Got my full!

[Felix52]

Passed my full test yesterday! It was a nice sunny day, and there was hardly any traffic at 9am.

The test itself was pretty easy. The first section was basically identical to the restricted (same route and all), except for having to stop after two intersections and tell the tester all the hazards ("Well, there's this dodgy-looking car behind that's been tailing me since the testing station..."). I'd been kind of nervous, but after the second one of these the testing officer said that I'd be fine as long as I stayed on top of the bike for the rest of the test. (Was a bit more relaxed after that).

The second part of the test was just a long trawl through town to get to the open road, then a short buzz at 100k, a u-turn, then riding back. Easy!

The hardest part for me was probably keeping my speed under control. My riding feels a lot more stilted when I'm trying to keep the needle bang on 50, rather than concentrating on the road and going 50-ish.

Thanks to everyone who's posted in the Newbie section over the last year, it's really helped. And to anyone who's nervous about their full test, don't be, just practice your speed control for a few days beforehand, and don't fall off

Next step? Down to Welly this weekend to pick up my new toy! (BMW F650) Can't wait!

[CM2005]

Nice one man, I'm hopefully doing my R licence soon

[chef]

nice mate im still waiting for the freakin time to pass by for my restricted test! :O

[Ms Piggy]

Passed my full test yesterday! It was a nice sunny day, and there was hardly any traffic at 9am.

Congratulations! Great feeling eh! Nice new ride too!

[YellowDog]

Admire your confidence.

Well done.

[grusomhat]

Congratulations, it's an awesome feeling passing your full. When I did my full ('bout two weeks ago) Hazard identification involved remembering them, pulling over then pointing in the direction of the hazards. This basically meant, left right and forward. I was told at the start not to bother mentioning the testers car as a hazard.

[molmolmol]

congrats on ur full! I hope to get there soon enough - now u mentioned a u-turn - was this done in the open road? I'm new at the bike scene, but how do you actually pull a u turn in the open road section? pull up at the side, turn your bike at an angle and wait for a gap then go?

Is that the correct way of a u turn and if not, please enlighten me.

Ta

[portokiwi]

Well done mate.
Its a great ride.

[DJSin]

Congrats!!!
You must be excited to get your hands on your new bike

I have three more weeks to go before I can sit my full and I can't wait

[Hiflyer]

congrats on ur full! I hope to get there soon enough - now u mentioned a u-turn - was this done in the open road? I'm new at the bike scene, but how do you actually pull a u turn in the open road section? pull up at the side, turn your bike at an angle and wait for a gap then go?

Is that the correct way of a u turn and if not, please enlighten me.

Ta

Along with busting out some rear wheel slide yup!

But seriously it'd jus be the same as in a car, you dont wanna stop dead in the middle of the road

[Jerry74]

Sweet now go buy a big boys bike and have fun

[Felix52]

The ride back on the F650 went really well. It was a nice day, and I took it fairly easy, with a few stops on the way (it was the longest ride I'd done by about 3 hours...)

I was somehow expecting a big bike to be a lot harder to ride, but apart from the increased weight it isn't too bad. I'm still treating it with a lot of caution at low speeds. It just feels very comfortable to ride, and nice and relaxed at 100 kph.

congrats on ur full! I hope to get there soon enough - now u mentioned a u-turn - was this done in the open road? I'm new at the bike scene, but how do you actually pull a u turn in the open road section? pull up at the side, turn your bike at an angle and wait for a gap then go?

Is that the correct way of a u turn and if not, please enlighten me.

Ta

The u-turn was on the open road. I did it in stages, pulled off to the left and waited for a gap, then turned across onto the verge on the other side, waited for another big gap (I wanted the tester to end up right behind me), then went (I then went at about 70kph for a while until I could see the tester had caught up). The trick is not to rush it, don't gas it to catch a dubious gap, just wait for a nice big one.