CBT Question

My first post here, but as I know a few instructors I thought I’d respond.

It is the instructor’s decision whether someone is safe to go out on the road, but this case does sound a bit suspicious. With 4 trainees I would expect a second instructor to turn up ready for the road ride. It is a requirement to have 1 instructor to 2 trainees for the road ride, but they can get round this by taking someone else who already has a CBT certificate too. But if someone does not reach the standard they shouldn’t have to pay again. She paid for a whole day but only had half.

Steve – you were done too – you should have had a minimum 2 hours out on the road ride!

Well the good news is she went to North London Motorcycle Training and sailed through.

I just pasted mine last month. Normally before they take you on the road you would have a break and there would be a instructor for every 2 riders. If the instructor doesn’ think she is good enough for the road there isn’t nothing she can do about that as they would know best on that before but normally I hear that you will still have to full day but just not on the road it would be where every she was practising.

With the on road I had a different instructor to what I was doing on the on road. I would think that she should complain only that the fact she only had half day even though she paid for a full day. But with the the fact of her not going on the road there is nothing you can do about that. She should go to another CBT place.

I had a similar problem with the first place I booked which was in North Cheam as I had to ring the numberious times as I had a booked day but not confirmed letter and the money not been taking from my bank for 2 weeks and they never picked up there phone so I decided to go to Wallington which I loved as they are jokes and nice. Also if you are doing a manual they pay more attention to you

If you want more details I am please to recommend

All correct… But, even if its legal and I am not sure it is, I dont see how you can take out a 3rd student on the road ride and do this safely and give the required attention to the two new students… I would not do it…

“Trainees must, by law, receive a minimum two hour on-road ride in Element E”. – see here: CBT motorcycle and moped training: Who needs to take training - GOV.UK

I am an instructor for CBT training, at a school in North London, I wont mention the school as its not appropriate to advertise here.

We start before 0900, have a 45 minute break after element C and rarely finish before 4:30pm. We spend all morning doing elements A,B and C and anyone not deemed safe to go out on the road will be sent home,

Sometimes, if there is an instructor available, they might get a couple of hours more in the car park that day, instead of the road ride, although they will not pass the CBT without satisfactorily completing a 2 hour road ride.

Sometimes a student gets info overload so to send them away and give them time to process the instruction they have been given and getting them to come back the following week, starting again, makes all the difference in the world to their machine control and confidence.

For most of us we forget what it was like to be on a bike for the first time – For most people it is both exhilarating and terrifying and your mind is filled with measures of doubt and overconfidence.

Before booking a CBT its worth asking the school how long it will take and if they say “half a day” then they must be cutting corners somewhere.

For anyone doing a CBT then it may be best to pay the extra for the g’teed pass, especially for those who have never driven a car or ridden a bicycle on the road. That way you will get all the training you need to be safe on the road.

If you are booking for a loved one then I am sure you would want them to get the best start they can on two wheels. The worse thing is for them to have an incident, after their CBT, caused because of a poor introduction to the fundamentals of riding on the road.

Would’nt it be a shame if they struggled when on the road and it puts them off ever riding again?

A fair number of us (trainers) study and qualify to become trainers out of love of motorcycling and the satisfaction we get from seeing new riders pass and hopefully go on to become enthusiasts, for me, its a weekend hobby that helps pay for my passion (addiction!) to motorcycling.

There are good schools out there, not just ours, and they will be the ones that take the time to get you started properly without cutting corners.

Anyone issuing a CBT with a road ride of less than two hours is short changing you AND risking your life… Even if we get a really good student, who is done all that is required, we still do the two hours and take them further afield to give them as much chance as possible to gain experience under the watchful eye of an experienced instructor.

WHEN I DID MINE MANY YONKS AGO THERE WAS 4 PPL WITH US PLUS THE INSTRUCTOR AND I WAS ONLY OUT FOR 30 MINS.

What we did yonks ago is not really relevant to the CBT that we have, by law, to do now and given the roads and traffic now its a good job they update the CBT to keep pace. Although the latest fiasco with test centres doesnt appear to be doing a lot for motorcycling safety or motorcycling in general (IMHO)

I think its worth trying to steer new riders away from “cowboy” training outfits who are short cutting CBT’s, charging the same as reputable schools, and then sending people out on the road without the proper training.