Complaint Review: Can Akkaya Superbike-coach Corp

I found and read your complaint about your experience with Can Akkaya and his Superbike Coach Corp. Interestingly enough it was just after I googled him to learn more about him after I read an article in the July, 2014 issue of Roadracing World magazine. Yes, July 2014 issue.

As a trackday addict on my 2007 R6, and a Advanced level rider, I can tell you that a Go Kart track has plenty of room for training for motorcycles. If you did a youtube search for motorcycles at go kart track you would find more videos of footage on Go-Kart tracks than you care to watch.

As far as Mr. Akkaya's racing carreer, When I searched google for the name Can Akkaya, not only did I get 685,000 results in .37 seconds, but the very first hit is this : motorcycle-usa.com/2015/04/article/a-case-for-can-akkaya-as-racer-and-coach/

This article was written in April, 2015 so it was approximately 1 month after you posted your rip off report. After reading the article, I could only assume that it was your email that prompted this story to be written about the former racer turned coach.

It is unfortunate that you had a bad experience at Mr. Akkaya's coaching session. However your statements about the venue are only your opinion. Furthermore, not everyone learns the same way, or gets along with everyone.

If you are looking to improve your skills on the track, experience is the best way to learn. Get behind the next bike to pass you, and ride their lines. Pay attention to when they are on and off the throttle, and to their body position. Do what they do. When you pass them and can keep them behind you, look for the next fastest bike. Ask the control riders at the trackday for help with corners you are having difficulty with. Weather its braking or accelerating, the control riders are there to help as well as monitoring the riding.

And always remember in everything, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Due to being threatened by Can Akkaya and lawyers instead of Can simply trying to repair his reputation, I have decided to ammend my report. The amendments are in red. 

Here is the new amended report with the parts involving credibility as Can Akkaya and Lawyer's wory ommited. 

I attended Can Akkaya's cornering "school" which I actually found off of Craigslist. It was advertising a motorcycle cornering school instruction and track day for only $99. I have never seen a price like that. Usually these kinds of classes and track days range from $300 to $1500 a day. The fact it was advertised on Craigslist should have been my first clue something was fishy. For $99 though, I figured I couldn't lose no matter what. Boy was I wrong. 

The ad led me to his site. Superbike-coach.com. There he had a list of his accomplishments including:

Multiple international victories (no years, tracks, or actual races were cited on his main site at the time).
Multiple lap record holder (no years, tracks, or times were cited on his main site at the time).
Multiple trophy winner (no years, track, or races cited on his main site at the time).
Pole position holder (no years, track, or races cited on his main site at the time).
Professional racer ALL over Europe (no organizations, races, or teams were listed on his main site at the time).

Instead of asking around or doing research to make sure he was legitimate, I signed up. The "track" in Stockton where he holds his "class" is literally a kiddie track for GO KARTS! It's not AT ALL designed or proper for use with motorcycles, race bikes, or cars.  It's super tiny and just not at all the proper place to teach proper cornering techniques with large motorcycles. 

During class lectures, it was apparent to me, in my OPINION that Can Akkaya clearly had no former racing experience and very little coaching experience to top it off.  There was nothing of value TO ME and the majority of the entire day was spent on him telling stories and going off on tangents that weren't relevant. 

His "coaching" method is rude, hostile, and abrubt in my OPINION. Any questions regarding his expertise or legimacy were met with immediate hostility.  Any questions he couldn't answer due to what I BELIEVE to be ignorance were skated off or redirected. He completely refused at the time to shed any details on any of his claims and gets furious whenever someone wants to know. Major major red flag. Any other school owner will proudly and easily present to you their credentials and proof of their legitimacy. There is nothing to hide otherwise. 

For an entire day, I didn't learn a single thing.  There wasn't one single piece of valuable information in my OPINION.  It was truly a joke in my OPINION. Even though it was only $99, I felt like I had been scammed, wasted my time, and in the presence of a pretty good scammer or con who in my OPINION is posing as an instructor for a very dangerous sport. 

All other statements I made in previous report have been removed and this updated report reflects only my opinion. If his claims can be veritifed by an independant third party, than consider my opinions or scepticism about his credibility removed and null and void. 

If he wants to repair his reputation by posting real credentials about himself, than he is welcome to do so and any of which would discount my original optinions about him would be welcomed.

You as the consumer have to decide for yourself if the claims are legitimate, not just by some pictures and uploads from himself, but from other professional racers and organizations, none of which I could find anywhere and none of which at the time he provided me or anyone else with. Does that mean for sure he is a fake? Nobody will be able to say for certain. What is needed is current information, which at the time, isn't readily available. 

Simiply stating he was racer a long time ago and thus doesn't have third party proof and just showing some newspaper clippnigs and photos from a long time ago doesn't really qualify someone to be able to instruct TODAY in my opinion. Where is his current credentials and endorsements for today?! Not from the 80's, not the from the 90's, not from the 2000's, TODAY. 20 or 30 years ago doesn't cut it in my opinion. 

Make your own choice though. 

After attending many many track days with varios organizations, it is still my opinion that his school was a total joke in comparison and a waste of my and anyone else's money. I urge the consume to sign up with a racing organization or track provider with an established reputation that hosts their events on a REAL race track, with multiple qualified and verifiable instructors, the proper safety equipment (medical team, crash team, paddocks, etc), and one that has been around for a long time and doesn't host events at kiddie go-cart tracks or advertise on Craigslist.

Getting threats from his laywer to me shows even more about his personality and way of doing business in my opinion. Instead of updating his site or actively trying to fix his reputation, he is trying to shut up anyone who has legitimate questions about his credibility.  Just prove your credibility through a third party or regain credibility with some current race or instructor organizations. If that is done, than a report like mine questioning his credibility and stating my opnion of the quality of the course will be null and void. 

The previous poster has already provided a link with scans of various articles, photos, and a copy of Can's FIM license.  The OP needs to remember that a huge amount of published articles pre-1997 never made it into searchable data from Google unless somebody actually scans them in at some point.  Just because you can't immediately find it online (it was over 20 years ago, after all) doesn't make Can Akkaya a fraud.

One of the key fundamentals of turning on a motorcyle is visual skills.  If you're unable to locate your turn in point and identify your apex and exit, you won't identify your line correctly, and you won't be able to complete your turn right no matter how big or "full sized" your track is or how your body position looks like.  Teaching this on a go-kart track with plenty of turns is a cost efficient way to get riders plenty of chances to practice visuals without having to worry about being distracted by survival instincts kicking in by entering into an unfamiliar turn, compounded by higher speed.  

I've taken classes from Lee Parks, Can Akkaya, and Keith Code's school in the past 3 years and while Can is by far the least polished lecturer of the 3, being a non-native English speaker, he's extremely knowledgeable on everything road-racing related and the insight he provides is invaluable.  You will not find another instructor who will give you the sort of direct feedback he does.  This is not to say that he will stand there and bark profanities at you all day either.  My wife was in the same session as I was, and Can never once said anything offensive or out of line.  

This entry against Superbike-Coach and Can Akkaya should be taken with a grain of salt.

Here is a proof that Can Akkaya is indeed a professional racer with a history of wins

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/9607/Motorcycle-Photo-Gallery/Restoring-Reputation---Coach-Can-Akkayas-Race-History.aspx

I personally found the little kart track to be a very fun experience on a motorcycle -- it is much safer than a large track, slow and hence less scary, tight turns offered me greater leaning angles than I was ready to do on a large track. This also allowed me to learn to plant my kneed down on the ground.

In my session, the track was large enough for the riders on 1200's, 1000's, 600's to enjoy.

The theoretical background provided by Coach is not much different from what I've learnt from Twist of the Wrist books. I've found the drills he made us do very useful (we did counter steering, and trail braking in Cornering School Day 2).

Can Akkaya has a 'style' of doing his lectures, I don't necessarily agree with all things he said nor like his style a lot, but this was certainly worth of $99 I paid and I'm looking forward to Cornering School Day 3.

I would prefer to have some more feedback from the Coach on how I was doing and what are my mistakes, but for $99 and a group of ~30 riders... I don't think I could expect this form him without me asking for it explicitly (which I did not).

This report contains false accusations against an individual who is the main function of a corporation. This statement is considered libel. Ripoffreport and the first amendment do not protect false statements and this will result in a defamation lawsuit against the original author.

This statement is published to a third party, this statement has caused documented long-term injury to the reputation and revenues of aformentioned business, certain statements made herein have been confirmed false and the statements are unpriveleged in nature. 

 Should this report not be removed immediately, and pending identity confirmation, an official complaint will be filed.

 We appreciate your cooperation in this matter,

Stephen J. Burns