Mod 1 - My Experience

[Tariq_S]

I apologies as this is long, but want to pass on my experience as it happened.

I am 27 years old, and decided to do my big bike training without messing around on a 125 myself.
I completed my CBT by bagging it as a birthday present in September last year. I did this with Wheels motorcycle training in Birmingham.
Between then and December I’d been looking at getting a bit of gear together, and I managed to get a bargain on some used Leather trousers, £5 plus postage on EBay. I also found some motorcycle boots that have had little wear locally on gumtree which were £20. And a barley used textile jacket which just about fit for £20, locally too.

I called around for prices for the DAS course, and I decided to use Steel Horse Motorcycle training as speaking to Rob he sounded very knowledgeable and professional, and there was a winter offer on the Das Course.
I decided to do 2 days training, with the Mod 1 test being on the second day afternoon, and we both put the dates of 16th & 17th in our diaries.

A dark December morning, waking up early with excitement I check the local weather report to see how it will be over today and tomorrow, it looked great as there were no reports of rain and the temperature was mild.
A hearty weetabix breakfast and I was out the door quickly, as my partner thinks I am going to the gym before work. (She is not aware I am doing my motorcycle training)
I make my way to the training centre in shard end, and stopped on the way at a Morrison’s to use their facilities as I am very early, I then make my way around the corner to Shard End Youth Centre.
I park up in the car park and check the time; I am half an hour early. I decide to just wait there, get my gear on and listen to the radio whilst watching the world go by.

It felt like ages, as I watch the mums dragging their progeny to school screaming and shouting their way across the roads, whilst sitting idly in the car with greater anticipation for the day ahead.
The time, at a snail's pace, came to half 9 and there was nobody else in the car park. The building is still closed too, and some negative thoughts came to mind. Had I just been involved in an elaborate scam? Luckily I had paid on the credit card so I could get the money back, but it would be a big hassle.

I ring the all the telephone numbers on the conformation email but I am met with “Welcome to the answer phone......”
I walk up to the door of the youth centre, thinking somebody may already be inside, I push all the buzzers on the door but there is no answer. I then decided that I would wait a further 10 minutes in the car, and if nobody turned up, I would go.

“Hello mate, are you here for the Mod 1 Training?” a voice said from behind the locked gate, going to the back of the centre. I look up to see a person in full bike gear and helmet on. A feeling of relief fell over me, a bit like having a warm cup of soup on a cold winter’s night, that I wasn’t part of some big elaborate scam to rip off new bikers!

I reply I am here for the training, and we both introduced ourselves, he being Rob.
“Unfortunately I have some bad news regarding your mod 1. If you’d like to follow me in and we will talk about it.”

I follow him into though the door of the youth centre, as he disappears to turn the alarms off I am eagerly anticipating what this news could be.

We walk to a room at the end and I sit down at the behind a school desk, the closest to the whiteboard.
The whiteboard had illustrations similar to that what was shown to me on my CBT. The diagram which shows which part of the lane your position should be when you are at a T junction.
“Your mod 1 test was booked for tomorrow afternoon at Garrets Green test centre in Birmingham. Unfortunately I had a call last night to inform me that all tests have been cancelled for tomorrow, I am really sorry but I found out late last night.
We will ring them now to see when we can book it in again”

I was disappointed as these 2 days were the only days I could take off before Xmas, so it would have to be in the New Year.
We then proceeded to book it in for 13th & 14th of January.
Rob apologised profusely, but I was aware these things happen and I knew that it wasn’t in his control.

I now had 2 days off unexpectedly to use, which most of it went on completing some work from home too, a bonus which I would get paid for.
..........
Last week’s experience will follow later on this evening after work hopefully.

[Silver_Fox]

So you can say all this to us but can't talk to your wife?

[SethWhite]

[ferrisio]

[NJD]

[Rogerborg]

[Tariq_S]

Silver_Fox
"So you can say all this to us but can't talk to your wife? Laughing"

yes I am going to surprise her once passed and just turn up home on a bike!

ferrisio
"Did they (DVLA) say why the tests were cancelled?"

No they spoke to the instructor directly as he booked the test for me. Second time was because the examiner wasn't well though.


NJD
"I have the Module 2 test route saved somewhere if you want a copy of it, I appreciate they can take you anywhere but I talked to someone recently who said they saw (and I described the bike/difference in colour hi-viz) on that route. Might come in handy."

Thanks but I will be doing it in burton...unless you have those too?

Sorry I typed the second part up last night but it was on my phone and didn't process. I have re-typed it up today. Apologies it is long winded again and for the grammatical mistakes.

[Tariq_S]

Wednesday the 13th of January, an eagerly awaited date for my Mod 1 training to start. It is a cold dark morning and much of the same routine is followed as previously. I check the weather report to find the temperature being between 2-4’c with rain and a chance of snow...Great, it will probably be cancelled again!

I stick my thermals on with another 2 layers on top, I feel warm as I step out into the frosty morning ready to make my journey/.
I eagerly wait in the car park, excited but nervous for the day’s activities, until I hear an unmistakably thunderous sound of a big motorbike close by. I see Rob pull unto the car park on an adventure looking bike, which I try to make out but can’t see any signage. The exhaust note was lovely and deep, and all I have to compare it to is a Subaru Sti burble. ( It’s a Buell I found out later, Harley engine apparently)

I follow him inside the youth centre and take a seat as before.
“You’re very lucky today. The mod 1 test in Birmingham was cancelled again, but I managed to get another test for tomorrow at the same time, at the Burton test centre.”
That is fine by me, as long as I can get on a bike I thought. I am too excited to let the destination of the test centre affect me.
He asks if I need any other kit, which I require a helmet and some gloves. He passes me a helmet, gloves, hi viz jacket and a neck snood. “You will need that; it’s going to get pretty cold out today.”
I put the gear on, as he pulls out a red Honda Hornet 600, the training bike. It looks and sounds good.

We went out the back of the youth centre to a concrete 5 a side football pitch. He goes over the bike and tells me of the differences between a 125 and a big bike, bigger brakes, tyres, engine etc...
“It’s essentially the same but requires refinements in how it handles compared to a 125. You need to be more careful with the throttle as a little twist goes a long way. A bigger bike is easier to control doing the slow manoeuvres, and they are what you practised during your CBT apart from the slalom.”

Rob demonstrates what he want me to do first, just some clutch control and a controlled stop at the end, and a little ride around the edge of the pitch, and a intro to the figure of 8 manoeuvre. He wants to make sure I did do a cbt and can ride safely as where we will be training for the mod 1 is in Atherstone.
We then go out of the youth centre to the Morrison’s petrol station around the corner, as both bikes require fuel.
Today’s plan is to get me riding safely on the road on the bigger bike around the local area firstly, then once I am comfortable riding in traffic, head towards Atherstone where we will be doing the slow controls for Mod 1 training.

We ride around the block a couple of times and around castle vale. We stay in the 30mph roads so I can gain confidence in riding.
I struggle a bit at junctions and Rob picks up on this and asks me to pull over so we can discuss this. He advises me to keep slipping the clutch until you are clear out of the junction and keep it slow when exiting; there is no need to rush.
We ride around further afield and around some roundabouts, some where I stalled on exiting as I was still rushing a bit.
Rob asks me to pull over again and advises I need to relax as my body is too rigid, and trust the bike. Also I am taking too long to get up to speed, and my shoulder checks are too quick to allow any chance of actually processing a danger: his example was when somebody asks you the time, and you look at your watch quickly, but can’t recall the time so you have to look again.

Where we stopped, the road had a bit of an incline, and Rob proceeded to inform me that this would be on mod 2, and the way to do a hill start is to keep on the back break a bit longer than usual and a bit more revs so the bike doesn’t stall.
We ride back to the youth centre so I could have a quick lunch before heading towards Atherstone.

Rob is riding in front on the way there, and the country lanes are superb to ride on. It is getting colder though and my hands are beginning to freeze as I am not wearing winter gloves. I didn’t expect how cold it would get, or how much the wind affects the rider, as we were on some NSL lanes.
We arrive at a car park at a brewery in atherstone and Rob advises me that he does have permission to use the car park for training purposes, and the brewery is closed to the public during the week so there should me minimum traffic.

I am shivering, like a baby just out a bath, as it is icy cold. I check my phone to see a message that it has started snowing in Birmingham. Rob lays some cones out for the manual handling and slalom manoeuvres whilst I stand there jumping on the spot to try and warm up. I exclaim that it was a cold ride over and my hands were cold, and Rob replies that he felt it too, even with the heated grips. I was jealous!

We proceed to do all the manoeuvres bar emergency brake as the condition of the car park isn’t too great, a lot of sticks and mud on the floor.
I struggle with the figure of 8 so we practise lots on that. I am letting the clutch slip but not giving enough throttle which looks like I might fall over...I don’t though.
We head back to the youth centre and hit a bit of rush hour traffic. I feel much more comfortable riding the bike now than the start of the day.

We park up at the centre and go over tomorrows plan, some riding around local at first, then over to Atherstone for some more practise on the manoeuvre then make our way to Burton test centre.

During the night my ear is ringing constantly from all the white noise from the earpiece earlier in the day.

The next day we start of as a usual ride around locally, Rob compliments that my ridiing is much smoother then yesterday and he can tell I have more slow control at junctions.
We head up to atherstone and practise the manoeuvres once again, there is a flutter of snow too, and after some practise I am happy to make our way towards the test centre.

We arrive at Burton test centre an hour early, but it was a cold ride up and I just wanted to get inside and warm up.
Start of the test I signed the disclosure and proceeded outside to the bike. I pushed the start button, but the bike required choke to start up. I left the choke on and started the bike.
As I made my way into the gate the bike stalled....damn. Started the bike again on choke and the examiner helped me straighten the bike to go straight onto the pad.
I pulled up into the box on the right, put the bike on the stand and got off. The manual handling was easy and I put the bike on the stand in the other box.
The examiner said not to worry about what happened outside, and told me to start the bike and let it warm up a bit on the choke before we do the slalom and start when I was ready.
Once warmed up I done my shoulder checks as he was walking to another position and proceeded to the slalom and figure of 8, it went ok if a bit wobbly as the bike was still struggling due to the cold weather.

That was done and went over to do the slow ride and the rest of the manoeuvres. The speed manoeuvres were all done once and then I was advised to head out of the pad and park the bike up.
I was told I had passed, thank god! I asked about any faults and we went inside to discuss in front of the instructor and get out of the cold.

I had 2 rider faults, 1 on the slalom and 1 on the slow ride, both were for not performing shoulder check. I didn’t argue it as I was glad I had passed.


A cold ride back to Birmingham followed, and Mod 2 booked in for next month.

[Doovy]

Well done

If you can ride and past in freezing conditions on a Hornet after just one day of practice, then you did well.

Hopefully the weather picks up a bit for your Mod 2

You'll enjoy the summer with a full licence for sure, it totally transforms your biking experience!
____________________
Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1

[Silver_Fox]

A very informative read! I might even show my partner as she's learning (however I'm not sure I want her to see the rest of the stuff I post )

Congratulations on the pass. It's a great feeling

[NJD]

[billyray911]

Congrats on the pass,I've just passed my mod 2 at Garrets Green.
I had a similar experience at this test centre in that my mod 1 was almost cancelled due to a couple of the examiners being on strike.Luckily,the last remaining examiner managed to shoehorn me in and I passed.
I wasn't so lucky for my mod 2.Beautiful day and perfect conditions,but learned that my test was cancelled upon turning up at the test centre-again due to the strikes.
Had to wait till the new year (and bloody cold weather) for my mod 2.Opted for Garrets Green again and luckily,I managed to pass!
Searching for a bike now...

[SethWhite]

Congrats, really happy to hear you passed, best of luck in your mod 2!

[winz]

Top work chap! Good luck with the Mod2.
____________________
Current Bikes: BMW K1200S
Previous: Honda CBR929RR, Honda CBR1100XX, Honda CB600F

[Pepi1967]

Can't wait to read about mod 2 now