CBT Experience

[KevinTodd]

Hi Guys, completed my CBT today and I am chuffed to bits! I just wanted to share my experience with others so here goes;

Okay so a little about me. I am 27 years old. I have driven cars for 10 years. The last time I was on two wheels was my pedal bike back in 2004.

I recently decided I wanted a motorbike. I sold my car, booked in my CBT and even bought a textile jacket and some rather snug leather bottoms. I have spent the last few weeks looking at maybe 50 or so videos of how to ride motorbikes on youtube - I've also checked out Spicy110, JakethegardenSnake, BVG etc and would sit by myself with my eyes shut assuming the position with my arms in front, practising the controls.

So I arrived at the training centre at 0845 03032014 after getting slightly lost beforehand. I handed over my license for checking, paid my fee and got a receipt in turn. I was offered coffee and tea and had a bit chit chat with the guy and an attending 50 year old woman whist we waited on the third member to turn up.
'Gavin' did turn up around 0900 and we went through our induction - safety briefing and talk on what kit to wear. Then we were shown to our steeds. The Mighty CG125s were lined up for us, trace droplets of early morning condensation trickled across their bodies. I had my eyes on the middle one which seemed to call out to me. This looks easy, I thought. In my mind it seemed almost that I could have mounted the bike there and then and rode off into the sunset, laughing goodbye at my unfortunate, less abled cohorts. And then I felt the thing. My initial confidence seemed to wane after we were shown around them and made my first attempt to move it off its stand. Now I am 5"10 and 12.5 stone, I go to the gym regularly and for the life of me could not lift this simple machine out of its girdle. My arms appeared feeble and weak. It later transpired that my technique was somewhat 'special' Instead of trying to lift the bike up over, I had been pushing it down and to the side. No wonder.

After kitting up we headed back out to the bikes and made some simple maneuvers. Except I struggled. Massively. Taking off at slow speed, I felt for sure the bike would not balance and kept putting my foot down and letting out the clutch. After riding pillion and seeing the instructor do it, I took ten seconds out - took a deep breath, and after saying to myself 'just go for it' - I went. It was a small but important success. I managed to build up my speed and eventually made laps of the yard, looking to the sides to see which measly pedestrians I could impress with my amazing riding skills. We made some slow speed maneuvers, figure 8's (which I sucked at) and some emergency stops and turn signals. After what seemed 15 minutes of scary fun, it was midday and we broke for lunch. All in all, there was a part of me that thought, based on how I had performed so far that I was beyond redemption and would go home with my head in my hands. However, I never lost that determination to succeed, no matter how hopeless I felt.

After lunch we went through some highway code and then were met with the shock announcement that me and Gavin were to take to the roads for a 'couple of hours' I looked at Gavin thinking 'surely they cant be serious?'

Now I will be 100% honest with you all here. And I dont know if its my driving experience that kind of helped, or just the fact that we managed to get to some decent speed - but my time out on the road was INFINITELY more improved than in the yard. After driving around a semi closed off industrial estate, we took to the open road. And what a road. We went through residential areas, several multi lane roundabouts, dual carriageway, national speed limit country roads. It was a perfect mix of pretty much every conceivable road type you could want. I forgot that I was a newborn rider and felt like a seasoned veteran. I nodded to other riders as we passed, I threw out my lifesavers at wilfull abandon, gave the odd cheeky rev of the bike. At one point I was sat back with one arm free of the bars, expecting any second to hear a camp commandant type order to be barked at me through my secet agent earpiece. It never came. At two points I overtook my partner in crime Gavin - rather rudely - at what seemed to be total lack of confidence in pulling out at roundabouts (at one point he was vehemently giving way to a car on the left) It didnt help that both our names sounded the same through the james bond earpiece we had been issued. All the time I was hearing 'knock off that indicator' to my total bemusement, worrying that I was doing something wrong. We pulled up and had a bit of a talk, I checked that Gavin was ok, we had a little laugh - and that seemed to ease him up again. We then proceeded the next 45 minutes pretty much faultessly. There were long periods of silence in the earpiece and I took this to mean that it was a good thing. The instructor was amazing by the way - cathedral type volumes of patience - a calm and cool demeanour - he not once shouted at us or told us off - he was everything you would want in a tutor if one day you too decide to hurl your body through the air at 70mph. This was hands down one of the most exhilirating experiences of my life and I absolutely loved it. I would highly urge anyone thinking of doing their CBT to get booked in.

Its 0230 am and I am still buzzing off the energy from my CBT.

Kevin

[anthony_r6]

Mine was in the pouring rain on a cold day, the instructor and I were not meshing, and it wasn't until they went on the road and the other instructor came out that I managed all the ground work without incident. 20minutes later and I, too, was on the road.

Best thing I ever did.

Glad you're enjoying yourself. What's next for you? Own bike? Lessons? Full licence?
____________________
Ted : "Maybe he's agoraphobic."
Dougal : "Jack scared of fighting? I don't think so, Ted."

[pinkyfloyd]

Getting your bike on and off the stand is all technique and no strength involved at all if you do it right so here is a shortened version of how you should have been told:

Taking the bike off the stand:

Locate that stickey out bit of the stand, thats called the spigot. Rest your right foot on it with no pressure, all your weight should be on your other foot. You'll notice the back wheel of the bike is off the ground so put some pressure on the rear end and rock the bike down. You can now transfer that weight back to the front keeping a grip on the end of the bike and the bars and push the bike forward. With the correct technique you should find your right foot lifts off the ground a bit. Keeping that spigot against the ground reach over and apply the front brake. Release the spigot and take a seat applying the back brake. You can now release the front brake.

Back on:

Front brake, off the back brake, climb off the bike and stand parrallel to the bike with your feet slightly apart. Find that spigot and push it into the ground gently with your right foot, give the bike a rock so you can feel both legs in contact with the ground then release the front brake and take an underhand hold on the rear of the bike at the grab rail and like crushing a coke can, put your weight through your thigh and guide the bike onto the stand.

Done correctly you can use 2 fingers on the back of the bike to guide the bike up. All the power comes from your thigh.

As for the road ride being easier, as I tell my students. In the yard its harder because you have been overloaded with information and we are making you think about what you are doing. Every aspect of it and there isnt much room to play with. On the road you have plenty of time for each thing, junctions, gears etc, and it starts to become automatic. What we do find is people that struggle in the yard can sometimes just click on the road and its perfect. Sometimes its the other way around. I have had a student doing fantastic on the pad and thinking it would be a great ride I was happy to take him onto the road where it all went to shit and I came home stressed!

Glad you had a good day. Its always great watching the students faces when you get back after a road ride and see them grinning when you tell them they done great.

Well done you. Best advice from reading it is get your clutch control sorted out and the figure of 8 disaster screams to me that you were not looking where you want to go. Turn your head and it will be easier.
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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.

[MC]

What happened to the old(er) woman? CBT's in a way a bit odd, that you have to master slow-speed control before your allowed out on the roads, which's more difficult. Once your out on the roads it's easier, but having some driving and/or cycling experience helps.

Anyway sounds like you had a good time & have caught the bug Took me a little longer, as my CBT was a little over 2 hours of being shouted at, so it wasn't until I got my own bike that I thought this is really good fun. What bike are you thinking of getting?
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Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[pinkyfloyd]

[MC]

Yeah, what I meant is that it's the opposite to driving, where you drive about then move onto manoeuvres. On the CBT your meant to master a figure of 8, maybe weave through cones in the yard. If there was a little road course thing you could practice on I think it would be easier, but probably too expensive & impractical for most schools.
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Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[Rogerborg]

[pinkyfloyd]

We're lucky we have the use of such a massive yard.

https://goo.gl/maps/xH10i

Everything from the water to the 3 long buildings is our yard. Plenty of room.
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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.

[Doovy]

[pinkyfloyd]

[Doovy]

Yes I can imagine it now...

"Some front brake..... rear brake.. MORE FRONT... aaaaand you've got dysentery"
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Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1

[Richtea]

[cretin box]

Thanks, pinkyfloyd, that was genuinely helpful. I really struggled with getting the bike on and off the stand and I don't think the instructor could see what I was doing wrong... he kept saying "push down on *that* leg" so I did - on the leg that was standing on the spigot...

The low-speed stuff is the hardest part, certainly for older people like us who are used to driving cars. But we have to accept that the CBT is aimed at 16 year olds who don't have our learned road-sense. Again, pinkyfloyd is right about it being down to clutch control: I find it *far* harder to control my automatic 'ped at low speeds than the YBR125 at the riding school. The other learner was also an experienced car driver and at first we both went at the manoeuvres like you would in a car - short bursts of power then roll - before the instructor took us both to one side and explained about keeping the engine spinning and slipping the clutch.

I'm absolutely with OP on the energy though, I loved every minute of it and came home buzzing! Can't wait to get on a proper bike again...
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1985 Honda Vision

[Matt B]

[what he said]

[what he said]

[KevinTodd]

Hello All!

me again

Thankyou all for your replies; I am grateful that I have this forum to hear other peoples experiences and gain some much needed advice.

I have news

Fastforward to 29th March and I will be taking delivery of my first motorbike. Its a Sinnis Apache - please dont hate me but I cant really afford a branded bike and I fell in love with the looks of it.

After my CBT i caught the bug massively. Managed to order some kit and safety gear, visit the showroom and put a deposit down. (Fergusons Cycles in Blyth - Northumberland - ask for Bill)

I will reply again soon with an update and hopefully some pics when she finally arrives

Stay classy everybody

Thank you all again
Kev

[janner_10]

[Rogerborg]

Pay no attention to the lacist behind the curtain.

I've been fingering an Apache recently and my considered opinion is that if you are the market for a new 125cc motorcycle in the UK today, you are not going to find one that's made any better, regardless of the badge on it or how much you pay for it.

Don't read more into that than what I've actually written, but I couldn't find a thing wrong with it in the showroom, and as to how they ride, ask a chap who's put in a fair number of miles on that style of bike.

I'll be having another good look at the 250 version when it hits the dealers in a few weeks.
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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

[tyler_jrn]

I did my cbt about 1 and a half years ago now and my experience was much the same as you had. Prior to going to the CBT i had ridden a 25cc pit bike type thing when i was about 10 years old. I had never ridden a geared bike before. Or anything on the road before. Not even a car. So it was all very bad for me.

Firstly i totally agree it looked like a small bike, literally felt like it was 1 tonne and it took many attempts to get the correct technique to lift it properly but once done and the correct technique it felt so much easier. Then was setting off on the thing, I felt totally useless setting off on it for the first time, I thought it would be like steering a bmx. It was not but again i was staring at the bars all the time so this didn't help. Once with the technique which was looking dead ahead i got used to it and became much easier. I felt pretty confident with the maneuvers. But the emergency brake test i did not. I new how slippery bike tires were and it was wet. So i did what the instructor told me and it went well.

We then went onto the road and this was by far the best. I just felt so much more confident and it felt so much more open. I didnt get on well at first with roundabouts and indicating, as i had never driven or ridden anything on the road before other than a push bike. I eventually got used to this and much like yourself got those many "indicator" shouts from the instructor.

Anyway im looking to do my A2 test now and hopefully will do great this time as im so much more confident after riding for 1-2 years pretty much every day.

Ive fallen off my bike in the snow and once in the wet as i grabbed the front brake but since have not fallen off which was about 1 year ago and have really learned from my mistakes.

All the best mate, love the riding experience!

[dolly3900]

OK as seems to be the fashion, here is my story

'T was a dark and stormy night...... Sorry.

After riding my lads 50 for about 12 months without the need for CBT (Full entitlement due to car licence), my other half suprised me with a CBT gift voucher for Christmas back in 2012, with Gavian Motorcycle training (Cardigan area, West Wales).

Well after a quick call the following day, I got booked in for just before the new year to get myself sorted out and on the road as soon as possible.

The day was wet, cold, hail, sleet, you get the picture, so when we met up in the off road training area, I was a little bit nervous to say the least, especially as I was expecting a 125 to learn on, but saw a couple of big ass 600s waiting for me.

A nice long chat with Ian (the insturctor) on road sence, safety equipment, legal requirements to ride etc. it was straight into the slow speed manouvers with the usual issues of looking at the front wheel when doing the turns and not where I wanted to to end up meaning that my foot was dabbing in the puddles more than Fred Astair's singing in the rain routine.

Once I got the hang of this and mastered the figure 8's slalom and U's, the emergency stop was a peice of P as I was used to the front/rear split of breaking from the ped.

After a quick cuppa and chat, it was off out on the roads, with a nice little ride on quiet country roads to get used to the extra power of the XJ from what I had been pootling around on previously, then it was in to town and traffic, fortunately it was a Sunday, so not too busy, but enough to keep me honest in the saddle.

Due to many years of 4 wheels and many types of vehicles, my road sense and hazard awareness were not too bad and as I drive a panel van, I am used to lifesaver looks in normal driving (not all van drivers are ar$£holes), so apart from the odd comment of advice in the ear, the road riding went relatively hitchless.

On the ride back to the school, I was let loose with the comment along the lines of "I'll stay behind you, just ride back in your own way", sort of free riding and with that in mind, I forgot that I was this novice rider and set off like the king of the road that I now was.

With not one comment of retribution from Ian, we arrived back in the school and was proudly presented with my certificate, which I drove home grinning like the Cheshire cat, ready to take it to the next stage and with the the help of Ian and his endless patience, here I am today, DAS passed and just been for a blast around the coast roads, with work paying my fuel

The only thing I will say is to remember that just because you have the bit of paper to say you are legally allowed to ride, does not make you Rossi over night, I have seen many young lads (mainly lads) who get their CBT, a CBR125 and shortly after watch it sumersault down the road whilst they are in the hedge.

Take your time getting to know the bike before twisting the loud switch too much

Enjoy and stay safe

Mike
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2002 Rieju RS2-50 (Sold, spares or repair), 2010 Suzuki DR-125SM (Traded for ->), 2007 Honda CBF 600 (Sold), 2010 Suzuki V-Strom 1000 (Briefly, now returned), 2007 Suzuki Intruder 1800m (Even More Briefly, traded in for ->), 2014 Suzuki V-Strom 650

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[Petrichor]

[Llama-Farmer]

I did my CBT on a scooter, which reduces the workload significantly as there's no clutch or gear changes to worry about.

I wouldn't say it was easy, but neither me or the other guy struggled.

Derbyshire offer the CBT Plus (don't know if they still do or not, but they did then) which is half a days riding with an instructor to gain more experience on the road. You send off a coupon to the scheme and they send you back a letter which you give to the instructor, and he'll then claim the costs from the scheme.

I used this half day (which ended up being more like a full day anyway) to move onto a geared 125, and having already done the CBT and ridden on the roads on scooters and mopeds, found it much easier than jumping from nothing onto a geared 125, as I wasn't having to think about balance and counter steering and using rear brake during slow control, I just was doing it automatically. Meant my attention could be focused on the clutch and gear changes rather than on everything.

Both days were great fun, and in fact it was only the lesson before my Mod2 where I had the first bit of bad weather on a bike, and that was really bad, torrential rain. Still was fun at the time though