PH takes on the CBT
Learning to ride a motorbike shouldn't be that difficult, right? Enter Matt Bird...
I should have done my CBT yonks ago; when mates were doing it as they turned 16, when there was spare time and cash during university summers, when I started doing this job half a dozen years ago. And I didn't. Why? An assortment of reasons. While the idea of riding a bike has always intrigued, I've never yearned desperately to do it as I did with driving. As such, getting the CBT done, or saving money for a bike, was never prioritised, because cars were always number one. Plus there's the fact I was a bit scared: scared I wouldn't understand it, scared I'd fail.. just scared, to be frank.
Still, when the offer came - full disclosure and all that - from Honda to get a few car journalists behind the handlebars (I still have a lot of lingo to learn), it seemed like the ideal opportunity to scratch that two-wheeled itch. Or at least begin to, given there are still the A2 and A tests to do beyond the CBT. Here's what happened.
The CBT day began with the elementary stuff; this is Compulsory Basic Training, after all. So your vision is checked, as is your awareness of, y'know, wearing a helmet all the time and wearing flip flops none of the time. Once that's out of the way, the practical element can begin. In addition to getting familiar with which thing does what on a bike - like teaching the other guys in attendance to suck eggs, but useful when you really don't know - there's a lesson on daily and weekly bike maintenance. Again, it will seem painfully obvious to those in the know, but worthwhile to proper novices.
While it would be nice to tell a story of taking to a motorbike like a duck to water, the truth was anything but. Such was my chronic lack of experience (and, seemingly, aptitude), that I received one-on-one tuition while the other attendants made progress as a trio. Balance wasn't too tricky, given it is ultimately a bike, but combining that with my making hands and feet do things they've never really done before, while keeping myself from looking down at what they're doing, was really difficult. And that was just going in a straight line.
To say it clicked in the car park manoeuvring section would be exaggerating quite significantly, but things did gradually begin to make sense. In first gear, that is. Handily, some things were (and are) similar to learning to drive a car: keeping eyes up, making inputs smooth, thinking as far ahead as possible. Some of it, though, really took some concentration. Slipping the clutch to aid slow speed turns really makes no sense after a decade of driving, finding second at a stop happens as often as neutral and the initial first-to-second changes are jerky to say the least.
Just prior to lunch, though, when practising T-junctions, the whole process begins to flow a little, bringing together all that had been learnt in the morning about observation, pulling away, gearchanges and turns. But then everything seems easier in a controlled environment, right? After lunch is when it all becomes a lot more real, with a compulsory minimum of two hours riding on the road before qualification. Having not exactly mastered getting around cones in a car park, I was hardly brimming with confidence.
Especially after struggling with hill starts. (I promise some of the riding was good, honest.) But using the rear brake under my right foot as a handbrake while slipping the clutch in and adding the right amount of throttle felt like attempting keep-ups with a ping pong ball while juggling coconuts. And balancing a beanbag on your head. Perhaps that's an exaggeration. But be in no doubt that riding a motorbike isn't as simple as it might seem.
Bizarrely, when released from the confines of the car park and onto the open road, the process seemed a lot more logical. The gearchanges came together more cohesively, acceleration and deceleration was less jerky and - dare it be said - the whole experience was a lot more fun. Really, really good fun, actually. The sense of speed, immediacy and freedom was like nothing available on four wheels, even with just 125cc. Then it started to rain. Then it started to hail. Then riding a bike was less fun.
Still, despite some rather adverse conditions, some quite considerable panic at roundabouts and one or two iffy gearchanges, a solid chunk of the two hours on the road was immensely enjoyable; a realisation that the good bits of riding a bike were even better than hoped for. Oh, and I passed, by the way.
So yes, with presumably quite tedious predictability for those already on two wheels, the bike bug has bitten - I think it's great. There's everything you want in the best driving experiences, even while never going beyond 60mph: as a rider you're an integral part, the bike only as good as your inputs. In a lot of cars the driver can get away with being quite lazy; the demands of a bike mean that's never possible, but also that the rewards are on another level.
The next step is the theory test, then the two practicals; to say I'm enthusiastic would be accurate, certainly. For now, I'm all ears on any advice and tips that PHers may have, because goodness knows they're needed. More - hopefully - to follow soon!
After my 2 year probation I bought a ZX6R G1 (R586VEY), then a SV1000S (HF03NVC) a couple of years after that. There hasn't been anything in the garage for many years now though, and I do miss bikes. I don't miss commuting on one, but I've recently considered a ZX10R for those sunny days. Maybe...
Turns out he wasn't doing them up well enough! I had to bow out of my first CBT attempt early as the indicators failed! Needless to say, having not long owned it and with the amount of spares he had in his garage, the lad I bought it off was my first port of call and I went back a week later to try again.
This time I got the intercom and the lead. But the intercom was rubbish and being a silly 16yo I elected to say nothing and muddle through. Which didn't work.
The instructor stopped the 3 of us at the end and asked the other 2 if they felt they were happy to ride home on their own - he was going to have to follow me home as there was no way he could give me my certificate. So off they went and the instructor and I set off on the 3-mile journey home. Which wasn't as alien to me as the council estate we'd been riding around earlier.
Trust my Dad to choose this moment as the one to be ultra proud - he ran out onto the drive to see how I'd got on. Well, I don't know Dad, it didn't seem to be very positive a little while ago! Thankfully the instructor declared my riding to be transformed and I had passed my CBT. Phew!
I started riding back when Part1&2 test were still around, and was a very early CBT participant (it overlapped Part1 at that point). I had a moped at 16 but by 17 I'd saved enough for a CB100N. The feeling of freedom and being part of the environment you're travelling through stays with me to this day, nearly 30years later. I ride to work most days, year round (where feasible), and still enjoy weekend/fun runs. Bikes rule.
ps: I enjoy driving, and class myself as a motoring enthusiast, but cars aren't the same (not worse/better, just not the same over all satisfaction for me).
I think the system is much better from a safety and training aspect but it does seem to discourage people from motorcycles.
Once you start to relax and the controls become second nature, i.e. you think about them as much as you don't in a car, then build on observation. Observing everything around you in all directions, particularly if you're making a right hand turn.
When you jump onto a 400 (or whatever) for the first time, it will feel like you just won't ever need any more power! Even restricted. That sensation is quite something. I still remember it vividly from just over 20 years ago.
For now, practice makes perfect (read better!). Remember what the instructors told you because it will probably safe your life one day. And enjoy it. There's nothing else quite like it and it's so much fun.
Maybe see you at the MCN Festival of Motorcycling...
A few of the kids near us had Suzuki TS80's. They must have been incredibly slow, but definitely quicker than a 10 speed racer, and something to lust after.
My brother's mate turned up at school one day with a low riding Yamaha 250. He let us all have a go on it, which was a memory that will stick with me forever. He came out of school one day & the bike was gone. When asked if he reported it stolen, he replied that it may not have been his to begin with
Every car driver should do this. If you haven't done it, there's no petrol in your veins and you are an imposter.
Even if you have no intention of ever owning a bike (which is a whole different debate), I implore you, DO THE CBT!
What have you got to lose? It costs less than £100 and they'll lend you a helmet. Just book it and do it. Experience this for yourself. What other fun things can you do for a whole day for £100 with all equipment supplied?
Just do it. Now.
I did my CBT & theory in December 2017 just to “have a go & see if I like it”.
I did like it, so I did my mod 1 & mod 2 in January 2018, just to “see if I like riding bigger bikes”.
Of course, I liked it.
I’ve barely had a day off the bike since. First bike was a Fazer 1000 and I swapped that for a new BMW S1000XR after a few months. I’m now on 17,000 miles in 16 months & loving it.
Do I prefer bikes to cars? No, I don’t think so. I’ll never have the experience on bikes that I’ve got in cars and I still really enjoy a hard drive in a quick car, but it’s transformed my commute & probably made me a better driver in the process.
I keep delaying mine with various excuses, mostly financial and suicidal, but also I'm a bit too old to get wet and cold and still consider it fun. Not to mention that despite being almost 45 years old my mother would still kill me!
Oh, just noticed this is in BB. Should be in GG if Honda are trying to convert people.
Passed my test in 1970. Ride around the block a few times in each direction, examiner jumps out in front of you for an emergency stop, couple of Highway Code questions. rip up L plates and off down the pub.
Thank gawd it's a bit more rigorous these days.........
The next step is to go for the theory test about £30 then the full bike tests. It looks confusing if you don't know anything about how it works but provided you are over 24 you can do Module 1 which is certain manoeuvres in a controlled environment - manual handling, riding around cones, U turn, emergency stop and a swerve. Pass that then it's on to Module 2 which is an hour of riding around on the road. That will give you an A license and you can ride any bike you like. This is called direct access and this will cost around £600 for three days training and the tests. It's probably worth buying your own kit for this.
If you are less than 24 then it's the same tests but you are restricted to certain CC.
I'm 32 and passed a couple of months ago, I should've done it 10 years ago!
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