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CBT - Experiences of other Members


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Thank you ! I’m so excited ! I can’t wait to be on the road I just wanna make sure I’m ready to be on the road 😂

 

That's the best way to be......take your time with the CBT and absorb as much information and advice as you can...... 8-)

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Thank you ! I’m so excited ! I can’t wait to be on the road I just wanna make sure I’m ready to be on the road 😂

 

That's the best way to be......take your time with the CBT and absorb as much information and advice as you can...... 8-)

 

:stupid: bit of extra tuition is never a bad thing! you'll enjoy it much more now you've got the gears sorted and riding tired is the worst thing ever!!

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I'm waiting to do my CBT but have bought a Suzuki VanVan. I sit on it in the garage to see what it feels like. The bike seems heavy but i suppose when it's moving it's not like that?

Cheers

Steve

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I'm waiting to do my CBT but have bought a Suzuki VanVan. I sit on it in the garage to see what it feels like. The bike seems heavy but i suppose when it's moving it's not like that?

Cheers

Steve

 

Cheers [mention]Hoggs[/mention]!

VanVan? A great bike :thumb: It weighs about 50grams when it's moving. Even at low speeds, it feels just fine; it rides very steadily, and the wide handlebars means it corners easily too. The seat is super comfy; I've ridden mine for fours hours straight and felt as fresh as daisy getting off.

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I'm waiting to do my CBT but have bought a Suzuki VanVan. I sit on it in the garage to see what it feels like. The bike seems heavy but i suppose when it's moving it's not like that?

Cheers

Steve

You still havnt done the CBT?

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I was talking to a CBT instructor today. He tells me it's four hours out on the road in Northern Ireland compared to 2 hours in England. That sounds a long time when you aren't used to biking.

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I was talking to a CBT instructor today. He tells me it's four hours out on the road in Northern Ireland compared to 2 hours in England. That sounds a long time when you aren't used to biking.

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Completed my CBT training today and loved it. There were only 2 of us and the instructor who was brilliant. Started at 9am. Introduction to the other chap and the instructor bought us a coffee.

Did some safety checks of the bikes and controls, sorted out some protective gear and started riding round the car park.

Brief break, time to get a burger, talked about road riding and out on the road. He gave us really clear instructions and the 2 hours flew by! I loved it. Back to the car park and got our certificates.

Can't wait to start learning on a 600cc now.

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Took my CBT today at Scotriders in Dundee. Having never ridden a bike before, the instructors really put me at ease. There was originally 3 of us however a Romanian lass turned up with only a Romanian licence. She was swiftly told to get a UK licence then she was more than welcome to come back. That left just the 2 of us with the other guy having quite a bit more experience than me with trail bikes and Drag Racing.

It resulted with a 1-2-1 instructor ratio and my confidence just seemed to keep growing and growing and eventually felt really at ease on the bike. We got all of the CBT necessities out of the way then headed for a general ride on some back roads.

I definitely have the bug now and looking forward to getting out on the bigger bikes to sit my MOD 1 and 2. The instructor was really keen to get me through in about 6 lessons.

Shame to see that other guys aren’t having such a positive experience. Scotriders really are excellent at what they do and can’t recommend them highly enough.

Cheers :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

So, I passed my CBT about 10 days ago, I did a 2 day - day one on a 110cc scooter as a confidence booster and then the second day on the 125 geared.


Won't spend too long going through day one - initially i was bobbing myself but once I found my balance I was happy as larry shooting round, found manoeuvres fine, loved being out on the road. Passed CBT there.


Day two, proper bike time! I was a pretty nervous, but I knew I had my balance now so that certainly made shuffling around at the beginning easier (moving forward and back, finding biting point on the clutch). Before all that, the road safety talk of course and clothing. At first I fumbled a bit with the gears, because I was being too gentle lol! Bit rougher, I stopped accidentally slipping into neutral.


I lost my head a bit trying to do manoeuvres - I was quite jerky. This was because I wasnt using enough throttle, and not feathering the clutch enough. I got a little bit of 1:1 time though to remedy this and once the penny dropped I was able to U turn, shalom and figure of 8 fine. I did lose a bit of control on one of my shalom attempts as I released the clutch then rested on the throttle so the bike shot off a little, but the instructor was happy because I didn't panic, i just removed myself from the cones, got back under control quick and swung around to go again, no problems then. I am still a bit weary of first gear tight turns but fortunately the street i live on is a close so I'm going to practice the hell out of tight circles and weaving when I buy my bike!


Anyway once we were both happy I was understanding the bike a bit better and he could see I was fed up of pootling at 10mph (the academy uses a small yard rather than a car park, so not a huge amount of room for acceleration before you have to turn a corner) so we did the talk about riding out, and position at junctions/roundabouts, then he took me out on some country roads and housing estates - I LOVED it. I suddenly felt a bit more at one with the bike, and really got to grips with smooth gear changes. I was doing corners at about 15mph because I wanted to be sure to keep in lane and control them no matter how tight which Im sure the cars behind loved, but Im sure that will come with time!


Currently spending ages just sitting on bikes and trying to find one I like (hard life being short) and cant wait to get practising and enjoying rides! (once the nerves have subdued) I feel my instructor (Matt) really helped me boost confidence and could read when I was getting frustrated and break it down for me. Plus there were plenty of cups of tea!

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Hey groovy gang. Passed my CBT about three weeks ago. Global in Essex were the providers. They were ace. I was one of four, everyone but me had been on a bike, even the 16 year old lad which surprised me.

Struggled in the manouvers bit on the car park section but by the time we did U turns on the road I had made sense of the bike a bit more.

Loved it, next day went and bought a Lexmoto Falcon off them, done 320 miles and loving it. Going to do big bike test next year if I can afford it but probably keep the 125 going without plates once I pass.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey All,


I know I've been below the radar on the forum for a while, but I'm still here - a change of job got in the way of things somewhat.


Still, I took and completed my CBT today with Dragon in Ellesmere Port, so here's a report.


Alan - owner and Matt (I think - I might have that wrong, as I was pleased enough to have remembered one name as it was) - CBT instructor.


Alan was there to meet and greet, but also called in later in the day to see how things were going, and ended up joining in some of the car park stuff.


I arrived stupidly early, and very self-consciously in my own boots, kevlar jeans, vented jacket and spanking new helmet (just gloves to go), but any item of ones own was duly appreciated and complemented, and I just had to choose the least smelly gloves from the racking to complete the ensemble.


I gave them a bit of a start initially, because I was wearing walking sandals and left the rest of the gear in the car to put on later.


The day was run with two candidates; both of us middle-ish-aged men, with experience off-road from childhood and on-road as teenagers, but pretty-much nothing for decades since. The plan was two-to-one with the instructor, but for half the day it was one-to-one, as Alan joined-in. I didn't ask directly (shy and retiring me), but I gather Matt was new to the company, and working towards full instructor qualification under Alan's tutelage, so it wasn't just us being watched and assessed.


To their credit, they took us through the required stages of CBT with the occasional apology for having to do so even though we were both experienced car drivers and had distant memories of riding bikes. I don't think either of us candidates minded the teaching-granny-to-suck-eggs thing at all - I'm certainly happy to go through the very basics and give the appearance of knowing it all already, whilst quietly and discretely absorbing the bits that came as a surprise!


Then out to the bikes in the car park. Honda CG's, in perfectly serviceable condition, and on with learning just how much I had taught myself incorrectly all those years ago. I had absolutely no method or routine to how I braked, slowed or came to a halt, and very little finesse in going slowly, 'Jesus - How fast do you walk!!!!?' was my reward for going as slowly as I thought I could in response to the request to go at walking speed :)


Anyway, lots of patient practice later.


I'm a whizz at emergency / controlled stops, in that my 'normal' stops rely far too much on the front brake, and involve too much fork-dive, but I was able to improve, and lots of repeats were completed to get my brain around it.


Then figure-eights and U-turns (simple enough, say I, at this stage).


Then back inside for lunch (and complementary cans of fizzy pop) and discussion around road positioning and use of junctions.


Out onto the road for real for two hours that felt like five minutes, and the shock of how much wind-pressure there is on your chest when you get to 40mph.


I'm going to stake my claim that I got fewer corrective comments than my partner in crime in the course of the ride, though I did get myself into a slightly complicated situation at a junction: the instruction on approach was 'follow the road straight ahead', but the the choice was of three lanes - the right hand one was right only; the centre was ahead only and the left was obscured by queuing cars, so I couldn't tell if it was left-only, or left and ahead. On a Mod2, I will try to think clearly enough to take the left and go with it, but I let my car-driver brain guide me, and went for the centre lane. Fine, but once on the other side of the junction it become a right-only lane into a car park, and now I need to be in the left lane and there are drivers with better local knowledge already there, having crossed the cross-roads in the left lane. :(


So lots of mirrors, and a shoulder-check, and over I go into a (BIG) big gap. I'm told I could/should have indicated left too, and I would probably agree as an observer, but in the moment, I did what I would have done in a car and if nothing else, showed myself there are lots of opportunities to learn here.


Day over, CBT completed, certificate issued.


I'll call Alan in the week to talk about DAS.

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