My pre-learner rider training experience.

I did the first day of my NSW Pre Learner Training today and i thought that
i might post all about it for anyone that is thinking about doing it but are
maybe not quite sure what is involved.

I am doing mine at Fineline Motorcycles in Taree and have a woman
instructor, who was very nice and definitely seems to know her stuff. There
are 5 students (i guess you call us that) of which i was the youngest (25)
and the oldest was 50. There was one lady.

After the introductions you start off with about an hour or so of talking
about your responsibility of being a motorcyclist and a bit of an
explanation as to why you are doing rider training or what you will be
doing. Then you move outside and get allocated to a bike.

I was given a Yamaha TW200 which was great as its very similar to the XT250
that i am used to. But boy does this bike have friggen HUGE tyres. The front
tyre is easily as fat and the rear tyre on my XT, and the rear tyre would
look at home on a litre road bike (except the nobbies of course). The other
bikes used were a XT250's, a TTR-250 and a DT175 which was kick start.

The first thing they teach you is how to properly mount and dismount, then
you learn where all the controls are, what they do etc.. And once you are ok
with that you start some pushing exercises, first with you just pushing the
bike with your legs while sitting on it, and then with someone pushing you
along. All very basic straight line and figure of 8's.

Next you are taught how to start and stop the engine and then you start some
actual riding excersises. First you only use the clutch, then you start
using the clutch and throttle while still going in a straight line and
practice correctly using the breaks, which i think is quite difficult at
such low speeds because the bike is stopped before you know it.

Finally they get you to do some laps of the area using only first gear, then
you start doing laps using first and second gear (which is as high as you
go).

Then you hope off the bikes again and go and have a look at some safety gear
and have a bit of chat about what you have learnt.

And thats about it so far. I am really looking foward to tomorrow and i will
try to make a follow up post to let you'se know how i go.

 

Good post Digger. What surprised me was how well the training courses are
run. A car license consisted of driving around the block a few times, here's
your license, go terrorize the neighbourhood. The Motorcycle system is
definitely a big step up in ensuring users know what they're doing before
being unleashed on the public. The motorcycle license trainers deserve a big
pat on the back for the service, I can't rate it highly enough. I only wish
the Transport Ministry would take the same approach with the rest of the
road going public.

 

hear, hear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 15 Feb 2004 11:47:07 +1100

do they still? I thought that in NSw at least they now have a minimum
number of hours required, and several years on Ps.

Zebee

 

I completed day two (and passed) today.

The second days theme seems to be to drill into your head about how
vulnerable you are on a bike and to make sure you remember it. You learn a
lot about positioning the bike within the lane under different circumstances
and things like that.

Then you move on to some more slow speed stuff where you are just using the
clutch to roll along without touching the ground and also weaving through
cones. Then you move on to emergency braking exorcises and finally some
simulated traffic conditions with merging traffic and stop signs.

And that was about it.

Overall the first day was quite basic and you should not have any trouble at
all so long as you listen to the instructor and keep your head on. The
second day however is a bit more technical and people that have never ridden
before _may_ have some trouble here, but i believe that if you dont pass the
second day you can come back and try again for free during the week (thats
how it works at Fineline anyway).

So in the end it was a great weekend (even with the heat), totally worth the
$65. Personally i learnt a lot and i realised that i have a couple of nasty
habits to break, mostly to do with down shifting, im sure most people who
learnt to ride on the farm/bush were the same.

If you are thinking of doing the course, but you're worried about the course
just forget all that and get in and do it, you'll have a ball. I know i did.

Oh yeah in case you were wondering, everybody in my class passed.

 

That is correct, you now have to do 50 hours of driving before you can get
your P's. But not 1 minute of that time has to be spent with a profesional
driving instructor. All you have to do is pass the computer test, grab some
L's plates and take charge of your 1000kg+ steel killing machine.

Steve

 

Yeah i thought it was very profesional, but yet the trainer was very
accessable, happy to have a laugh and a bit of fun.

Steve

 

I gather that's an RTA thing. The instructor I got at HART
in December gave a speech about how you were entitled to x
hours (where x == 2 or 3, don't remember) of additional
1-on-1 training if you felt you needed it. (They didn't
say "if you don't pass", they said words to the effect
of "if you feel you need it".)

After going through the pre-learner test, and passing, I
figured I was in no fit state to be let loose on the
streets on my own - I came out of there with a very basic
level of competance (ie: I got the green bit of paper) but
I certainly wasn't confident by any stretch of the
imagination. Another hour or so of practice would have
made a world of difference.

(Even as it stands now, with 3900Km and two months under
my belt, I'll probably let my L's lapse and go around for
a second time. Put me on a TNR and I can keep up with the
front-running big boys and enjoy it, but take me on a GRO
"L's Angels" ride, and I come away with my confidence shot
to pieces all over again)

When I told the instructor that I wanted to take him up
on the extra training, he wasn't at all interested in
coming good with it - gave me a whole range of "you don't
need it mate, you did great mate, for someone whose never
ridden before you're doing really well mate".

ie: "The RTA requires me to tell you that you can have
extra training, but I'm not giving it to you".

As a result of that, I very nearly gave it all away at
that point. As it was, I ended up buying a bike, but I
had to fart around organising friends to ride it home
for me, and pissing around on back streets in the dead of
night for a lot longer than I would have otherwise.

By all accounts, HART are pretty good folks, certainly
the couple of classes I've done there since then have
been excellent, but they certainly let the side down for
me insofar as the pre-learner thing went.

G

 

I passed my computer test this morning, yay.

So now my bike hunting is really going to kick into gear, but at least i
have the XT to ride around on so i dont have to rush into buying a crap bike
just so i have something to ride.

 

Kewl! So now you can use your computer without someone looking over your
shoulder?

Oh. THAT kind of computer test.
---
Cheers

PeterC [aka MildThing]
'81 Suzuki GS450-s
'87 BMW K100RT

www.dmcsc.org.au

 

Then pile all you drunk mates in the car and slide into a tree. The
governmnet can then argue that they need more speed cameras.

 

An XT is a pretty old computer.

Theo

 

Yeah i think i had about 5 of them at one stage. Probably worth about $50
all up at that time.

Steve

 

You metrosexuals!!

Hammo

Silly me, Sydney, is NSW, Ah Martin....