and golf courses, no group outings, here we work, on the field, and we study what we did as soon as we got off the bikes, not just before.

Lunch, with the companions and the instructors, and the afternoon session resumes, which will accompany the pilots to the next level, the circuit widens, and increasingly different obstacles and difficulties are introduced at stages, all first and foremost fully explained theoretically by Davide Degli Exposed, then technically tackled rider by rider on the bike. From emergency braking, first rear then front, to overcoming an obstacle, or several obstacles in series, to tackling a bend and an S, up to the climbs and descents. Lessons first carried out one by one, to then be tackled in the specially designed circuit in repetition, always under the watchful eye of the instructors and the footage which will be analyzed at the end of the session. Concentration on the result and in-depth analysis of the exercise remain the instructor's key words, and without the pilots realizing it, he inserts technical aspects one at a time, widening the field as the students' progress continues, until reaching to letting them roam freely with ease on the track which at the beginning of the morning was watched with caution, leading them to freely repeat the route, always ready to intervene to correct or improve a passage or a posture. At the end of the course, back to the videos to summarize the progress and compare it with the results of the morning, first of all demonstrating to the pilots the results obtained with the direct comparison, and underlining the key points acquired in order to be able to implement them freely in subsequent outings . A real off road course, therefore, not an out-of-town holiday, which immerses students immediately and follows them until the mission is accomplished, to create the foundations for those who don't have them, or refine and advance the knowledge of the more experienced, helping them at the same time to discover the off-road capabilities of the V-Strom. We liked the formula, the spirit of the day and the "Suzuki" philosophy for its Academy, a school, which we feel like saying, was missing and which will give light to a model, which especially in the 1000 version, has a lot to say in the Adventour segment and, up to now, little considered in the medium twin-cylinder off-road sector.

To register for the V-Strom Academy write to the following email: davide.degliesposti@federmoto.it
The available dates will be 15 April, 12 May, 2 June and 16 June, the one-day course costs 290 euros and includes the use of motorbikes, breakfast and "Romagna" lunch. There are eight places available for each course, to allow the instructors to follow the students individually.

Tester clothing:

Helmet: Kappa KV30 ENDURO AVENTURE
Visor: Scott Prospect
Jacket and trousers: Dainese D-Explorer goretex
Boots Dainese Latemar goretex
Gloves Dainese Ergotour goretex