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Original way you got your riding license

4K views 53 replies 44 participants last post by  Flyfisher 
#1 ·
I couldn't help but notice at the rider's age profile thread that there has been varied means to actually get a riding license, and I suspect there is a wealth of good stories to unearth here. Let's start.

My brother now lives in Central America and holds a valid big displacement riding license. He passed the car license in France decades ago, then moved to Belgium, at a time when the license types were not harmonized (are they now? I don't know either). The large displacement motorcycles were added in translation to make his Belgian license.

As for me, I have been living in Vietnam since my early twenties, and ride small displacement bikes all around Vietnam without any other license than the tolerance for up to 125cc stated on my French car license. Then I went on to riding larger bikes (notably a Jawa 360, '65, which gave quite a pulse to many years in my life) but somehow skipped sitting for the exam. Even the police said at the time is was unnecessarily complicated: to ride any bike over 175cc, you had to be a registered member of a sports club, and that came with numerous duties at parades and bicycling festivals.

I went to pass the full-fledged exam just last year, in part to get the paper, but also to get some proper hands-on training (MSF-style) and to learn about the latest traffic rules. Which was a failure in both counts and more: we sat for old theory, where the instructor would teach you what to answer to most questions while mentioning we should disregard the answers; and there was no such thing as a technical refresher: most Vietnamese ride since young anyway, so it was mostly a matter of training for the exam's gymkhana.

There, your turn!

NN
 
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#2 ·
Cool - a T120 in Vietnam. You must be quite the star when you roll into a rural village on that! I had a BMW G650GS when I lived there. While riding in Vietnamese cities is hell (in my opinion), I miss traveling cross country there... beautiful place, great food and I always felt like a rock star when I pulled up to a café in some small town!

License - yeah well - so I never completed a motorcycle license in my home country (Canada). When I lived in Korea, I had to get a Korean car drivers license, which allows you to also ride small displacement bikes. So for my first years riding in Vietnam, I used that license when requested for documents by local law enforcement. But as you know, they aren't that strict with foreigners and at worst might request a donation to the local police 'charity'.

I did eventually get my Vietnamese A2. That simply involved giving all of my documents to a someone who knew someone in the police, plus a sizable fee... and I was officially licensed. Whether or not it was an 'official' document I don't know. But I was pulled over endlessly, and it was always accepted as valid.

Since then, I've been simply converting my Vietnamese license into the required local equivalent where I happen to live.

In other words, I owe a lot to the flexibility of the Vietnamese licensing authorities.
 
#3 ·
Set the wayback machine Mr Peabody! As I remember, we would apply for a motorcycle learners permit which would allow us to operate during daylight hours, without passenger, and in state only. This permit would only last six months at which point the state expected you to apply for a full license. I did this each year for the first few years of my riding career. When I realized I was hooked, I scheduled a license exam with the state police and piloted a 1983 Suzuki GS 1100 E in the rain to get it.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Ha. Good story, Rogdog. My A2 license cost me 800,000 dong, including the lessons, the supporting documents, the exam and the paperwork. $35. No wonder people were lightly motivated. I was offered one for 8-9 million without sitting for it.

Yes, cities are hell.

Nobody knows Triumph in Vietnam anymore, and the dealer who sold me my T120 insisted it was imported from the USA. Turns out it was in T's manifests as a Polish T120. They love BMWs, which they know, though.

Daddie Mac, nice story too. Don't we get hooked by the 2-wheel monsters.

NN
 
#5 ·
I don't remember having a license back in the day, but I must have. I can't remember getting stopped by police back then.

Fast forward to now.....I started jonesing for a bike long before I could get one....Probably around 2000. In 2004, my divorce was finalized and I got a new job in Michigan so I thought, "Now is the time!" I ended up at an MSF course in Lansing MI, passed, and got my "M" endorsement on my license. I've transferred it from state to state as I moved. Now it resides in Georgia.
 
#6 ·
In Massachusetts I got a learner's permit and then took the road test. I assumed a motorcycle cop would be giving me the test, but no. I got behind a HS student who was taking the car road test. The cop who was in the car with the student, told me to ride behind the car. The student failed the hand signals so I had to wait for another student tester. I rode behind the car maybe in 2nd gear, this was in suburbia and followed the car for maybe 4 blocks when the car pulled over and the cop got out. We were at an intersection where 5 streets met and he told me to ride in circles in both directions and then a figure 8 in both directions. He then told me to pop a wheelie, then laughed and said, "only kidding". He told me that a tester on a Ninja took him seriously and did pop a wheelie in front of him.

That was my test. He handed me some paper work and took off in the car with the student to finish their test. So, I never got out of 2nd gear and probably no faster than 25mph. Really tested my abilities on the bike. I rode home and that was that. End of Story.
 
#8 ·
I got my motorcycle permit in 1976 at the age of 15. It allowed you to ride in daylight hours only, passengers were allowed. Me and my friends with permits also rode at night. We never got stopped. There was no way for the police to tell if you had a permit or license.

We kept renewing the permit for a while, then I got my license riding a honda 250 enduro. A full license was available at 16 yoa. I have been riding ever since except for a few years from a bad moto accident and then boat ownership. I got rid of the boat and got a bike in 1989 and have owned a bike ever since.


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#9 ·
No wonder it takes a bit of refreshing, if so many of us actually did not get serious training. We do depend on applying conscious attention to learning and debriefing often, and reading solid advice.

NN
 
#11 ·
What refreshing? I started riding in 76. I took the ERC in ~95. I never took the beginner MSF course. After my major accident, and boat ownership (some people think owning a boat is an accident in itself), I got another bike. Things just "clicked" for me then. I became more aware of what was going on around me as I rode. The ERC course reenforced that behavior with SIPDE.

I do track days but that is for improving my skills on "fun roads". For street riding and mixing it up with cars and trucks, I practice SIPDE by keeping my head on a swivel.
 
#12 ·
For me, I finally got riding when friend offered to sell me a bike at a price I couldn't refuse, so I got my permit and signed up for the MSF class. It was something I had always wanted, but at the time I was old enough to go and get the permit myself, without parental consent, I was off to college, then kids and marriages. My first time on a bike was at the MSF course, at 34 years old. At the end of the weekend course the instructors gave us all our road tests, and then announced to the group that we had all passed, and our permits should be considered temporary licenses.
 
#14 ·
I got my endorsement 12 years ago. I reckoned it was time to do it right; I had only occasionally rode before then. I took the rider's course at a local harley dealership over the weekend and that following monday I was at driver's license office getting my "M" endorsement. After 250k-ish miles, haven't looked back since.

I love motorcycles! ??
 
#16 · (Edited)
I dont remember having to do anything for a motorcycle licence when I bought my first bike in ~1971, or maybe I was just driving without one, that wouldnt have been unlike me at all, just dont know.
I do remember getting a motorcycle licence when I was 18 or 19, had to do some driving around cones, brake work,... simple stuff.
Fast forward to a few years ago when I started ridding again and no longer had a MC licence(moved from a couple states and let licence expire never renewing the MC part of it. Had to make a u-turn in a designated rectangle painted in a parking lot, get the bike up to 20mph and stop as quickly as you could, keeping bike under control, again, pretty basic stuff. In Iowa they allow you to take a three day course(course offered at the local com. college, Harley shop also offers it, maybe other MC shops.....)and then you dont have to take the test at the DMV but the course cost $$, Harley shop throws it in when you purchase a bike but you're still paying for it somewhere!
I down loaded an app on my phone to study for the written(computer) part of the test and the driving part - if you cant pass that part... well maybe you shouldn't be ridding!

Here a lot of people go rent a smaller bike to take the driving part with, I went with a friend and he rented a little Honda 250, I rode my Bonne, and because of the cc's of my bike I was given extra width to do the u-turn but I still did it in the space allotted for the smaller bikes, couldn't resist showing off I guess.
My motorcycle license will be good as long as I renew my drivers license when required, no more testing ever.
 
#17 ·
Born and raised in NYC. Joined NYPD in 1969. They offered a class in riding Vespa's for mugging and pickpocket detail in the city parks. It was a hoot. Taught us crazy riding, hills, dirt, trails and stairs. Then we had to chase a suspect on foot with the scooter, jump off and tackle suspect to the ground. Moved to LA in '72 and joined LAPD. Took and independent riding course ( My NY endorcement wasn't honored) and have been licensed CM1 ever since.
 
#18 ·
In the Buckeye State (that's Ohio, Fred) they call it a "Motorcycle Endorsement," indicated by a tiny "M" on your license. I think they had just started the Ohio program when I took it around 1971. I had to mail something in, and in their government way, gave me a one chance appointment at something like 7:30 in the morning. To add to the fun, the test "corse" was located way out in the boonies at an Ohio Department Of Transportation garage/storage yard/gravel dump/salt pile in the parking lot. It was VERY basic. I took the test on a 1970 Triumph Daytona, which was pretty nimble as I remember. One weird thing was, the guy giving me the test kept asking me to balance the bike in a stationary position, to see if I would fall off I guess. I passed and have had that little "M" on my license ever since. I know, boring! Asked, and answered.

Weedie
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
I got my bike licence in the era of "Ride around those pylons and come to a stop without falling over...welcome to the club, son!" I did take a course out at the old airport before the test and learned all sorts of valuable safety pointers which I promptly forgot or ignored because I was 18 with more balls than brains. I had to crash a few times before it sunk in this motorcycle safety thing can be serious business.

I do not consider those "the good old days" and am happy that teenagers now have to go through a more involved process to get a bike license. It's sheer dumb luck I'm here to type this.
 
#20 ·
To add to my story, my state's moto licensing driving test is the same today as it was in 1976. I am pleased that this is so, especially since any college student can rent a scooter and ride around town, without any license or helmet.


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#21 ·
Gabriel, indeed, refreshing is not the word. Just afraid for most of us experience would just be honing bad habits.

as far as I know, the police provide top notch training. I saw some demonstration of
team riding by the Japanese police, really like clockwork. All sorts of stunts, dirt and all, and being paid for it... I am feeling a bit jealous there.

NN
 
#22 · (Edited)
I got my Victorian bike licence in 1975 at 17 y.o. and 9 months. you went to the police station filled out the form, did a couple of multiple questions and came out with an open licence- no restrictions at all - size, hours but i couldn't have a pillion for 12 months!

Too easy, way too easy
 
#23 ·
I was in the police and done my 4 week motorcycle course at the Garda (police) College in Templemore (Ireland) in 1986. Once you successfully completed this course you got a full whack bike license for life. Not an easy course to pass - we were travelling at 100mph for at least 5 hours a day in all weather and on all sorts of roads and traveled all over the country.
 
#24 ·
1970, Hyattsville, Maryland. A college buddy with a motorcycle license and I went to the DMV office on my Honda S90. The examiner told me to ride down the block, turn around, and come back. There might have been a paper "exam", but if there was, it wasn't much more difficult than the ride down the block. Finished. I've had the motorcycle endorsement ever since.

It isn't quite that easy anymore, but still much easier in the US than in Europe.
 
#26 ·
Year 1972 Police officer stood on the footpath and said ride down the road 1.5miles do a U turn and come back. Down and back he say's ok you pass! (licence to drive any type of motorbike! anytime) I was only 17
 
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#35 ·
Similar for me - 1972 in Darwin. I was riding a mate's Honda CB750, had to do hand signals as I couldn't find the indicator switch. Ride up the road, do a u-turn then a figure 8 when I got back to license centre.
The tester's only comment was "How long do you want your license for - one or three years?"
I also obtained a full road train license a couple of years later - a good mate was a Territory cop.
Spent a weekend with him and negotiated a license - for a slab :)
I let it expire when i moved to WA, decided it was too expensive. Fool!
 
#27 ·
I didn't start until 2011. I signed up for the MSF basic course at the local community college, did the exercises (on a Rebel 250), took the test, got my card, and went to the DMV the next day where they gave me a motorcycle license.
 
#28 ·
I did my written test to get my motorcycle learners permit, then bought the Bonnie and had my Dad ride it home for me. The next day I had him ride the bike to a parking lot, and I just figured it out. 6,000 miles later I finally took the MSF and got my license. Not the preferred method of learning riding, but it worked out.

When shopping for a bike with permit in hand but no riding experience I stopped at the HD place and was looking at a Sportster. He smelled blood and asked if I wanted to take it for a ride. I said I'd never ridden before. He grunted that he wasn't going to give me a lesson, but if I wanted to ride it I could. There was more testosterone than thinking going on with both of us, and I said sure. And I dumped his bike in the middle of the road taking my first ever turn on a motorcycle, a 90 degree left turn from a stop sign and I simply turned the bars too far and was on my side before I knew it. In my defense, I picked it up myself and limped back to the dealer.

I didn't buy that bike, it was scratched.
 
#29 ·
I turned 17 in November, 1977 so got my bike permit in the cold weather and they had the craziest law: daylight riding only, no passenger and you must be with a licensed rider.
There I am, all bundled up on a Triumph 250, with my grandfather following behind in his Cadillac!
He had a Triumph years ago so he was happy to assist.
I think it was 3 or 6 months of permit and then ride around some pylons, go up the gears, go down the gears, stop without falling over and off I went.
It's a wonder I survived this long as I was 100% self taught. I didn't even know how to drive a stick shift in a car.
 
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