L.L. Cool M
14th June 2006, 14:17
After 4.5 months and 1800km of riding a bike I passed my restricted today. It was not a big deal as I thought I would be good enough to pass, hence the sitting of the test. There was a bit of angst in the beginning when we couldn't find the WOF sticker on my bike and so was not going to be allowed to even start the test. Eventually it was found on the back of the rego sticker running flat against the bike, rendering it totally unvisible.
I was given a radio for communication and this made things easy. I did it in Manukau and before the test started I mentioned how I didn't know the area well and that if I saw no speed signs I would keep to just under 50km/hr. What this means is that in areas above 50km/hr the tester actually radioed the road speeds in to me! That was pretty sweet.
I put both feet down at all stops and almost treated give way signs like stop signs given the traffic around at the time. I wore a tinted visor. I went a little too slow if anything, and of course you give way to everything (even dogs -especially dogs on bikes) and be more hesitant than usual. I was overly looking round, but at the end of the course the tester commented how they come down hard on people not checking around them. I had to do one superman and two u-turns, one on quite a narrow street which isn't so easy on a ZXR.
The tester said there was nothing wrong with what I did and even asked if I had had any formal instruction. I think it is important to not stress too much about the test, posting on here lots in a panicky way doesn't help. If you are confident you'll pass, go do it, it's easy. If you don't back yourself, don't book the test.
Doing the BRONZ course is good.
I was given a radio for communication and this made things easy. I did it in Manukau and before the test started I mentioned how I didn't know the area well and that if I saw no speed signs I would keep to just under 50km/hr. What this means is that in areas above 50km/hr the tester actually radioed the road speeds in to me! That was pretty sweet.
I put both feet down at all stops and almost treated give way signs like stop signs given the traffic around at the time. I wore a tinted visor. I went a little too slow if anything, and of course you give way to everything (even dogs -especially dogs on bikes) and be more hesitant than usual. I was overly looking round, but at the end of the course the tester commented how they come down hard on people not checking around them. I had to do one superman and two u-turns, one on quite a narrow street which isn't so easy on a ZXR.
The tester said there was nothing wrong with what I did and even asked if I had had any formal instruction. I think it is important to not stress too much about the test, posting on here lots in a panicky way doesn't help. If you are confident you'll pass, go do it, it's easy. If you don't back yourself, don't book the test.
Doing the BRONZ course is good.