The bike test

[Polarbear]

I have just read in my local paper that the bike test is going to revert to a single 'on the road' test by the end of the year.

Has anyone got any info on this or is there a thread somewhere about it I have missed?

https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?PBID=eb41cf08-8131-420f-968a-519d0152c616&refresh=

Page 6, 3/4 of the way down the first paragraph.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Rogerborg]

The DfT is currently "consulting" on options (i.e. stalling), then they'll trial some before picking the one they've already decided on.

It's possibly going to revert to a single on-road test. The other option is for examiners to go to training centres and do an off road assessment there. How they deal with the 50kph limit and self taught A1/A2 candidates in the former and latter cases is still an open question.

Either way, I believe the goal seems to be to get rid of the expense of the Mod 1 centres, and to make the test look easier. The industry has been lobbying hard as the number of candidates dropped sharply after Mod1 came in.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[N cee thirty]

how many candidates did it fall by roger?

well a rough number
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[Rogerborg]

Old style single tests, 01/04/2008 to 31/03/2009 (12 months) = 107,157 tests with 71,155 passes

New style Mod 1 test, 01/04/2010 to 31/12/2010 (9 months) = 47,292 tests with 30, 372 passes

New style Mod 2 tests 01/04/2010 to 31/12/2010 = 40,741 tests with 28,277 passes

The number that matters is the Mod 2 passes. Just scaling up the figures from 9 months to 12 gives 37,702, but realistically it'll be lower than that (as the 9 months include the summer).

So near as damn it, the number of newly licensed bikers each year has halved under the new system.

Now, I believe we're still technically licensing new bikers faster than old ones are dying off, but new bike sales dropped sharply over the past two years anyway, and training schools have take a thorough shafting.

Fortunately, the current Minister in charge at the DfT is Mike Penning, who seems like a sensible bloke rather than an ideologue. Ex army, ex fireman, not a career politician. Fingers crossed.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[N cee thirty]

typical fucking labour wasting money,it needs to be one test to make it sound less hassle,as thats all it is

hard work trying to get mates to go for there test when you have a step ladders worth of things to do


cheers for the stats though
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[Rogerborg]

HTH. There may be a bulge in the 2008-2009 numbers as bikers crammed in their tests before Mod 1 came in, but it's clearly down over the long term.

And of course now that the word's out that we're likely going back to a single test, we'll get a further drop off this year, followed by a big surge in 2012 when we go back to a single test and the countdown to the 3rd Directive in 2013 begins.

I just hope that training schools manage to stick around until then, and can afford to upgrade their fleets to the 650s that the 3rd Directive will require for A tests.

Hilariously, Ride magazine just printed a guide to licensing which contained a couple of factual errors. First, they kept going on about A2 licenses, when there's currently no such thing: they meant A with a 25kW endorsement. Then they said you can ride a WR250 on an "A2" license. Yes, it's under 25kW, but its power to weight exceeds .16 kW/kg so technically you can't.

And if a motorcycling journal can't get it right in an article specifically about licensing, then what hope for regular Joe Gixxpack?
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[owl10]

Interesting that 10k more took the Mod 2 than passed mod 1!!!
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DanceLikeAMonkey says: "An infinte amount of web pages available
Yet I still end up reading crap like that"

[N cee thirty]

[Rogerborg]

Agreed. Think of it this way:

30,372 people passed Mod 1 and became eligible to sit Mod 2.
Those 30,372 people sat a total of 40,741 Mod 2 tests, including resits. At the end of those tests, 28,277 of the 30,373 had finally passed their Mod 2. The remainder gave up biking and took up crochet or flower arranging.

It's not exact, since there's carry over from the previous year and to the next one, but it'll balance out eventually if they leave the test format alone (which they won't) and the numbers seem about right.

Anyway. the number that matters is 28,277, or whatever the whole year number was, say 35,000. That's the number of newly qualified bikers available to purchase Big Boy Bikes from dealers. As long as that keeps dropping, dealers are going to keep hurting.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[imkent]

I just took the module 1 test and failed it, I went over the yellow painted line, if it would have been a curb I would have avoided it.

i cant afford 15 plus 70 for the school to do it again so im going to do it on my own on a 125

[Beelzebob]

[Shreddie]

[bgfs]

[LordShaftesbu...]

[skyline]

Does anyone know what this means for cbt tests? I only ask as my gf currently rides on a cbt and I heard a rumor that come december they want to change it to stop people riding on a cbt alone and having to have people ride with them if on L plates?