GemP

Hi all, well I took my CBT last week and passed ..... BUT ... on an unrestricted moped . Here's my experience but I'd be really interested on your thoughts: Turn up for the day and out of the group of about 8, 3 of us we're complete novices. In my case I last used a bicycle when I was 11 (I'm 38!!) That's my complete experience on 2 wheels. However I've been driving since I was 17 and I'm confident with my awareness and road knowledge. It was controlling the bike and getting a feel for the technique of riding that I wanted to learn - leaning, counter steering, clutch control etc. We talk about the usual safety stuff and then went out to the 'playground' to get started. It was then that we were told as we were novices we would have to start out on mopeds. This was to get to grips with balance, brakes and controls. I was frustrated at this (not that I showed it) because I was eager to get comfortable with the controls of a geared bike. I was a bit heavy with the brakes and my throttle control was a bit erratic but I was able to do the slow manoeuvres, emergency stop, figure of 8 and eventually the U turn but just before lunch the instructure said he felt it would be better to stick with the moped. He said the same to the other girl I was with (who seemed to have more control than me at the start). The guy we were with wasn't even allowed on the road. So, we were fine on the road, got good feedback and she and I are going back for a free conversion session on the 125's next week. Obviously the instructors know what they're looking at and must have felt we weren't quite up to scratch but we both feel that if we'd started straight on the geared bikes we would have got used to them and able to pass the CBT on them. Have any of you heard of CBT courses where novices are put straight onto mopeds, even though when at booking you make it clear you want to pass on the 125's? Having taken some advice I'll be looking at getting a 125 to pootle about on to build up my confidence - any suggestions on that would be great, although there's probably another thread for that elsewhere I'll track down. Thanks