New Style Bike Test

Just wondering what peoples thoughts were on the current style motorcycles test in the UK.

I have seen so may negative comments on the internet especially regaring the module 1 test being highly dangerouse (avoidance test).

My own thoughts
I think that the 2 style test approach is better as it allows you to get manovers out of the way leaving the mod2 to be about riding. Plus it isnt to expensive to retake. For me the 2 test approch seemed to take some pressure off me compared with my car test.

Also with regards to the avoidance test being highly dangerouse, what a load of crap - if people cant do a basic swerve under controled conditions then they shouldnt be able to ride out on the road.

I also think its a bit unfair how people on 125s have to get up to the same speed in the same distance as people on 500s for the swerve and emergancy stop exercises.

My concern relates to the ordering of the exercises - a swerve is fine, as is an emergency stop, but close together is a potential recipe for disaster if you haven't been prepared properly.

More importantly though, is the total lack of test centres - at last count, 66 MPTCs to replace all of the previous bike centres. No suprise then that waiting times are going up...

[yorkie_chris]

Yup... shouldn't be taught to swerve and brake... one decisive action or another. Trying to teach people to mix the 2 on the road is a recipe for sliding your bike under a car.

during the swerve manouvere you don't need to swerve and then stop imediatley. Its a swerve followed by a controlled stop. You have to bring your bike to a stop within a square a cones. Its not that hard to do if your taught correctly and i felt there was plenty of room to carry it out i actually had to release the brake slightly to make sure i didn't come up short.

The emergency stop is a different part of the test you head of and do another lap before that.

[madcockney]

I started out on the old test and finished on the new. One thing I do think is that the new test is fairer if more long winded, and even this test is being changed again.

I had quite a few aborted Mod 1 test due to weather conditions, but it did take three Mod 1s' to get through it. First one I never felt the bike touch the cone on the swerve test, but when I had come to a stop and looked back there it was tipped on it's side. Instant failure though one of our instructors did say if you are close enough the movement of air caused by the bike can tip the cone.

Second Mod1 I went too fast and had difficulty getting it into the box so stopped the wrong side of the cone. According to the tester I was doing 64 KPH and he felt that was the reason I ended up on the wrong side of the cone but in the wrong place. I was only riding on school bikes (ER5) during instruction and a possible lack of confidence in my ability to pull it into the box after the swerve at that speed probably played a part in it.

The last time I slowed down and did everything right, and come away thinking I didn't know why I flunked it the first two times.

I learnt a lot from the Module 1, both in the training and from those tests so I personally felt it was very beneficial. A lot of it I could have picked up riding around, but I only get to ride at weekends and then not every weekend, so the test gave me added knowledge and skills sooner than I would have achieved otherwise. We had to do all the module 1 training on industrial estates roads so that can be considered a good or bad thing. We never had a full course laid out, or a swerve followed by a box to stop in, or a speed trap. We had to rely on the speedo, your eyes, and ears giving you an idea of your speed, and on the test you only have your ears and eyes. I was speaking to an instructor who did have a full course laid out on the Anglesey Race Track, but they still had Mod 1 failures as the nerves took over.

I think that the whole purpose of the module 1 is really to teach you control, how certain things happening have an impact on what follows and to get you to think. What you learned from the instruction should give you some tools to help you as a new and inexperienced rider. I took the mod 1 in both dry and wet conditions and never locked the wheel on the controlled stop. I did however lock the back wheel under instruction and learnt how to come off the breaks quickly and re-apply them so keeping the bike under control.

The test is not perfect. 125s have difficulty getting up to 50+ KPH, whilst the bigger bikes have challenges in other areas. There is room for improvement. Maybe the swerve and controlled stop speed should be dropped by 5 KPH, and initially I found the slow moving traffic part where you have to move at 2-3 MPH quite taxing though good instruction sorted that out. Certainly you should be able to take modules 1 and 2 in which ever order you wan. Taken overall I think the concept is good.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Rob969

during the swerve manouvere you don't need to swerve and then stop imediatley. Its a swerve followed by a controlled stop. You have to bring your bike to a stop within a square a cones. Its not that hard to do if your taught correctly and i felt there was plenty of room to carry it out i actually had to release the brake slightly to make sure i didn't come up short.

The emergency stop is a different part of the test you head of and do another lap before that.

Point is it has sweet FA to do with real road riding

+1

When we were growing up, "Module 1" was a mate who had an old CG125 field bike that we all took turns on slithering about a ploughed field. It did more for bike control than any tuition in acar park with comes at 31mph.

If you fell off you had to give the bike up eary so that was your incentive to stay on. Get your full go!

C

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by Rob969

during the swerve manouvere you don't need to swerve and then stop imediatley. Its a swerve followed by a controlled stop. You have to bring your bike to a stop within a square a cones. Its not that hard to do if your taught correctly and i felt there was plenty of room to carry it out i actually had to release the brake slightly to make sure i didn't come up short.

The emergency stop is a different part of the test you head of and do another lap before that.

Re the bit I've put in bold, I didn't know that but then again, I didn't think, that would be the case.

No test would be perfect but imho , if someone couldn't do the 'swerve and then stop' part of the exercise, then perhaps, they shouldn't be on the road.

YC, I disagree about the above not having any real world bearing...never that black and white.

To be honest, could be said, it appears the CBT and the actual test are far too easy.

I dont agree that the tests are 2 easy, i think they are fair - as the level of skill I had when starting my DAS training and the day of my test were miles apart. They could make tests more difficult but would there be a benefit to that? as i think most of the learning is done once you have passed your test and are riding on your own with no guidance.

do i think CBT's are to easy..... well mine certainly wasnt infact my cbt was far more intense than my DAS training, I also think that the large amount of 16 year old idiots flying round on mopeds like n0bs isnt due to a lack of training its to do with them not givving a toss.

Although if anything i think any kind of driving license should be based on your performace over your training not just a half hour ride with an examiner, I think it would be much better (in theory atleast) to judged by your riding instructor over a set amount of days so a fuller picture is taken into account. probably wouldnt work in practice but in theory it sounds like a good idea to me

my 2p's worth..i've taken the old (33bhp) and new DAS test and to be honest the new test in my opinion is great,the mod 1 is fair it's controled and on a decent surface..the course is well marked and the instructors direct you through it very well.the old test carrying out manovers like the emergency stop on the road is imo dangerous especially for a novice rider least in a compound there are no cars or solid objects for pupils to hit.
as for the swerve avoidance it's hardly a swerve more like changing lanes and coming to a stop,people who are most likely to come off doing this are complete novices who've never ridden before and decided to get a bike license with out enough bike control training before hand.
the thing that depresses me the most is the price but if your serious its a price worth paying till you get it right