First time out on the road, by yourself...

[FretGrinder]

I did my CBT about a month ago and I've had endless amounts of fun since then.

I was extremely nervous about going out on the road during my CBT as I'd never been in control of a vehicle by myself on the road before, ever. I felt really proud if myself for doing it. When I got home after the course I was too mentally tired to go out on my bike, plus there was no time to eat on the CBT so I was starving, so I left it till the following morning.

This was the hardest part. The sheer thought of going out by myself on the road scared the crap out of me. It took about a week to lose my nervousness on the road and my confidence built up very very quickly.

I feel like I'm ready to progress to the next step. The trouble is winter is just around the corner so I'm doing it all in Febuary/March, plus it gives me enough time to get some winter practice in.

My question(s) to you you lot is-

1. How long did it take you to get used to the road on your bike, especially if you have no road experience at all.

2. How long before you moved on to do your full licence.#

Cheers
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Yamaha MT-09

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[pinkyfloyd]

Its all practice practice practice. Nerves will eventually settle. But it seems to me that you are working yourself up into a frenzy before you even leave the house. Thats the worst thing you can do.

Try and think of it as a nice relaxing ride out and get your ass out of the city into the quiet country roads and enjoy it.

Think of it this way. The weathers nice and no one can tell me where to go so I'll just point the bike and see where it takes me.

Enjoy it and stop stressing over it.
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

[Jodie]

How do Fret,

I had never been on a bike at all either when I did my CBT in August last year..
I was nervous too going out on the road but wasn't too bad as I'd already been driving for over 10 years... It was mainly the bike I was worried about and getting the gear changes/cancelling indicators right etc.
I was too absolutely shattered and mentally drained when we got back from our training centre but the day after we went and bought a pair of 125's.
It took a while to get used to/feel comfortable riding but so wanted to master it, made lots of mistakes along the way of course but every time I went out the more confidence I got.
Felt ready to take tests by May and booked it for August and fortunately passed first time
There's no rush, you'll know when you feel ready.

[FretGrinder]

[bencav]

I did CBT then straight into DAS.

Felt very comfortable on the road with an instructor, but had my first solo bimble today - not quite as happy with it but certainly not horrible (apart from dunning out of motion lotion on a major A-road!)

I think, ney hope, that the confidence building will be quick and steady. I do feel like a bigger bike is more confidence inspiring, but at 6'4 I felt like an overbalancing twonk on a CG!

So, for your Qs:

1 - No idea, hopefully quickly!!

2 - No break, I think a break for me would have made it harder, but then I didnt get a 125cc to tide me over the DAS course.

Ben

[Gone]

[tahrey]

Thinking I was comfortable with it: A couple minutes after setting off on a 125 scoot on holiday, and/or halfway through a 30+ mile trip home on collecting my own bike.

ACTUALLY being comfortable: Close to returning the scoot to the hire place, or earlier this year (bought bike jul '09) once I'd finally banished some of my sharp braking, wet riding and deep-lean cornering demons. Never mind that I'd been riding it very gingerly through gritted snow over the winter
(part of the problem being a knackered centre stand, which kind of forces you to corner very slowly and upright)

Feeling quite a bit more "one with" the bike, flowing with the bends and all that cliched stuff. DAS - starting more or less on the year anniversary of my CBT and buying bike - helped even more, as it was experience of a larger machine, where you have to push a bit harder to move it and you're forced to get a bit more smooth and organic with your movements, rather than twitchy as on a lightweight L-plater. But that experience then feeds back.

Full license finally a year & 3 months later, partly because we had trouble with scheduling! Very nice to get the L-plates off ... for a start they appear to act like air brakes, my top speed and mpg have gone up a bit! And motorways are an unappreciated blessing.

[Paxovasa]

When I first got a road bike, I just got it insured and rode it on the road, no CBT back in them days

Never felt scared, just got on it and straight onto the road. Although i had been riding off road bikes on the farm for a few years prior.
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Suzuki GSF600 K3 (in the fastest colour, black).

[pinkyfloyd]

[Paxovasa]

[pinkyfloyd]

Closely related to its blind cousin the "Nevasaurus"
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

[WhitesnowR1]

It's not the matter of time but of practice. My first bike is r1 and when I first made a move on it,I was shivering as a leaf from the wind,but as I was able to make the move it was better. It was difficult to get used to it as i am not tall and can stand using only one foot. But then i got used to it and every successful riding now is a little reward for me. The only thing is to be patient as you should really RIDE,and RIDE and RIDE and RIDE and if you feel tired it means you did it well.

[Codemonkey]

Did my CBT last year (Nov I think) having never ridden a motorbike before, then when I was about to start looking for a bike, everything went pear shaped with the economy and my job so had to put it on hold.

Got my first bike a couple of months ago (YZF-R125 used off Autotrader) having not been on anything since the CBT, only problem was the bike was in Oxford and I live in Chesterfield (130 Miles away!). Was nervous as f**k to start off with and my thoughts went along the lines of "you muppet, why are you doing this, you have a perfectly good car, you're going to die" initially, then just as I started to relax a bit, the weather got really bad around silverstone, then I had about a 5 mile stretch of roads & roundabouts with a bad diesel spill all the way along them terminating at what I think was an Eddie Stobart lorry near a police car in a lay-by . My sphincter was pretty twitchy to put it mildly! Made it home in one piece and have been commuting on it since and really enjoying it now.

I'd say I'm only just starting to get the confidence to filter past bits of stationary traffic, and i've had a few incidences in the wet with the back stepping out a bit on roundabouts or white line markings when turning right but managed to not fall off or drop it so far. In the dry, it ceases to amaze me how much fun something with a weedy little engine that is getting me 110mpg can be! I'm also just starting on the path to a full license having done the theory test a couple of weeks ago. I've been driving for 20 years though so that was pretty easy.

[Kal]

[Clanger]

I'm old school and lived in the countryside, so was out on the road on a moped way before 16 and way before CBT's. For us it was all about being out on two wheels and not being stuck in the village, so our bikes were a lifeline.

Not very many in our crowd did the bike test forever...but were just happy to mooch about having adventures...but back then there was no emphasis on tests and passing this that or the other.

We were let loose to do as we pleased until the laws changed in 1997.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss