dieliekdawg

June seems ages ago now... I did my Mod1 with the same people I did CBT with. Turned up at the yard nice and early again and got the paperwork out of the way, it was just two of us for the day - the other guy had booked his Mod1 for the slot before mine. I bought my own gear this time as the loan helmet was a bit stinky and uncomfortable. Instructor laid out a course in the yard and we practised slaloms, figure-of-eights and u-turns over and over again until we'd both nailed it then did the same with the swerve and stop. Must have done every exercise 20 times each! We then rode over to the test centre. There was loads more space than we'd been practising in (our instructor had intentionally laid his cones out closer together than the test centre) and the surface was even, level and dry. Perfect. The other guy went first and was doing fine until it came to the swerve - he misjudged the stopping part and went sailing right through the blue box, stopping about ten feet after it. Everything else was fine, he was gutted. My go next and I suddenly got really nervous. Checked the paperwork and got my helmet on then went outside. The examiner opened the gate and waved me into the yard, I took a couple of deep breaths, did the obligatory comedy lifesavers in case there was a car coming through the fence behind me and set off. Park in the box, no problem. Wheel the bike into the other box, fine. Slalom and figure-of-eight, easy. Swerve, bang on. Loads of room. U-turn, ended up 18" from the line, perfect. Slow ride, wobbling all over the place but no feet down. Emergency stop, bang on the button, no skidding! I thought that was it but then "unfortunately you didn't achieve the required speed on the avoidance". Crap. I asked how fast it was and he said 48kph. 2kph off ffs. Lifesavers, round the big curve again, straighten up, throttle WIDE open this time, roll off through the trap, swerve and stop with the front wheel bang in the middle of the box. Spot on. Parked the bike up again then inside to finish the paperwork. I got 56kph for the stop and 58kph for the swerve with no minors. Happy days! The ride back to the training place was fun again, a nice run through the countryside. The test itself was quite stressful but the rest of the day was really good fun. Almost there now, just need to get Mod2 done and I'm finished!

Work being a pain in the ass. Rescheduled again for 8th September.....

Don't fear the 500! No different going from a 125 to a 500 than it is going from a 1L car to a 2L car in my opinion - chances are it'll be more stable and have better brakes than a 125 anyway. It'll be heavier and maybe have a wider turning circle so the manual handling will be trickier but I think overall Mod1 is easier on a larger bike. I don't know how big you are but there's no way a 125 would drag my fat ass to 50kph in the distance allowed either

The two guys immediately before me both failed (both missed the blue box after the swerve) then a convoy of trainees turned up with another instructor to watch. Pressure much? The manoeuvres are easy enough and there's loads of space. It's the nerves which will mess it up for you.

Sorry, been a bit slack posting this but better late than never eh? I turned up at the training centre in beautiful sunshine around 8:45, one of the instructors was already there pushing bikes around in the yard. Another trainee turned up just after me on what appeared to be a full-size hardtail chop fitted with a tiny 125cc motor and another kid arrived a few minutes later on the back of his mate's mountain bike. He was recertifying on a 50cc twist-and-go scooter. The instructor who was going to be training us got there a few minutes later and we went into the office to sort out paperwork and have the obligatory safety chat. We got kitted out in helmets, hi-viz and gloves, went out into the yard and had a quick look over the bikes. We checked out the controls and chatted about maintenance but we'd all ridden before so this didn't take long. Pushed the bikes round in a circle then we got on and started the engines. I'll be honest, I got a little nervous at this point - I'd not been near a bike in two decades and I was about to attempt to ride a 500! The two other guys shot off and started circling like vultures. Deep breath. Clutch in, first gear, feel the biting point, bit more gas, bike starts moving, feet up, RIDING! I was a bit wobbly at first but after I'd spent a few minutes going round in circles, getting used to the gears and brakes it all started coming back to me. We did pretend junctions, U turns, figure-of-eights, emergency stops and all the time I was getting smoother and more controlled. After lunch it was time for the road ride. The guys on the small bikes went off with one instructor and I got to go on my own with another. We spent a few minutes tootling around the local housing estate (I was a bit nervous about riding on public roads but this quickly passed) and then stopped in a quiet cul-de-sac for the U-turn and emergency stop. My instructor then suggested that as my riding was already more than good enough to complete my CBT there was little point in plodding around housing estates for the rest of the afternoon and we should treat the remainder of the road ride as a DAS day! Awesome We rode out into the countryside and had a quick run along a fast A road and then down some nice twisty B roads before stopping for coffee in the next town. We went through all the MOD1 exercises and then rode over to the local testing centre to look at the course itself (there's loads more room than I was expecting) followed by another cross-country blast back to the training centre. It was fantastic, a proper little ride out, my first in 20 years! As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed the whole experience, particularly the road ride. It felt SO good to be riding a bike again - not just trundling around housing estates like I was expecting but properly charging around the countryside! I'm still amazed at how easily everything came back to me and how quickly I got up to speed again.

Lies! Booked it just now for the 4th of August

I had a provisional bike licence before I got my full car licence which allowed me to ride 125cc without doing CBT but that was back in 1989. When I passed my car test in 1990 I also got a full moped licence and could ride 50cc without L plates. The way I understood it at the time was I could continue to ride 125cc without ever doing CBT but I would still need to get a valid CBT certificate if I wanted to take my test. This was all happening around the time CBT started so the rules were slightly different as there were people like me already riding 125 and 50cc when CBT was introduced. I believe I could still ride a 125 without doing CBT if I wanted to.

Yep, I had a blast doing mine. There's a lot of basic safety stuff discussed which is obviously aimed at kids on scooters but you can do your CBT on a 500 if you're going down the DAS route which makes the road riding a lot more fun. My CBT road ride was more like a Mod2 training run really...

That sucks mate. Any idea how quickly you can reschedule it? Maybe look for cancellations at another centre?

Cheers guys! Haven't booked Mod2 yet but looking at getting it done next month hopefully - I'll have a look at the DSA webby in a bit and see what's available...

Had to do the swerve twice as I only got 48kph the first time. I blame my instructor for telling me to calm it down abit as I'd been doing them really quick in the practice yard Final score was 56kph for the stop, 58kph for the swerve and no minors. Happy days!

I'll certainly have a word about it when I see him next although now I suspect he may have just been winding me up hehehe

Sweet! That's really good news, cheers mate

Are you sure? My CBT instructor told me otherwise...

Good luck mate, fingers crossed for you. I've got mine on Thursday, weather's looking good at least....

So, Mod1 on Thursday and I'm thinking about the rule that people with new licences will get disqualified and have to retake their tests if they get 6 points within the first 2 years of passing. Bearing in mind that this can be two speed cameras withing a mile of each other it seems a little harsh. Anyway, I've already got a full car licence - if I get 2 speeding tickets while I'm in the car will I still get disqualified? If I get 2 speeding tickets on the bike will I lose the bike entitlement only or lose my licence altogether? Just seems a bit harsh that after having a full clean (car) driving licence for 20 years I could be put in a position where I could lose it for two speeding tickets just because I passed my bike test recently?

Doesn't have to be. Depends on how you want to do it, what kind of experience you have and how quickly you pick it up etc. Have you done the CBT yet or not?

I'm doing it in stages. Did my theory test last month, CBT this month and, on my instructor's recommendation, going for my Module 1 next month with a couple of hours practice beforehand. I'd suggest doing your CBT (which I guess you'll have to do anyway) and asking your instructor how he thinks you should proceed. Better than dropping £800 on training you may not need with instructors you might not get on with. Theory questions are just common sense, hazard perception shouldn't be a problem if you have a few years driving experience and understand how the test works.

Oh man, that was SOOOOOOOO much fun, I was a little bit unsteady to begin with but once I got onto the road riding bit everything just fell back into place. I'll post in more detail in the experiences thread when I have more time but I just wanted to say YAY! while I'm still buzzing First time on a bike in 20 years! YAY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srr9YrvoszU

CBT tomorrow morning, weather's looking pretty good and I'm really looking forward to it. Can't get the theme from "Kick Start" out of my head for some reason It'll be the first time I've ridden a bike in almost 20 years. Where the hell did those two decades go?

Yeah, I got a bit carried away booking stuff and originally booked a slot when I was on a night shift which probably wouldn't have gone so well as I'd have been half asleep. Managed to get a cancellation and decided to just go for it

Sailed through my theory this afternoon, got 50/50 on the multiple guess and 67/75 on the hazard perception which I'm well happy with. Studying-wise I just did a few online practice exams and read about people's experiences on here so I had a good idea what to expect. Never got around to buying a DVD or highway code but I guess the 22 years driving experience helped somewhat hehehe. CBT next month, really looking forward to getting back on a bike after all this time - just hope the weather's as nice then as it is now. Also, the girl at the test centre in Northampton is a right miserable cow! Really rude and unhelpful but I got what I went in for and it's not like I'll ever be going back there again so

Just booked my CBT for the 10th of May too o/

Yeah, that happened to me when I did the online practice - you can see where you clicked on the timeline afterwards. Might nip out at lunchtime and see if I can pick up a dvd somewhere...