Performance Riding School: Improve Motorcycle Control at Road America
A performance riding school helps motorcyclists refine the techniques that matter most when roads become more demanding: braking, cornering, traction management, visual awareness, evasive maneuvers, and control under changing conditions.
Road America offers a progression of motorcycle courses for novice, returning, developing, and accomplished riders. Training takes place at its 640-acre facility, which includes five controlled, off-street ranges. For riders seeking more advanced instruction, Street Skills Course I and Street Skills Course II provide focused training on a paved circuit designed to reproduce many of the curves, elevation changes, linked turns, and sightline challenges encountered on public roads.
Unlike a motorcycle track day, these courses are not centered on lap times or competition. Their purpose is to help riders operate their own motorcycles with greater precision and make better decisions during real-world street riding.
What Is Performance Riding?
Performance riding is the disciplined use of motorcycle controls to maintain balance, traction, stability, and an appropriate path through a range of conditions.
It includes more than riding quickly. A capable rider must be able to:
- Select an appropriate corner-entry speed
- Apply the brakes firmly without abrupt inputs
- Coordinate throttle, clutch, and shifting
- Read changes in road shape and elevation
- Maintain a stable line through connected turns
- Respond to hazards without panicking
- Adjust for passengers, luggage, weather, and reduced traction
These skills become especially important on unfamiliar roads, where a rider may encounter decreasing-radius curves, limited sight distance, changing surfaces, or unexpected obstacles.
A performance riding school allows those situations to be studied and practiced without normal traffic.
Street Skills Course I: Building Confidence and Consistency
Road America’s Street Skills Course I is intended for developing riders, including recently licensed motorcyclists and people returning to riding after time away.
Participants must have completed a Basic Rider Course or hold a valid motorcycle endorsement. Road America also recommends that riders have at least one season of experience on the motorcycle they bring to the class.
The course focuses on four primary areas:
- Cornering confidence
- Clutch and shifting confidence
- Starting and stopping confidence
- Braking confidence
These may sound like basic topics, but weaknesses in any one of them can affect more advanced riding.
A rider who hesitates during clutch engagement may struggle with hill starts or tight maneuvers. Inconsistent braking can make corner entry unpredictable. Poor visual habits can cause a rider to turn too early, run wide, or make unnecessary steering corrections.
Street Skills I uses one hour of classroom discussion followed by four hours of on-range riding. Participants ride their own street-legal motorcycles, allowing them to work directly with the weight, control layout, clutch feel, throttle response, and braking characteristics they experience on the road.
Developing Better Cornering Technique
Cornering requires the rider to coordinate speed, vision, steering, body position, and throttle application.
A common error is entering a turn faster than the rider can comfortably manage. This may lead to early turn-in, target fixation, abrupt braking, or running wide at the exit.
Performance instruction teaches riders to establish speed before the corner and look through the intended path. The rider then selects a consistent turn-in point, maintains controlled inputs, and applies throttle progressively as the motorcycle approaches the exit.
Road America’s Motorplex training circuit includes more than a dozen curves, connected turns, alternating lean angles, elevation changes, and limited sightlines. These features give riders repeated opportunities to assess the road and choose an effective speed and path.
The repetition is important. A rider can complete the same section several times, compare the results, and correct errors with instructor feedback.
Improving Braking Control
Effective motorcycle braking depends on progressive pressure and proper use of both brakes.
An abrupt application can unsettle the motorcycle or overwhelm available traction. Braking too lightly may leave the rider carrying excessive speed into a turn or obstacle.
A performance riding school helps riders develop a more repeatable process:
- Recognize the need to reduce speed early
- Apply brake pressure progressively
- Maintain stable posture and relaxed arms
- Keep vision directed toward the intended path
- Release pressure smoothly as conditions require
Street Skills I emphasizes braking confidence, while Street Skills II advances into enhanced braking for accomplished riders.
The objective is not simply to stop in the shortest possible distance. It is to use the brakes accurately while maintaining balance, direction, and sufficient traction for the next action.
Street Skills Course II: Enhancing Control
Street Skills Course II is designed for intermediate, experienced, and returning riders who already have a strong operating foundation.
Participants must hold a valid motorcycle endorsement. Road America recommends at least three seasons of riding experience and suggests completing Street Skills I beforehand, although the first course is not mandatory.
The course covers:
- Traction, tires, and suspension
- Enhanced cornering
- Enhanced braking
- Evasive maneuvers
- Motorcycle loading and passengers
Like Street Skills I, the course includes classroom discussion and four hours of practical riding at the Motorplex. Participants use their own licensed and insured motorcycles, which must pass an instructor safety inspection.
This course is appropriate for riders who are comfortable with normal operation but want to manage more complex situations with greater accuracy.
Understanding Traction, Tires, and Suspension
Motorcycle performance depends heavily on the small contact patches between the tires and the road.
Traction changes with temperature, surface condition, tire wear, tire pressure, lean angle, braking force, and throttle input. Suspension setup and motorcycle loading also influence how the tires remain in contact with the pavement.
Street Skills II helps riders understand how these factors affect control.
A motorcycle carrying a passenger or luggage will accelerate, steer, brake, and settle differently from an unloaded bike. Worn tires may respond differently in rain or during firm braking. Excessive speed or abrupt control inputs can demand more traction than the surface can provide.
Learning to recognize these relationships helps riders avoid treating every road, motorcycle, and load condition the same way.
Practicing Evasive Maneuvers
Some hazards cannot be managed by braking alone.
A rider may need to change direction quickly to avoid debris, a stopped vehicle, or another road user entering the lane. Evasive maneuvers require a clear decision, focused vision, and decisive steering input.
Performance riding instruction allows riders to practice these movements before they are needed in traffic.
Participants learn to distinguish between situations that call for braking, swerving, or a combination of actions. They also work on keeping the motorcycle stable and looking toward the available escape path rather than at the hazard.
This type of practice can reduce hesitation and help riders avoid instinctive reactions that worsen the situation.
Riding with Passengers and Additional Load
Adding a passenger or luggage changes motorcycle behavior.
The additional weight can increase stopping distance, alter suspension travel, reduce ground clearance, slow steering response, and make low-speed balance more difficult.
Street Skills II includes motorcycle loading and passenger considerations as part of its advanced street-riding curriculum.
Riders must account for those changes by adjusting:
- Following distance
- Braking points
- Acceleration
- Corner-entry speed
- Suspension settings, when applicable
- Tire pressure, according to manufacturer guidance
- Low-speed maneuvering technique
Passenger communication is also important. The rider should explain mounting, dismounting, foot placement, body movement, and what the passenger should expect before the motorcycle begins moving.
Why Riders Train on Their Own Motorcycles
Street Skills participants use their own street-legal motorcycles rather than school-provided training bikes.
This allows the instruction to address the machine the rider actually operates. A lightweight standard motorcycle, large touring bike, cruiser, adventure motorcycle, and sportbike can respond very differently to clutch input, braking, steering, and weight transfer.
Road America requires participating motorcycles to be licensed, insured, fitted with motorcycle-specific DOT-approved tires, and capable of passing a safety inspection. Riders should arrive with enough fuel for approximately 50 miles of course use.
Training on a familiar motorcycle makes the lessons directly applicable to future rides.
Required Protective Equipment
Street Skills participants must arrive with suitable riding gear.
Road America lists requirements that include sturdy over-the-ankle footwear, durable long pants, full-fingered gloves, a long-sleeved shirt or riding jacket, a DOT-approved street-legal helmet, and eye protection. The courses operate rain or shine, so riders should also prepare for changing weather.
Before registering, participants should review the latest school policies and confirm that both their motorcycle and equipment meet current requirements.
Choose the Right Performance Riding Course
Street Skills I is the better fit for recently licensed, returning, or developing riders who need more confidence with cornering, braking, shifting, starting, and stopping.
Street Skills II is designed for accomplished riders seeking advanced work in traction management, enhanced braking, cornering, evasive maneuvers, passengers, and motorcycle loading.
Riders who have not yet completed entry-level training can begin with Road America’s Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic Rider Course before progressing into the Street Skills curriculum. Road America also offers scooter-specific and dirt-bike courses for participants whose riding goals fall outside traditional street motorcycling.
Performance Riding School at Road America
Road America’s performance riding school experience is built around practical street skills rather than racing.
Participants work on paved training areas that include multiple curves, elevation changes, linked turns, alternating lean angles, and visibility challenges. Instructors use these features to help riders improve control, assess unfamiliar roads, manage traction, and respond more effectively when conditions change.
Review the requirements for Street Skills Course I and Street Skills Course II, compare them with your current experience, and choose the level that addresses the skills you need to improve.