Hi everyone...i passed my CBT yesterday.. yippeeee

However i did manage to fall off coming off a roundabout oops ...got some spectacular bruises..i did get straight back on but was a little tense after that..
Ive had never ridden a bike before yesterday so i guess i did ok. There was two of us non mopeders...and the other guy got sent home before going on the road..whch kinda served him right as all he could say all mornig was " this should be easy i mean even women do it!"

Anyway please tell me im not the only one to fall off on their cbt..im debating buying a bike now....im just hoping wth practice ill get better
Is there hope for me after doing my own stunts!! (i dont fancy the whole moped thing!)

Unfortunately falling off can be part of biking (although you may not always get many people admitting it). It can't have been too bad or your instructor would not have passed you. congrats btw

Why did you fall off? diesel? car driver cut you up? or poor braking/acceleration or judgement?

Understanding why a bike/rider goes down is half the battle, the other half correcting that mistake.

Nope you're not the only one to fall off on their CBT (though not me), some of us fall off afterwards too though it is something to try and avoid. You will find practice will improve things and it is so much easier to do if you have a bike so stop debating and go out and get one!

thanks for the advice ..It was a mini roundabout tha got me....i went round it ok but as i went to come off it i went stright at the kerb then got in a mudlle over throttle and brakes and just hit the kerb then flew across the road!
I realised why it happened i wasnt leaning and keeping me head up as i came off the roundabout. Its a stupid roundabout anyway lol Crewe is full of unnecessary roundabouts.

Im looking forward to getting on a bike agan and having another try...i dreamt about riding one this mornng and woke up going through gear chang in me head lol

heres one of my fantastc bruises!! not a pretty site but thought id post it anyway

I really admire the fact that you have managed to remain so positive and it has not put you off!

I dropped my bike on my CBT a few months ago. We were just about to set off on the road bit when the sun hit my visor and it steamed up, in a panic I took my hand off the clutch while it was still in gear, to lift the visor, and down went the bike Didn't end up with bruises like yours but I did feel a real idiot. Had to carry on and completed the CBT successfully. Bought my bike and having great fun learning to ride it, even though I did drop that on the car park trying to be too clever!

Get yourself a bike - and enjoy!

nasty bruise you have there..did you have any protective gear?

hi yeah i got a padded jacket on with body armour in it...though it has no padding on the side of stomach...which is where that bruise is.
Actually i think i realised what it was that did that!!! i had the radio in that pocket!
amazed the radio survived...that explains the size and shape of the bruise heheh

Well if you're going to keep on and do your DAS on a bigger bike, you can look forward to many more bruises.

I did my DAS lessons over several different weekends and it seemed that just as one set of buises was going down, it was time for my next lesson and more arrived!!

Before I got the hang of U turns I'd get matching bruises on the inside of my calves from toppling the bike on the turn and doing my CBT I had a corker for weeks from the flippin' kick start.

Woo hoo for electric starts!!

Get a bike and enjoy it, you won't look back!

Any advanced riding course teaches you to do just one thing at a time. Getting in correct gear, braking, cornering, etc. On my fireblade, and after many (many!) years riding experience, if I get caught out being too clever I'm in for a (big) spill.

Basic riding when you are new is no different. Don't try to do too much too soon. Just learn the basics well. Doesn't matter how slow you travel, or how often you need to try something to get it right, just get comfy with riding and the rest will come. All of us on here are still learning in our own way, you never know it all.

Oh, and remember, motorcycling is better on the bike than on the tarmac. Sounds obvious, but your main focus in any incident where you start to panic is survival. Don't try to make it pretty, just stay on and learn from the experience.

Good luck.

You will find that a smallish tumble can turn out to be a good experiance in the early days in motorcycling, it prevents to much of a build up of over confidence! this occurs gradually over a period of time without the rider being aware of it and then just as they think they have really got the hang of this motorcycling lark it jumps up and bites yer bum. All the best in your future motorcycling and enjoy yourself, we do!

its ok darlin i fell off first cbt i done and it was on round about went round too fast and got tunnel vision but it worked out fine and not im a nutter on the road.
The moped thing is boring but its cheap insurence and helped me build confidence.

Hi thanks everyone for your advice.
that bruise turned out to be a haematoma...ended up with a stay in hopsital
It spread right across my middle!!

It hasnt actually completely put me off gettting a bike lol

Glad you are out and I hope all heals well, and stick with the biking, it does get better. Well done on passing the CBT as well

Well done for getting through your cbt and be thankfull you didnt get me. if youd crashed when out with me youd be coming back . I hate all this ''crashed on my cbt and still passed'' stuff - dont the insructors care? I was deeply upest when one of my students crashed on a roundabout after hitting the kurb. I have a rule, if you crash the ride stops and you come back . ''It was a stupid roundabout anyway''? good excuse for total lack of control.

Ill pass everyone in future, so long as they say sorry for crashing and claim to understand why.

There's got to be integrity, there's got be an effort made by the instructors. Allowing people to crash and then passing them anyway? whats that all about?

If people crash then they havent been given enough training so bring them back and try again.

I try my best, at least one person here might believe that.

Actually Zombie in a way got to say I partly agree with you. I initially thought that I hadnt passed because I came off....and was pretty suprised that I did. (The instructor said he had seen a hell of a lot worse than me) However throughout the rest of the day I was driving well and under control and my road sense is spot on.I guess if he had felt I was unsafe after the fall he wouldnt have let me continue. They sent others home so I trust his judgement. I do think if you are completely new to bikes that the CBT is not ideal. I did feel that I didnt have enough confidence with gears before being taken on the road. I think if you are totally new to riding a bike that you could really do with two days or more time to ride...there were 6 of us in the group and taking turns to ride on small carpark meant that you really didnt get much time riding before hitting the road.. I hit the kerb pretty early in the afternoon and rode safely the rest of the two hours.
What actually concerned me more was the fact there were some 17 year olds who have no road sense....who know nothing of juntions nor roundabouts etc who are allowed to drive round on the road?! they are told to read the highway code and thats it?!
Fortunately I have the sense to realise that I have some work to do before i hit the road. We have a huge Industrial estate round here which will be ideal for me to practice on. Im also going to have a couple of lessons with a biker friend who has been riding for 20 years.
Had i not had the radio in my side pocket i wouldnt have been injured. Perhaps you need to be told to keep radio elsewhere?

Well, At least there is a cbt now. OK less traffic in my teens but! at age 16 you could ride a moped that could 55 mph with no test. 16+ you could ride a 250 bike on L plates that could do easily 80 mph(no test). If you wanted a bigger bike, the examiner didnt have a bike to follow you, he just hid somewhere along the course.

Its Great to see that you want to improve yer skills, and especially keep practicing the low speed stuff, the grey area between turning yer handlebars the way you want to go and a couple of mph later, the opposite of where you want to go.

BTW, about carrying things in yer pockets, we all do from time to time, disc locks etc. not great to fall on. I found that using one of them shoulder bags/half rucsacs is good if you dont carry too much weight. Easy to unstrap without having to take yer leather off.

This is v well said doing one thing at the time. After my CBT of which i didn't remember much i got a 125 and started riding first really slowly small steps next things next. But one of the things i used to do when i got a bit more confident was getting up to speed quickly (all relative) which meant changing up gear from first to second (or second to third) after a corner. After that i would switch off the indicators and then i started to look in the mirrors. So after a couple of months when i started to do DAS with a school which i didn't think was v good all the insructors could say (i had 2 different ones and then cancelled with them) was cancel your indicators. What they didn't understand was that i was still busy getting up to speed as i was also told to do that (get up to speed quickly). THEN i went to a good school and the instructor broke things down for me 3 steps really really simple. Go through the corner, cancel your indicators and look in your mirrors when you speed up. Only then could I do it that way because he actually knew and understood what i was trying to do. It is all really simple stuff but if you're new and that's the way you have been doing it for a few months you don't know.

If I had to do it all over again (did CBT in May got 125 in June started DAS in Oct did test last week and have to re-do in 2.5 weeks time) I would have taken 1 or 2 lessons with a really good instructor (but how do you find them that's the problem) immediately after my CBT. So you get the basics right and also understand why you're doing all the looks etc. Then build your confidence and practice because just the CBT is just not enough. Then you might be ready for DAS within a couple of months. I can see no point in riding around on a 125 for a year or so if you're not doing things correctly or don't understand why you're doing what you're doing.

Good luck with buying a 125 and your first steps.

I find that if i dont feel im doing things the right way, then its best to ask questions....but sometimes, you need to have a handle on what your on about...So i hope you find this link of some use..survival skills

What i was trying to say that as a new rider with just the CBT experience you just don't know. You don't think hey i might not be doing this right because you have never ridden a bike before. Same for techinical things like after my v good DAS training i now know exactly how far out the clutch lever should be when it starts biting it turned out it was always too far out on my own bike too far out for my hands anyway but as a new rider you just don't know.

Thanks for the link.

I think that's one of the things new-ish riders have to learn - that you lean to go 'round things rather than turning the handlebars.

I think that you must be a pretty competent rider, though - you had an off and still passed your CBT! Many congratulations

(Crazy avatar btw...oops, look who's talking!)

I think we need a cbt article so people know what to expect. 6 people taking turns to ride around?? How big was the training pad and how many instructors? do people realise theres no time limit on a cbt? Do people know there is a minimum two hour road ride?

This thread shows that people have no idea what to expect from a cbt and no idea what to complain about or what their rights are.

Only just joined and finding this thread really interesting. I've driven a car for 16 years and even been a driving instructor, but when I did my CBT in the summer I'd never sat on a bike before in my life. Well, only a pushbike

I was stunned that with minimal confidence after wobbling around a school car park on this strange, revvy little bike, the instructor was confident to take me out on the road. I did my two hours without any real issues but I was crapping myself all the way.

I did a couple of hours extra riding on a 125 - again no real problems, although I did manage to knock it into first as I went into a bend and did an impressive slide whilst staying on board - before I tackled a 5 day DAS course. I was dubious but my instructor seemed to have confidence in my ability and had me on the ER-5 within 2 hrs. I thought it was great and far easier than the 125 - I was doing tight u-turns the same day and we even took the dual carriageway home.

So it was a very confident young lady who turned up for her 2nd day. Unfortunately the u-turns were eluding me for some unknown reason, and I eventually came off with the bike crashing down on top of me. It didn't hurt much but I was mortified, not least because I broke a lever and the indicator.

I think my bottle had gone after that. On the 3rd day we rode into the test centre (Aldershot in Hampshire), and inexplicably I grabbed the front brake with the handlebars half-cocked and watched the wheel slide away from me before I found myself on the floor wearing the damn bike again. Later trying the u-turns again, for the third and final time I kissed the tarmac and took the weight of the bike on my pelvis. I had a few bruises I can tell you (nothing like that one up there though!).

So having eaten dirt and got back on 3 times, I eventually admitted defeat and finished the course on the 125. Gutted. What happened? Did I rush in too quickly? Should the instructor have fitted crash bars BEFORE I'd already dropped his bike and smashed 2 levers and 3 indicators? (*I did cough up some extra readies for the damage I caused, even though he tried to refuse it). Should I have reverted to the 125 sooner in the hope that I would recover my nerve and get back to u-turning the ER-5?

Well anyway, I passed but I'm currently having a crisis with turning my GPZ and I've even laid that slowly down on its side having failed to open the stand properly. Oh what is to become of me!

I'm hoping that this forum will find me the answers to all my "nervous new rider" questions.....!

Suze x

That's it in a nutshell, your confidence had taken a huge knock. Even though you knew how to do it, you felt you couldn't, you doubted yourself and it got worse. You did extremely well, especially as you'd never been on a bike before.



I'm surprised he doesn't have crash equipment fitted anyway, hell I think I dropped my GS500 in training almost a dozen times - all but one time on the damn U-Turn! I know its embarassing but don't worry too much about the drops/damage - its all part of learning. Just be glad you didn't really hurt yourself.

My solution was to postpone my test instead of even taking it at the end of the week. A month on a hired 125 and my confidence was way back up there and I passed with no trouble.

Given how well you did, I would have done something similar with you, taken you back to a 125 for a half day (nice light little things) then back up to some relaxed and confident riding on the ER5 before tackling slow manouveres again. By postponing your test you wouldnt have had to pay to book it again (had you failed - which you didn't!).

I guess you're going to ride the GPZ restricted now for 2 years are you?

It really is all about confidence - something I have struggled with after every crash.

Build it up slowly, do what you do best for now - even just straight lines if need be and don't fret over turns or junctions just get on with them, the more you think about it the harder ir can be.

Where are you based?

Hi! You know you're right, I so wanted to postpone the test but it was already booked and he seemed convinced that it was all in my head and would come right. As it happens I didn't pass on the 1st attempt, perhaps I neglected to mention that

I was so nervous that the examiner may as well have been speaking a foreign language. I left an indicator and rode like an idiot so I failed, but I passed on the 2nd go (yesterday actually!) with just 2 faults. The most annoying part of the whole farce was that the girl I was on my course with, did all her u-turns on the ER-5 without any difficulty and passed her test on the 5th day with 100%! I was spitting!

I'm usually a confident person so I was really seething that this got the better of me. Yes my GPZ is restricted...still feels plenty torque-y enougbh for me right now though! I'm struggling a bit with cornering and confidence at the moment, so I'm going through all the riding skills threads for tips.

I'm down in Bordon, which is virtually on the border of Hampshire and Surrey.

Sooze x

Don't let that worry you SusieB - theres no saying how much practise she'd had after all.
Riding with others will often help to top up the riding confidence - as long as you trust them and don't feel pressured
Or if you liked your trainers - go back and ask for an hour or so confidence boosting post-test riding, and if you didnt like them go elsewhere

This is very true Zomb!e, I was given a certificate and later paid for more lessons from the same school (because I knew I wasn't safe on the road)
It was only when I spoke to other instructors that I found out that I really should have been asked to come back as there was not enough time for more than 30 minutes road ride. I should have complained but was not aware at the time that I could.

Congrats on passing your CBT last month, and think yourself lucky you ain't in Holland!

The exams are a bitch here. Really strict, then again, they do teach you on all roads including Motorways, which I think is a good thing.

Hope the tummy is better now.

thanks everyone for the replies. My tummy is now loads better. I havent made it back on to a bike yet...not because i dont want to though. I have had to become a temporary guardian to a friends child while she is in hospital. Having a five year old round the house is a whole new experience on me!

Soooo i havent had chance yet
looking forward to my first ride though.

Ive just completed my CBT,2 weeks back,'2 wheel training' near Bath,geezer called Jed

The instructor i had was great,he takes out no more than 2 at a time,me 30 years old and a young kid of 16,trained us both really well and we both enjoyed the day, he will also do just a one on one CBT for the same money,

He was really laid back and funny but strict when it mattered,i felt ready to ride on the road on my own at the end of the day which is the idea i suppose

Must admit i was surprised to hear of 6 students and waiting to use pad etc,seems to be quite a difference in the quality of training for the CBT which is a shame

Will be takin my DAS with the same dude in August for sure,he had me sitting on his transalp and hornet when we got back from the CBT

Still building up confidence after only 2 weeks though,anyone up for gentle rideout around Bath area?

Sorry if hijacked thread and glad your bruising is going down now!..ouch

i love this forum..everyone is so honest..i mean usually no one admits in real life to doing half this stuff..anyways i too fell off during my cbt..i was on a 125 geared bike ..was doing great until changing gears..when the instructor said now come to a stop n change into 1st if you can..well for some reason i forgot to put at least one foot down when the bike stopped..too busy messing with gears ..kinda sureal slow motion of bike falling over n me hitting head on ground..good helmets arnt they ..ne ways not fallen off since...just nearly i like the taking a pillion on then riding the bike solo..so light n easy...see ya

I would hope that the bruising has gone down a little by now - its over a year and a half ago now