mod 1 practice:( (update passed mod 1 & 2)

[Yaka]

so i had mod 1 test booked for Monday, and i had a few hours doing mod 1 practice today. aside from slalom and the swerve i thought i had it all down to a tee.

practice didn't go well i pretty much screwed everything up and ended up wishing i had done a conversion day on the er6 bike they had as i found the bike to be very different to my varadero i am big guy at 22 stone so pedal placement for a bit of a problem for me at first but i found the bikes handling to be much better than my varadero .

it was raining and freezing and after a few hours my fingers began feeling numb at which point the instructor called for a coffee break.

both the instructor and i agreed my one major flaw is looking down at the cones the harder i tried not look the more i ended up looking, specially when doing the slalom and the swerve ( dunno why but this bit shits me right up )

i started at 10am and finished around 3pm and the instructor called me in for an early 9am start Monday. at this moment i am very sure im gonna fail it. ive never felt more pathetic if i am honest


on the way home the difference power wise between the varadero and the er6 was very noticeable, also the fact that the varadero felt way more comfy and and much lighter.

one more thing ive been out on my bike in the rain and cold before but this is the first time my body feels really sore and ive had more than a few cramps since i got home. never happened to me before.
____________________
Current Bike : 2008 Varadero XL125
mod 1: passed 16/02/2015
mod 2: passed 19/02/2015

[MC]

Don't look down, look where you want to go.

I struggled massively with the mod 1 stuff, but still passed (was sure I was gonna fail).

The slalom's tricky. They teach you to do it at speed, I just did it at my pace on test day but the instructor said he thought I was going to fall over I was going so slowly

TBH the swerve test's a bit tight. Good thing for the test's if you're too slow first time round you get another go, same with the emergency stop.

Being out in the cold for hours is different than a normal commute, you will feel the cold more, so need layers. Inner gloves are good if you can fit them inside your regular ones, although at this time of year you'd think the school would be using heated grips.
____________________
Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[alex965]

Tips for staying warm when you're practising in shitty weather, from a mix of experience in the infantry, and being in the same boat as you a couple of weeks ago doing my A2. Like has been said, it's the hanging around in the cold for hours that will get you. Instead of one big jacket or coat, wrap up in loads of layers, it's a more efficient way of trapping heat. Keep the damp away at all costs, and that includes sweating from wearing too much warm kit (another reason to wear loads of thinner layers, so you can adjust how much warm kit you're wearing). Stop for a brew regularly, and if you smoke, keep having fag breaks. Getting warm fluid down you and smoking a tab helps to raise your core temperature.

With the mod 1, I was in the same position as you, I was convinced I was going to fail, struggled during the practice and couldn't sleep properly the night before the test. And I still managed to pass. It's really not as bad as you think it is, honest. You said you are doing the test on the er6? I did my A2 on an er6 and I found that I was really struggling with low speed control, I have the opposite issue to you, I am a skinny little runt at 10 stone soaking wet so I had to be careful with the bike and make sure I kept it from going off balance. I solved all those issues by just using the clutch with a little rear brake, no throttle. Honestly, try it. I had my hand on the throttle just in case the revs dropped too low but never needed to add any. Using just the power coming from slipping the clutch I found it far easier to do the u turn, the slalom and the figure of 8.

Good luck
____________________
Passed A2 licence 19th Dec '14.

[Barnoe]

Look at the gap between the cones, where you want your wheels to go... DONT look at the cones!
Keep revs constant and adjust speed with clutch and rear brake for that and the figure of 8 too.
____________________
You know you are old when you're told to slow down by your doctor and not the police.

[pinkyfloyd]

We tell out students that if you are going to look at any cone, look at the outside one and not the inside one. That way you will miss both. It's pretty hard, near impossible, to swerve that far.

As for the bikes and handling. Yes they are different. You are dealing with a bigger bike and the biggest difference apart from the power is your varadero is pretty tall with a high centre of gravity, the ER6 is a low centre of gravity. It is very noticable and takes some getting used to.

Speaking of power differences. The ER6 is around 78 BHP your bike is no more than 14. That is a HUGE jump. We tell the students that the jump from the 125 onto even an A2 (46bhp) restricted bike feels bigger than the jump from the A2 bike onto something like an R1, even if the BHP stats tell you differently.

My advice, relax and stop panicking. The more relaxed you are the easier it becomes.
____________________
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.

[Uncle fester]

Yaka
I failed my mod 1 again on Friday ( for the third time ) I touched the line on my u turn.
i used a er6 this time and found it to be a bit snatchy, it seems the throttle is either on or off, it just wasnt as smooth as the versys I used on my last test ( don't ask ).
Being relaxed is a huge part of it and I'm sure if you stay calm you'll be fine.
Good luck and tell us know how it goes
____________________
Tomorrows another day .just as we'll at my age

[Nash GT]

The way I mastered the slalom was to lock onto the last cone, that's the way my instructor showed me and worked 100% every time.

Remember focus on the last cone everything else will appear in your field of vision.

For the swerve, try practising a bit slower and build your speed, I struggled is used to give it too much stick and lock the wheels at the other end
____________________
Suzuki GSF600N

[MikeBerks]

I too went through the module one training looking at the floor or the cones. Despite the instructor saying again and again to "look up", I thought I knew better. Needless to say, with each manoeuvre, something would go wrong.

I was told "look where you want to go" and it worked a treat.

Best of luck with the retake.

[Doovy]

Mod 1 sounds a bit shit tbh
____________________
Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1

[pinkyfloyd]

[Ste]

[Uncle fester]

But it's £15.50 + school bike hire so for me it's around £85 a time.
____________________
Tomorrows another day .just as we'll at my age

[Rogerborg]

It's a silly test in an artificial environment, but there's nothing hard about it and only girls fail it (for statistically significant values of "only").

Stop blubbing, just do it right.
____________________
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

[MC]

Does passing Mod 1 actually make you a safer rider?

I'm still of the opinion it's a pointless test, which has very little to do with actual road riding. I don't think the problem's any specific part of the test, it's stringing it altogether on test day.

Being able to do Mod 1 on a 125 would be a lot fairer IMO, I had no issue on doing a figure of 8 etc. on a CG, my issues came from the weight of the Bandit. I think (as Rogerborg alluded to) this is why more women are failing now.
____________________
Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[TheArchitect]

Am I the only one that found Mod1 the easier out of the two tests? For me Mod2 was the killer, failed it twice for road positioning errors.

Mod1 never was a worry for me, I think after riding a wobbly scooter with bicycle wheels for 2 years a big ER6 felt very stable and easy to move around at slow speeds.

Anyway, good luck with your next attempt OP.
____________________
GSXR 600 K6 - Stolen
GSXR 600 K6 - Stolen
MT09 - Almost stolen

[Taught2BCauti...]

[Rogerborg]

It's easy to pass, but it's also easy to fail through performance anxiety. Dabbing a foot down, oh noes. We do it in the real world when necessary (inB4 'neat feet'); thinking about it, I had a slide in the snow because awesome on my mod 2, saved it with a foot down and passed, so why the obsession with perfection in mod 1? Competence should be all that's required.

I'd hate to do mod 1 on a Bandit, mind, and can't understand why training schools were so sweet on them.
____________________
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

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[pdg]

[Rogerborg]

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[Yaka]

well the mod 1 test was on Monday 5th jan, woke up feeling really crap then began vomiting. the wife gave me some pills to settle me but i felt really strange all day. practice was a mixed bag. instructor gave me 50-50 chance.

test time i stalled the engine, then for the emergency stop did it at 45 then next one was at 47, test failed was really gutted.

headed to the walk in center got told im suffering a variant of norovirus and will take over a week to clear:/ while i was wating there instructor called said the following Monday 12th jan was available for mod 1, and as i had mod2 booked for Wednesday 14th jan, told him to go ahead and book it. dont remember much of the week was constantly spewing my guts out.

come Monday 12th jan i didn't tell the instructors i was poorly and still feeling the effects. practice went perfect aside from cliping a cone once during the swerve. i felt great.

after we got to the test center wind picked up alot enough to move a couple of the cones, test canceled i was gutted as i was 100% sure i would have passed it.

waiting on new test dates now.


as for the er6-n really enjoy riding now on Wednesday i booked alesson and we went through the mod2 test routes. oh and it first in the snow as well!!!
____________________
Current Bike : 2008 Varadero XL125
mod 1: passed 16/02/2015
mod 2: passed 19/02/2015

[struan80]

Mod 1 with training is definitely worth while from my nooblet experience. This from a very novice bikers point of view.

I'd probably have wrecked my bike already without slow riding skills that the training for mod 1 taught, not to mention learning to not look where you don't want to go etc etc.

Are the Mod 1 test cones not representative of a kerb/roadkill/oil patch/naked girl etc that you couldn't keep your eyes off when along round a sharp bend?

Had I been riding for 20 years and had to do this Mod 1 test then my opinion may be different. But if that was the case it would really easy to do this anyway, or should be.

I think they should make learner car drivers go through the same rigmarole as bikers (I can say us bikers now ). Then I would feel slightly more safe.

[notbike]

I was quite potato at Mod 1. But I only potato'd it the first time because I was nervous and kept thinking about the next maneuver.

People have already said what you need to do for specific maneuvers with all the controls n whatnot so I won't add to that. Instead I'll tell you how I passed by applying 2 anti-potato approaches.

1. On the test pad, concentrate on doing one maneuver at the time and don't think about the next one until you get to it (you have as much time as you want).

2. Relax as much as you can. Breathe. They see this shit every day, you're not special in their eyes and they aren't there to laugh at you and go "Ha you can't ride a bike you nob!". If you flop something don't let it put you off, it could only be a minor fault instead of a major/serious.

Good luck anyway. It was a pain in the arse for me and had to take it twice.

[Tdibs]

Things that helped me pass my mod1 first time;

-Go to a empty car park at night and get a couple of hours of relaxed practice in so you feel completely comfortable flicking the bike around esp at low speeds. Buy a 6 pack of coke cans or something if you need some "cones" to help.

- Like others said, focus on where you want to go, not staring at what you want to avoid.

- Yes, the bigger bike is a bit different but its more in your technique(s).

- When the examiner calls you into the test, and makes you park up in the bay, then walks over to you. Take that time to really relax your self. When I first got in and parked in the bay, I was totally bricking it, felt a bit sick. But just taking the two minutes he took to walk over, to calm my breathing, long deep breaths and tell myself is a piece of piss made all the difference. Do the same before any manoeuvre, dont move off until you are ready.


At least you gained some experience of what it all consists of and just stick at it and you will pass.

And yeah, jumping back on a vanvan after riding a GS650 for a couple of hours felt so strange. You will enjoy the big bike so much more.
____________________
Previous : 09 Vanvan 125| 02' Sv650s || Current: 1999 Xj600n | 1992 DR650 RSE | 2005 Fazer 1000