• 1. CBT
• 2. Coming soon

RIGHTGEAR London BLOG - Nick Harvey

Nick is 30 years old and took up learning to ride a motorbike last year after having never ridden one before. Nick has been driving for 10 years and is a keen cyclist.

The road to becoming a motorcyclist – Day 1, Compulsory Basic Training

Rising petrol prices, congestion charging, insurance premiums costing more than the value of your beloved 10 year old ‘run about’, private car ownership in is becoming so expensive many Londoners including myself are turning their backs on cars.

Last year I sold my 4yr old Nissan Almera as I just couldn’t afford to keep it and started to look for other options of travel. So standing in the street with £2000 from the sale of my car what options were there? I could invest £5 on an Oyster card and use public transport, as thousands of Londoners have found out though, cancelled trains, overcrowded carriages and fare increases double the rate of inflation have made commuters feel like they are getting short changed by our public transport system. The bicycle has become more and more popular due to it being cheap to run, it has health benefits and better infrastructure has made cycling more accessible. The big draw back though is if you have a 15 mile commute everyday the 30 mile round trip on a cold wet windy January day is going to test the resolve of even the keenest of cyclists. If only I could stick an engine on a bike I would have the perfect solution…..hang on…..a Motorbike!! Its relatively cheap compared to a car, no congestion charge, no traffic jams, quick! And it looks pretty cool too!

 I ‘Googled’ Motorbike lessons and got a multitude of adverts and blogs referring to ‘CBT’s, ‘Refresher courses’  ‘DAS courses’, ‘125 lessons’, Mopeds vs Motorbikes!??
Unlike learning to drive there are lots of different options when it comes to learning to ride a motorbike.

The first thing I needed to pass was Compulsory Basic Training or CBT. In simple terms the CBT is a 1 day course and assessment split into 2 parts; an off road element where you are taught how to ride the bike and slow and high speed control manoeuvres and an on road element where you have to demonstrate you can handle a motorcycle in real road conditions. If you pass the required standard on both parts you are given a CBT certificate that entitles you to ride a motorbike or scooter under 125cc on Learner Plates for 2 years, if at the end of those 2 years you have not passed your full motorbike licence you have to retake your CBT.

I signed up to a 1 day CBT course run by and recommended training provider, They told me to wear appropriate clothing and bring a helmet if I had one? What’s appropriate clothing? I opted for a pair of old jeans, a couple of t-shirts and an old bomber jacket, I don’t own an helmet so I had to borrow one.

I turned up nice and early at the training centre. The course was a full day 9am till 5pm so I made sure I had a good breakfast. I was welcomed by my instructor and shown into a room was 1 other trainee waiting to do their CBT, we would be doing ours together. The first job was to complete all the paper work I had to show them both parts of my driving licence and sign my conditions of under taking the training. We then had a 40 minute talk about what was the appropriate clothing to wear when on a motorcycle. I was surprised at how much they went into the subject of correct clothing, but once you’re shown what can happen if your not wearing a good pair of motor cycle trousers and jacket I soon understood why. Next was helmets, we covered everything from where to buy them to the fit, again I was really surprised by the amount of Helmets on the market that don’t meet the minimum safety levels, especially ones bought over the internet from companies abroad. I will defiantly be going to a shop and trying a few on when I do buy my own helmet!

 As I didn’t own my own helmet I was given one to borrow by my instructor. I cycle and wear a cycle helmet but it nothing like a motorbike helmet. The motorcycle helmet covers your whole head and before putting one on I didn’t appreciate how heavy they feel on your head and how your peripheral vision is reduced by the side protection on the helmet, its like looking through blinkers!

Walking out in to the training area there were 2 bikes waiting for us. They were 125cc manual motorcycles and we were shown where all the gears and brakes were and how to operate them. As someone who has never ridden a motorcycle before I found it all very confusing! Its nothing like a car and nothing like a bicycle. It really is like learning a completely new vehicle!

To start with just riding in a straight line without stalling was a real challenge and the sound of over revving engines and spluttering cut outs filled the air for the first 30 minutes of our practical training, but just like learning to drive a car you suddenly find your grove and it all starts to fall into place, 3 hours later and I was doing figure of 8’s, U-turns high speed swerves and emergency stops to the required standard that my instructor Paul said I was good enough to go out on the road!!!!

After lunch we went out to our bikes and Paul gave me a headset to wear, once out on the road Paul would be able to talk to me via this headset and tell me which way we were going and any other information. We pulled out of the gates of the training centre and before I knew it was riding down a busy main road with other traffic, I was expecting this to be the hardest part but if anything it was easier than the morning session, all the skills learnt in the morning fell into place and started to make sense. As I already hold a driving licence I was already aware of the rules of the road so that part came quite easy to me. The main difficulty came with the changing gears and knowing when to change up and down. After a good 3 hours out on the road practicing turns in and out of junctions, u turns and emergency stops we headed back to the centre.

As I got off the motorbike the first thing I noticed was my whole body ached and I had a head ache. It had been a tough day physically and mentally. After a de-brief from Paul he told me I had passed the requirements of the CBT and issued me with my certificate. I felt so pleased, the day had been hard but I already could see how people get hooked on motorbikes, the feeling of riding one was exhilarating and I couldn’t wait until the next part of my training….I was hooked!

Next Blog - Theory Test