Recommend me an instructor

[Phone_Monkey]

Hi all,

Am a regular lurker in here, been interested in getting a bike for a while now. Would anyone be able to recommend an instructor based in west London that is friendly as well as being able to help me learn. I am aware of the route to take with regards to getting a license (looking into DAS), but was wondering how long do you need to book a CBT in advance? Currently have no car but looking to get one soon, so anyone in/around Ealing would be useful at first (when have a car I can spread out a bit further.

Any help much appreciated, I know you're a friendly bunch in here

[TPS]

Sorry i dont know of anyone in that area but just offering some advise.If you are going to do the das route i would book your cbt separately and pass that then book your theory separately as well and pass that.This way you are ready for the das test and have nothing else to pass.Some people do the lot in one go but if you fail the cbt or theory it can mean you do not get to do the das test as it is all done in a week.

[Fats25]

One of my mates lives in Ealing and did his test two years ago, I will get the details and put up here. I think he did it out of Wimbledon at a place called Elite - but I will double check.

I know it is not exactly round the corner, but he did all his homework at the time and booked this on other people recommendations. Also he passed first time! Which is always a bonus.

Or you could get yourself out to Kent at CSN training in Strood. That is where I did mine - and I have recommended them to 4 mates so far (all London based - apart from 1 from Liverpool!) and they all passed first time.

[TPS]

If you wanted to go down to Kent i would say give A to Z rider training a go.I went with them and passed 1st time.They are based in Gillingham and can be contacted on 01634 851677.they are close to Gillingham train station so you could get the train to them and it may be easier to learn and take your test on the roads around there than in london.

[random1]

I trained (DAS) with Think Bike in Ham, or Coulsden. Email me and I will give you the name of my instructor. He is excellent and i would recommend him to anyone.

edited to add that from the Ham site, you get a good mixture of training in busy London traffic (Kingston), on dual-carriage ways and rural national speedlimit roads.

Edited by random1 on Tuesday 13th March 14:54

[virgil]

TPS said:

....If you are going to do the das route i would book your cbt separately ...

Only thing I'd add, is you may get a discount if you book it all in one go...but as TPS said, space it all out to give your self time and not to pressure your self in only having X days to do it all in. My school booked the test etc for us as part of the course and offered a free CBT with the DAS if you booked it all together. There is no actual test to pass for the CBT...you just have to look half competent. And get the theory out of the way as early as possible...if you drive a car you'll have no issues with it, and it lasts 2 years.

[Fats25]

Spoke to my mate and it was Elite he did it with.


www.elitemotorcycletraining.com/index.htm

[Phone_Monkey]

Cheers for the replies guys Yeah, I was going to do the CBT first (was told that had to do this before theory anyway). I did a theory test for my car license (piece of pee), so not worried about that bit, but recently got a hazard perception DVD to try and prepare. Has anyone else found the video quality so awful that the DVD is as useful as a jonny machine in the vatican? Or am I really not all that observant?

[virgil]

Phone_Monkey said:

Cheers for the replies guys Yeah, I was going to do the CBT first (was told that had to do this before theory anyway). I did a theory test for my car license (piece of pee), so not worried about that bit, but recently got a hazard perception DVD to try and prepare. Has anyone else found the video quality so awful that the DVD is as useful as a jonny machine in the vatican? Or am I really not all that observant?

The click and guess DVD...that's a good one.

It talks about potential hazzards, developig hazards and actual hazards. Tells you quite catagorically you will ONLY be scrored for ACTUAL hazards, BUT click for developing hazards as soon as you see them anyway...then scores you down for NOT clicking for developing hazards. I scored pretty high (as a driver of many years should) but I advised the Jobsworth at the front desk of this 'anomaly' as it was clearly not correct and could catch out someone who is near the 'pass mark' unfairly. He then gave me a lecture on how it should work completely contradicting how the video said it would score you!

Basically it is a great idea but in practice a complete load of bollox.

Also I don't see how a pedestrian crossing a side road, on the pavement with a grass verge in between me on the main road and the pavement, is any more of a potential hazard than ANY pedestrian, when the road ahead is clear...but the DVD seems to think so...

Rant over...

[black-k1]

I heard a story a little while ago (from a reliable source) that the Met traffic boys’ n’girls took the hazard awareness test – and most failed! Apparently they were spotting so many ‘developing hazards’ and clicking on them that the system thought they were just randomly clicking in the hope of getting it right! I think it’s the definition of a potential, developing and actual hazard that may be an issue.

[virgil]

Exactly...we can all see the car about to pull out into our road space, but the actual point of expected mouse clicking seems very vague. basically you can click as many times as you like until the couNters fill up the bottom of the screen, then you are deemed to have clicked randomly!

What I think you should do is touch the screen where the hazrad actually is and get scored on how long you took to see it!