Learning To Ride - The Licence Stuff

[Bendy]

OK... people seem to get a bit confused about all this, so let me try and summarise:

CBT (Compulsary Basic Training).
You have to complete this before you can ride a bike or ped on the road. It consists of a day, half farting around a carpark riding around cones, and half out on the road with an instructor. It's not really a 'test' as such, more just some basic knowledge to make you slightly less likely to kill yourself. It's pretty hard to fail, and not only is it a legal requirement, it's also a bloody good idea.

Now, things start to get complex

If you are 16 and have completed CBT, you can ride a 50cc bike with L plates. Doesn't *have* to be a ped, there are 'proper' 50cc bikes out there.

If you are 17 or over and have completed CBT, you can ride a 125cc bike with L plates.

With L plates, you cant use motorways, you cant carry pillions, and will look like a bit of a knob.

SO... you've done your CBT but you want rid of this L plate nonsense. What you do next depends entirely on whether you are over 21 or not.

Get your Theory Test and the new Hazard Perception stuff out the way first - you need to have passed those to book a full bike test.

If you are between 17 and 21, you can do your full motorbike test on a 125cc bike. On passing, you are then restricted for 2 YEARS to riding a bike with 33bhp or less. Once those 2 years are up, you can legally ride anything you like.

If you are over 21, you can do Direct Access - the same motorbike test as above, but you do it on a bigger bike (generally a 500cc). On passing, you can ride anything you like straight away - no restriction period.

The DSA - https://www.dsa.gov.uk - Useful stuff.
The DVLA - https://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/rdmcycle.htm - Not so useful really

[G1_]

Licenses (Valid for the UK):

There are three types of motorcycle licenses in the UK, the provisional, restricted and full license.
Assuming you are 17 or over you can apply for a provisional license. This license is valid for a machine of up to 125cc / 15bhp. Under this license you are not allowed to carry pillions/passengers, you cannot ride on the motorway and L-plates have to be displayed on the front and back of the bike. One requirement before you are allowed on the road is that you pass a cbt. Without a cbt you are not legally allowed to ride on the road. A cbt course will cost you between £60-£100 depending on where you book yours (mine cost about £80). It is done in a day and consists of some classroom training, followed by some manoeuvres in a car park, followed by some more classroom training and finally some on-road stuff. A cbt is often seen as training rather than a test and is not something to be worried about. The average person probably has about a 95% chance of passing.

Once you have got your provisional license you can go on to do your test. As with cars you are required to pass a theory test before hand (not needed for provisional). There are separate tests for car and bike and are only valid for that particular mode of transport.
There are many ways of going about your practical test. Firstly you could book yourself in for an intensive course, 3 or 5 day (can be quite expensive, I paid £300 for my 3-day course), which will include a few days of training and your test. Or you could try some lessons (usually about £20 per hour, I think). Alternatively you could just go for it and see if you pass. Some people find it cheaper to pay for 2 or 3 test on their own than to go through training.

If you are under 21 and want to ride a bigger bike than a 125 then you have to pass your test on a 125. A test is about 30 min long and you'll be asked to do a few tasks (lessons/training will prepare you for them). Passing your test will give you a restricted license and will limit you to a machine of 33 bhp for 2 years. After the 2 years are up you have a full license. (Most sub 600 cc bikes can be restricted to 33 bhp, 400's make good restricted bikes in my opinion)

If you are over 21 you can do a DAS. On passing you will have a full license and not be restricted in any legal way. Doing a DAS requires you to pass your test on a machine 46+ bhp.



There we go. I'm sure everyone will tell me everything I've got wrong but at least I ran it through a spell checker

[edit]D'oh looks like bendy did a test one as well (good co-ordination). Well at least people will be extra sure, or more confused. One of the two[/edit]

[Zimma]

[TiN]

[Scooby]

[Ben]

ok
i have full car licence, and on the paper counter-part, it says i have provisional bike entitlement too. if i were to book my theory, would this be ok, or do i have to send off some form to get it??

ben

[TiN]

Yes, you can book (and pass) your theory with a provisional bike license.
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TiN
dotgems.net

[rickyj]

do you have to have a provisional lisence to validate a CBT

[Scotty]

Yes, lol.

Pretty simple answer.
I wouldnt have been able to take a CBT without one...
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Regards
Scott