CBT (bikes, not cognitive) – What to expect?

I originally did my CBT 26 years ago but never passed by full bike test due to various reasons and haven’t now ridden a bike for 24 years. I am now possibly suffering form a bit of a late-mid-life crisis and am considering doing my CBT again and getting myself a small bike for commuting and general use, and actually passing my test this time.

I have a full car licence (didn’t last time, only on prov then). Has the CBT changed much in all that time is is still ‘ride slow round bollards, go a bit quicker, then a brief spin around the roads to check you can change gear, use the brakes and avoid getting hit by anything as much as possible’?

Cheers.

16 year old nuggets pass regularly. If you can evidence that you’re aware of what’s going on around you and can control your bike, you’ll be fine. I’ve not taught it for a while but the principles are pretty much unchanged.

It’s exactly what you’re expecting. A few slow laps around a yard somewhere to make sure you’re not a complete muppet, then out on to the road for a pootle around. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do in car and you’re fine.

You’d have to be doing something very wrong to fail.

The actual tests, Mod 1 and Mod 2 aren’t much more difficult so if you want a full licence it’s worth doing.

I did mine a few years ago and discovered that I hate riding a bike on the road. The riding part is fine, it’s the traffic , the driving standards and the constant near misses which are the problem.

There are a few videos on youtube of the full process, I watched a few and read loads before I did mine, wasn’t an issue despite the fact I’d never ridden a geared bike before and hadn’t ridden anything with a motor on more than 100m.

Mine was

– Pulling away

– U turns

– Couple of other bits, maybe slalom &/or figure of 8 but maybe not, was a lot of hanging around and it was 5 years ago.

– Emergency stop

– Quick ride around the block.

As above, CBT is fairly difficult to not pass – common sense and some driving experience will see you through (even if you’re not very good with the gears!)

I found the full test (mod1 is the off road stuff, bike control, mod2 is on road) to be more difficult – the standards are, rightly, quite high and there’s a huge emphasis on safety. I found I learnt a lot and have become a better car driver as well.

CBT about 3 years ago, full test 18 months or so – older learner as well.

Cheers folks, much appreciated. I didn’t think it would have changed too much.

For those of you who took the full test and already have a car licence, is it all practical on the bike stuff or is there any theory as well?

For those of you who took the full test and already have a car licence, is it all practical on the bike stuff or is there any theory as well?

You still need to do all 4 parts:
CBT – really Easy
Theory – Very similar to the car one. Plenty of apps out there to practice the questions
Mod1 (skills) – I’d say the hardest one, driving around cones in a car park
Mod2 (road) – If you have a car licence & ride a bike, its fairly straight forward.

For the 2 practical tests its work having a few days with an instructor, to learn a few test routes for the awkward section of road you may end up on and to point out any bad habits you may have.

As others have said the CBT should be a piece of cake.

Just wear the correct clothing, though.  The school I used made it very clear to wear appropriate clothing only for some young lad to rock up in a track suit and some flimsy trainers.  They wouldn’t allow him to go out!

MOD1 I found pretty easy.  MOD2 took a couple of attempts due to silly mistakes (very annoying looking back lol!).

I did mine a few years ago and discovered that I hate riding a bike on the road. The riding part is fine, it’s the traffic , the driving standards and the constant near misses which are the problem.

Yeah, agree – the driving standards are, in general, pretty shit.

Thanks folks, all the comments are really appreciated. Now I’ve just got to run the idea past the lovely Mrs. Pinkster.

Just wear the correct clothing, though.  The school I used made it very clear to wear appropriate clothing only for some young lad to rock up in a track suit and some flimsy trainers.  They wouldn’t allow him to go out!

As someone who might be doing one in the future, what’s correct clothing?

I obviously will not be wearing a tracksuit in a public place while not participating or travelling to/from a sporting activity…

But beyond motocycle specific helmet and gloves, whats the accepted minimum standard? Regular (non armoured) jeans, a jacket, walking boots?

Clearly the answer is not a 1 piece leather race suit and knee high motocross boots, but where on the spectrum is the correct answer?

The T in CBT is “training” not “test.”  There’s nothing to pass or fail, you get a certificate of completion.  If you’re truly awful you’ll be asked to come back the next day.

When I did my bike test, I didn’t have to do a theory as I held a full car licence.  That may have changed now, I don’t know.  (I’ve never actually taken a theory test at all other than practice tests online for the LOLs.)

As someone who might be doing one in the future, what’s correct clothing?

The answer here I suppose is to ask the centre what their expectations are when booking.  A good centre will be able to loan gear such as helmets.  I had some gear of my own from pillion riding with a mate, but most people will never have been on a bike before and some never will again.  I viewed it as a ‘red letter’ type experience day, I paid something like £100 to scamper about on a motorbike for an afternoon.  It was months later when I got the itch to take lessons, and months if not a couple of years after I passed before I actually bought a bike.

As someone who might be doing one in the future, what’s correct clothing?

I obviously will not be wearing a tracksuit in a public place while not participating or travelling to/from a sporting activity…

But beyond motocycle specific helmet and gloves, whats the accepted minimum standard? Regular (non armoured) jeans, a jacket, walking boots?

Clearly the answer is not a 1 piece leather race suit and knee high motocross boots, but where on the spectrum is the correct answer?

Most schools will provide helmets,  jackets and gloves (the one I used did).  Normal jeans and walking boots should be fine (that’s what I wore).

But as Cougar suggests, check first to make sure.

As someone who might be doing one in the future, what’s correct clothing?

From what I remember from the last time I did it all those years ago, they said keep clothing to natural fibres or real leather as manmade fibres will melt on to you when sliding down the road. I take that as meaning jeans and a good jacket of some sort (Belstaff/leather type).

It’ll be Docs on my feet.

Never mind all that. What bike you going to get?

Just remember the CBT and future lessons/tests are teaching you to get your licence.

Once you’ve got your licence, budget for lessons (to stay alive).

This places sells absolutely everything and is usually the cheapest option…

https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/

I bought the cheapest branded (Bell) helmet, a cheap Oxford jacket and some RST gloves. Then I wore jeans and hiking boots for all my lessons and tests. You’d be surprised how many kids show up in JD Sports finest because they don’t know anything else. Obviously don’t do that.

I’m kind of glad I didn’t spend a fortune on clothing because my first bike has already been and gone and I currently have no plans to replace it.

“Now I’ve just got to run the idea past the lovely Mrs. Pinkster.”

Take out a big life insurance policy and she’ll be very supportive! 🙂

I’d say if you can, after you’ve got your cbt get yourself a 125 with gears rather than a moped and ride around for ages to get some experience rather than rushing into getting your full license. This is what I did commuting first into Brum and then riding round Worcestershire and the Lake District. By the time I took my mod 2 the examiner commented on the fact that I had a lot more experience and was an easy pass.

I did the opposite, I did DAS and went straight from the CBT to a 500cc bike.  For me it was the right thing to do, but I’d been driving for maybe 15-20 years at that point.  Might have been a different decision if I’d never been on the road before.

I learnt on an ER-5 and a CB500.  The ER-5 was garbage, it cornered like a brick and changing gear felt like I was shifting through gravel.  I bought a CB500.

I went straight for the test as riding a few 125’s put me off for life. I didn’t want to waste any money or time riding one.

I passed my test on a Yamaha MT07 and bought a Royal Enfield Himalayan.

I’m curious to try something like a Ducati Desert Sled or a Yamaha Tenere but I’ve got too much on at the minute.

LOL @the-muffin-man

Cheers for that link @sharkattack will check them out.

@kayak23 & @GolfChick – I saw this the other day and quite like the look of it  – https://muttmotorcycles.com/products/stravaig-125cc-matt-green#section-specifications

TBH I I don’t want anything big and it’s only going to be used for pootling locally

I really wanted a Mutt until I rode one. I tried a Mongrel and a Fat Sabbath. Immediately decided to just get my full test out of the way.

Even for local pootling you’ll be going everywhere at full throttle which is noisier and more stressful than just riding slowly on a slightly more powerful bike.

I rode a Honda CB125F for a short while before getting my big bike licence and had great fun razzing around a full throttle lol!

But as a long term bike I agree something a little bigger would be far more satisfying.

The CBT bikes will be awful: binary clutches, brakes that don’t, throttles that just alter volume. I think it’s done deliberately to check that you can ride whatever £250 heap of dung you go out and buy straight after.

I loved doing mine. Opened my world to new adventures, friendships and places.

I’m a recent (old) biker and passed the day after my 52nd!

no previous riding experience. CBT was ok, struggled with some of the manoeuvres specifically the figure of eight. Did 4 days of training to prep for Mod 1 & 2. This involved riding a 700cc Yamaha which was a shock!

Mod 1 ok, needed to do my emergency brake twice, but squeaked through.
mod 2 again ok, stalled leaving the test centre, forgot to turn off indicators as I was still thinking about the stalling, but passed with 5 minors.
bought 675 street triple 5 days later and have bloody loved it!! Why didn’t I do this earlier?