CBT Disaster

[little_red_fish]

Hello everyone.

I have never ridden a motorcycle before and today I had a CBT. It was a total disaster and despite a slight pep talk from the instructor I am reluctant to give it a go again.

I was assured by the training school that the CBT would be suitable for a total non rider like me. I can ride a pushbike which seemed to be the prerequisites. I also hold a full car license and a 7.5 ton C1 D1 and trailer licenses.

I was unsure of the set up but felt quite dismayed and surprised that I was not the only one on the training and felt quite uncomfortable as an older person learning alongside a teenage scooter rider. They were using a 50cc automatic scooter and were whizzing round in no time. My machine was a 125cc manual bike with clutch and foot brake.

By the time the road ride session had arrived I was still hardly able to stop stalling the bike periodically and felt terribly unconfident. As a result I decided that for my own safety I did not want to ride on the road.

Now I assume my £99 has paid for a day's training as the time was stated as 9-5. Yet my decision not to go on the road did not spark the option of practicing from 1pm to 4pm yet instead resulted in me having to leave and go home while the 50cc teenager was taken out for the road part.

Seems to me the riding school have done nicely out of me really. £99 for 3.5 hours training leaving me feeling like I have wasted my time and feeling totally put off.

My advice to anyone attempting this course would be to ask if you are the only other student. When I learned to drive I didn't have another student in the car with me so I measured that as an expectation of today. If you are learning on a 125cc bike as a total beginner from my experience I would avoid learning with others using an easier automatic vehicle.

I am quite surprised that very little seemed to be given to roadcraft and this CBT seemed to be a hurried crash course on doing a U turn, emergency stop and junction discipline, moving onto these things even when I still felt unconfident even staring off on the straight. After which an expectation seems to be you will be confident to do a 2 hour road ride amongst traffic.

When you learn to drive a car you certainly do not attempt manoeuvres such as turn in the road, emergency stop and reverse round a corner within about 30 minutes of moving off.

In hindsight before attempting this CBT I would much rather have mastered the basics by having proper lessons like I did in a car and then move onto gentle road riding on quiet streets and progressing gently.

Anyway as a result I feel put off biking and certainly feel the CBT isn't value for money and for a rider starting out from scratch puts them in a dangerous position. I simply equate this to the fact that I have yet to meet anyone who couldn't drive a car being then able to go out and drive the car legally after only a couple of hours theory and practice on a disused weekend school playground.

Rather than a dangerous "crash course" I would rather have paid £99 for some quality one 2 one tuition without any thought of some kind of certificate at the end and gained the certificate later on.

Like I say it has put me off.

[wr6133]

MTFU

If you are 100% potato then do it on automatic ped and teach yourself gears with your own bike in your own time.

[little_red_fish]

[bamt]

It's unusual for CBT to be one-on-one - it is no more than 2 trainees to 1 instructor on the road, or 4 to 1 in the yard. If you decline the road part, they are unlikely to let you carry on in the yard as there may be no-one to supervise you.

One aspect on control - it comes very quickly on the road. On my CBT I was having trouble stalling in the yard (from many years driving cars I'm used to having plenty of torque available, which you don't get on a 125), but it came together once out on the roads. Best advice there is to not be afraid of twisting the grip and making it loud. It feels like you are abusing it, but it's how they need to be ridden.

I went out on the road feeling terrified; straight onto big busy roundabouts and having to remember all the stuff that eventually becomes second nature. By the end of the ride I was thinking that 125s are a bit rubbish and underpowered and I was glad I was heading into a DAS.

Have a word with your school about what their next step would be and what costs are. Some will give extra time freely, others expect partial or full payment for additional days. I'd be very surprised if you didn't get along fine next time, now you have had some time to think about how the bike control works.

[wristjob]

so in summary.
you were crap and its someone elses fault.
pehaps motorcycling isnt for you?

[little_red_fish]

[Rogerborg]

[little_red_fish]

[hedgehugger]

I ended up blubbing like the big girl I am when I did my CBT.
I didn't get to go on the road, I was exhausted, felt like a total failure, and absolutely flooded the place with tears.

Went back about a month later and got my certificate, no problem.
Just needed some time to absorb everything. 2nd time around was so much easier.

I did pay for the CBT twice, in fact as it was me and the OH we ended up paying for 4 CBT's.

[wristjob]

[NJD]

I can't believe my eyes, OP is a younger mike and the post length about a CBT is like a book.

is there a TL;DR already

[little_red_fish]

[wr6133]

[bamt]

Bear in mind that the CBT is Compulsory Basic Training. it doesn't mean you are competent to ride a bike. It means you've had a few hours of basic instruction so you know what all the controls do, and you have a reasonable expectation of not immediately killing yourself on a road. That's why you have to ride on L plates; you are still a learner. Back in the old days you didn't get that, you just bought a bike and figured it out for yourself.

What is your long term intention? Are you going for a full license, or intending riding around on L plates for a long period? If the full license, then as soon as you've got your CBT you can start doing more training on bigger bikes (which, surprisingly, are easier to ride) and get far more depth in training. That'd probably suit you better - get the minor hurdle of a CBT done, then talk to training schools about further training to get to test level.

[little_red_fish]

[ADAMH0]

Hi little_red_fish,

A bad experience is hard to forget, but perhaps after a couple of days, the pissed off feeling will fade and you can start to think about where you want to go next with a clear head.

If you felt the instruction wasn't what you wanted or expected but you thought the trainer was ok, then give them a call and see if they are able to offer one-to-one tuition (even thought it would almost certainly cost you a fair bit more).
If you didn't enjoy the whole setup, then try somewhere else. Perhaps a different instructor may work with you in a way more suitable to your learning style.

[little_red_fish]

[yen_powell]

The only way you'll get a one to one CBT is if the other three pupils fail to turn up and they carry on with just you anyway, or you pay 400 quid which is what the school would get for a normal day. They are businesses after all.

I have no idea what a car driving lesson costs nowadays. Googling it says about £25 an hour, so even your 3.5 hours comes to just under 90 quid.

When I taught CBT, the criteria for letting a pupil go out on the road for the two hour ride after the morning session was, 'do I think that person would make it home alive if they rode home on their own?'
____________________
Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[Sload]

[little_red_fish]

[Tracer1234]

Long, shitty day at work brings you this response:

1, Did you ask if it was going to be 1:1 when you booked it? no? Then don't assume.

2, If you buy a packet of pink panther biscuits, eat half, then decide you don't like them, would you expect to get a refund on half a packet? No? Then why would this be any different when you decided you didn't want to go on the road ride?

3, do you always take to then internet to put blame on other people then things don't go your way?

If you really have a desire to ride a motorcycle, dust yourself off, and try again at a different school with a different mindset going in. It will be worth it when its all done and your riding your own bike,

If not, never mind.
____________________
Riding: Yamaha MT-09 Tracer Occasionally Riding: 08 Suzuki SV650, Potato: 2011 Yamaha YBR Custom.
Used to ride: 2015 Yamaha MT-09 Tracer (smidsy) 09 Triumph Street Triple (P/X'd) 08 Yamaha YBR (Sold)
CBT 04/14. A: Mod 1 & 2 13/04/15

[little_red_fish]

[pig hog]

Knowingly or not, what you actually paid for was to book one place on the training course, rather than two places at a discounted price.

Out of interest, what's the website?
____________________
A2 Licence: 18/10/2013
A Licence: 01/12/2015
'13 Yamaha XJ6N '15 Daytona 675R / '16 MT-07 dead / '17 MT-07 / '18 MT-10

[Tracer1234]

[little_red_fish]

Perhaps anyone here can advise.

Bearing in mind the CBT seems to be a group session is that the same if you take a DAS course? You find you'll be processed through the course with another student?

Being a private and unsociable person I would not really want that. I guess it is something I would have to ask. Yet I would not have even guessed that I would not be alone.

Maybe car lessons have changed? Maybe now you have another student sat in the back seat learning from your lesson?