Over the years the business expanded, taking on more staff and, always one with a keen eye for prime sites, he began his liaison with Stoke City FC when he moved to their then car park in 1993, followed by a similar development with the city's other football club, Port Vale, in 1996.

Today they get the best part of 1,000 pupils a year passing through their hands and everyone is sure of the most professional tuition.

Bryan's are renowned throughout the industry for being at the forefront of new teaching aids - they always have the most advanced radio headsets and they were the first in the Midlands to invest in a bike-mounted video to film pupils on the road.

Now they've made their biggest ever investment at the Britannia Stadium to build for an even bigger future... it's all a far cry from the old shed!

Learning to ride a motorcycle has been made easier than ever before thanks to the investment by the Bryan's Road Safety Centre at North Staffordshire's Britannia Stadium.

This state of the art facility has been designed from the outset with training in mind and offers unrivalled space and classroom facilities to pupils that will help them improve their skills faster and in more depth than could previously have been achieved.

The school is centred around a brand new building that houses a classroom featuring the latest teaching aids. There are computers where pupils can practice the Theory Test and become familiar with its layout, overhead projectors where the instructors sketch various traffic scenarios and of course, the TV monitor for the bikecam.

The classroom also contains a full display of safety clothing and helmets supplied by Belstaff, Arai and Shark and next to that is the clothing room where the extensive array of boots, helmets, gloves, radios and waterproof overalls that the school provide for each pupil are stored. Kevin Bryan said: "Everything we need for teaching is contained on site and we do everything in-house so we can guarantee our standards are maintained. The classroom facilities really are the best that I have seen and will definitely speed up the learning process."


But while the building is the heart of the centre, that is only the beginning because it is surrounded by several acres of open tarmac to which Bryan's have exclusive access, making an unrivalled venue to learn in complete safety, free of any traffic or other hazards. The workshop prepares all the school bikes (as well as servicing customers' machines) and completing the building is the reception and toilets.

Here riders can be trained in the basics of bike control so they are completely familiar and comfortable with the workings of it before venturing out onto the public road. In addition, it is also the perfect place to practice more demanding skills such as the emergency stop and more advanced handling techniques, again in an environment where there is ample room to correct mistakes safely.

The centre's location is perfect, being right on the doorstep of North Staffordshire's major arterial roads and within minutes of every type of road available, from urban streets to A and B roads and the motorway for those doing further training.

Kevin said: "It's hard to think for a better venue and location for motorcycle training. Indeed, if you gave me a blank sheet of paper and asked me to design the ideal facility this would be it."

"Our Britannia Stadium site has everything going for it; the classroom is excellent and the tarmac training areas are just absolutely ideal for allowing us to demonstrate and for the pupil to practice.

"Just take the emergency stop as one example. At other schools they don't have the expanse of off-road space available here so they have to try to find a quiet road somewhere to do it but that is not ideal. Here riders can practice over and over again, in safety and without annoying other road users or residents.

Just about the techniques but about instilling confidence too and helping the learner to enjoy it so we focus as much on the human and mental side as the technical side.

"It goes without saying that our instructors are all Driving Standards Agency approved and of the very highest calibre but I think those extra factors of the friendliness and our all-round approach raises us above other schools and helps us to achieve probably the highest first time pass rates in the whole of the UK."

"We have invested heavily in this project and I am convinced that it will become a centre of excellence for training. From the pupils point of view, it will undoubtedly help them to become better riders in less time than it would normally take and that means they're saving money as well as getting a better quality of instruction during their lessons.From our point of view, we believe that it takes the motorcycle training industry into a new era and we are immensely proud of that.

"The site has been endorsed by Bob McMillan, Honda's general manager of Racing and their MAC scheme, who said: "If there were more learning facilities like this in the country there would be far fewer accidents among motorcyclists. I am tremendously impressed with everything that has been done here and what it offers to riders. "This is how motorcycle training should be done."


One of the most popular and useful innovations that Bryan's have pioneered is the bikecam, a tiny hi-tech video mounted to the instructor's bike that can film a pupil's progress.

Developed from similar systems used by the military and the police, the bikecam operates in all weathers and is linked to a video unit with a small display screen. The video can be replayed instantly at the side of the road or wired up to a full-size TV screen back in the classroom where the lesson can be reviewed at leisure.

Although expensive, it has proved its worth by allowing trainees to see their mistakes on screen.

One of our instructors, Andy Battison, said: "Sometimes a pupil will make a mistake but because of the traffic conditions it may be several minutes before we can find a safe place to pullover and discuss it. The advantage of the bikecam is that this delay doesn't matter because we can play the scene back later, either by the roadside or in the classroom at the end of the roadwork.

"It's one thing an instructor talking through a mistake but nothing beats the visual image and we have found this a tremendous aid in our teaching and it really does help people improve more quickly."