Learning the Noble Art - Rupert Paul

In the Sept 2011 issue of Bike magazine, Rupert Paul has written an interesting article relating to his study of the opinion of new riders to the suitability of the current CBT and training.  He invited Bike readers to relate their feelings of how the CBT prepares them for riding in the real world.

Of the 106 people who responded to Rupert's request, 105 agreed that the training they had received for their CBT did not prepare them for the reality of riding on the road.

The training new riders receive in preparation for the current test focuses on urban riding and enabling the candidates to meet the specific needs to satisfy the examiners during the test.

Once on the open road after their test, the skills required to handle cornering and braking at 60-80mph, reading bends & knowing what the main causes of accidents are do not come naturally.  All of these skills are not needed to pass a motorcycle test today.

The specific suggested by the respondants can be represented by the graph below:

Extracts of 2 of the responses:

My point is entirely supportive of Rupert’s; here I was, fully qualified to ride but unable to handle the simplest of every day situations as my training had focused almost exclusively on urban riding.

Between DAS and buying the YZF I ran wide, into the path of a car coming the other way. Thankfully, the car saw me in enough time to brake, I braked, and we didn’t collide. The truth is I had NO IDEA how the bike got round a corner. Why would I? No one had ever taught me.

The overiding conclusion?
If you know anyone entering, or re-enterning, biking through the current CBT/DAS system please encourage them to take their training further and not rely on CBT/DAS to equip them with all of the skills needed.