Mrs_T

Hi! This is long, sorry!! So, I did my CBT yesterday!! I went with a local and popular training and examination centre in Hull, as I'd seen them training on the school behind my house for 5 years and they seemed down to earth, plus no one tends to have a bad word to say about them... 7.45am start, powerpoint presentation with added safety gear video. I had opted for a geared bike as I don't really fancy a scooter and never wanted to be left without a clue if I happened to only be able to find a cheap bike with gears. Having never ridden on a bike even as a pillion, this was a brave move! There were 3 of us learning geared bikes, and 4 riding scooters, all but 2 of us brand new riders (the 2 not-new riders hadn't ridden for 3.5 and 4 years anyways, so practically new riders!). I was surprised that out of the 7 of us, there were 3 females. We picked out the safety gear we wanted to borrow after having a look around the bike and being shown how to conduct basic safety checks like that the wheels move, full lock left and right can be achieved and the lights are all working. I would now suggest to any smaller people to barge to the front at this stage. I spent the entire day in gloves that were ripped down most of the fingers and too big for me, a jacket that would have fit another one of me in (their smallest; I'd advise taking your own) and a helmet that was too small for me causing me to remove it to a spotty imbedded-lining-face after spending the day very squidged and uncomfortable. I stalled and chugged repeatedly, and very nearly fell over/crashed into fences for about half an hour . I'm pretty certain that this was because of distraction (could see my daughter in her bedroom from the pad and as it was now 9am I was nervous my babysitting sister hadn't yet gotten up to feed her - as soon as my sister came to the window I could immediately do corners, check morrors and pick up speed!), so try and clear your mind of all other things before you start. We then got on to changing gears and picking up speed, before learning how to do a lifesaver. We spent about 2.5 hours on the pad in all, practicing these things (about 45 minutes longer than those on the scooters). We only did two left hand corners, compared to about 30+ right hand corners, and I totally lost my balance and nearly fell off again doing that, despite riding relatively confidently by this point. After this, went back to the base and broke for lunch for an hour! Our instructor over on the pad really needs to be referred to at this point. I won't name him as I've named the company and think that it would be unfair, and as such will refer to him by a fitting nickname. We'll go for "Shouty Man". Although I appreciate he had best interests in heart, wanted to ensure our safety and undoubtedly knew better than we did, he seemed to have a pretty short fuse on him. Yes I was making stupid mistakes by letting go of the clutch too soon and not picking up brand new manouvers immediately, but I don't feel I needed shouting at for it. It made me more nervous, and I screwed up more because of it. He put it down to me rushing when I then made another error. I put it down to fear and tension. The company has 6 instructors, and the others are extremely banterous and down-to-earth, and I loved being in the base to have a laugh with them. I saw one of them conducting more training today when I was walking into town with my daughter and got a wave! Shouty Man was not someone who would like jokes. Or waving. When I was at home making lunch for myself, daughter and sister, I was really considering just not returning to complete my on-road part. I had very little confidence in my ability to ride, and couldn't imagine myself completing it successfully. Perhaps Shouty Man is more used to teenaged boys who need their feet keeping on the ground? He was positive at times, and was capable of positive reinforcement, but it was kind of over-shadowed by the Shouty-ness. Anyways, £95 out of pocket and no driving license currently in my possession (they keep it in the centre all day), I decided to return to the base for the road ride. When we were let back in, we went upstairs for a delightful little powerpoint about all the different ways that you could die from riding a motorbike, graphic images of what happens if you wear shorts as opposed to trousers, a reminder that helmets can smash in half on impact and a rules-of-the-road mini-quiz in which the 4 drivers (including myself) realised that we collectively had absolutely no idea what an amber light meant in a traffic light sequence. Luckily we were with one of the 5 other instructors, and it was something to laugh at ourselves for, not a Shouty matter. We thought it was a "get ready" signal, as opposed to a "make sure the person behind won't kill you if you don't move" signal. I did, however, promise to re-read my Highway Code. After the powerpoint that sent half of the class to the toilet in fear, we got ready to go out on the road. We had an earpiece each to put on, and with a helmet too small that was even more of an issue for me, with my ear fast becoming bright red and really painful. My heart sunk when Shouty Man announced that we would be with him. We went down the road perhaps half a mile to a dead end to pick up some confidence. It was pretty cool riding down there, up to the point that I realised I was riding at 20MPH and nearly messed myself! Little bit of failing-to-do-manouvers-and-being-shouted-at later, we went for a ride around the estate. I was up front for most of the 2 hours, as the other girl's battery died on her earpiece thing, so my confidence had to pick up. I learnt to steer more with my hips than with my shoulders, which made things so much easier. I don't know if that might be a frowned-upon way to ride by bikers generally, but shouty man never rollicked me for it, so I assume it must be somewhere near safe. I was terrified about doing a roundabout but on approach at a relatively large roundabout I kicked its butt first time. Shouty man kept talking to the other girl despite her earpiece not working, and never bothered to use her name, which scored me a right rollicking for pulling into a carpark after he shouted "GO LEFT, GO LEFT" into the mic and I followed the instruction. The radio contact is one way, and so there's no way of checking the instructions are actually for you. The idea is you nod if you can understand them, and shake your head if you never made out what they said, or are psychic and know they're talking to you through their helmet but can't hear them in your ear (something the other girl got a rollicking for). As he wasn't directly behind me at this point (still on the main road when I was down side street), nodding never worked as there was no opportunity for him to say 'Not you'. He kept saying to me once I'd pulled up in the car park (in angry voice) "why have you pulled into there? I never told you to go in there, so why did you go in there". When I nervously answered "I'm sorry! Her earpiece isn't working, I'd come left around the corner and you said to 'go left, go left', I assumed you wanted me to come into here? Sorry." he replied "I understand why you did that now, then, but you've put yourself in danger coming into here [an scubadiving kit car park] and shouldn't have come in" (still angry). Bit more riding later, ability to get to 30mph achieved, confidence heightened, free-riding done when instructor and other learner got stuck at traffic lights/junctions/roundabouts later, I PASSED my CBT! I actually couldn't believe it!! They way he'd been going off at us I assumed we were both useless (you can still hear when the other person's getting told off, even when they're not psychic enough to know they are)! Back at base we were talking to two others who'd gone out with a nice, jolly man and mentioned that Shouty Man was very "stern", and the other girl replied, "yeah he did get angry fast, didn't he?". My sister did her CBT with the same company a while back, and apparently her instructor gently encouraged her when she screwed up with "you know you did that wrong, don't you, don't worry about it and just don't do it again" in what she described as a clearly friendly and relaxed manner. It would seem that this one instructor is suited to teens who ride like maniacs, not girls who're terrified of a machine they've never sat on before. Although I passed, what was supposed to be an enjoyable experience was terrifying. I'd seriously suggest that, if you don't trust your instructor to not keep yelling at you when you're not the sort of person who benefits from tough love in such an environment, ask someone if you can go with a different instructor. It may or may not have made a difference for me, but I am terrified of getting on a bike now. Despite his words of encouragement, his shoutyness has stuck so much more.

Thank you, throttled Intend to go into a store in near future, but having an idea helps, especially as I'll probably have a 5 year old with me! Thanks for the advice

Hiya, just wondering what the motocross style helmet is like room-wise?? May sound odd, but I passed my CBT yesterday and had to borrow one of their helmets. Granted it was too small for me anyway and I walked round the rest of the day with lining-face, but when I pulled the visor down (after having my head flung back every time I did 30 with it up) I started having a panic issue. Not a confident rider, and can't ride if I'm jittery because of the helmet space issue. Is the moto-cross helmet better for that? I've seen they kind of point outward toward the mouth area... Am sure I read on here you had an issue with the space available inside the helmet too??

ahh, yes I do know what you mean, and that's pretty useful then! Clearly some companies are very lovely and nice! And no, wet crotch doesn't sound appealing! Already preparing myself (mentally) for walking like a cowboy for a while, wet patch is not going to aid my acceptance into the school! Thank you!!

Hi Tango Yes, that might be a bit far, but we shall see how funds are going, etc, and will definitely bear it in mind! Thank you

Hi Fast Eddie, I looked on that site that you linked to as well, but the jacket on there was about £80 more expensive, with a lot less hi-vis patches on it, so hopefully I'll be able to get the cheaper one and it'll be almost as decent Yep, there will be a lot of local driving, expect the most I'll do is perhaps up to Hessle or Beverley, meaning bursts of 40mph for maybe 5-10minute periods, longest rides would probably be maybe 30-40min... Ahh, so much to consider!!

Ahh OK, thanks, will do my best to buy from the same brand then Yep the one that I've been noticing is this one http://www.twowheel.co.uk/rst-alpha-ii-textile-jacket-fluro-yellow.html...

Hi Colin the Bear, thank you! Was unsure whether there were specific sites that I needed to look at, so knowing to just Google it is really helpful, thanks Does a jacket stating that it's windproof mean much, then, if you're talking about layering up underneath? Obviously I don't want to be cold and so layering up's all go, need be, but at the same time I don't want to turn up for a day teaching kids dripping with sweat :/ Should I avoid anything that says windproof or is it only a partial help? I Googled RST and looked at the jackets - the one with the hi-vis all over it is actually the one I've seen over a few sites that had caught my eye, so will see if I can manage to get one of those if it's a good brand, thanks Have read about the jackets having zips to attach them to pants, and having read the first moderater-written post on here I can see why that's a good thing - do all zips fit all pants, or do you need to buy a set/the same overall brand? Massive thanks to everyone who is replying to this! So, so reassuring to have this assistance and know where to put my money for the best use!!!

Ooh that sounds like a good idea - but how do I find out where/when they are? Are they advertised anywhere that I can have a look? Thank you

Ahh wow, thank you all for your help!! I'll definitely be taking notice of all that you're saying when making my decision! Have already been looking more towards jackets with fluorescent parts, particularly on the back, think that's probably more important than some daft picture in the real world, particularly for a starter rider! And I guess finding a decent jacket then Googling it makes a lot of sense - probably the reason that I never thought of that ! Thanks again, I really do appreciate any and all help!

Hi! Thanks very much!! Have been having a look at pricing, style and what type of protection's available (very few have back armour, I'm noticing!) on Amazon and eBay, but being nervous of getting the wrong size really held me back on serious hunting After reading the post about jeans wearing through in something like 0.2 seconds I'm thinking I'm going to need something with trousers that attach, too, so feel that may up my price bracket!! Eek! Will keep an eye out on eBay for size 12's though in any case!! Thanks very much!

Apologies, as this may be a well and truly stupid question, but after helmet and gloves, my next priority is to buy a jacket. With the 'job' of the jacket and its general importance to my overall safety, I obviously want a good-fitting one. Generally I'm around a size 12; should I expect a size 12 motorcycle jacket to fit me correctly, or should I be sizing up/down? I'm probably going to need to buy from an online retailer, as there only seem to be about 4 shops in Hull selling, and the prices are well and truly beyond what I can afford right now (if anyone knows a cheap store locally please let me know!), and I don't want the hassle and expense of having to keep returning them. There's also the issue that a few online retailers don't distinguish between mens and womens jackets, making the choice that much harder. Any advice for a completely novice rider would be extremely greatfully received! Thanks, Kirsty