New ( but old ;) ) rider training

[Adrian & Alison]

Advice please .. ...
After a bit of a delayed midlife crisis i recently got round to taking my DAS training and now spend every possible opportunity riding one of my Triumph's (Daytona 600 / Tiger 955).. Originally the Mrs wasn't interested ( Never getting on that thing ! ) but after visiting Motorcycle live this year at the NEC she surprised me trying out a Scooter & Geared 125 on the "try a bike" area, Now wants to do her CBT to give some confidence before riding pillion when we take the "Tiger" with us to France next year on the MH trailer (Didn't see that coming) but .. not really sure wether putting her straight out on the road after an hour or so in a car park without any prior riding experience would do more harm than good.
So does anyone know of somewhere , preferably Surrey but will travel who offers some sort of training off road prior to taking her CBT ??

 

[Tootles]

My training consisted of jumping onto a Francis Barnett 197cc and just riding it. Maybe a lot was lost when that approach was curtailed.

 

[f6c]

That was a very very long time ago

 

[Adrian & Alison]

Its quite scary watching her ride a Bicycle so adding an engine is very worrying :0 but saying that i'm very impressed she wants to have a go ... The Ardeche for 3 weeks next year could be a lot of fun !

 

[Tootles]

That was a very very long time ago

Dont be rude!!! It was only yesterday!!

Well, it FEELS like it was only yesterday. ........


At 9.00am on Monday, March 27th 1967, I put on my long fisherman’s socks, strapped up the third hand Arthur Lampkin trials boots, and fastened the fourth hand leather jacket that had cost me dearly, namely a primary chaincase for a BSA C11G 250, that now sat forlornly in the back yard.

It was raining outside, and so, with a last swig of tea, and a ‘peck’ for my mum, I set out to ‘make history’

I was going to be the first of our group to pass his motorcycle test, on my seventeenth birthday as well! Around my neck I pulled the white silk scarf, given to me by the mother of Alfie Jones, and made out of the parachute he had used at Arnhem, just over twenty years ago. She and Alfie are now long deceased, but I still have that scarf!

My bike was a bit of a throw together. It was a Francis Barnett 197CC that had originally had an AMC engine, but that had expired in a glorious bang on the East Lancashire Road one dark night, and now had a Villiers motor from a fork bent James Captain. It was wet, so I knew that I would have to ‘bump’ it to start, but at long last, on the second hill, it fired into life, shrouded in a massive cloud of two stroke oil, and I was off. The test centre in Salford was only a couple of miles away, and so I had time to practice a bit on the way. In 1967, most of the old Salford was being demolished, but the majority of the streets were still cobbled, and, despite the Clean Air Act, most houses still burnt tar coal, as did the mills, so you were never far away from the stink of coal smoke, which, mixed with the damp air, produced this grey-green fug. I switched the lights on. The engine stopped. Bloody ‘el! Lights off, and it kicked up.

I reached the test centre in plenty of time. As I walked in, a crying women was walking out. Failed……Hmmmmm. Wait by your bike, said the be-speckled lady, not looking up from her knitting. The examiner approached. I knew it was him, because he had a folded newspaper under his arm. Most people in Salford just read them. “Right lad”, said the worthy, running a very critical eye over the Franny, “Do you smoke?” I nodded yes like a simpleton. “Good, give us a tab will yer, I’m right out.”

We smoked together, no words being exchanged, until, finally, at the very tip end, he stubbed the ciggy out with a grinding motion of his foot. A final exhale. “Right son, just ride around the block a few times, and when you see me wave me paper,” he pointed to the still rolled up item under his arm, “You do an emergency stop, OK?” I nodded. “Right, off yer go then” I prayed to every God in heaven, and wonder of wonders, the Frannie started briskly, first kick! It must be an omen, I thought. Round and round. Arms signalling a constant right turn, until at finaly he appeared from an entry, stopped at the kerb, and waved, at last, his bloody Daily Express. I stopped smartly, without skidding. Two questions on the highway code later, another cigarette, and I held the coverted pink slip! Oh joy of joys! The ride on to work was done in a dream. I’d passed, and now I could get a Thunderbird, or a Dominator. Or a………..

Do tell, has it changed much since??

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[Adrian & Alison]

Dont be rude!!! It was only yesterday!!



Do tell, has it changed much since??

Hardly at all . Theory test (with videos - CBT - a week of on/off road training followed by mod 1 & 2 ... 4 x tests and £700 , luckily got it done just in time before the CBT becomes an official test as well !

 

[Tootles]

Hardly at all . Theory test (with videos - CBT - a week of on/off road training followed by mod 1 & 2 ... 4 x tests and £700 , luckily got it done just in time before the CBT becomes an official test as well !

WHAT!! My test cost 10 bob!!