I did my CBT in December and did my Direct Access training in April the next year (2004). WInter weather put me off riding for much of the intervening period though I got out and about from time to time and got to a basic level of competence, more or less. It was uneventful apart from one incident. I was doing some slow filtering through a traffic jam when I stalled for no apparant reason. Being an oldish bike it had no electric starter motor. “No problem” I thought, “just kick it over ( use the kickstart lever, not kick the bike onto its side, though that’s sometimes tempting) and we’ll be off again.” Alas it was not to be. I used the kick start about 10 times but the engine failed to burst into life. By now the passengers in the bus in front of me were staring at me. Hmm, “Let’s go somewhere a little more private I thought” and pushed the bike into a side street. Right. Concentrate. A few more attempts to fire up the motor completely failed. By now I was getting annoyed. One mighty stomp on the kickstart resulted in….the lever snapping off. I suddenly felt stranded, miles from home, in the inner city. If I leave the bike here, will it get nicked or vandalised (probably yes). I hadn’t got any roadside assistance going. Then I remembered the bump start option. So I pointed the front wheel in the direction of a slight downward slope, pulled in the clutch lever, selected first gear, kept the clutch lever pulled in, then ran along pushing the bike until I was running at a fast jog. Then I swung my leg over the saddle and released the clutch lever. The engine spluttered into life and I was away!

I’ve heard a couple of things about bump starts since. One is “don’t do them” because the engine doesn’t like it, particularly the elctronic bits, though I’ve done a few since and the bike seemed OK after. The other is that the gear should be second or third for “better compression” - I think that is ‘more bang per engine rev’ in non-tec speak.

Anyway, next thing is the DIrect Access Training.

Once I had my CBT certificate I could legally ride a 125cc bike with L plates but no going on motorways or carrying pillion passengers. I bought a helmet and gloves and wore jeans, boots and a leather jacket with a high visibility vest on top. It felt plenty fast enough in town at first and it took me a little time before I ventured out onto faster A roads, where it did lack some punch. It also didn’t have much road presence due to its small physical size, even for a motorcycle, so in busy traffic it felt rather vulnerable at times to bullying by car  and van drivers. That said, it was fine for practising on.

The engine is roaring, the air is rushing past my head, the world is flashing by in a blur; I look down at the speedo and I’m doing…..23 miles per hour. That first feeling of speed, power and freedom is amazing, even if in retrospect the actual velocity is quite modest.

Now on the public road with the instructor and one other student, it all felt manageable and unthreatening. The instructor rides his bike and talks to the students through a radio link, giving directions and advice. It’s a one-way link - you can’t talk back. It’s only really a problem if you didn’t catch something or don’t understand. Ultimately all you can do is stop and talk face to face if you have to. Sign language with a crash helmet on while riding a motorbike is just too tricky when learning (though there are some special gestures used by bikers - no, not that kind - like turning an open hand up and down fairly quickly, which means: hazard ahead, watch your speed). If you get separated the standard operating procedure is for the student to stop and wait to be found by the examiner. This complies with the law too; it is illegal to ride unchaperoned until the CBT is complete.

So, after negotiating junctions, traffic lights, roundabouts and practising some more U-turns and the like, it’s back to the training centre for tea and certificates.

The 125cc bikes provided by the motorcycle training company for use on the dedicated practise area next to the centre were unintimidating. Small, light and user-friendly, they were easy to keep upright and the controls were just where you’d expect them to be.  For those who don’t know, the ‘accelerator’ (known as the throttle) is the right hand handlebar grip which you twist gently to make the bike go forward. The left grip is just a grip and nothing more. There is a brake lever which applies the front wheel’s brake and this is found attached to the right hand handlebar, in front of the throttle. The corresponding lever on the left hand bar is for the clutch, which works in much the same way as the clutch pedal in a car. While the hands use these controls the right foot can be used to press a pedal which operates the brake on the rear wheel while the left foot clicks a lever up or down when you want to change gear. It’s pretty straight-forward when you actually sit on a bike, it’s just not the sort of thing that can be described easily without one.

There was no pressure to get through the first stages of bike familiarisation, with plenty of time to get the feel of the clutch and brakes and to get used to changing gear with the left foot. Once we could control the bike in an acceptable way it was onto the dual carriageway for a 60 mph burn up (just kidding). No, the next stage was riding in a circle and doing figures of eight in a controlled manner, keeping the engine, clutch and rear brake balanced to keep the bike stable when turning at around 10 mph. Once that was OK we practised emergency stops using both front and rear brakes in the correct way to stop quickly but without either wheel locking up.  Then it was pretty much onto the public road with an instructor for some sub-30 mph riding.

In 2004 me and my other half did our compulsory basic training. It took a day, cost around £100 each for tuition, kit and bike hire and was a right laugh. A relaxed tour through the attached bike kit shop (no pressure to buy stuff) was used to illustrate points on suitable kit. The instructor said that if we didn’t want to splash out on purpose-made clothing then stout boots, jeans and a thick coat, preferably leather, were the best off-the-peg items to wear. He then talked about broad subjects related to riding on the road, like being seen and getting the best road position. Ideally, to be seen a rider should have a high-visibility vest or over-jacket, the headlight on dipped beam and not be obscured by other vehicles. After these and related subjects were talked about, it was out to the practice area to get up close and personal with our bikes.

Way back in the 20th century I rode a 125cc machine around London. It was great for going to the front of a queue of traffic and, especially in central London, it was great for parking. It was however under-powered on the open road. With more responsibility and money came a need for a car as personal transportation but in 2004 my liking for two-wheeled transport was rekindled. It began when my wife bought an old Honda 125 for a very short occasional commute. For fun we did our CBT together on a frosty December day….

Hi! My name is Greg and I wrote the words for the new2motorbikes.co.uk website - I hope you like it and find it useful. My aim is to be informative, entertaining and concise. To keep the site punchy I’ve used links to other relevant websites rather than regurgitate someone else’s words and ideas. I hope the pictures and video clips do their job of livening up the text and giving you a flavour of motorbike riding in some of its many joyous forms: slicing through traffic jams and gridlock, flying round a race track, throwing up dust and spray off-road and exploring other countries and cultures on two wheels.