OhJay

Mr Brightside - The Killers

A full car licence automatically provides provisional motorcycle entitlement It's listed on the paper counterpart under provisional entitlements so you'll be fine. It's the same provisional entitlement to do your CBT as your full test so if it's good for one then it's good for t'other

CBT lasts for 2 years from the day you get it, allows you ride round on your own on L plates on a 125. If you don't pass your test (DAS or restricted) within those 2 years then you have to do another CBT which will last for another 2 years... Theory's the same, lasts for 2 years from when you get it. You don't need CBT to do theory and you don't need theory to do CBT but you need both to do your test so if you're doing your theory it shows you're aiming for your full test rather than a career CBT'er. You need CBT and theory in date to sit mod1 of your full test. You need all those three to be able to sit mod2 So you could go out and do your CBT tomorrow, get yourself a 125 and ride round on it 'til October if you wanted and then start your lessons. Will give you a couple of months experience on a bike before your birthday.

They certainly won't be the same day, CBT is usually a day in itself. Some places will do an intensive week where you do your CBT on the Monday then Tuesday to Thursday is training and your tests on Friday but if you fail mod1 on the Friday then you won't be able to sit mod2 but will lose the fee for it anyway. Theory test comes somewhere in that list as well, if you're going to do the intensive week then you'll need your theory done first else you can do it while you're having lessons. Personally I'd say spread it out a bit: do your CBT, get a bike and get some practice in on that then you can take lessons to get you through your full test. If you're looking at doing DAS then you must be old enough to do your CBT now and you'll have until October to practice on your 125. Best advice is to go talk to your local school, see what they do, see what they say and what advice they give you after you've done your CBT with them and they've seen what you can do.

Good luck

Conga rats!

You do feel like a right prat doing it but your arms are relaxed and just try being tense while you're giggling

Passed 50 on the multiple choice and 60 on the hazard perception Never going to live it down though, the Mrs got 50 and 61!

Talk yourself through everything while you're on the ride. Say everything out loud, what you're looking at, what you see, when you're changing down, look through the turn... Give yourself a running commentary inside your lid, makes your thoughts much clearer. Have you tried chewing gum? A tip I was given that really helped me with an anxiety problem. Stops your mouth going dry, prevents you clenching your jaw or grinding your teeth, and I also noticed when I was getting more stressed I started to chew harder and faster so when I noticed that if I consciously slowed my chewing down it had a noticeable effect on the tension. Flap your arms like you're doing the birdie song when you're on the bike. Forces you to keep your arms relaxed, try flapping at the elbow with straight or tense arms. And it usually makes me giggle as well, what the hell must I look like riding down the road flapping like a chicken? Good luck

If you keep the revs up you'll get some gyroscopic effect from the bits of the engine that are spinning that will help your stability and then it's all about using your clutch to control your speed. Always having a little bit of drive going through the wheel helps as well, if you suddenly pull the clutch right in half way round the turn you'll notice it start to fall over so keep it driving. I spent my first two lessons after my CBT on the school site learning this with my instructor constantly yelling "POWER" at me (no, I wasn't taught by Jeremy Clarkson) to make me keep the revs up and use the clutch better.

Now or on your test?

No you bloody won't! You can have them. I didn't expect the guys to offer me anything, I hadn't even thought of asking, let alone considered it

Me and my big mouth Chatting to the guys about this this afternoon and apparently it's about 99% going ahead now. Said I was toying with the idea of asking them if I could tag along with camera and one of the guys turned round and said "There's 8 of us going from here. I'll ask the rest of them but if you're prepared to give us the photos of us afterwards we'll all chip in for your accommodation costs. We're used to paying £30 each for photos of us so if it's only a tenner each we're up"

Yes, very definitely. You'll need to indicate to get into the filter lane and it will be of use to people coming the other way and out of the road you're turning in to. As Bogof said, for your test you should always indicate, the examiner is another road user and tells you to treat him as such.

Hard life Got to be worth it if you haven't got one, the visual deterrent alone is going to be worth more than £2.50

But my theory supports yours if you think about it, you get caught at 10pm... No workforce so it isnt dangerous so you get a fine. Do it in the day when the work force are present and you get points and a fine. Im not saying change the system so its revenue based, im just asking for a bit of common sense to determine when you get a fine for speeding and when you get both. Ah, I misunderstood what you were saying then. My apologies

I don't think speed cameras are the answer. It needs judgement and real policemen rather than the black and white that speed cameras see the world as. I used to stick up for speed cameras and I still do for those in accident black spots, if it's dangerous there then makes sense to drive sensibly through it. But I got caught in a dual carriageway roadworks 40 section by a speed camera. It's 40 to prevent debris being kicked up and hitting the workmen, fair enough, but at 10:00 on a Sunday night there wasn't anyone working. There was no one else on the stretch of dual carriageway with me so my 53 through the roadworks wasn't dangerous but it was above the hard line set in the speed camera so it sent me a ticket. I lost my respect for speed cameras there and then. I'd say the opposite of Fozz, though. I think points are appropriate, it's a sensible warning system that gives you three opportunities to learn before they take your licence away, where fines are less useful as it leads everyone to accuse speed cameras and coppers of revenue generation.

There are waterproof tax disc holders If you get one of the tube ones that you have to roll your tax disc up to put in, though, make sure the date's showing!

Conga rats

Go to your local school and see what they say. The people I'm learning with insisted on my doing a ride out with the lead instructor to see what my riding was like and they made a decision from that. Personally I much prefer doing a lesson a week anyway, means I get a little bit of something to work on and then the week to work on it in my own time rather than paying my instructor, lovely as he is, to sit and have a smoke while watching me practice it Besides, March is aaaaaaaaages away yet

BIG grats, well done

awwww sucks, bad luck hun I would say good luck for next time but sounds like you don't need it

I'll support this one and say please please please go, last I heard they were thinking of cancelling 'coz they still had 70 something spaces left. There's a reasonably large contingent going from the school I'm at and I'm considering asking if I can tag along with my camera

Been told I'm getting close enough to test consideration that I need to get my theory done and out the way so that when I'm ready I can just go rather than waste time and money having unnecessary lessons. So, theory's booked! 16th August in Reading. eep Been practicing the multiple choice bits and passing consistently, I think partly because I did it for my driving test so know what to expect and mostly because 90% of the questions are so ****ing obvious Struggling with the hazard perception bits though. I understand what they want but it seems like you need to click the instant the thing that causes the hazard turns up but you don't know which one of the things wandering around is going to cause the hazard and you don't want to click on everything 'coz then you get failed for clicking too much. Are they expecting you to be psychic or what? Have ordered a practice DVD off Amazon. Didn't get the DSA's own as it didn't look to have many clips and doesn't explain why you scored what you did, just tells you what you scored which I didn't think would help.

Then yeah, right hand lane approach, no indicator Indicate left as soon as your front wheel passes the first exit and go If you approach in the left hand lane there's a very real risk someone will pull out on you from that first road