Restricted license test? I'm looking for recent experiences

[Grashopper]

nailed it

Yay! Congrats.

I think you made the best out of some tricky situations. So, good job!

[Grashopper]

Make sure it's well visible too, I've heard of people failing because their plate was slightly obstructed.

I changed the mounting for mine just before the test; put it just below my number plate.

Oops, mine is slightly obstructed as it is on the sissi bar and parts of it are hidden by the rear light unless your pretty much right next to the bike. Hm, should rethink that then for the test. Although it's pretty clear what it is even from further away. You just can't see the full L plate. The local cops didn't have any probs with it so far when they were following me.

[arcane12]

Oops, mine is slightly obstructed as it is on the sissi bar and parts of it are hidden by the rear light unless your pretty much right next to the bike. Hm, should rethink that then for the test. Although it's pretty clear what it is even from further away. You just can't see the full L plate. The local cops didn't have any probs with it so far when they were following me.

The cops are good like that, they don't get too pedantic. However the tester you get may not be so forgiving. You shouldn't have a problem, but I do know that there is a guy here in Hamilton who seems to delight in failing everyone. Just looks for any old excuse. So I go with the whole 'better safe than sorry' and I moved my plate to be 100% sure they can't fail me based on that. I'm sure with the guy I got I didn't need to worry, as he was super cool, but YMMV.

[Karloz15]

passed my restriceted lisense test just this morning. a 45 min test in this mornings rain was a great way to start the day. Vic the tester was choice, had a bit of a scramble to get a new rear tyre fitted yesterday as it was completely bald but got it and that was the only issue i needed to take care of b4 the test.
was a shame to hear after my test that we may have lost a moped rider in Rotorua this morning, my mrs went passed after it happend on her way to work. cops and everything out and road was cordened off.
be safe everybody.
Karl.

[Karloz15]

and i will try to post a link to the camera footage of my test in the coing days if anyone is interested.
only thing he said to me, was to increase my following distance from 2 seconds to 4 seconds in rainy wether.
cheers.

[arcane12]

"only a fool breaks the two second rule, or four seconds when it is raining"

[rawsoncj]

Took the restricted licence test here in Palmerston North this morning. Easy as. No real surprises; the stuff they test is the kind of riding I do literally every day, so I was well-prepared.

As others have said, the tester follows behind you in a car and issues instructions over radio. We went on a circuit of some suburban roads in the northern part of Palmy, did a couple stops for hazard identification (there were no identifiable hazards at the second stop, haha), then rode out east along Highway 3 about halfway to Ashhurst.

I sort of left the tester a little ways behind on the highway, so he fell out of radio range. I pulled over to let him catch up, and he had me do a u-turn on the highway to head back into Palmy.

The radio earpiece fell most of the way out of my ear on the ride back, so I couldn't really hear his instructions when we got back into town. I pulled over to adjust the thing (all the while the tester was yelling, "What are you doing? Where you going?" but he eventually figured it out).

We took a slightly circuitous route back to the AA testing centre, and I nearly missed the final turn... that would've been a rather embarrassing way to end/fail the test, but I managed to salvage the turn at the last minute.

Overall the test was really easy, and I'm very glad to finally be rid of that L plate.

Anyone looking to prepare for the restricted test, basically you just have to ride around town and get some experience. Get out on the highway, too, because they test for handling skills outside of town as well. The only even remotely concerning portion of the test was doing a u-turn on the highway, but even that went smoothly.

[Monkfish]

Just booked my test, 4 weeks to go.

I'm excited to get it done, there should be no reason for a fail. But at the same time I'm a little nervous that I will choke. - Shit I don't want to choke!

[Grashopper]

Lol, I've booked my test too and now I'm freaking out a bit,too. Hehe, my biggest fear is that I'm so nervous that I miss a stop sign or something. Or drop the bike while trying to back out of a parking spot. Ah well, we will be fine. As far as I know you've been clocking up a lot of kms too. So we shouldn't have anything to fear,right?

[bosslady]

I should book in my test...

[Wayz]

Booked my test today, can't wait to give it a good nudge. Have been told that the accessors in Hamilton are big on U-turns...

[Grashopper]

I sat my restricted last Monday. Due to what other people wrote here I paid a lot of attention to the radio headphones. Took me a few times until I managed to put my helmet on without it being pushed out of my ear. He also said to nod to show that I had understood his directions. Missed a direction once though, but indicated to him to repeat it. No prob.

First he did a bike check, he checked rego and WOF and if all lights were working (including brake lights).
Then we took off. Went through town for a bit and through different traffic situations. Had to wait on the side once cause I lost him for a bit. Paid special attention to my speed and checked my mirrors quite often, but you'll do that anyway to see where he's at (in addition to the checks you usually do).

Had a few stop signs, did not really bother to put both feet down as I stopped quite long anyway. Then we went out of town. Took special care to not go too fast, but staying at 100 is not a problem for my mighty GN Was then told to turn into side road and turn around. Was pretty narrow but worked out fine. Then we went back into town. Some more traffic situations and back to the office. Altogether it didn't take longer than 45 or 50 minutes.

But as someone else already wrote, it is pretty much everyday stuff.

[Wayz]

Sat mine this morning, nailed it!

[Grashopper]

Congrats! Good for you.
Might be helpful for other people if you describe the test it a bit though.

[Wayz]

Fair call Grasshopper :-) ok, sat mine in Hamilton, started at 8am at the pukete VTNZ branch, did the bike check and head piece check then we were on our way. Turned left at the lights on Maui St, then headed toward St Andrews, nothing too challenging at this point, more indicating and keeping to the speed limit. The tester threw in a couple last minute turns, just to check my indicating and braking skills under pressure. Was later told to pull over and asked to hazard i.d. at the approaching intersection, was told to turn left onto pukete road then told to pull over where possible (note, i didnt pull over on this road because of the yellow lines on the side of the road) I thought that was great on the testers behalf, I later pulled over at the next turn. The tester gave me the thumbs up when I finally pulled over. from there we went through a School Zone, I dropped down to and maintained 40km/h. Then it was off to an 80km/h zone, then straight onto a 60km/h. North Through the roundabout near Harvey Norman then right onto Maui St.....we later ended up at the boulevard near Harvey Norman, was told to pull over and perform a U-Turn, then told to Hazard I.D. at the roundabout then head back to VTNZ.....all up the test was 30 mins, had been raining the entire morning, but started to clear just as we started. the Tester was super cool. I seriously thought I had failed because of the duration, I had to asked him how it went, he said 'mate you passed, no problems whatsoever, i decided to call it in early because I had seen enough, head checks, speed and bike control were perfect' he later asked me how long I had been riding for, to which I said 'about 17 years on dirt bikes and 6 months on road bikes haha'....good luck to those of you about to sit the big 'R', hope the above has helped you in some way/