Flangie74

I'd add that the phone apps are much more difficult because of the screen size, in the test centre it will be on a 15 inch (ish) monitor.

The hazard perception clips are all CGI now, and it is pretty easy to spot the emerging hazard. The only one I scored badly on (2 points) was a motorway with an accident in the distance, but all the urban/rural ones were obvious really. The trick is clicking within the score window! This lasts about 5 seconds so what I did was simply click 5 times (once per second) when the emerging hazard began (ie when you would need to slow down or take avoiding action in real life). I didnt bother clicking on potential hazards. Good luck!!

Think its a max of 2 students to 1 instructor which sounds ok

Good job on minimising the collatoral damage! Did cbt a couple of weeks back, but would be booking this for around June I guess. Won't have access to a 125 in the meantime unfortunately.

Have been driving almost 30 years, keen cyclist, but CBT is only motorbike experience.

Hi all The school I did my CBT with do a bike license in one week course- it's tempting to do it this way and get it all out of the way in one go. Has anyone else gone down this route? Any thoughts?

Hi all Just thought I'd post an update on this. In the end i re-booked with the same school on the basis of a) I've paid for it, and b) even if it was still bad it is all time on a bike in the end! I had complained to them when I rebooked and they apologised profusely, apparently they have a policy of not putting beginners with re-takers so it seems that there was a mix up in that respect. I also let them know about some of the shortcomings we identified here and through my chats with biker friends- there was a noticible 'oh fu**' atmosphere on the other end of the phone and again profuse apologies. So, that done I went for a second go this week, and the experience was entirely different. Was a different instructor, and I was on my own ( a couple of mopeders were due but never showed, probably due to the heavy rain....). The new instructor was absolutely great, very patient and supportive, and my previous confidence knock was cleared in no time. The instructor did ask me to let him know what hadn't been covered in my last one, so I think there was a bit of an investigation going on behind the scenes... Overall I had as much time as I needed for everything, including about half hour bombing around the car park on my own before the road ride, which was great. The road ride was great, as an experienced driver and cyclist it was much more natural for me than cones in a car park, and it went really quick. Got some great feedback along the way too. So I now have my CBT I was originally going to go straight to DAS but I had a lot of fun on the 125 so am going to get one of those for the summer to get some miles under my belt before going for DAS later in the year. Thanks very much to you all for your advice on this, was really appreciated.

Many of the apps available still use old fuzzy video, however the test itself now uses only CGI which is much clearer and the hazards are now incredibly easy to spot compared to the old videos. It would be difficult to get full marks I think due to the timing you'd need to hit the '5 score' window every time, but if you have been driving for a long time you should have little problem passing (touch wood). In terms of clicks I did 5 steady ones (a bit faster than one per second) when I saw the hazard develop and that seemed to cover the scoring window for the most part, without triggering a too many clicks warning.

We'll get there!!

No not yet- financially right now I can either get a bike but not DAS, or DAS but no bike! My PCP on my car ends early next year so that will be when I get a bike probably. So I'm quite relaxed about how long this takes

Thanks everybody, I appreciate the advice. I will try with a different school I think- this experience has left me with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, So I think it's best for me to start afresh. And Someone- yes we had to share the bike! I wasn't the first person to have dropped it thankfully- it had a massive dent in the fuel tank! And thanks for the explanation re: checking the bike first, that's a great safety heads-up for the future:-) Will also put in a complaint too, thanks Fullscreen

I think my main issue is not whether I'm happy with them, but whether I should be happy with the amount of bike time I had as a total beginner. I just can't imagine anyone going from zero experience to road ready in 45 minutes of riding.

Thanks Mike, I'm in south Birmingham.

Hi there everyone, First apologies for a bit of a long post. TLDR: Am I crap, or was it badly run training? Full story: After 27 years of driving and always wanting to ride I bike, I decided that this year would be The Year. , I am an absolute beginner on motorcycle, though I am a keen pedal cycler, and have a decent speedy road bike. But I digress.. So first thing I did was book my theory test, as it's been a long time since I looked at a highway code, and I wanted to make sure I was up to speed with things before starting something new- I passed on Wednesday Go Me! etc.... So when I first booked my theory I thought that seeing as both have a 2 year expiry, I would do my CBT the next day. Having looked at reviews on the internet I finally booked with a school that has a number of centres in the region (West Midlands) , one of which was about a mile from my house. Since booking I have been looking at a lot of youtube videos of CBT training so I had a good idea of what to expect. So yesterday I arrived at the centre and was greeted by an appalling car park (pot holes, gravel, uneven) 1 bike, 1 moped and 3 other trainees. One of these was a scooter rider with 2 years on the road, the other 2 were for the geared bike and had significant experience of riding previously (overseas and motorcross). The trainer was a decent guy, seemed very enthusiastic about bikes in general. So after handing out helmets gloves and jackets we were shown the controls and then began training proper. This is where things started to get a bit dodgy (I think...) Start - 9 am. Exercise 1, clutch control - went forward and stopped a couple of times. Was ok, got the basics. Then the others had a go- obviously did it perfectly (not including scooter obvs). Time on bike approx 5 minutes Exercise 2 - doing a circuit- was ok, a bit wobbly but did 3 laps and instructor said it was not too bad. Time on bike 5 minutes . Whilst the others had a go he asked me about how I felt about going on the road later. I didn't really have an opinion as I had only had been on a motorbike for 15 minutes. He then mentioned that I could upgrade to a guaranteed pass if I wasn't ready, and could book another day. Hmm, for a course aimed at total novices, this seemed pretty early to be talking about failure.... Exercise 3 - going in a circle. I found the balancing of clutch, throttle, rear break really difficult. Very wobbly and uneven. A couple of uncontrolled lurches off course, but managed to recover very ungracefully! Time on bike 5 minutes. Then spent 15 minutes watching the others do it perfectly. Knew there was no way I felt confident to go on the road, so paid 20 quid for the guaranteed pass. Exercise 4- figure 8- see exercise 4 for results. Time on bike 5 minutes Exercise 5- emergency stop. 1st one ok. 2nd one lost the bike and came off. Instructor said 'let me look at the bike you may have damaged it'. Then after damage was checked, 'are you ok?'. Priorities I guess, seeing as there was only one bike.....Tried again, skidded again. b]Time on bike 10 minutes (including damage inspection) [/b] Watched the others do it correctly. Exercise 6 - U-turn. I actually managed this, but again very wobbly. b]Time on bike 5 minutes[/b]. again spent 15 minutes watching the others do it correctly. We then walked around some cones set up like junctions for a few minutes, talking about what you should do. 1120, end of the day for me. Total time on bike approx. 35 minutes (45 if I'm being generous) I went home pretty dejected to be honest. Was like having and hour's car driving lesson, messing up the gear changes for 15 minutes and then having to sit in the back seat while 3 other people did it properly! Now, I have no problem with not going out on the road, as I definitely wasn't up to it, and with a wife and 2 kids I don't want to go out on the road unprepared and eff myself into the side of a car, or hit a child or similar. The instructor was very supportive at the end telling me not to worry and that I would get it in the end, but it didn't really help. My question is whether this is normal? Is someone with no experience really expected to be able to go on the road safely with less than an hour bike time under their belt? The videos I watched always showed everyone with individual bikes, and in some of the posts I have read on here people were still doing cone stuff in the mid afternoon, and still went on the road the same day. I can't help but think that because 3 other people knew what they were doing, the whole thing was cut short just to get the road ride out of the way early. Or am I just crap...? I was about to re-book with the same people to take advantage of the 'guaranteed pass' (it isn't, it's just an extra day), but then I started thinking that if it goes the same way, I'm going to be in an even worse place, still without the bike time to get used to the controls, and to feel safe and confident on the road, and with my enthusiasm severely diminished (and I'm one of the more optimistic people you'll ever meet!). I've looked at another trainer that rents the mod 1 area from the Birmingham test centre, and who have a max of 2 learners to a trainer (they also do military training apparently). Would I be better to sack off the £20 quid and just go to this new place? Your suggestions would be very welcome. Just want to ride a bike....