Today I completed my CBT, the first step on the UK motorbike training pathway. Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) in the UK allows me to ride a small (125cc) motorbike on the roads, so long as I display learner plates.
Why?
Will I ever own a motorbike? Honestly I’m not sure if I’ll ever own a motorbike. In my efforts to become a better safer driver I figured it would be worth learning to ride other vehicles. It can’t hurt to consider factors other
Compared to learning to drive HGVs a motorbike licence is relatively inexpensive. It’s one of those things I long fancied having a go at anyway and as I can see a school from the window of my flat I went to talk with them and got started.
So after a day of learning to manoeuvre the bike in a car park today i took to the road. With supervision from instructor(s) in radio contact.
It went OK I think. It really brings home quite how exposed motorbike riders are to traffic. I felt rather vulnerable even at low speed (don’t think I got over 35mph) I felt very vulnerable.
Despite watching traffic very closely and clearly displaying learner plates and hi-vis clothing cars still insisted on getting too close and forcing merges.
In a car you have a crash, the cars bodywork gets bent. On a bike, that’s your body getting misshapen.
Todays riding really brought home that difference. In my car a bump might cost me a bit of money to fix it. On a bike, it might cost me a limb.
Think about that next time you’re in the car and think about how you drive and how motorbike riders might react (particularly the inexperienced rider).
I started my training with a Sheffield motorbike training company called BikeSafe. Based near the Owlerton dog track.