Riding a bike before lessons

[-Savage-]

Ok, to all the people who have been doing lessons who have ridden their bike before recieving instruction.

i had been riding for three years before i had any instruction at all, and now that im doing lessons for my test [in a matter of weeks] i have found that all the bad habbits i have developed riding for those three years make it harder for me to execute manuvers properly, i have to sit and think, right turn, wtf do i do first.

just wondering if you found riding before lesson helped or hindered you on lessons and with your test?
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[feef]

no idea.. cos I have nothing to compare it to..

it might have found it easier having not ridden before taking lessons, but how am I to know?

a
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[Snake Eyes]

sorry cant help you, I didnt have a bike before my lessons
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[Andy C]

i found this, i was riding for 1 1/2 years with just a CBT training, which didnt sink in too well. my skill eg clutch control, steering were all good and was confident on the road but had to learn all the junction stuff again pritty much, this showed when i passed, got 8 minors but none for control just things like observation (3), hesitation (1), signal (2) and 2 for something simular i think.

i think it helps me overall as just consentrated on how to ride for test. good luck by the way and read up load before you start your lessons, they sent me a book with diagrams and i know it word for word before i started lessons so i didnt have to waste time covering it and practising instead!

good luck
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99 RS125 --> 02 SV650s --> 03 Speed Four --> 92 RXS100 --> 93 CB400sf --> 01 CB600f Hornet

[colin1]

it helped me cos I knew I could ride despite what the instructor thought. Otherwise they would have driven down my confidence.

It hindered me a bit when learning to ride the right way and to do all the daft stuff you need to do to pass a test.
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[TheShaggyDA]

No idea, I didn't take lessons.
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[Mongrel]

IMO you learn a lot of bad habits that you need to unlearn before reaching test standard if you've ridden prior to training.

The thing is that you don't learn how to really ride without experience and therefore an experienced CBT rider may well be more competent than a new DAS rider, just not as 'up to speed' on the rules and regulations.

The bad habits must hinder your training though.

[Groove]

never had a bike before lessons, did 4 days passed with 3 minors
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[craigs23]

Never had lessons, I can see them as being a good thing if you're completely new to biking though. I was taught basic slow speed control around an unused carpark by Dad on Sunday afternoons.

[mrchips]

Good in that you can already ride the thing, bad in that you spend your first couple of lessons trying to get out of bad habits, only to do them again on your way home from the lesson.
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[The Dude]

I am doing my test this coming wednesday and i have been riding for 3 years without any instruction at all. The only habbit i had to unlearn was the old 2 fingered braking, everything else was either new information or modifing what i was already doing. I didn't have to waste lots of time learning to control the bike and getting confidence on the bike, which gave me more time to learn the test route. So for me, being on a bike for a few years before any lessons certainly helped. Bad habbits really aren't that hard to break if you just listen and do what the instructer tells you. It's like linguaphone for bikers. Listen, repeat and understand.lol

[0ddball]

It benefited me because i only rode on a cbt for about a month before passing my test. It gave me time to gain balance, slow riding control and confidence but not enough time to pick up bad habits.

Weighing up the pro's and con's, overall i think it is a benefit to anyone.
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[Rookie]

Same applies to cars. I drove for about 2 months before I got an instructor and he asked me this question - I still say it helped. Got he's slow, I think I'm being ripped off. But he's already booked the test, so I guess I'd better steer the course now.

..Anyway, the advantages are that you can handle the basics before you start paying for it. For example, I had mastered the gearbox and clutch when I started lessons.

However, the disadvantages are most definitely there. When I did my first lesson, he just let me drive for 10 minutes, I think I'd failed 21 times or something in that gap. The problems I had were:

Mirrors
Steering
Braking
Observation
SPEED
Road position
Indicating

All that crap you forget the moment you pass.

[ISLAND GIRL]

[Philwild]

Before doing my DAS, i had ridden various friends motocross bikes in fields as you do. This helped me in doing my lessons because I could ride the bike fairly naturally without having to think about gear changes etc.

I believe this enabled me to spend more time remembering life savers and mirror checking that I seemed to forget 5 minutes after passing

[sanchezz_182]

didnt help me riding a bike before )i dont think) i had alot of bad habbits althouhg i checked my mirrors alot was never doing it at the rite time,, i didnt ay attention to alot of road signs an just normal stuff liek getn of the bike id just jump off forkget all that crap with holding it with two hands or putting the front brake on,, all little things that i had to stop doing, realy pissed me off lol because to me i wasnt doign anything wrong,, i was also riding a bike between lessons an would forget all the stuff that i had been told an go back to my old style of riding.

i did pass tho, 8 minors
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[stinkwheel]

Nah, no problem. I just seemed to go into 'lesson mode'. I was riding my 125 on a 40 mile round trip every day into work and went to the lessons after work, thrashing the tits off it coming into town. Then settling into 'bimble mode' for the lessons.

The instructor asked me directly to my face one day if I had just got air off the top of the humpback bridge before the carpark we met up at. Apparently it had sounded very much like my rear wheel was momentarily spinning freely about 20 seconds before I had pulled in. I just grinned at him and said nothing, he knew the score.
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[mchaggis]

It helped me, the Fazer got a far better going over than if I'd been starting from scratch. Riding normally was much easier as a result of having ridden my own for a year. I didn't find that slow control with my own bike really helped much though, a 600 bike is quite a different animal from a little air cooled single at slow speed.
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[Andy C]

[dotti]

I'd been riding for around 10 years before I finally sat my road test. The test was so basic that it certainly helped me to pass, although I probably would have passed anyway.

I think the fact that I'd been riding for so many years before getting my licence was a mixed blessing in the beginning, as my risk assessment was poor, whilst my biking ability was good, which meant I sometimes found myself in some dangerous situations that a completely novice rider, being more careful, probably wouldn't have found themselves in.
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[numark1]

I had been riding motox on a 125 since i was 11 (My feet never used to be able to touch the floor )

It deff made driving on the road alot easier, i only had a days training then took my test next day and passed with 2 minors.

I learnt excellent control from it. The only problem i had was i use my index fingers for the brake/clutch and apparently i wasn't allowed to do that on the test, so i made sure i didn't for the test.

For training you have to go around cones and stuff. I could do that straight away so i was always waiting for this girl who i was doing my training with.

[wildcat]

Doing lessons while i owned the 125 was not too bad, i just went into auto pilot, trying to get off the ninja and onto a 125 for lessons is a whole lot harder.
Good luck with that test Savo

[NSR-Rulez]

Same question here i have my test coming up and i have been riding for about a year and a half, picked up a few bad habits and i wanted to know if you would recommend a lesson with the centre i did my cbt with,

i have got a ride out with my friends dad who is an IAM instructor on monday,

Wha do you guys and gals think?



NSR-Rulez
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Past: 1985 Suzuki GS 125 + 2002 Honda NSR 125 R-2 + Ford Fusion
Present: Honda CBR 600 RR-5 + Suzuki SV650S-K4 + Mitsubishi FTO GPX

[kawakid]

It depends on the person, personaly I did the CBT then did my own thing for a while, then had a couple of lessons before my test.

However I did have 16 years car experience.
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[ISLAND GIRL]