The New Motorcycle Test

Getting your motorcycle test has been a bit of a nightmare the last few years with you having to first of all sit a crappy theory test, then your CBT and after that you've got your full test which is a lot harder to pass that the usual car driving test.

Well, the test wasn't THAT hard but it certainly wasn't easy with most people finding the U-turn to be particularly difficult. It certainly seems to me that 50% of the bikers I talk to fail their first motorcycle test because they put their foot down on the U-turn.

If it wasn't hard enough in the past, they've now made getting your motorcycle license even harder with the introduction of the European style test which meant we had to build hundreds of motorcycle test stations throughout the country just so we had somewhere where we could do motorcycle maneuvers at 31 miles per hour.

With a few people already having broken bones trying to carry out the skid portion of the test it doesn't look good for the future.

Learning To Ride A Motorcycle

If you are in the UK want to learn to ride a motorcycle then there are a hoops you have to jump through in order to keep the government happy. I like being negative towards the government at all available opportunities but I must agree that we really do need some sort of motorcycle proficiency testing before we let young hoodlums loose on the roads if we are to avoid total carnage.

This is not to say that the motorcycle testing system in the UK is perfect because it is far from it especially since they brought in the new European test. Talk about a total cock up! But at the end of the day we need to ensure that anyone on a public highway on a motorised vehicle has some semblance of control so tests are to be welcomed, even if it is a little begrudgingly.