Regarding the Basic Handling Test

[Ocean1]

They would not let me wear gloves.

Bazzar.

Here, you're amongst the largest collection of riders in the country, if they build a bad reputation here they won't be around long.

The organisation was?

[Little Miss Trouble]

Bump

Can anyone tell me where i can take the BHT close to home - Meadowbank. I have my own bike freshly bought horayyy!!

Looking for a good and reasonable priced place to go, but will contact 021 new rider in the meantime

Try Riderskillz or PM Qkchk

[editrix]

Here, you're amongst the largest collection of riders in the country, if they build a bad reputation here they won't be around long.

The organisation was?

Greg McQuillan at StayUpright in Ashurst. I totally do NOT recommend them. Sadly, they're the only cert place around so I didn't have much choice, but honestly I'd advise Palmerston North people to go to Wellington or wherever, especially if they're not scooter-riders.

Freedom Suzuki in Palmy, on the other hand, is awesome. They've bent over backwards to help me find gear and bike bits. I've been really impressed with them.

[Slyer]

Thats really stink!
They shouldn't have forced you to use the scooter and even if they made you they should have trained you for free.

[Blossom]

Greg McQuillan at StayUpright in Ashurst. I totally do NOT recommend them. Sadly, they're the only cert place around so I didn't have much choice, but honestly I'd advise Palmerston North people to go to Wellington or wherever, especially if they're not scooter-riders.

Sorry to hear of your experience. It makes you wonder why they go into that career if they are so bad at it. Hope you are feeling a little more positive about riding after lurking around here though.

[Howsie]

Bump

Can anyone tell me where i can take the BHT close to home - Meadowbank. I have my own bike freshly bought horayyy!!

Looking for a good and reasonable priced place to go, but will contact 021 new rider in the meantime

I did mt BHS test at the Auckland Motorcycle club http://www.amcc.org.nz/. I used their little 100cc 5 speed and it was awesome. I have had minimal experience on a bike (ie rode a 50cc cruiser a few times and the odd quad bike) and passed no problems. The guy was very helpful and knew what he was doing. Highly recommended!

[editrix]

Sorry to hear of your experience. It makes you wonder why they go into that career if they are so bad at it. Hope you are feeling a little more positive about riding after lurking around here though.

Thanks! I am feeling more positive and determined. Now, if it would just stop raining raining raining raining....

I think they went into it for the money. They use someone else's carpark (so we kept having to stop so that trucks could enter and exit). They use their own scooters. They charge $60 to yell at you and then make sure you pass. In the time we were there we saw probably 10 people go through, so they're probably pulling in around two thousand dollars each weekend.

Definitely the WORST instructor I've ever had though. The only things he told me were: if you don't ALWAYS stop with both feet on the ground you'll break your legs, and almost EVERY bike nowadays has a centre stand. Both seem to be wrong.

He didn't actually TEACH me anything. Except to heartily dislike him.

[joshy28]

I did mt BHS test at the Auckland Motorcycle club http://www.amcc.org.nz/. I used their little 100cc 5 speed and it was awesome. I have had minimal experience on a bike (ie rode a 50cc cruiser a few times and the odd quad bike) and passed no problems. The guy was very helpful and knew what he was doing. Highly recommended!

Awesome, that place is way closer...thanks

[Tricia1000]

Who did you go to?
Tricia1000

Hi. I'm new.

I bought (and love) and practiced a bit on my little Kowasaki 250, then went to do the basic cert test. It was utterly, utterly horrible and disastrous.

The would not let me use my own bike. I had to use their scooter. They would not let me wear gloves. They did not teach me anything. The man yelled at me, bullied me, had me in tears, and then told my partner that if she attempted to communicate with me from the roadside in any way he'd fail me on the test. He also told me that only scooters are any good, and that Harleys etc I could shove up my ###.

They didn't ask for any ID, so I could have had my partner take the test for me!

And when I said I wasn't learning anything and would go somewhere else, the guy actually moved the cones closer until I could manage to do the slalom successfully.

My advice: if you possibly can, look around and choose a cert place where they treat you decently instead of telling you off and bullying you. This has nearly put me off riding a bike for life.

[klingon]

Hi. I'm new.

I bought (and love) and practiced a bit on my little Kowasaki 250, then went to do the basic cert test. It was utterly, utterly horrible and disastrous.

The would not let me use my own bike. I had to use their scooter. They would not let me wear gloves. They did not teach me anything. The man yelled at me, bullied me, had me in tears, and then told my partner that if she attempted to communicate with me from the roadside in any way he'd fail me on the test. He also told me that only scooters are any good, and that Harleys etc I could shove up my ###.

They didn't ask for any ID, so I could have had my partner take the test for me!

And when I said I wasn't learning anything and would go somewhere else, the guy actually moved the cones closer until I could manage to do the slalom successfully.

My advice: if you possibly can, look around and choose a cert place where they treat you decently instead of telling you off and bullying you. This has nearly put me off riding a bike for life.

OMG that's terrible! That's the absolute opposite of the experience I had with Lee Rusty here in Auckland. He had the patience of a saint with me, no matter how many times I knocked over the little cones on the slalom!

I really think your experience warrants a complaint... I'm not sure who to though. Send a PM to QkChk. She is a 'proper' instructor and she will tell you what you can do.

That guy really sounds like a disaster and shouldn't be allowwed to treat newbie bikers like that!

[Tricia1000]

if you are serious about complaining, and to be honest there is a guy in Auckland who operates in a similar manner, complain to Jim Furneaux, Head of the motorcycle division at NZTA (used to be LTNZ) his email is: jim.furneaux@nzta.govt.nz

Tricia1000

OMG that's terrible! That's the absolute opposite of the experience I had with Lee Rusty here in Auckland. He had the patience of a saint with me, no matter how many times I knocked over the little cones on the slalom!

I really think your experience warrants a complaint... I'm not sure who to though. Send a PM to QkChk. She is a 'proper' instructor and she will tell you what you can do.

That guy really sounds like a disaster and shouldn't be allowwed to treat newbie bikers like that!

[editrix]

Thanks, Tricia. I did email landtransport to ask them whom I should contact with a complaint, but I'll try contacting Jim directly.

A couple of questions for those of you familiar with the basic skills test:

1. The NZTA site says you're supposed to approach the curves at 20 kph, then signal and do the right/left turns. Is that 20 kph enforced? (Where I did it, you came directly out of the cones to the curve, so at no point were you going more than maybe 10 kph at most.)

2. For the cone swerve, were the cones in a straight line, or staggered? I'd expected them to look like this:

X.............X..............X...............X...............X...............X

But instead they were like this:

X.......... .......X.. ...............X.............. .......

.........X......... ........X..... ............X...... ......

Thanks![

[Tricia1000]

I am a basic handling skills provider, in Auckland, and you should approach the curve from a straight piece of ground. On the straight stretches of the course you should try to attain 20 kph, then before you enter the cones you should throttle off a bit, and indicate and enter the cones, then when you exit them you should try to attain 20 kph on the straight part of the course again.So basically the cones should make the course look oval in shape.
as to the cone weave,the cones should not be in a straight line, but offset by 0.5 metre from the centre.

Tricia
www.rcsom.co.nz

Thanks, Tricia. I did email landtransport to ask them whom I should contact with a complaint, but I'll try contacting Jim directly.

A couple of questions for those of you familiar with the basic skills test:

1. The NZTA site says you're supposed to approach the curves at 20 kph, then signal and do the right/left turns. Is that 20 kph enforced? (Where I did it, you came directly out of the cones to the curve, so at no point were you going more than maybe 10 kph at most.)

2. For the cone swerve, were the cones in a straight line, or staggered? I'd expected them to look like this:

X.............X..............X...............X...............X...............X

But instead they were like this:

X.......... .......X.. ...............X.............. .......

.........X......... ........X..... ............X...... ......

Thanks![

[editrix]

Thanks again, Tricia. I really appreciate being able to pick your brain like this!

Where I took the test, the carpark was maybe at most 200 square metres, so going 20 kpm wasn't an option anywhere except on the diagonal, and certainly not entering or exiting the left/right turn part.

I'd never tried practicing the weave on offset cones, so I had real trouble with that one. My partner admitted she didn't think she could do it on her own motorbike (a Dukati) because the wheel base is too long -- is that cone weave pattern specially designed for scooters?

And please tell me I'll never have to do it again! That cone weave was very nearly my downfall.

[Slyer]

Cone weaves are a good one, low speed maneuvering practice helps stop you from dropping your bike!