When did you pass your test and how difficult was it?

[neil2do]

hi
 
 1980 ish round the block and brake when i put me hand up, and youve passed. 

[Doddsie]

1981 on a KH 250, loved the `ring ding ding `of the 3 cylinder two stroke.

[chaz]

1970, second time (third if you count the one cancelled due to freezing fog) on 250cc starfire. Just didn't ride fast enough first time.

[cfoley]

Passed a couple of years ago and found it pretty easy.

Mod1 is in a perfectly flat yard. The lines for the U-turn are wider than most roads and have no camber. The hazard avoidance test is over hyped as you can avoid swerving altogether if you pick your line correctly.

Mod2 was pretty easy. I'd had a car licence for over 10 years and had ridden a bike for over a year on my CBT. A couple of lessons to shake off any bad habits and I was good to go.

[BBROWN1664]

Like Ogri, mine was a quick ride round the block in 1987 or thereabouts.

Passed, but shouldn't have as I locked the back brake a little on the
emergency stop, but the examiner didn't spot it!

I took my test on an XS750 with a Sidewinder sidecar to avoid doing the playground part with the cones just because I could. I locked up the back wheel on the emergency stop too but still passed as I released it quickly and still kept control.
One of the questions he asked after was the importance of the front brake on a motorcycle. I replied along the lines about weight movement and too little weight on the rear means the rear can lock up like it did for me in an emergency stop. Still passed though.

[YamFazMan]

After I passed my test I jumped  from the I962 197cc James Captain to a BSA 650 road rocket, I was late for work the first day with the rocket, I was just under 10 stone ringing wet and I couldn't kick it over to start it 
ATB YFM

[XTremo]

October 1971.....just a ride round the block! I think the price was about a fiver.....can't remember exactly.

[Grahamm]

I took mine just over 6 years ago. The Theory questions were a doddle and the only problem with the Hazard Perception test was clicking when it was a "developing hazard". I tried some sample tests and kept clicking too early because I was thinking "Ok, that's liable to become a hazard, so I'll keep an eye on it".

The on-road test wasn't difficult, although the u-turn was on a slight hill with a bit of a camber which did worry me a bit, however it actually made it a bit easier to get the speed right

[Exupnut]

1990 fer me. Easy to pass. After the test the instructor said i could use the bike for the rest of the day. I filled it up and went round m25 before gettin the bike back to vauxhall cross @ 6pm dead as they were just aboot tae report it stolen.
Got insured on a company kwaka gt 550 tank and within 2 weeks had crashed into another biker with his mrs on the back. Learnt from it tho as it really shook me up.

[DILLIGAFF]

From memory, shortly after my 16th birthday in 1965 !!!!!! on my Lambretta Li 150 Mk. II no less.


I am convinced that 8 years of cycling to school gave me all the road sense and confidence I needed.


I think my test was in Teddington and the only thing I needed to remember was that it was rumoured, and prolly tue, that the examiner timed you on your circuit around the block so it was standard practice to sedately drive around the corner then sit there for a few minutes before confidently returning to Mr. Clipboard.


Thinking back it was ridiculously easy as none of my riding abilities were actually tested.


Still, in my defence, the only problems I remember were SMIDSY 1) the bloke over the road reversed out of his drive and ran over my parked bike................. SMIDSY 2) A bloke in a Jag pulled out in front of me in the pissing rain, I went over his roof, he didn't stop.

[nanook]

Did my test in 2000 and had my brand new Fazer waiting in the showroom for me.  Only problem was that my U turns were iffy (still are if truth be told!) so I did my test on a 125 and had to have my shiny new black Fazer restricted!     The following year I helped to organise the first spring meet and my bike was still restricted until about a month before the meet.  So...back to the test centre and sat my 'big bike' test and passed easily; then a few weeks later...off to Settle.   

[Strifae]

Did mine February 2008 - was just before they split the test into offroad and onroad - passed first time with 3 minors for observation. Wasn't too difficult but was already driving so had some road sense I guess.

Was straight onto back of my mates bike to go pick up my FZS600 best feeling ever

[peterjca]

Passed 20 years ago next month  in 1993 on an RG125 after having just come back from the TT. The 2 year limit on the provisional expired in November that year so I was constantly being ribbed at being potentially offroad for 2 years (I think it was) if I failed (unless I wanted to get a scooter *shudder*). I did fail by crossing hatchlines in the middle of the road when going up hill as the examiner wanted me to turn right and I was too eager to comply. Apart from that my ride was exemplary. When I got the same examiner the second time round a month later, the test lasted less than 20 minutes!

Speaking of tests, I think the time has arrived where I must seriously consider starting car driving lessons (merely as something useful to have under my belt) 

[stevierst]

I did mine just over 10 years ago at 30 years old. I was a devout fast car man but commuting from Sailsbury to Blackpool every weekend for years changed me. I used to sit on the m5/m6 junction in jams just watching the bikes filtering through and just thought how stupid I was not joining them.
I did a 4 day 'crash course' which I initially failed, then got an opportunity to do my restricted test in the Army, and passed on a 350 Harley Davidson a week later! (those things are nasty!)
I'd already bought my gold boxeye, and luckily had an airfield to ride around, practicing for my unrestricted test which I took a couple of weeks later and passed! Got rid of my car, gone purely two wheels only ever since.
Covered about 250,000 miles since passing, and still get that tingle every time I get on the bike.
I get told quite often that I'm not wired up right as I roll into work piss wet through in sub zero temps. I just tell everyone who asks why I do it, "Every minute in the saddle is a minute well spent". Its a way of life!

[steviebhoy]

I passed my test in 1983 on my first bike a Suzuki GP100 found the test easy as you only drove round a couple of blocks with the examiner standing at corners. I later became a motorbike instructor working for different driving schools around Glasgow for 13 years I was an observer for the IAM as well.
Stevie

[Oldgit]

1966 no less--seems like yesterday 

[Liroka]

I passed my test in September 2008. I passed first time but was definitely quite fortunate as although I'd never been to Hartlepool and therefore didn't know any of the roads, it was said to be one of the easiest centres to pass at because it was too far away from any NSL roads so all you did was a little town riding. On the morning of my test the weather was looking ominous and I really wasn't looking forward to the emergency stop in the pissing rain, but again fortune was on my side and it remained dry. After the stop, I moved the bike into the side of the road and the examiner asked whether I had applied the rear brake, I hadn't until the bike was completely stopped but said I had and he seemed to believe me. Then just as we're about to pull away the heavens opened and the rain fell heavily. Phew! I passed with 4 minors.


My car test was only a couple of years ago and both my instructor and myself think I passed before I even got out of the test centre. My examiner had been drafted in from elsewhere and it turned out he was a biker himself. He mentioned that he'd noticed I had cat A on my licence and asked me if was getting rid of the bike, I replied that I was only taking my car test as my first daughter had just been born and it would be frowned upon if I carried her in the top box. He said "Thank foc for that, I thought you were getting soft!" We spent the whole test talking about bikes and it's amazing how relaxed that drive was.

[scubamarkt]

Passed in may this year, should of done it twenty years ago, fell like I have had to jump through hoops theory £30 ish lessons 3 days including test days £375 mod1 £15 mod2 £75 all done in a week lots of pressure had my bike already would of been devastated if I had failed but fortunately passed all first time, found it a lot harder than my car test in 1982. Best thing I have done in years absolutely love being back on the bike saves time with the commute I actually enjoy going to and from work :-)))

[Fazerider]

1985. The only difficulty I had during CBT was with the figure-of-eight cones, but eventually I got the hang of it. I was using a Yamaha RS125 which had a wheelbase about a foot longer than the training centre's little KH100 machines that everyone else was using. When it came to the actual test, they set the cones to the correct spacing for my bike and it was a doddle.

[Simon.Pieman]

I tried some sample tests and kept clicking too early because I was thinking "Ok, that's liable to become a hazard, so I'll keep an eye on it".

Interesting. Have a read of Keith Code's 'Twist of the Wrist' He explains how loading up the brain with too much 'potentialities' is quite a bad thing.  The more you can discard from thinking about, the easier it is for the brain to cope with a hazard when it is 'on you'. I apply this to my own riding.
 I probably havn't explained that at all well, but have a read if you get the chance Graham (if you havn't already).

I passed my test in 1978, a Suzuki 185 and it was the drive round the block tests, I passed first time. It wasn't difficult and the examiner was an old schoolteacher of mine who said 'At last, you are actually pretty good at something!'

[Ian-man]

1985, had to do a cbt then a test riding round a block with the examiner running around, lol.
Passed both 1st time and took 3 attempts to pass my car test two years later.

[Grahamm]

I tried some sample tests and kept clicking too early because I was thinking "Ok, that's liable to become a hazard, so I'll keep an eye on it".

Interesting. Have a read of Keith Code's 'Twist of the Wrist' He explains how loading up the brain with too much 'potentialities' is quite a bad thing.  The more you can discard from thinking about, the easier it is for the brain to cope with a hazard when it is 'on you'. I apply this to my own riding.

I've not read the book, but I've seen the video

As regarding "potentialities", I've been cycling for about the past 40 years (gods, that makes me feel old!) and it's so subconcious now that I hardly even think about it.

As I scan the road ahead (and behind) I'm looking for all the little clues and subtleties that mean that if, as in one of the clips, there's a side road on the left, I can be watching for anything coming out of it or that may turn across my path, so when I see a vehicle ahead that's further out towards the centre-line than the rest of the traffic, I'm already thinking "hello, I bet he's going to turn..." and planning for it even before his indicator goes on.

[solorider]

I passed my bike test on the 12th January 1984 on a Honda CB125T, I had to do the 2 part test which was easy. I passed on the 3rd attempt, the first on my moped (a Honda MB5) which I had no clue, the second time I failed on hesitation, my bike cut out in the middle of the road, this was the time when you had to ride around the block and the examiner was on foot. I passed my car test first time 2 years later, I was disappointed that the test was so short lol

[theglove1978]

Just passed my Mod 2 last week.  Took me about 5 months all in all and best part of £750.
CBT & theory pretty straight forward.  Mod 1 was a pain, failed twice and as a new biker with next to no biking experience, i feel its easy to fail, i also understand why.  Failing has made me a "better" biker as i learnt from it.
Mod 2 wasn't a wak in the park but passed 1st time but there are a lot of areas you have keep on top of especially your observations.  All in all, i think the expereince has also made me a better car driver too mainly through being much more aware of whats going on around me.

[Skippernick]

Just passed my Mod 2 last week.  Took me about 5 months all in all and best part of £750.
CBT & theory pretty straight forward.  Mod 1 was a pain, failed twice and as a new biker with next to no biking experience, i feel its easy to fail, i also understand why.  Failing has made me a "better" biker as i learnt from it.
Mod 2 wasn't a wak in the park but passed 1st time but there are a lot of areas you have keep on top of especially your observations.  All in all, i think the expereince has also made me a better car driver too mainly through being much more aware of whats going on around me.

Well done.
Good that you learnt from mistakes as well.