Staying on CBT?

[Synre]

While reading through the forums I saw a user say that under the new licensing laws it's probably not worth doing your A1 test and just staying on the CBT certificate until you're 19 and able to do the A2 test.

I know that passing your test allows you to ride on motorways and carry a passenger but stuck on a 125cc bike I don't think those are things I would want to do anyway, so as far as I see it doing the tests are just a waste of money apart from being able to remove L plates which isn't at all a big deal to me.

So, should I just stick on my CBT till I'm 19 and or have the money to fund A2 or should I actually complete the A1 test?

[wr6133]

[arry]

As above, outside of what you've already identified as the 'benefits' there's just new driver act to think about. Starts your 2 year, 6 points and revoke countdown

Wouldn't do it just for that personally, though.

[pinkyfloyd]

As an instructor our school never suggests A1 route. It is a waste. Wait until you are 19 and do A2. It gives you access to a more powerful bike, just get it done before your CBT runs out.
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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.

[monkeybiker]

This is a question for @pinkyfloyd. As an instructor as for shoulder checks what do you do when making a change in speed. Like going from 30mph to a 60mph or vice versa. Is it just a mirror check or a mirror check and two shoulder checks?

I'm not doing the test myself it's for a friend of mine who says you have to do two mirrors and two shoulder checks.

[Rogerborg]

[monkeybiker]

Think it depends how much you can afford to spend as well. If you are on a budget I would just do another CBT.

If you do a CBT chances are you will pass. If you go for the test there is the chance you will fail and will have to pay for another test.

[Rogerborg]

There's always a chance, but it also means spreading the costs out. £25 theory, £15.50 mod 1, you could even stop there (as long as you pass your A2 within 2 years of your theory). £75 for mod 2 is the bigger gamble, but it's just a ride out on best behaviour.
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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

[SteveSmith]

As others have said the benefits of doing the test are small, but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing the training. I'd be nervous of riding around for two years having only done CBT, and even more nervous if it was my son doing it.

Get yourself the skills, whether you decide to do the test or not.

Steve.

[pinkyfloyd]

[Teflon-Mike]

Personally, if there's a licence NOT worth the going for, its the A2 NOT the A1.

If you have a bike, and intend riding on L's, you can do the A1 tests.

They cost £30 for Theory you'd have to do for any licence, £15 for Mod 1, and £75 for Mod 2 (at last count).

So, for barely the cost of a repeat CBT, you get a full licence that's a perpetual, never have to repeat CBT to ride a 125 till your 70th birthday.

You can ditch the looser plates and hold your head up high knowing you have earned your road room, carry pillions and use motorways if you wish, but other wise enjoy your 125 for what t is best at, being very cheap motorcycling and as much fun for your money as you are ever likely to get on two wheels, and NOT have to worry about paperwork, ending the fun.

Meanwhile, your two year New-Drivers-Act probation is ebbing away while you are on a bike less likely t help you get to the sort of trouble the NDA may be used against you.. small benefit but still a benefit.

Then, IF you wish to take it further and really want a bigger bike licence, rather than having to worry about how long you have left on your CBT cert, and whether you can cram getting your Theory passed and finding the money for the course and getting it done and passing both practical tests before t runs out.. you are half way there; Theory will have been done, and if you have full motorcycle licence you don't need to show a CBT cert validating provisional entitlement to do an upgrade test.. AND you will have passed tests once, so you know the ropes; means your A2 training course is likely to not need be so long to get you to test standard and you are likely to have higher chance of passing tests, as its just doing what you already done, just on a bigger bike.

So, A1 saves hassle, and money, and takes away worries and pressures, and lets you get on and RIDE, even is its 'only' more humble 125.. pretty much as far as you are concerned.. forever.

If you drop biking for any reason; money, circumstance, change of interests, whatever, and it IS likely... those advantages though are still there, you can pick back up later, pretty much where you left off, you dot get chucked back to square one, moment the CBT cert expires.

So, relative value. Do A2 at 19, after L-Plating, pretty much demands a Direct Access Course. That course will be the same and cost the same whether its for an A2 licence or a full, ride what you like restricted A, you cant do util you are 24. More, its the same tests, and probably on the same bike, just with or without power restrictor fitted.

So what does doing A2 give you? Well, like A1 lets you ditch the L-Plates, carry a pillion and use motorways; starts, possibly two years later, the clock on NDA probation, and lets you ride something up to 45bhp.. rather than 15...

15bhp though is still enough to go pretty much as fast as anythig else is allowed to go this country. Even the ore humble 10bhp 125's can break most speed limits and stay with legal traffic on unclassified 60mph roads..... not so comfy for two up work or loger distance journeys, B-U-T, they ent 'toys' to be scoffed at, and can do, only slightly ore slowly, most of what bigger bkes might, AND they do it DAMNED cheaply. 70+mpg is almost a given; £17 a year tax is too; though biggest burden on a young rder tends to be isurance,which will never be 'cheap' but tends to at least be more affordable on littler bikes. That's a LOT of biking for the money, and a LOT of fun to be had.

A2, lets you get on a bigger bike.. which will make you feel good, but as every day practical transport? NOT really doing much for you a 125 wouldn't, if anything, except cost you more money... to do the course, then keep petrol in the tank, buy shorter lived more expensive service consumables and generally NOT get anywhere near as much biking for your money, for the little exa performance the thing might have..

And A2 licence restrctions; 45bhp, basically define the max you can have as something like an old Suzuki GS500. That's only just over a 100mph motorcycle; its a bit more spirited than a 125 for sure, but its not REALLY up there amongst the bikes that inspire enthusiasm and get people exited! Meanwhile, the A2 licence restrictons can be a right pain in the arse; if you want the max you can have on that licence, you are probably going to be in the world of restricting bigger bikes, and the minefield of the new regs that say what can and cant be restricted, then trying to satisfy the bureaucrats with 'proof of restriction', to get insurance on it, possibly paying more for the declared 'modification' to remove performance!

Or you are going to be looking at stuff that doesn't have full quota of performance your licence allows, and are even less inspiring. But either way; you aren't getting a lot more bike for the licence than you could have from a 125, but you WILL be paying more for it, likely finding hassle and grief trying.

Begs suggestion, to get an A1, save having to redo CBT every two years; enjoy cheap biking and cranking up NCB till you are 24, and only pay ONCE to do the training and tests and get the full, ride whet you like licence for the pleasure, rather than having to pay over twice, and get grief and hassle to have an in betweenie bike for a couple of years, and MAYBE if you still have any money, patience and nerve endings, get on something 'interesting' oooh.. three years, at the most, sooner than waiting it out...which just takes patience to get old, which you will, patience or not!

Not saying A2's not worth the doing, but of the three, it is, to my mind the one LEAST worth the cost and hassle. A1 sure it doesn't let you ride anything more inspiring than you might on CBT, but that's STILL a heck of a lot of biking for your money, and while you don't get more 'bike' for doing tests, for what it costs, it is offering you savigs to keep riding that much bike, NOT having to repeat CBT, and it DOES still offer a leg up to higher licences, and take pressure off, to get them done to deadlines or having to do SO much to get them in one go, even if you DO do both A2 & A3 in succession soon as you are old enough. BUT does mean, if you DON'T... you never have to go ALL the way back to square one and start over with another CBT.

It IS offering you something.. it just not what you want it to offer you; what it offered me twenty odd years ago when passing tests on a 125 let me get straight on any size bike I wanted straight away.. but not your lot, as it wasn't mine, too late to jump straight on a 250 at 17 soon as got a provisional through the post.. we have to make the most of what we are offered when we are offered it, and YOU are offered A1.

And, if you want to put in the effort you CAN make it work for you, and can be very worth while and useful... IF you look it, same as 125's, on their own merit and what they can do for you, rather than looking anywhere but, and seeing what you want, and DON'T get with either an A1 or 125, and criticising them for not giving it to you.

They are STILL l giving you 'something', and as my old gran used to say, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" accept it with good grace and work with it to get what you DO want, if the gift isn't instantly it.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[monkeybiker]

[monkeybiker]

[TheSmiler]

[Synre]

Ahh, thanks for the replies guys. I think Teflon-Mike has pretty much convinced me it's actually worth it to take the A1 test.

Thanks to everyone for their input though!

[pinkyfloyd]

[TheSmiler]

[Knacker]

[prawny1]

[ws4936]

[monkeybiker]

[Alpha-9]

That's probably the only advantage - that taking thw test is cheaper than a CBT (if you dont have to use an instructor or bike hire)

So if you intend to do like 2 CBTs before you get a full license it would be good economy to do the A1
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Fzr-600 1999

[Fladdem]

I never bothered with training and I got my A2 licence the day before my CBT expired, VERY lucky.

I would do my A1 if I had to do it again, I agree with Teffers. 125's are a lot of fun if you have the right mindset and that way you just need to do like a refresher Mod 2 test later on, I believe? Then you have your A2, two years after that, full A! Without being able to go too mad on the bikes.

I have two friends that did a one week training course, CBT Monday, full licence by Friday type deal. One got a Ninja 636, the other a Hornet 600. Within two months both of them had their heads in cages and the bikes were written off, the Kwak was brand spanking new, 13 plate.

Progressing slowly up the sizes, I think, will give you more time to appreciate the power and learn a bit of skill at a slower pace, there are people that get on powerful bikes straight away and are absolutely fine, but that's why I went for a 25 ish HP 250 and then a 55ish 550. Small steps, pace myself. And also, smaller steps mean you still get the acceleration buzz for longer. Jumping on a litre bike and cranking the throttle back, once you got used to it, it would be very difficult to experience that sort of thrill again.

Anyway, go for a perma-CBT. To my mind, it seems like the most sensible option.
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Current:1991 Honda MT50 (Soon to be a H100/MTX/MT5 hybrid), 1976 Honda Cub C70, 2005 Honda Varadero 125, 1993 Yamaha TTR250 Open Enduro , 2010 Road Legal Stomp YX140, 1994 Honda CRM 250 MK III, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 1992 Honda CB400 Super Four, Stomp T4 230, 1984 Honda H100s, 2009 Sym XS125K
Past:2003 Aprilia RS125, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550(FREE BIKE!)
I'm having more fun than a well-oiled midget.

[Rogerborg]

[prawny1]