any tips, never ridden a motorbike before!

Prepare to unlearn using your left hand to brake. Beyond that it's pretty straightforward, especially if you cycle and drive on the roads, and you should be taken through everything bike-specific.

I think slow-speed cycle skills help quite a bit – I didn't have too many problems with it.

Are you going on to do DAS?

Want to buy a bike? I've got a nice shiney 750 for sale 😉

I was going to do DAS in a 5 day course but I dont have the free time at the moment and cant book it for when I have the free time as I'm waiting for another hip op so just going to do bits as and when. Depends how it all goes really. Just doing it all for a bit of fun.

Firstly, good luck.
People often unplay the challenge of nailing the CBT.
People often say you can't fail it – you can! (and I must own up I did!).The day is broken into 2 parts, usually some classroom based discussions on road craft in the morning followed by some playing in a safe area (i.e. off the main highway).
Are you riding a bike with gears? or just a twist & go style scooter?
If you have not ridden before a bike with gears it might be unrealistic to expect to pass the CBT in a day, with no prior bike riding experience.
Twist & go however is piece-of-pi55.
Afternoon then is a road ride with instructor, you need to demonstrate good observation as main thing to aim for. Assume everyone on the rd. is out to kill you and act accordingly.
Don't do as I did, forget license, lie to instructor saying home is 15mins drive away, then drive the 45mins. journey usually takes like its the last stage of lombard RAC rally, then forget to put on glasses once back and with adrenalin overdose set on off CBT thinking why have I gone blind & then failing! Took it next day & passed. Rode 125cc for 12months, then did full bike license (passing 1st time) then lived on track days riding 1000cc proper bikes for about 8 yrs – seriously expensive hobby but loads of fun. Last big bike good for just over 100mph in first gear – made for fun exits from pit lane!
Again good luck, post results please!

learning to corner on a motorbike takes some time, on my CBT I was always running out of road! More a case of letting the bike lean over naturaly, then shifting your weight onto the inside (on a MTB you'd be shifting your weight up onto the outside and pushing the bike further down)

If you get time, ask them to show you how to counter steer, sounds easy but its far from intuative the first time you ride into a left hand corner and turn the bars to the right rather than left!

So I can ride a 125 on l plates wit a cbt? I know I should know but as I said I'm only doing it for some fun as I'm off cycling at the moment.

If you have not ridden before a bike with gears it might be unrealistic to expect to pass the CBT in a day, with no prior bike riding experience.

I managed to get through the CBT in a day – geared bike, no previous geared m/bike experience… I'd say, if your a car driver, the key is to re-think what the clutch does. Use the clutch as an on / off like in a car and you'll find it very hard to master slow speed control. Largely ignoring throttle inputs and balancing the clutch either side of it's biting point was most of what my CBT morning consisted of.

learning to corner on a motorbike takes some time, on my CBT I was always running out of road! More a case of letting the bike lean over naturaly, then shifting your weight onto the inside (on a MTB you'd be shifting your weight up onto the outside and pushing the bike further down)

Yeah – I had this debate with my m/bike instructor. As a mtber I was used to weighting the outside pedal / peg of the bike for cornering, but with my upper body mass / CoG on the inside of the turn – but slow speed control turns on the m/bike required leaning the opposite direction to what I regarded as natural

Tips? don't google it on a work PC.

CBT aka meat and two veg torture.

Did mine about a year ago. Top tips?
Get a good nights sleep the night before your CBT. If you've no experience of motorbike riding it's a hell of a lot to learn in one day. It took me a second visit the following week to get a pass because I was getting very tired and wasn’t safe.
You need to learn to cancel your indicators as they don't auto cancel – it's an instant fail on the bike test if you ride past a side street with your indicator still going.
Before you make any manoeuvre check someone isn't trying to come through the gap (instructor's way of explaining was to say before you move ask your shoulder if it's safe to do so)
Be prepared to be travelling a lot slower than you are used to in the car or things come at you faster than you can deal with.

Above all, have fun and good luck.

Ohh, and i dont know if it was just me taking the CBT bfore my car test, but the whole looking over your sholder thing seems pointless because you have no idea hwat your looking for, then one day there's a car there!

Problem is I now drive cars like i do motorbikes, dread to think how its going to cost me in clutch's!

I think the cornering thing is to do with grip/lean angles.

Road m/bikes, assuming limitless grip (its not often you see a bike drifting significanlty), your cornering speed is goverend by how you ballance centripetal forces against the lean angle (lean more, turns tighter).

Off-road m/bikes are on/over the limit of their grip, so its more a case of maximising whats there (getting weight on outside peg) and maintaining controll (you dont see MX riders high-siding do you?)

Good luck

Listen, that's the best tip I can give. It's niot a given that you'll pass your CBT, I "failed" loads of people. Once you get it you'll be allowed to ride a 125cc for two years on L plates front and rear.

Don't worry about counter steer. Bit much to be asking on a one day CBT, best to learn to walk before you try running. Take your time on the gear changes. The most useful thing I ever gave my students for gear changes was to see just how slowly you can do them, no need to smash your way through them box in a blind panic.

Take confidence from the fact that you should have a balance advantage over the other students there. I remember my CBT in 1993. I was told my clutch control sucked and that I only got through the cones by having some ungodly sense of balance!

The cornering thing is funny. I still find myself on the mtb leaning into the corner and sticking my knee out – it don't work!

jeezuz – i feel old…….just realised i passed my test 22 years ago and i'm 39….

fwiw, i don't motorcycle on the public highway anymore – the track's where it's at 😈

enjoy 😀

did mine last october and never looked back.

firstly it is NOT a test, it is TRAINING to make sure you are not a total mong!

i had to go back as i had a few hours left paid for and they took me out on the road till i nailed it.

our guys were really good, but there are some real cowboy outfits about so do your research, dont just go to your local one check them out first. my brother took me out for a few goes in a carpark. the hardest part of the CBT for me was the U-Turn… also forgetting to do your lifesavers (a quick look over your shoulder) at certain points. sometimes they are a good idea but other times (since ive got better) they are a bit stupid when a quick look in your mirrors will suffice.

i really want to do my DAS now but finding £500 odd quid is going to be hard so saving up.As i said i did my CBT to save money as things were gettinng tight, i havent really got the bug to be honest even though i want to do the DAS as commuting was the main reason.

ive been commuting in all weathers since, getting rid of my car and just having the wifes was the best thing we could have done.

£15 tax
£89 fully comp insurance
£10 to fill the tank up and get over 200miles which is basically 6 weks worth of commuting.

after searching and reading every bike review in the world i ended up getting one of these..

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Honda varadero 125

the bike i did the CBT on was totally shit compared to the vara, the good thing with the vara is its a big 125 so you get used to the bigger size and weight. as ive got more confident i can see how crap a 125 is, especially when at roundabouts and needing a bit of power to get away quick.

best of luck, its a great day, beware though when you actually go out on the road it is fekin mental!!

yeah got it!! Only two of us and the othe guy managed to be a bit of an idiot and still passed. I was fairly rubbish but didnt do anything stupid.

Prepare to unlearn using your left hand to brake

in the same way you need to remember not to pedal or change gear with your right hand or ride on cyclepaths or lean it against a wall ?

in the same way you need to remember not to pedal or change gear with your right hand or ride on cyclepaths or lean it against a wall ?

Not really no as there is nothing on a motorbike that looks like a pedal, nor is there anything near your right hand that looks like a shifter. What there is at your left hand is a lever just like a brake lever on your bicycle so when you come to a halt your natural instinct is to let go of the lever, as it is associated with a brake in your mine, then the engine stalls. That's what happened to me (repeatedly) when I did my CBT.

Nice one anagallis. No looking back now.

Yep, I stalled it a few times through CBT and even into my DAS when I'd let go of the left lever after coming to a stop. And my mate nearly rode into the canal when he got his brake and clutch mixed up!

Passed theory test this morning (how shit is the hazard perception bit). Have booked my DAS course now!! from 15th Aug-18th….. lot of money if I dont pass!!

Woohoo! another biker.

Well done mate.

must be the time of the year hormones or middle age…just been and arranged for the DAS best of luck ont the CBT

Nice one – well done/

Congrats! motorbikes are fun, and if you had fun on a 125 just wait 'til you ride one that actually wants to steer, accelerate and stop 😀 I rode my bike ~200 miles today and I'm still grinning like an absolute idiot!

Woo, well done… Honestly I reckon DAS is easier than CBT if you were coming into CBT with no experience, like I did… DAS is a higher standard obviously but you get a lot more time to get into it. You should be pretty comfortable on a bike by the time you get to the test. Hope it goes well!

Any ideas what sort of bike you're after once you pass?

With all hese bikers on board, would now be a good time to see my Rukka winter kit and my worn twiec Wolf Kangaroo 2 piece leathers?

Any ideas what sort of bike you're after once you pass?

Short term just some cheapo bike to commute on, longer term I'd like to go touring on something bigger.

DAS training starts in morning…. gulp!!

Good luck and enjoy yourself. If you don't enjoy it you're doing something wrong!

Like one of the earlier posters, I feel SO old now. It wasn't quite 'ride round the block and stop between these two cones' when I did my test, but it wasn't far off.

Anyway, just assume everyone else on the road is out to get you and you won't go far wrong. And if you want to buy a VTR 1000 drop me a message…

Where you doing it?

reading, avoid for a few days!!

If they let you drive around to get a feel for the bike on your own before starting it all, like they will most likely do,id be thankful for this if i were to go back and do it again..

go real slow and get a feel for the turning circle and also the point where the steering lock is.also dont be afraid of feathering the back brake in U turns.let the clutch half out and hold it there as well, dont be shy or worry about letting it right out like you would in a car. you will control it much easier. the rear brake feathering is allowed and you wont get failed during the U turn as well so maybe try it out. i found this tip from the instructor pretty good (especially as the throttle/clutch operation wasnt the best on the bike i had)
coming off a mountainbike and having a good idea where you can turn to (with single crown forks) can be a bit dodgy i found.you can have something in the head from mountainbiking that wont help in the slightest.If i could go back id take a few left and right turns in the open carpark taking it slow to try and find the maximum amount i can turn before it locks off.
after passing i have dropped the bike coming out of a junction. i was positioned on a country road (T junction) to turn right.. but decided to go left.it was so quiet i sat there and sorted my gloves and visor out beforehand, it wasnt like there was cars everywhere! I took off and arghhhh.. i was at full lock and being so used to the mountainbike, i was expecting more turn.down i went.hopping on one leg but 183kgs was a bit too much for me on one leg lol.no cars so it was all ok.

the next thing id have loved to have had drummed into me after passing would be to always leave the bike in gear. flat ground or braes.braes for obvious reasons and also on the flat incase anyone walks into it or drives into it.it might be enough to keep it upright or to stop the side stand folding back up on itself.

so.. dont go out and buy something worth thousands and make those silly mistakes that i have! luckily my bike wasnt much more than 2k so i never moan about the scuffs ive put on it.

Yep, the main difference is with a learning 500, that everything it does (apart from accellerate) is just biger and slower than what you did on the 125.

They'll take you out for a bit, a decent run of 20-50 miles just to get used to the controls and the weight of the thing, before really getting you into traffic.

Once your there, its mainly about hammering in observation, road awareness, and riding confidently through town traffic. Towards the end, when you got a feel, then slow turns in the road requiring balance, emergency stopes ect come in to play but not too difficult,

The only best tip I can give is "LIFESAVERS"…. you can't really do too many when learning. That glance physically over the shoulder, and being prepared to act on it is essential.

Oh, and when you turn or manoever, keep yer head UP and in the direction you want to go, like on your mtb really. Dont look at the ground or you lose balance.

Are you folks riding all year through or just warmer months?

Any accidents on your motorbike- do you they affect your cars NCB as well?

all year thru from august-ish last year. done about 7500 so far on the 900 since october.dressing up to go out in temps as low as 3c isnt the best but if its a clear sunny day its worth it.. the wide angle stick-on mirror helps for the winter rides when you are a bit overdressed and cant do shoulder checks as easily! http://martin-james.fotopic.net/p59403792.html

riding over ice is fun.
http://martin-james.fotopic.net/p59403800.html

and although its a crap pic, if you look closely you can see how beautiful the night was.. until i punctured.
http://martin-james.fotopic.net/p59403791.html

the rest: http://martin-james.fotopic.net/c1722402_1.html

I am a fair weather rider myself – when it's grim out there the car seems a much better plan 😉 That said I am out all year around and love riding on those bright sunny cold days! I did a run out to Leeds at the back end of winter, setting off at 8am with the sun just coming through. It was ace… -3 deg and I arrived frozen to the bone, but there was pretty much nothing else on the A65 all the way through 🙂

Good luck with the DAS, I didn't find it hard as such – just absolutely knackering! The ER-5 I was riding was utterly woeful which didn't help mind! These days I am knocking about on a Triumph Speed Triple which is a whole lot more fun! Thinking of changing it for something a bit more tourable at some stage, though probably not next year!

Motorbikes. They are ace!

Passed!!! Get in!!