Triumphrat

Tbirdnz

Strangely enough I still remember some details about my bike licence test which was when I was 15, I had studied the highway code and thought that was the most difficult part. I had been riding for a few years on disused WWII airfields and in the countryside illegally but it was the highway code test that I was a bit concerned about.

Apart from the oral highway code test I had to ride around the city streets being observed by the examiner which included an emergency stop-test, when he jumped out off the pavement (side-walk) in front of me. I always thought he was taking his life into his own hands with that part.

I needn't have worried as I passed which was a bit of a status thing among my teenage biker friends who still had to wear the dreaded 'L' plates. It also meant that I could carry a pillion so I was pretty popular for a time.

I remember what the examiner said which was a bit leveling, you're not good but not bad enough to fail, practice your signals and congratulations. I didn't tell my father the not good bit.

Anyone any interesting tales about how they achieved their first bike licence, or didn't ?


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Ride on !

Old Scratcher

I rode dirt bikes in the bush without a licence, for many years. But that ended when I moved to the coast in the mid 80's, where there were a lot more Cops. I knew I needed a licence, but had a KLR 600, & the licence was limited to 250cc for the first year.
The beach I lived at had a brilliant 17klm drive in from the hwy, with lots of twisties & fast straights, & I had a lot of fun on the KLR on it (still do on my Trumps). Anyway I'd just gotten home one day & was putting the kettle on, when I heard a loud knock at the door. & this florid faced overweight Qld Police seargent was angrilly sweating on my doorstep "Got ya! Ya bastard!" He beamed at me " A word of advice Son." he continued patronisingly. " If you're looking to get away from the Cops, don't park your bike out the front of your house." "If I knew you were following me, I wouldn't have." I answered him. He couldn't believe that I hadn't heard his blues & two's, but I was concentrating on the road ahead, not my mirrors.
He then asked for my licence, & could tell from my expression that I didn't have one "Oh you're kidding!" He exclaimed, before I had a chance to reply "Why haven't you got a licence?" "Well I've got a 600, & the limit's 250." It sounded lame to me, as I said it. "That's no excuse!" He screamed "Come into the station tomorrow & I'll write you one out. You can obviously ride the bloody thing."
I rocked up the next day expecting at least a cursery test, but he just repeated how he'd already seen me ride, & wrote me out a full licence (no 250 limit), which I still hold to this day.
So I really did win mine in a race.

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"They told me I was goin to have to work for my living, & all I wanna do is ride. I don't care where we're goin from here. So Honey you decide" Jackson Browne (the Road & The Sky)

TriumphTengu

Got my MC in April 2006. I was 52 years old.
Had ridden bicycles all my life. My wife and son rode so I thought
"What the hey, the more the merrier". So there it is.
First bike I wanted was my 06' Tiger, but my wife nixed that saying
"You 'gwine ride trainer wheels first". Honda VT750 was the first
then I got my "girl" on my birthday November 1st 2007.

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"Are we having fun yet"?

saphena

I did my compulsory basic training (CBT) two years ago at the age of 52 - my wife said I'd always wanted to ride so she just booked me on the course. I passed the theory test that autumn. I failed my first practical test last July because I didn't know to use the part-time bus lane. I retook and passed the practical last August.

God knows what age I'll be when I finally know how to ride a motorcycle.

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Bob - Ringer, Iron Butt, not dead yet
Switch to reserve ~120 miles, fuel panic ~150

"Just because you're offended doesn't make you right" Ricky Gervais

Wombat

I got my Learners permit at 16 years and 9 months and got my license 2 days after my 17th birthday.
My birthday fell on a Saturday so I had to wait until Monday to do the test.

The test at the DMT amounted to the examiner watching me ride 50 yards up the road and make a U-turn and come back to the office.

I was so excited after getting my license that I did a wheelie out of the car park and nearly hit a parked car.

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Bob

Click to see My Photo Album

Age is of no importance, unless you are a cheese.

Airbrush-Andy

Rode trials bikes in the fields at an early age, then had a DT 50cc to ride to college on and passed my 2 part bike test in 1983 when I was 17 years old. Been riding ever since, mostly Jap bikes (well pretty much all Jap bikes) I did have a MZ 250 once but that's a different story.

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I do it at 40 P.S.I

gandy dancer

OK OK--reckon I`m a pretty old dude, cause when I started riding down on the TEXAS Gulf Coast, ya didn`t need no stinking MC licence. ya were suppose to have a car licence, but didn`t have one of them either. About 1969 got my car licence and about `71 got my MC one out of the way--41 years of riding--and I still Thank God everyday for being able to ride

geolpilot

Got my license at age 17 in 1960 in NJ. Got a Texas license when I arrived in 1965.

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2005 Bonnie, Sleepers and Unifilter, AI gone, restrictor gone, Modre's peg kit, headlight & brake modulator, tach, NC wind deflector, gaiters, steibel, vmax mirrors, Hagons & Progressives, PIAA. http://TexasCoastGeology.com

welshrob

I had a full bike and car licence at 15. This was despite the minimum age being 17, at the time. The DVLC (where all of the UK`s licences were issued) was in Swansea, just around the corner from where I lived and a mate`s mother worked there. She would get anyone a full licence in exchange for 40 Player`s No.6 (cigarettes) or a bottle of sherry. She could also remove penalty points and revoke driving bans.
Nearly all of my mates had these dodgy licences. Some just wanted to use them as ID to get into pubs under age but a lot of us were using them to ride bikes or drive cars.
It was getting a bit out of hand, one 13 year old kid was stopped by the police, driving a car to school in his uniform. He was wearing short trousers and in that particular school, you weren`t allowed to wear long trousers with your uniform until you were 14, so the cops were naturally suspicious of his licence!!! They made enquiries which resulted in my mate`s mum getting arrested. The story made national front page news, she had issued hundreds of fake licences and one by one, we were all visited by the police had our licences confiscated and were given a caution.

The first legal one I had was when I was 16, for a 50cc moped.

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"An unarmed man can only flee from evil and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it."

NoDice

I got mine in NH... they have a good program where you can take the BRC with an approved provider and they waive both the written and practical test. Take the course, go to the DMV, get your endorsement.

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-Chris