Module 1 - members test experiences

[Arwen]

So I done my Mod 1 today...

Had the worse practise session I've ever had on a bike before it, felt like I was almost as useless with a bike back when I was doing my CBT! My instructors had a bit of a giggle about it and told me to get all the nerves and mistakes out the way on the training then took the long way to the test centre, which helped calm me.

Thankfully the weather was dry and I passed (yay!) With one annoyig minor. Clocked 49kph on the avoidance, grrr! Clocked a nice 56kph on the emergency stop though!

So now I've won over the nerves of that horrible test, time to book Mod2

[nickjaxe]

Well done...glad you passed...good feeling isn't it...

[Arwen]

Thanks! It's a great feeling Only had about 2.5hrs on the bigger bike before going for Mod 1, and it is the test I was most nervous about so very glad it is over and done with now!

Time to get Mod 2 booked and hopefully get it done before winter creeps in.

[Joe85]

Hard bit done!

Well done.

[nickcook]

Do you get to choose which way round you go for the U-turn and the top corner, or is it set, or is it both?

[Hoggs]

Hi Nick,

I believe the U turn is always to the right, but the direction you take the top corner will differ as the avoidance part (around the cone after the speed trap) can either be to the left or right. The examiner will clearly tell you which way round the top to go and you can double check by seeing which side the speed trap is on.

Some helpful diagrams:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... a-diagrams

I think the left set up is slightly more common but your instructor will get you to practise the avoidance both ways

[nickcook]

Thanks Hoggs. I've got some of those diagrams printed off already!

[nickcook]

Been out practising this morning. Should be alright on the U turn and slalom. Probably need more practise on the figure of eight. Didn't really know about the walking pace speed, my speedo only starts at 10 mph. Practiced swerving at 32 mph, but just on the road, so don't know how it will be with properly placed cones.

And of course, I was only on my 125.

[number1barber]

get some cones or water bottles full of water. its really good to practice but yeah different weight on the big boy.

low speed clutch control is where the practice matters.

[Hoggs]

Probably need more practise on the figure of eight.

 

Best advice I had for this was do not think you have to keep a tight figure of eight, you've got a lot of space so use it! You may get a minor if you go really really wide but you will fail if you put your foot down by trying to turn too tight! Also after you come out the slalom try and make the crossover point as close to the top cone as you can, this will give you more space to cross back through and also try and keep the ride between the cones as straight as possible.

Keep your head up and after you have made the turn pick a spot in the distance (on the test you can use some of the cones that are about to keep you nice and straight)

I have drawn you an amazing diagram to explain this! I am aware it has a slight boob-ness about it....

Yellow are the slalom cones, blue are the figure 8 cones and the green Xs are to show where I was advised to look before you make the turn (making the turn keep head up and pick your target point exactly like in the U turn)

http://i.imgur.com/gpLWb6B.jpg

This really worked for me and the people I was training with so may be helpful

[Arwen]

I have drawn you an amazing diagram to explain this! I am aware it has a slight boob-ness about it....

Yellow are the slalom cones, blue are the figure 8 cones and the green Xs are to show where I was advised to look before you make the turn (making the turn keep head up and pick your target point exactly like in the U turn)

http://i.imgur.com/gpLWb6B.jpg

This really worked for me and the people I was training with so may be helpful

 

This works fantastically well. I visualised that I was "drawing" crosses rather than an "8" and that helped me.

The U turn is decided for you, you don't get to pick the direction. You will get a left hand circuit or a right hand circuit. You can normally tell which you get by looking for the speed trap equipment when you go in. But the tester will explain exactly where they want you to go and what to do anyways.

Try not to panic and stamp on the rear brake when doing the emergency stop. If you skid/lock the back wheel they can/will fail you right there and you wont do the rest of the test. During mine I only rested my foot on the rear brake and let the front brake do 90% of the work. The instructor said afterwards that it was possibly one of the quickest stops he as seen.

Stay calm and relaxed, that is the key to passing

[nickcook]

Hi, a couple more questions about Mod 1.

I know you have to do all the observations and life savers on Mod 1, but do I have to signal when pulling away every time?

When doing the figure of 8, do I have to go inside the end slalom cone or can I go round that as well as the figure of 8 one?

Ta

[Hoggs]

I know you have to do all the observations and life savers on Mod 1, but do I have to signal when pulling away every time?

 

No signalling required just the mirror-lifesave on each side

 

When doing the figure of 8, do I have to go inside the end slalom cone or can I go round that as well as the figure of 8 one?

 

Ideally you want to go in-between (there is quite a bit of room) to show your control - but if you do go round the yellow slalom you may get a minor but not a fail

[nickcook]

Thanks Hoggs!

[nickcook]

I've been out practising slalom, u-turns and figures of eight the past two days and finally getting the hang of clutch, throttle and rear brake control. I've also found they're a bit easier if I go slightly faster!

[nickcook]

Passed my Mod 1 a couple of weeks ago. 2 minors: went a bit wide on one of my figure of 8 loops and only did 49kph on the emergency stop.

I had booked a 2 day training course on a Honda 650. That was very different to my 125 and the first day was spent driving around a car park doing the manoeuvers and getting used to the bike. Mod 1 was lunchtime on day 2. The rest of day 2 was spent riding out on the roads. Mod 2 was the following week.

Doing lots of practising on my 125 was definitely worth it even if it was different on the 650.

[Bogof]

Ideally you want to go in-between (there is quite a bit of room) to show your control - but if you do go round the yellow slalom you may get a minor but not a fail

 

No, you won't get a minor. You can turn as wide as you want/need to with impunity.

[Hoggs]

I got a minor for going wide on the 8

[xxsteve-zorbaxx]

Hi all,

Just passed my MOD1 last Thursday first attempt with no minors. I thought I would share my experience with you.

I'm a 55yr old from Lincoln with no previous bike experience. I did the statutory CBT and passed the Theory test just before Christmas.

I then booked a DAS course with The Bike Academy in Lincoln, and started my MOD1 training on a Suzuki 650 Gladius last Tuesday.

Luckily, my training school could book the test centre facility in Lincoln to practice which must be a big advantage over those that don't have this luxury. However, it didn't start well at all!!

The slow man-oeuvres weren't too bad, though a bit wobbly (It was windy honest guv!) but when we got to the slightly faster stuff I nearly gave the instructor a couple of heart attacks! In the controlled stop exercise my instructor asked me to get up to 50kph at the speed trap (even though you can go slower for this on test) to use it as a gauge speed wise for the other 2 exercises. I did the top corner fine and when I came out of the corner I started to accelerate and guessed my speed as I was concentrating on my direction and felt I didn't have time to look at my speedo/rev counter. I rolled of the throttle at the speed trap and as I started to brake I wound the throttle back at the same time managing to sail through the stop cones and only just managing to stop before hitting the fence at the end of the test track!!!! Phew.

I won't repeat what my instructor was shouting in my ear at this point (mostly expletives) but along the lines "What the hell was that? You were better on your CBT etc" What he did identify though was that as i was rolling off my throttle, instead of just gently using my wrist I was using my arm and rolling off far too aggressively so that when I came to squeeze on the brake my arm would drop lower and roll the throttle back on at the same time as braking! I switched the bike off and jumped off and said "I don't mind you giving me a rollicking, but I do need a smoke break and let things calm down" (Smoke breaks are my way of getting rid of the nerves, although a disgusting habit I know).

10 minutes later, back on the bike and gradually things started to improve slightly and before you knew it we had run out of time. My instructor asked me if I felt I needed more training before the MOD1. I immediately said yes, so he booked us in again for a few hours at the test centre for the following day.

That evening with my confidence at a very low ebb I found this web site and started to read about other posters trials and tribulations of getting through their MOD1. It was an inspiration and made me feel like one of the crowd and not an isolated muppet who was the only one struggling to do this.

The next morning after a few warm up exercises in the training school yard we headed off to the test centre for more practice. When we got in the instructor said "where do you want to start?" and I said "Let's just run through a mock test or two" Few deep breaths and I was off. Result was that after doing 6 mock test I had passed 5 of them with a few minors dotted about and only failed 1 mock by not stopping with the front wheel in the blue cone area (rode through by 6"). I was now beginning to enjoy my new found confidence. the instruction has been great (I just need a bit longer than most for it to sink in) and I told him I was now ready for the test tomorrow (last Thurs).

Thursday........Few spins round the training track at the academy and off to the test centre.

The examiner was a friendly enough guy and put me at my ease. I hardly had any nerves and was determined to enjoy it! Passed with no minors and have my MOD2 training and test next week.

I must tell you though that as we left the test centre, I stalled at a junction (not done that before) and generally rode like a muppet for the next 5 minutes!! Ha ha (deffo a work in progress).

Good luck to all that are doing their MOD1's and honestly trust in your ability, training etc and you WILL be fine. Thanks again to all on this site that relaxed me so much by reading their experiences and I'll let you know how my MOD2 goes next week

Cheers. Steve

[dontwalkby]

Hi all,

I have failed my Mod 1 for the second time a couple of weeks ago.

Attempt 1: foot down on the figure of 8.(done on a Suzuki Gladius ABS)

Attempt 2: Emergency Stop almost came off.(Honda CB600F)

This has to be nerves related as have 16 months road experience on a 125 and 20+years road experience altogether. A part of me feels under pressure as I know I should do this no problem and cannot face doing my CBT again in January...I would rather give up and catch the bus than carry on like this.

It is also compounded by the feeling that the bike training company who have my DAS fee money are not interested in rebooking me for retest anytime soon. I got fed up waiting after my first failure so went to another for retest, they sit much better with me than the last lot. The company I have given my money to seem more interested in numbers than actually training anyone how to safely ride which has also left me feeling a bit concerned.

My dilemma is this: do I go for a third test with the guys who have my DAS money or do I bin them altogether and do the DAS with a company I can work with

I would also mention that I am more to blame for my own failures but I tend to do well when I feel comfortable with what I am doing.

Advice & comment are always appreciated.

[Hoggs]

Hello! Don't give up just yet!

As you said putting that kind of pressure on yourself is going to make you more nervous and nerves effect your balance which is going to make it a heck of a lot harder! I had a really good instructor who just went over and over and over everything until we nailed it everytime so we went to the mod 1 knowing it was doable! Lots of deep breaths were taken in between the exercises though!

As for the places.. how much of a money difference is there from one to the other? I'd say having a training co you are comfortable with will make a difference, especially when it comes to the mod 2 training. But if the other place already has the cash then maybe hound them and maybe see if you can get a different instructor? You're paying them for a service if they are not providing that service they should either up their game or give you a refund (this is my opinion but hopefully there's some kind of consumer law that backs that up )

[dontwalkby]

Hello! Don't give up just yet!

As you said putting that kind of pressure on yourself is going to make you more nervous and nerves effect your balance which is going to make it a heck of a lot harder! I had a really good instructor who just went over and over and over everything until we nailed it everytime so we went to the mod 1 knowing it was doable! Lots of deep breaths were taken in between the exercises though!

As for the places.. how much of a money difference is there from one to the other? I'd say having a training co you are comfortable with will make a difference, especially when it comes to the mod 2 training. But if the other place already has the cash then maybe hound them and maybe see if you can get a different instructor? You're paying them for a service if they are not providing that service they should either up their game or give you a refund (this is my opinion but hopefully there's some kind of consumer law that backs that up )

 

Hi,

Might have to bite the bullet....no refunds offered under any circumstances but to be fair I am not sure I even want to set eyes on them again.I believe these failures will only serve me well in the future if I pass, learnt a hell of a lot about riding in the last month.

Cheers for your thoughts

[L_J]

Well, attempted my Mod 1 today and failed within 2 minutes...

Was really confident beforehand, even looking forward to it. I'd never hit a cone or put a foot down in training and must have attempted the slalom & figure of 8 30+ times without fault. As soon as I was in the test area the nerves must have hit, went too slow on the figure of 8 and put a foot down!! Massively pissed off at myself and now worried that the nerves will be worse next time round and I'll do the same. Re-sit not till the end of June so will have to cancel Mod 2 that was booked for 2 weeks time, gutted!

[dontwalkby]

Well, attempted my Mod 1 today and failed within 2 minutes...

Was really confident beforehand, even looking forward to it. I'd never hit a cone or put a foot down in training and must have attempted the slalom & figure of 8 30+ times without fault. As soon as I was in the test area the nerves must have hit, went too slow on the figure of 8 and put a foot down!! Massively pissed off at myself and now worried that the nerves will be worse next time round and I'll do the same. Re-sit not till the end of June so will have to cancel Mod 2 that was booked for 2 weeks time, gutted!

 

It's a horrible feeling and really stinks! You can buy 50 cones for about £8 and then find yourself a quiet spot. That has helped massively to convince me I am capable.Also, i have been emergency braking whenever I am on the bike to help improve my technique....when I do this mod 1 next time I will smash the ******** out of it!

Keep the faith

[L_J]

Well, attempted my Mod 1 today and failed within 2 minutes...

Was really confident beforehand, even looking forward to it. I'd never hit a cone or put a foot down in training and must have attempted the slalom & figure of 8 30+ times without fault. As soon as I was in the test area the nerves must have hit, went too slow on the figure of 8 and put a foot down!! Massively pissed off at myself and now worried that the nerves will be worse next time round and I'll do the same. Re-sit not till the end of June so will have to cancel Mod 2 that was booked for 2 weeks time, gutted!

 

It's a horrible feeling and really stinks! You can buy 50 cones for about £8 and then find yourself a quiet spot. That has helped massively to convince me I am capable.Also, i have been emergency braking whenever I am on the bike to help improve my technique....when I do this mod 1 next time I will smash the ******** out of it!

Keep the faith

 

You're not wrong there, rebooked for end of June so fingers crossed!