phil4

30mph in my test but I did it when you still did the emergency stop on the road.

I had a nice dry road, unlike my Dad when he did his test who had to do it on wet leaves.

 

What? They don't do it on the road these days?

We just rode round the block until the examiner jumped out from behind a tree and so long as you didn't run him over you passed.

 

Same here, not so much a tree or bush as I could see where he was from the other side of the square he had me ride around, so I knew when he was going to step out in front of me!

Probably a good reason they changed it I guess.

I was told it was to do with the required speed being over 30mph.

As such they couldn’t use most of the roads they would without advocating breaking the speed limit.

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Yes, as said you need a provisional, but that’s it.

I did mine a good few weeks before the CBT and DAS, as just “got it out of the way”, and gave breathing room if a retest was needed.

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Good luck next time!

Figure of 8 was my nemesis, just couldn’t keep the throttle steady what with arm going from full extension to bent and back.

Just thought of the mod1 as a practice and no issues.

It’s the toughest test though, as just no room for error whatsoever. Foot down, cone hit, line crossed, too slow, too fast you fail.

So don’t feel bad if you fail. And feel epic when you pass!

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When I did mine a couple of years back each clip had 1 and only - hazard, except for one “double hazard” clip.

I fell into the trap of flagging potential hazards, the double tap saved me, but on one clip I over clicked and scored 0.

It’s a bit tricky as you don’t score and can be penalised for clicking potential hazards, but equally it can be a bit late if you wait until it actually happens... and of course in hindsight it’s obvious.

I still passed by a reasonable margin, so no great problems, just adopt the strategy mentioned and Practice a bit.

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I've a set of textiles which get most use in the winter. A one piece "race" suit for track, and leather jacket and Kevlar jeans for summer.

I get too hot in all of them, my thermostat is broken.

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when I owned a twin I very rarely touched the brakes!

Yep still the same for me months on.

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I've always thought the perpetual L platers was a bad thing.

The Gov't/DVSA clearly feel that we're not properly safe on the road until we've passed our test. After all that's why there is one.

For many who just want to get from A to B however the cheapest and easiest way forward is simply CBT every 2 years.

Surely anything that makes that less likely, and gets more people to do the test properly is a good thing? I'd think that sitting the theory test before the CBT would be a good idea, after all if you're doing it on the path to a license you'd have been doing it anyway, and if you're planning on riding and renewing, what's the harm in having to learn the highway code?

The rest of the suggestions also seem to make sense, I can't think anything I saw that would make for less safe riders on the road, which surely is a good thing, and all without bumping up costs massively or being particularly draconian.

I've got a few bits, and use IFTTT amongst other things to link them up. I think we'll find as the years go by even more stuff will talk to more things.

For example, Logitech Harmony remotes (typically used to control the TV) will talk to some of the mart lights and sockets, with buttons for them on the remote. Amazon echo an turn Belkin wemo stuff on and off.

So for example today, I fitted the outside crimbo lights, into a Wemo plug, with an IFTTT applet to turn them on at sunset and off at 11pm. In addition I can ask Alexa (though the echo) to turn them on or off. I've not bothered to add them to the logitech remote. I've a few other IFTTT apps for turning the heating on if it's gonig to be cold (Nest thermostat), and cross posting facebook and twitter.

For me it's all just a bit too disparate. The christmas lights are probably the closest at the moment to genuinely useful. The rest are just fringe benefits.

Great time, well done!

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Great news! Well done!

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Does my nut. There's a few perfectly good cycle lanes round here that a good many cyclists ignore, and then slow the traffic greatly. Selfish is how I see it.

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Sorry to hear it didn't go well. I'm quite surprised how little time you've had on a bigger bike. I did 3 or 4 days on one prior to my mod1.

And while I'd thoroughly recommend contact lenses over glasses... I'd warn that if you've never tried them, expect a week or two of hell... it takes a while for your eyes to get used to them, and, well, you know how good it feels to have something in your eye. I'm not trying to put you off, the upsides outweigh for sure, but don't start with big things like your test just round the corner.

Good luck going forward.

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Don't forget, on certain bikes your leg position will be such that knee pad placement and leg length are very different on the bike to standing.

I'm on a sports bike so ordered the next size up, standing up they're far too long and knee pads too low. On the bike however they're perfect.

Your and your bikes dimensions may change this though, so I guess I'm saying try not to take it standing up, experiment on a bike.

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Security was taken rather seriously. I had to empty my pockets and put everything in a locker along with my coat and my jumper - so I did the test in the T-shirt I had on underneath.

They also insisted on inspecting my glasses and seeing my mobile being turned off and put into the locker.

I've worked in secure sites (I used to have CTC and SC clearances) that were less of an issue to get into.

Yep, mine was the same in Oxford. I was genuinely surprised by how suspicious they were. Fitness tracker - in the locker, watch - in the locker, phone - turned off an in the locker, coat - in the locker.

Airports security takes less notice.

That being said, I'm sure I could work a way round it. I wasn't frisked for example, so hidden devices could work.....

Anyway, well done on the pass, that's a great start

They need to work out what various socio economic groups you fit in. So for example they can then send you appropriate questionnaires. It's unlikely you'd get meaningful responses asking someone on national average wage about private jets, their experience and preferences. I've found a good many questionnaires ask about income, so it's not uncommon.

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Head up, look where you want to go, and don't go -too- slow, it'll just make it harder.

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Passing the car test validates 50cc and perm CBT entitlement until your car licence runs out. If you're riding a 125cc then it's every 2 years until you pass a bike test. Confusing but true, don't think they thought people would keep doing a CBT..........or did they?

I think that only applys to mopeds:

https://www.gov.uk/cbt-compulsory-basic-training/cbt-if-you-have-a-car-driving-licence" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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In a car at least, if you coasted on the clutch while braking, you would fail your test.

On both bike and in the car, I've had the instructor say that coasting like that means you're "not in control of the vehicle" and therefore will fail.

As you said you also lose out on engine breaking, which on lesser cylinder bikes can by itself be quite reasonable.

I believe it also helps you to stop locking the rear. If you've the clutch out the engine is still trying to turn the wheel, helping stop it lock. I may be wrong about this however.

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I recently did my training and test with http://abbeymotorcycleinstructors.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; who are south of Oxford at Culham, near Abingdon. They were friendly, helpful and I passed first time. Id recommend them based on my experience.

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Also, if I had one tip... Don't try and go too slowly! Try a comfortable speed (speed=stability) and when that's easily repeated try slowing it down a little bit. Good clutch control as suggested is the key, but you want to be practising that not worrying about wobbling off because you were going at 1mph.

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I used to do them before signalling and then just before the move. Then my instructor corrected me and pointed out the the first one isn't a lifesaver, just observation, that the life saver is and only is just before you move. My current bike has shocking mirrors, so lots of observation needed.

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Well done, that's great news!!!

Mod2 is a breeze in comparison, just a ride about.

Awesome news, well done you!!!

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Just remember you can do it again if you fail, it's the cheaper of the two and only need to wait a few days to rebook.

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Congrats! That's a great start. Good luck with the practical bits.

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