We did it! Passing the test
What’s it like to go for your test? We follow two new riders through their training. Spoiler alert: they pass…
“A mixture of nerves and excitement”
GETTING YOUR LICENCE doesn’t have to be daunting – or even all that difficult. If you find a school that works for you, learning to ride can be enjoyable and you’ll have a great chance of passing the test. To demonstrate, we follow two new riders through a Direct Access Scheme course with BMW Rider Training. Without wishing to spoil the ending, they both pass – but this is about the process of getting through the test.
Our riders are Stewart Brown and Lauren Beattie. Both have been on a bike before, but getting on one in a controlled environment for the CBT is hard at first. “It was a mixture of nerves and excitement!” says Lauren. “Because we’re going on to complete our full test course, our instructors made sure we paid special attention to the parts we’d need for the test, like the basic-maintenance questions and pushing the bike around,” explains Stewart.
Training starts on Honda CBF125’S to get a feel for the basic skills such as moving off and stopping. Lauren takes slightly longer to gain confidence and both need a little time to master the clutch control
needed for slow riding, but it all comes together by the time they get to the braking and junction exercises.
Lunchtime is back in the classroom for a talk about how to ride on the road. “It’s a lot to take in,” says Lauren before heading out for the road ride. This lasts a couple of hours with instructor riding with the trainees and staying in radio contact.“you keep talking back, but you only have an earpiece,” Stewart laughs. With their car-driving experience, both find it easier on the road than on the training area, as there’s actually more time for changing gears and braking. After tackling roundabouts, junctions, traffic, open roads and dual carriageways, both get CBT certificates.
Their relative lack of riding experience means Lauren and Stewart spend most of the next day on the 125s. “There’s just no substitute for miles on a bike,” explains Julie, their instructor. “Throttle control, braking and gear changing become more like secondnature, which is important when they get on to the larger bikes.”
With all those miles, both Lauren and Stewart spot something: how all the gear bikers wear feels to a new rider. “It’s really heavy after a while, until you get used to it,” says Stewart. “I like it, but it makes me feel like an astronaut!”
Now for the big bikes
Towards the end of the day, the two trainees have their first go on the bikes they’ll be taking their tests on: a brace of
“There’s just no substitute for miles on a bike”
“It’s important to practise the elements of the test”
BMW F700GS. Stewart’s is standard and Lauren’s has a low seat and lower subframe, making it much more manageable for her height, especially with slow-speed manoeuvres. “They are so much easier to ride!” smiles an excited Lauren. “The clutch feels easier and they feel better balanced than the 125s. Even the brakes feel more controlled, which helps when coming to a stop – that’s the only time I feel the weight of the bigger bike.”
The next day is preparing for the first of the two tests, Module One. This all takes place at the test centre in a large tarmac training pad, away from the road, for safety. “It kind of feels daunting,” says Lauren, as she looks at the high fences and big steel gates surrounding the pad, with cones seemingly sprinkled at random around the place. Chief instructor Ian and Julie quickly put the trainees at ease, explaining that the fencing is just for their safety to ensure nobody comes onto the pad to get in their way while they’re training.
It’s important to practise the different elements of the Mod One test. First our trainees have to push their bike from one box to another, simulating getting your bike out of a garage or parking space. Then they ride a figure-of-eight, a slalom and the dreaded U-turn, before riding slowly while the examiner walks alongside, to demonstrate their low-speed balance and clutch control.
Both Stewart and Lauren adapt really well, especially once they start to relax, dropping their shoulders and really looking where they want the bike to go. “If they touch a cone as they ride round, it’s a minor mark,” explains Julie, the instructor. “They can get five minors in Mod One before they fail. But if they knock any cone over, it’s classed as a major fault – which is a fail.”
Next the candidates can get up to speed, where they
have to show they can take a corner followed by a controlled stop, an emergency stop and a hazard avoidance. The examiner wants to see that they can get to 31mph (by the time they have exited the corner and gone down a straight) before they’re asked to brake.
“It’s not difficult but I’m glad we’ve come to practise – all the cones make sense now and 31mph isn’t as tricky as it sounds,” says a relieved Stewart. Lauren is slightly more conservative with her speed, until Julie explains how to listen for the revs so there’s less need to look at the speedo. With a few tips from Julie, both take to the hazard-avoidance manoeuvre well.
The examiner can run the Mod One test in one of two layouts, left or right, so both riders have a go at all the different parts in both configurations, to help confidence for the next day. “I’m so glad we came here to practice. I have to do it all tomorrow, but now I won’t feel so intimidated,” says Lauren. Stewart is still a bit frustrated. “It’s just that U-turn – I need to turn harder,” he says. Next day, after a ride around, they take the Mod One test. Stewart nails his U-turn and Lauren gets her speed up, so both pass.
Ready for Mod Two
There’s no rest for our riders, who head straight into training for the Module Two test – a road ride. With the set pieces assessed in Mod One, Mod Two just looks at the riders’ skills and how they approach the road.
Part of Mod Two is the ‘independent test’ (or free ride), where the instruction over the radio from the examiner will be to follow the signs to a destination. This is to test real-world skills, looking for signs and changing lanes to add some realism to the test. They’ll take the Mod Two at a test centre just outside Cambridge, so Julie takes them through the areas they may ride through on their tests, to give them some familiarity with the area.
At this point the instructor is also looking at a rider’s machine control, positioning in their lane, their ability to get up to speed and ride confidently. With Mod One out of the way, both Lauren and Stewart are looking more relaxed as they ride. Each gear change, junction and roundabout helps their confidence grow – even though the Mod Two test is the next day. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” smiles Stewart.
On the day of the final test day, our two trainees go for a ride with the sun shining and confidence is high before taking the Mod Two. But Lauren isn’t sure how she’s done when she returns to the test centre. “I thought I’d mucked it up by being jittery coming out of a couple of corners,” she admits. “I stalled once and was a bit grabby on the brakes. As I got off the bike I thought I’d failed, but once the examiner started talking, I knew I’d passed. But he asked me where the dipstick is and I’d forgotten!”
Stewart has a similar feeling after his assessed ride. “I found Mod Two much harder because there are so many outside influences that can affect your test. With Mod One, it’s all down to you. I went straight into the independent test and at one point I saw in my mirrors that the examiner was a long way back – so I thought I’d gone wrong. I just felt I’d screwed up, so actually relaxed.” Relaxing must have helped, because Stewart also passed the Mod Two.
Chief instructor Ian says this is really common. “Most candidates will think they’ve made a mistake on test,” he reveals. “Don’t give up: the examiner may have been quite happy with how you dealt with a situation. Even if you take a wrong turn, it should be fine as long as you do the turn correctly. So keep calm, talk to yourself to help concentrate and remember what you’ve been taught.” Do that and you too can pass.
“Most candidates will think they’ve made a mistake”