After my Theory test on Saturday, I went home and called a number of Motorcycle schools to book a CBT for the following day (Sun 20th).  Everywhere was fully booked, so I asked them to give me a call in case of any cancellations.  One school called Getbike (www.getbike.net) called me within a short while and booked me a place for a 9AM start.  I paid over the phone and the next morning left nice and early.  Get Bike is located across the road from the tube station in Northfields.

9 AM came and a number of students had arrived.  We had two instructors, one for the manual gear bikes and one for the automatic gears.  We watched a Powerpoint presentation on basics of Motorcycle Clothing, maintenance etc and then watched a short video of a girl who had a bike accident.

Some useful info was on motorcycle helmets and how they contain Polystyrene.  These are rendered useless if you drop your helmet from above waist height because polystyrene does not go back to its original form.  It is also a bad idea to share helmets with others and particularly bad to buy a helmet second hand.

Strong, protective gloves are also a must as your hands will bear the brunt of any fall.  Safety clothing with protection for the joints is important too.

 

The instructors told us to pick up some safety clothing and reflective gear.  We then went outside with our respective instructors, I went with Martin, the Manual gear instructor.

We walked to our motorcycles (a honda 125 cc motocycle) and did a basic safety check for the brakes, levers, throttle, clutch, lights, chain, oil levels, and no oil leaks on the forks.

We learned how to take our bikes off the stand by facing the bike from the left side, placing the right toes on the stand, left hand on the left handle grip, right hand on the back bar, keeping our foot on the stand, pushing the bike forward off the stand and keeping hold of the bike avoiding dropping it away from you.

Then mounting the motorcycle and holding both grips, checking the bike is in neutral and learning about the gears and how to get to First.

After starting the bike, we did some straight forward riding in 1st gear and in straight lines.  Did U-turns, learned how to ride in slow motion using clutch control and back brake (used by pressing right foot brake lever).  Did some figure of eights in between cones, then started riding lengths and going up to second gear, then braking back down to first.  Then we did some riding to a give way line and practicing turning into a major road from a minor road, turning left first then right.

 

We went in for a lunch break and then we were ready to hit the road.  This was a two hour ride on the public roads.  The instructor would hang back behind us while one of us would lead the way following the instructor's directions over the radio.  We road around small roads, busy roads, roundabouts etc.  We went to a small road to practice emergency stops and eventually the two hours were over and we returned to base.

 

Martin, my instructor called me into his office and told me (at this point I was dreading the bad news that may come out of his mouth) that I proved that I can ride safely and he is happy to give me the CBT certificate. !!!

 

Once again I was so happy.  We took a graduation ceremony photo :)

 

Next step DAS Motorcycle License.