The road to passing your licence
Discussion
BobSaunders said:
I went from 125, to 500, to 650 (in a space of three days as a newbie biker).
Huge difference between 125 and 500, and again a considerable gulf between 500 to 650. 650 is so much easier to ride and such a pleasure.
Quite excited about seeing the difference between 650 and a litre, but, i am unsure if i want a litre as a newbie with only 16 years of car driving. Only trying them out will tell.
Good luck OP.
I had a 125 for 3 years, rode lots of different stuff in that time (XT250, Morini 3 1/2, sundry others) then bought a fairly knackered old CBR1000FH...in London!) Get what your heart wants.Huge difference between 125 and 500, and again a considerable gulf between 500 to 650. 650 is so much easier to ride and such a pleasure.
Quite excited about seeing the difference between 650 and a litre, but, i am unsure if i want a litre as a newbie with only 16 years of car driving. Only trying them out will tell.
Good luck OP.
carmadgaz said:
Are you going for A or A2? I find my GS125 like riding a bicycle but oddly (to me anyway) the CBF600 I'm doing my test on does feel more stable even at low speed.
I'm doing the A licence. First ride on the CB500 this afternoon, what a fantastic machine. Even just sitting on it feels miles better. The feet back, leaning forward position was far more comfortable than on the 125. Much nicer clutch than the 125, as you could feel it out slowly and feel the bike start to pull whereas with the 125's I find them 'all or nothing'; namely you let the clutch out and give it revs at a very small aperture during the lever's travel to get it going. On the CB500, there was plenty more room to work with, and I was given advice on using my left hand like a claw to move the clutch in an out, rather than grabbing the lever with the intention of making a fist to save on fatigue.
After some slow speed riding in the yard, we went off to a business park down the road for roundabouts and U-turn circuits. What would car and bike instructors do without industrial and business parks? It felt much more planted on the roundabouts, much better changing gears and it was nice to have suspension and braking that felt up to the job of carrying an adult. U-turns were much improved on the bigger bike, and I followed the advice given here yesterday; turning the bars early and looking towards where I wanted to go and giving a burst of throttle to get the bike round. Previously, I'd been slowing down too much. We did a right turn circuit about five times in a row round an estate to drill home the procedure for that. Previously I'd been turning too quickly, too close the centre line so we rode at walking pace and squared the turns right off to make sure the back wheel stayed on our side of the road.
We finished off with some country road riding and took in one of my favourite local roads. I'd ridden it in the height of summer last year on my CG125 (photograph from that day below) and found it quite doable between 50-60mph on the CG, but running it again today in similarly dry (albeit colder) conditions I was amazed at how much easier it was on the bigger bike. I would say out of all the riding I did today, the B roads were the easiest, least stressful and most enjoyable. I was surprised though that the CB500 didn't seem all that fast. I know by bike standards it's a right old slowcoach, and by car standards it's pretty damn quick, but it never made me go "f
king hell". It fairly picked up speed when necessary though and is easily one of the fastest vehicles on the road you're likely to see on a daily basis, in balance. I loved the usable grunt of the engine and the handling. The biggest revelation outside of the brakes and handling though is surely the width of the gears and the pickup of the twin engine. Makes a change from firing up and down the box on a 125 where the gears are all very, very closely spaced and feel equally as useless.
Edited by Baryonyx on Tuesday 10th March 19:06
Biker's Nemesis said:
I still have a 125 and have to say its great for beating 1000cc superbikes with newly passed DAS riders at the helm
I have to admit that even I struggle when I am on the 50cc moped especially if there is any long straight bits.
My son has a yzf r125 and I do struggle to keep up on the country roads, although that may be his complete lack of any fear, I do manage to get past him on the straightsI have to admit that even I struggle when I am on the 50cc moped especially if there is any long straight bits.
Pothole said:
BobSaunders said:
I went from 125, to 500, to 650 (in a space of three days as a newbie biker).
Huge difference between 125 and 500, and again a considerable gulf between 500 to 650. 650 is so much easier to ride and such a pleasure.
Quite excited about seeing the difference between 650 and a litre, but, i am unsure if i want a litre as a newbie with only 16 years of car driving. Only trying them out will tell.
Good luck OP.
I had a 125 for 3 years, rode lots of different stuff in that time (XT250, Morini 3 1/2, sundry others) then bought a fairly knackered old CBR1000FH...in London!) Get what your heart wants.Huge difference between 125 and 500, and again a considerable gulf between 500 to 650. 650 is so much easier to ride and such a pleasure.
Quite excited about seeing the difference between 650 and a litre, but, i am unsure if i want a litre as a newbie with only 16 years of car driving. Only trying them out will tell.
Good luck OP.
Baryonyx said:
carmadgaz said:
Are you going for A or A2? I find my GS125 like riding a bicycle but oddly (to me anyway) the CBF600 I'm doing my test on does feel more stable even at low speed.
First ride on the CB500 this afternoon, what a fantastic machine. Even just sitting on it feels miles better. The feet back, leaning forward position was far more comfortable than on the 125. Much nicer clutch than the 125, as you could feel it out slowly and feel the bike start to pull whereas with the 125's I find them 'all or nothing'; namely you let the clutch out and give it revs at a very small aperture during the lever's travel to get it going. On the CB500, there was plenty more room to work with, and I was given advice on using my left hand like a claw to move the clutch in an out, rather than grabbing the lever with the intention of making a fist to save on fatigue. Edited by Baryonyx on Tuesday 10th March 19:06
I'm lucky to be doing lessons on my own, I suppose. That's one of the reasons I went with the school I did, because they're recommended for good teaching and solo lessons. A friend of mine recently did bike lessons elsewhere and did them all with a second student, unknown to them! The way I see it is the more time the instructor spends focused on you, the better off you'll be. I imagine the instructor's job would be much harder if they were teaching someone without a car licence, who was new to the road. At least when you're instructing in the car you can have a conversation to impart the rules of the road and give criticism and feedback. Much harder on a bike when all you can do is talk!
I was listening to Your And Yours on Radio 4 as I was driving to the riding school, the subject was how to reduce car accidents amongst young drivers. Someone rang in from Preston, saying that his son had been booked on an intensive course for car lessons and was expecting to get eight hours of driving for five days in a row, with a test at the end. He ended up sharing the car with a stranger, and factoring in breaks, averaged 3 hours driving a day. The cost of the course was £1600! Seems a lot of money for 15 hours in the driving seat.
Anyway, I digress...
I was listening to Your And Yours on Radio 4 as I was driving to the riding school, the subject was how to reduce car accidents amongst young drivers. Someone rang in from Preston, saying that his son had been booked on an intensive course for car lessons and was expecting to get eight hours of driving for five days in a row, with a test at the end. He ended up sharing the car with a stranger, and factoring in breaks, averaged 3 hours driving a day. The cost of the course was £1600! Seems a lot of money for 15 hours in the driving seat.
Anyway, I digress...
BobSaunders said:
I think you're probably right. But the head is saying CBR600RR, and heart is screaming R1 R1 R1 R1. Worst case i get both and one becomes a track day bike that i don't care about.
Don't underestimate sports 600's they will all feel very very quick it also gives you the chance to look forward to the progression to the R1 as a next bike.Baryonyx said:
Well, I've booked my first proper lesson on a big bike for next Monday.
The driving force behind it was twofold. First of all, I wanted to get my car through it's MOT in February and I wasn't really sure what the damage would be. On the one hand, it seemed solid and mostly fault free. A few creaks from old bushes at the back but mainly fine, and a noisy wheel bearing. But it's an ageing Jaguar, so prices could easily be refreshingly 'Ford' or depressingly 'Jaguar'! The ultimate cost was only £160 (and a lot of stress, if you've read about the fking nightmare I had with both car and bike last week).
That, and I just can't be arsed riding a 125cc bike anymore. Everyone at work kept asking 'when are you doing your test, Cliff?', so before my CBT runs out in December I thought I better get on with it. Don't get me wrong, the 125 experience has been invaluable. Although I initially found riding it quite nerve-wracking, I soon settled into controlling the bike and managing different situations. I've had lots of experience in the wind and rain, during busy rush hour traffic when everyone is going hell for leather to get home and in the early morning when most commuters are still half asleep. I'd recommend such learning on your own to anyone (if you hold a driving licence, that is, not sure I'd recommend riding a motorbike on a CBT as an introduction to the road these days!). However, not being able to top 60mph at the best of times soon gets tiring, and a complete lack of weather and wind protection isn't ideal for a commute that takes in a long uphill D/C stretch). I decided I'd look to sell my CG125 come May, to bank my NCB and get a bigger bike. And if I'm going to do that, I'm going to need a full licence.
So, I've been on the phone to Newcastle Rider Training at http://www.motorcycletraining.net/index.html, of whom I did my CBT with, and I've booked a lesson for next Monday. They come with good recommendations for the DAS, as a few of my friends have passed with them and had a great time doing it. So I've started this thread to document my progress and hopefully I'll have passed soon. I'd like to have done a quick course to test route but I don't think I'll be able to fit that round my work shifts. On the other hand, at least I get time off during the week so I won't have to duke it out for a Saturday test spot!
Ditto the above; except I have my test on Wednesday!The driving force behind it was twofold. First of all, I wanted to get my car through it's MOT in February and I wasn't really sure what the damage would be. On the one hand, it seemed solid and mostly fault free. A few creaks from old bushes at the back but mainly fine, and a noisy wheel bearing. But it's an ageing Jaguar, so prices could easily be refreshingly 'Ford' or depressingly 'Jaguar'! The ultimate cost was only £160 (and a lot of stress, if you've read about the f
king nightmare I had with both car and bike last week). That, and I just can't be arsed riding a 125cc bike anymore. Everyone at work kept asking 'when are you doing your test, Cliff?', so before my CBT runs out in December I thought I better get on with it. Don't get me wrong, the 125 experience has been invaluable. Although I initially found riding it quite nerve-wracking, I soon settled into controlling the bike and managing different situations. I've had lots of experience in the wind and rain, during busy rush hour traffic when everyone is going hell for leather to get home and in the early morning when most commuters are still half asleep. I'd recommend such learning on your own to anyone (if you hold a driving licence, that is, not sure I'd recommend riding a motorbike on a CBT as an introduction to the road these days!). However, not being able to top 60mph at the best of times soon gets tiring, and a complete lack of weather and wind protection isn't ideal for a commute that takes in a long uphill D/C stretch). I decided I'd look to sell my CG125 come May, to bank my NCB and get a bigger bike. And if I'm going to do that, I'm going to need a full licence.
So, I've been on the phone to Newcastle Rider Training at http://www.motorcycletraining.net/index.html, of whom I did my CBT with, and I've booked a lesson for next Monday. They come with good recommendations for the DAS, as a few of my friends have passed with them and had a great time doing it. So I've started this thread to document my progress and hopefully I'll have passed soon. I'd like to have done a quick course to test route but I don't think I'll be able to fit that round my work shifts. On the other hand, at least I get time off during the week so I won't have to duke it out for a Saturday test spot!
Already got myself a bigger bike (CB500) at work. Work happens to be an old airfield with a massive car park so already had a little practice on her. Haven't been out on the road yet but it seems so much easier to be smooth with the bigger bike.
Baryonyx said:
I'm lucky to be doing lessons on my own, I suppose. That's one of the reasons I went with the school I did, because they're recommended for good teaching and solo lessons. A friend of mine recently did bike lessons elsewhere and did them all with a second student, unknown to them! The way I see it is the more time the instructor spends focused on you, the better off you'll be. I imagine the instructor's job would be much harder if they were teaching someone without a car licence, who was new to the road. At least when you're instructing in the car you can have a conversation to impart the rules of the road and give criticism and feedback. Much harder on a bike when all you can do is talk!
My mod1 was in a group of three. My road ride on the 125 was a group of four. I suspect my Mod2 is going to be a group of two or three.Yabu said:
BobSaunders said:
I think you're probably right. But the head is saying CBR600RR, and heart is screaming R1 R1 R1 R1. Worst case i get both and one becomes a track day bike that i don't care about.
Don't underestimate sports 600's they will all feel very very quick it also gives you the chance to look forward to the progression to the R1 as a next bike.Baryonyx said:
BobSaunders said:
My mod1 was in a group of three. My road ride on the 125 was a group of four. I suspect my Mod2 is going to be a group of two or three.
Was that the choice of the test centre or your riding school/instructor? Mod1 test is by your self, just you and the examiner in a fenced off area. Mod2 is questions and answers and then road riding.
Just back from a lesson this afternoon, it was fantastic.
Another trip out on the CB500, this time doing a lot of traffic work. And the traffic was simply there for the taking, between three and five in the afternoon! Lots of riding through the city centre, across busy bridges and through queues of traffic waiting for junctions on hills.
I've got another tomorrow afternoon, riding some of the typical test routes and roads that the examiners favour to get a feel for them. I'll have to keep my eyes open on them as a lot of those routes are peppered with arbitrary 20mph limits that I can't afford to miss, especially since a lot of them start and finish seemingly at random, with no real change in the road conditions or things surrounding the road.
Another trip out on the CB500, this time doing a lot of traffic work. And the traffic was simply there for the taking, between three and five in the afternoon! Lots of riding through the city centre, across busy bridges and through queues of traffic waiting for junctions on hills.
I've got another tomorrow afternoon, riding some of the typical test routes and roads that the examiners favour to get a feel for them. I'll have to keep my eyes open on them as a lot of those routes are peppered with arbitrary 20mph limits that I can't afford to miss, especially since a lot of them start and finish seemingly at random, with no real change in the road conditions or things surrounding the road.
Glad to hear its ging well.
My Dad is having some lessons on a bigger bike and getting on very well, he is worried about the theory/Hazzard Perception test thou and having had a look at it online, it didnt seem that straightforward to me either.
Can anyone offer advice on that particular element for me to pass on to him?
My Dad is having some lessons on a bigger bike and getting on very well, he is worried about the theory/Hazzard Perception test thou and having had a look at it online, it didnt seem that straightforward to me either.
Can anyone offer advice on that particular element for me to pass on to him?
podman said:
Glad to hear its ging well.
My Dad is having some lessons on a bigger bike and getting on very well, he is worried about the theory/Hazzard Perception test thou and having had a look at it online, it didnt seem that straightforward to me either.
Can anyone offer advice on that particular element for me to pass on to him?
The multiple choice questions section is easy, most of them have fairly obvious answers, and you've only got to get 42/50 to pass iirc, but it may help to study one of the books. There is an official book each year that contains all the questions, so nothing should come as a surprise. As I say, they're pretty easy.My Dad is having some lessons on a bigger bike and getting on very well, he is worried about the theory/Hazzard Perception test thou and having had a look at it online, it didnt seem that straightforward to me either.
Can anyone offer advice on that particular element for me to pass on to him?
The best advice for the hazard perception part is to relax, if your dad has even a little bit of road experience (car or bike, doesn't matter) then spotting the hazards should be a piece of piss. Basically you click when you spot a hazard developing, and click more if it continues to develop. There is an obvious hazard in each clip, something like a cyclist doing an emergency stop, a car pulling out of a junction into your path etc. Click when you spot the hazard, click as it develops, and look out for additional hazards as some clips have more than one. If you sit clicking at everything you see you fail the clip.
Each clip is given a score based on how quickly you spot the developing hazard and respond to it with a click. If you don't click quick enough you get no points, if you spam the clicks to try and cover everything, again you get no points.
It's not a particularly well-explained test, but it's easy enough. Just tell your dad to stay calm, and use his road sense to predict what kind of hazards he might expect on the kind of road he is seeing in the clip so he can be ready to click when something appears.
strudel said:
I wouldn't worry overly about the test route, if you've been driving for a while. Your road sense should already be there, so you just need to get the control right 
It's more just a case of spotting the speed limits and knowing them all - as I say, some of them are fairly arbitrary so you'll not spot the usual changes, and the repeater signage is often inconsistent. I'm alright in the city centre on the North side of the water as I know all the roads there like the back of my hand, but the test centre is in Gateshead which is home to worst roads in the area! With a little familiarisation time, I should be quite comfortable. Most of the ride I did today was in Gateshead, on roads I've driven before but couldn't confess to know as well as the roads over the Tyne. I'm sure though, once you've got your riding to a good standard, you could go to any test centre in the country with an equal chance of passing (be it Hackney or the Highlands) and that's what I'm working towards. I keep looking at pictures of SV650's and Pan Euros to keep me going.
I learnt to ride in my late 40's overseas, diffrent law, I could ride any bike on a learner, So visit post office, get L licence, buy 750 Kawasaki, leason from mate in car park out on road in Kuala Lumpur Malyaysia. 2 years latter decided to do direct access in the UK, book the basic training in Bristol, for Monday and test Wednesday. Fly in to Heathrow Sunday night, basic training on the 125, real problem but scrapped it, Tuesday morning due to get on a Suzuki 500 and the instructor refused ans my BT score was a scrape, Argument about a pass is a pass, and in the end she agree that I rerun the Basic Traing test on the 500 and go from there, flew throught he 're-test' on the 500, day on the road and past the test on Wedneesay, evening flight from Heathrow haome. That was 15 years ago, ride a fair bit, done super bikes, track days etc, OK I have a few fast cars, international curcuit car race licence, etc, but that's how it was in the UK at one time ride any thing as a learner with your mate on the back.
But evidence the test is easier on the big bike.
But evidence the test is easier on the big bike.
Mastodon2 said:
podman said:
Glad to hear its ging well.
My Dad is having some lessons on a bigger bike and getting on very well, he is worried about the theory/Hazzard Perception test thou and having had a look at it online, it didnt seem that straightforward to me either.
Can anyone offer advice on that particular element for me to pass on to him?
The multiple choice questions section is easy, most of them have fairly obvious answers, and you've only got to get 42/50 to pass iirc, but it may help to study one of the books. There is an official book each year that contains all the questions, so nothing should come as a surprise. As I say, they're pretty easy.My Dad is having some lessons on a bigger bike and getting on very well, he is worried about the theory/Hazzard Perception test thou and having had a look at it online, it didnt seem that straightforward to me either.
Can anyone offer advice on that particular element for me to pass on to him?
The best advice for the hazard perception part is to relax, if your dad has even a little bit of road experience (car or bike, doesn't matter) then spotting the hazards should be a piece of piss. Basically you click when you spot a hazard developing, and click more if it continues to develop. There is an obvious hazard in each clip, something like a cyclist doing an emergency stop, a car pulling out of a junction into your path etc. Click when you spot the hazard, click as it develops, and look out for additional hazards as some clips have more than one. If you sit clicking at everything you see you fail the clip.
Each clip is given a score based on how quickly you spot the developing hazard and respond to it with a click. If you don't click quick enough you get no points, if you spam the clicks to try and cover everything, again you get no points.
It's not a particularly well-explained test, but it's easy enough. Just tell your dad to stay calm, and use his road sense to predict what kind of hazards he might expect on the kind of road he is seeing in the clip so he can be ready to click when something appears.
Tonight, I brought the CG125 home from work. It was a slightly nervous experience as I couldn't remember how much petrol was in it, but it'll be filled to the brim tomorrow. What a way to spend £10! My local petrol station shuts at 9PM...
My head has definitely been turned by riding the bigger bike but what I didn't expect was that having ridden a bigger bike would make me appreciate the 125 as much as I did riding home tonight. On the CB500, everything feels immeasurably better; it'll tap down to first without grumbling, the brakes will stop you without diving, you don't need the back brake to draw to a stop in good time, it'll lean right over in the corners and at low speeds, and then of course there is the speed. It gives you the options to make your own choices on the road, and will settle into a fast cruise without feeling strained.
Now, a good deal of my renewed appreciation for the CG125 probably comes from doing lessons. Sitting much further forward on the bike than I previously had, I felt no less comfortable but much more in control of the bike. Okay, the new chain and sprockets have helped immeasurably as the bike now feels very smooth and relaxed on the throttle, with none of that awful driveline lash or on/off throttle that I took as normal before. The gearbox is much smoother too. It's no faster though!
Anyway, sitting further forward on the bike I was pleasantly surprised to see it felt much more willing to tip into a bend and much more stable through it. The roads were dry and grippy tonight, and I was able to lean it down to the shoulder of the tyre with more confidence than before, although the limit is still communicated with the same 'shimmy' as you run out of tyre. As it was on my way home, I rode down to the business park where I had first practised both on my CBT and on the 500. I did about 30 u-turns up and down one of the side roads and found dragging the back brake and being positive and fast on the turn in phase meant I was much more likely to pull it off. I felt a bit deflated the other night doing them in the back yard at work, where I was nailing them with success as other colleagues (also bikers) shouted "no one does fking U turns except for their test". In the back of my mind was my mate, at the conclusion of his last U turn, lying in the road with his bike on top of him swearing he'll never do another! Perseverance paid off, and I managed U turn after U turn without putting my feet down. I then rode back to the residential street where I had first ridden the 125 again after starting my DAS course. I can see why the instructor takes you there for U turns. It's on a hill, and it's tight. Much tighter than the lines on the Mod 1 course, even accounting for the decreased turning circle of the 125. I did a couple of U turns there, noting that you had to get them bang on perfect to get round and any wobble or time off turning will see you run out of road. Clearly, that's an early test to see how good you are!
So I am convinced, whilst I've no desire to keep the CG125 past my test, that it's been worth my while getting it and riding on it. Just riding tonight, I was surprised at how sensitive it is to inputs. The big bike will mask most cack-handedness but the 125 won't. The only thing you don't need to worry about is the throttle and the gears, as their connection to the engine and road speed is tenuous at best. Practice on the 125 has allowed me to start riding properly on the road pretty much straight away on my DAS lessons, and I'm glad we didn't have to spend time going over basic controls, and could get on with fine tuning my ride. I recall about five years ago, I was new to the job I do now and was out on an early shift. At about lunch time, driving through a residential area, I came across two bikers at the roadside looking flustered. I stopped to see if they needed help; it transpired they were an instructor and student from a riding school about ten miles away. The girl having the lessons had apparently got a bit flustered at a junction, pulled out onto the road and wobbled and had lost her nerve and didn't think she could ride the bike home. The instructor was calling for a friend with a van to come and get the bike, and the girl was in a semi-panicked state. I did think then, if someone loses their nerve on a biking lesson, it's not just like a car lesson where the instructor can hop in the driving seat and take them back home!
The main tips I've picked up so far, which I'm incorporating are:
1) More mirrors, less life savers. This was probably spurred by the small, vibrating mirrors on my CG125. They're fairly hopeless. I wasn't surprised when I was told to check my mirrors more but I was surprised when I was told to spend less time looking over my shoulder, the logic being if I've looked in my mirrors enough I shouldn't need to look over my shoulder as much. I've adjusted the CG's mirrors tonight for the widest possible view but they're still pretty st. I still need to make loads of life savers on the CG, just because they mirrors are useless but I've adapted on the big bike to the correct routine.
2) Ride slightly over the speed limit and look in control of the machine. I had thought a conservative, slightly-less-than-speed-limit ride was the test passer. I could argue that I was anticipating hazards whilst avoiding failing for accidentally speeding. Apparently, this won't float on a test as the examiner will note my 28mph in a 30 zone and fail me, but they're not so concerned with a slight overspeed. Looking confident and alert to all hazards seems to be the order of the day.
3) No back brake on right angle corners. I was guilty of this on my second lesson as I felt the back brake made the bike feel very stable in the corner, like taking a 1st gear left hander off a road. Apparently it will send the wrong message to cars behind me as they'll see my brake light when I'm not stopping or even slowing down, and I should be doing it all on the throttle and clutch. The exception being wet, slow speed work with acute turning angles like mini roundabouts. I got pulled up on this again yesterday and felt like a right tt, I didn't even realise I was pressing the brake and I certainly didn't intend to but I couldn't feel the pedal through my boot. When I was told what I was doing, I was furious at myself, especially as we'd already discussed not using the brake for slow speed turns.
My head has definitely been turned by riding the bigger bike but what I didn't expect was that having ridden a bigger bike would make me appreciate the 125 as much as I did riding home tonight. On the CB500, everything feels immeasurably better; it'll tap down to first without grumbling, the brakes will stop you without diving, you don't need the back brake to draw to a stop in good time, it'll lean right over in the corners and at low speeds, and then of course there is the speed. It gives you the options to make your own choices on the road, and will settle into a fast cruise without feeling strained.
Now, a good deal of my renewed appreciation for the CG125 probably comes from doing lessons. Sitting much further forward on the bike than I previously had, I felt no less comfortable but much more in control of the bike. Okay, the new chain and sprockets have helped immeasurably as the bike now feels very smooth and relaxed on the throttle, with none of that awful driveline lash or on/off throttle that I took as normal before. The gearbox is much smoother too. It's no faster though!
Anyway, sitting further forward on the bike I was pleasantly surprised to see it felt much more willing to tip into a bend and much more stable through it. The roads were dry and grippy tonight, and I was able to lean it down to the shoulder of the tyre with more confidence than before, although the limit is still communicated with the same 'shimmy' as you run out of tyre. As it was on my way home, I rode down to the business park where I had first practised both on my CBT and on the 500. I did about 30 u-turns up and down one of the side roads and found dragging the back brake and being positive and fast on the turn in phase meant I was much more likely to pull it off. I felt a bit deflated the other night doing them in the back yard at work, where I was nailing them with success as other colleagues (also bikers) shouted "no one does f
king U turns except for their test". In the back of my mind was my mate, at the conclusion of his last U turn, lying in the road with his bike on top of him swearing he'll never do another! Perseverance paid off, and I managed U turn after U turn without putting my feet down. I then rode back to the residential street where I had first ridden the 125 again after starting my DAS course. I can see why the instructor takes you there for U turns. It's on a hill, and it's tight. Much tighter than the lines on the Mod 1 course, even accounting for the decreased turning circle of the 125. I did a couple of U turns there, noting that you had to get them bang on perfect to get round and any wobble or time off turning will see you run out of road. Clearly, that's an early test to see how good you are!So I am convinced, whilst I've no desire to keep the CG125 past my test, that it's been worth my while getting it and riding on it. Just riding tonight, I was surprised at how sensitive it is to inputs. The big bike will mask most cack-handedness but the 125 won't. The only thing you don't need to worry about is the throttle and the gears, as their connection to the engine and road speed is tenuous at best. Practice on the 125 has allowed me to start riding properly on the road pretty much straight away on my DAS lessons, and I'm glad we didn't have to spend time going over basic controls, and could get on with fine tuning my ride. I recall about five years ago, I was new to the job I do now and was out on an early shift. At about lunch time, driving through a residential area, I came across two bikers at the roadside looking flustered. I stopped to see if they needed help; it transpired they were an instructor and student from a riding school about ten miles away. The girl having the lessons had apparently got a bit flustered at a junction, pulled out onto the road and wobbled and had lost her nerve and didn't think she could ride the bike home. The instructor was calling for a friend with a van to come and get the bike, and the girl was in a semi-panicked state. I did think then, if someone loses their nerve on a biking lesson, it's not just like a car lesson where the instructor can hop in the driving seat and take them back home!
The main tips I've picked up so far, which I'm incorporating are:
1) More mirrors, less life savers. This was probably spurred by the small, vibrating mirrors on my CG125. They're fairly hopeless. I wasn't surprised when I was told to check my mirrors more but I was surprised when I was told to spend less time looking over my shoulder, the logic being if I've looked in my mirrors enough I shouldn't need to look over my shoulder as much. I've adjusted the CG's mirrors tonight for the widest possible view but they're still pretty s
t. I still need to make loads of life savers on the CG, just because they mirrors are useless but I've adapted on the big bike to the correct routine. 2) Ride slightly over the speed limit and look in control of the machine. I had thought a conservative, slightly-less-than-speed-limit ride was the test passer. I could argue that I was anticipating hazards whilst avoiding failing for accidentally speeding. Apparently, this won't float on a test as the examiner will note my 28mph in a 30 zone and fail me, but they're not so concerned with a slight overspeed. Looking confident and alert to all hazards seems to be the order of the day.
3) No back brake on right angle corners. I was guilty of this on my second lesson as I felt the back brake made the bike feel very stable in the corner, like taking a 1st gear left hander off a road. Apparently it will send the wrong message to cars behind me as they'll see my brake light when I'm not stopping or even slowing down, and I should be doing it all on the throttle and clutch. The exception being wet, slow speed work with acute turning angles like mini roundabouts. I got pulled up on this again yesterday and felt like a right t
t, I didn't even realise I was pressing the brake and I certainly didn't intend to but I couldn't feel the pedal through my boot. When I was told what I was doing, I was furious at myself, especially as we'd already discussed not using the brake for slow speed turns. Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff