Mod 1 - Do you fail automatically if you....

[thepuma]

....just 'touch' a cone, or do you have to totally knock it over for it to fail you?

This slalom is giving me the jitters!....I've practised it all with mini cones and seem to be ok 95% of the time. The odd time I enter at a funny angle/wrong speed and I'm then fighting it back on every turn. The figure of 8 I'm fine with but I dunno, this damn slalom for some reason keeps playing on my mind.

I went and had a drive yesterday to the mod1 compound nearest me and I coulda sworn the cones look closer together..LOL
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YBR125 (SOLD) - CBR250R(SOLD) - CBR650F(SOLD) Current - Street Triple
765 RS

[Rogerborg]

How is getting an answer to this question going to make you more likely to pass?

Are you planning to clip a cone? Are you going to just get off and cry if you do?

You're over thinking it. It'll be all right on the night.
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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

[thepuma]

[ScaredyCat]

[ninjagirl76]

I was lead to believe it was a minor as long as you don't kick the cone over completely but i don't know if that's actually the truth instructors tell fibs to reduce nerves (well mine did)

Even if you just touch it, it could still fall over, so don't even think about this as you are more likely to make the mistake if that's all you are thinking about.

Just remember to not look at the cones or the floor and you will be okay. You should be able to find something you can direct your focus on past the center of the cones (i used the fence posts and other cones)

Im guessing you have your own bike so try to find a quiet place and 'borrow' some cones set them up with a smaller gap and practice then when you get to the test day its easier as you have a bigger gap it works wonders for your confidence
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Sam
Given up on DAS sick of being skint

[thepuma]

[thepuma]

[thepuma]

[Andrew122]

Depends how closely the examiner is looking. If I'd clipped one on my figure of eight and slalom, it wouldn't really have mattered. The examiner had pissed off to fiddle about with the speed trap.

And I did clip a cone on the swerve. He obviously didn't see it. Looking back and seeing that cone still standing was a huge relief. I went to the bathroom to change my knickers afterwards and bash one out over the excitement of passing.

Good luck.
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Restricted licence: 11th May 2012
Daelim Roadwin 125 (Sold) --> Bikeless!

[CaNsA]

clip a cone = minor
knock a cone over = serious

[Benno]

I was told that touching a cone is an instant fail. But that's an instructor talking not an examiner.
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I'm autistic. That means I'm smarter than you.

[Rogerborg]

Nobody on this forum knows for sure.

The thing is, are you going to argue the toss with the examiner on the day?

If you really need to know, ask him (or her but let's be honest, him). If he says anything other than "Don't hit any" I'll be astonished.

Maybe picture yourself sailing majestically through the cones a bit more like the Queen Mary 2 and a bit less like the Titanic.
____________________
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

[BakesBeans]

You can clip it, but it must not fall over and not move from the original position - I think you get a minor though.
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Current: Kawasaki ZX636
Previous Bike: Honda CBR600F ABS, Yamaha XJ6 F Diversion ABS, Honda VFR400 NC30

[CaNsA]

[Slacker24seve...]

Simple answer... Don't touch a cone.

If you genuinely can't do it without clipping one I would question whether you are ready to take it anyway.

Practice until you can do it without thinking and most importantly, look where you want to go rather than at the cones.
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Triumph Daytona 675 track bike + girlfriend's Honda Hornet 600
Selling a hack/winter bike for less than a grand? PM me.
Banger rallies are ace

[kernow24]

Surely this is a wind up?

If you can't get a skinny little bike through a 4.5m gap without
going so close to the previous or next cone, then really you shouldn't
be on a bike.

The mind really does boggle.
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[kernow24]

[thepuma]

[kernow24]

[tbourner]

For slalom and figure 8 I found the best piece of advice was to always look up and to the side! So never look down at the bike or the wheel or the tarmac, and never look straight ahead (cos you're always turning, so always look to the side that you're turning). If I ever started wobbling in practice, instructor would shout at me to look up, then on the day I got a bit wobbly on my first figure 8, looked up and round and it was sorted.

No I don't know the answer.
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Trev, now a biker?
Looking for first big bike.

[nowhere.elysium]

The official answer is the obvious one. Don't touch the fucking cones. If you can't get your head around that, then maybe you're not ready for the test.

Stop over-thinking it, and just go and do it.
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'10 SV650SF, '83 GS650GT (it lives!), Questionable DIY dash project, 3D Printer project, Lasercutter project

[Rogerborg]

[ThoughtContro...]

Why are you stressing about the most easiest part of the mod 1 course?

It's not a timed lap. You don't have to knee down. They don't hop around to confuse you or jump out and bite onto your legs like a demented dog. They're just simple plastic cones in line.

Take the slalom at a pace you find easiest and weave in between them. Aim for the gaps. You go where you're looking. If you're looking at the cone focusing on the fact that you're going to hit it, you'll hit it.

When you was a kid did you ever weave in between the white lines on your push bike on a quiet road or other similar thing? It's just the same as that, only your bike is a bit heavier and you don't have to pedal.

If you were a deprived child and missed out on the above fun, go to a retail car park late at night v. early Sunday morning, when there's no one about apart from the odd security guard. Practice weaving in and out of the line intersections on the parking grid. Or grab some crappy old coke cans and set em up closer than the mod 1 course and play around until you are shit bored.

Mod 1 is easy enough. There's no need to stress about the slalom. If you can ride a bike you can slalom without any worries of hitting cones.
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Prize cunt
--
"In a world of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act" - George Orwell

[CaNsA]

[Shielder]

When I was on my second (ish) CBT, the instructor gave me a little nugget of advice: It doesn't matter how wide you take the slalom (obviously, don't take the piss) as long as you don't touch the cones.

The slalom isn't designed to see how close you can get the bike to a cone, it is just to challenge your low speed control and find any weaknesses there. After all, it is relatively easy to ride slowly in a straight line, less easy to turn slowly.

Take it nice and wide. I went so wide I was almost at a 90 degree angle to the line of cones and right in the middle of each gap. I still passed (third time anyway, and the other two times it was my U-turn that was the problem), so don't worry about it.

Take it slowly, and go nice and wide.

Andy
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CBT - 22/10/08 & 30/5/11, Theory - 13/06/11, Mod 1 - 26/9/11, Mod 2 - 29/9/11
'00 Suzuki Intruder VL 125 (06/06/09 - now)