There's no requirement to do it on a geared bike in order to ride one, that's the problem
Doesn't know how to use the clutch, definitely only did it on a scooter
If you complete your CBT on Automatic its on your CBT and you only allowed to ride on Automatic otherwise as same as driving whitout licence as far as im aware
No - the CBT certificate points out that you did the course on an automatic, but you can go on to ride a geared bike. That's what I did myself. I spent six months on a scooter to get used to riding, then six months slowly learning to use the gears on a geared bike.
I've been told by the school who did my CBT...either way...if it is not this way that needs to be fixed ASAP.Same as you guys saying Theory should be mandatory.I would say doing a driving/riding test every 5 yrs as well....the amount of not checking blind spots,using indicators or forgetting on and drive miles this way causing danger and confusion for everyone and thats goes both for bikes and cars
100% agree with you as evidenced by OP
Stalling in order to stop the bike, like honestly no common sense to even Google how to use gears before endangering everybody
I did google and watched YouTube videos for hours on end, and got advice on a Facebook group where people said go for it without CBT as loads went from moped to bike on a moped CBT, I just thought it would be easier as people made it sound better lol
Was the group the Beginner / New Motorcyclists group on Facebook? There are a lot of confidently wrong people on that group. To be clear: I have no issue with difference of opinion. I do have issues with difference of verifiable fact.
Prob not tho only if you asks for it...it should be geared standard and if you ask you want to automatic they will provide you one...
I'm the same....can't get the gears in cars and bikes but im absolutely fine on Automatic on both.
Some people just not meant to be drive/ride manual and thats fine
Issue with the CBT is the length, it should be a two-three day course instead of a morning rush to get up to standard to ride on the road. Unfortunately the MCIA don't want to fix it, instead they just want to force CBT renewers into full license paths as that's where training schools earn their money.
Never ridden a bike before, had an intro lesson on a geared bike and 3 days later completed my CBT also on a geared bike, I feel extremely confident on my KTM Duke and been on my bike everyday since and got around 120 miles on it so far, I passed 2 weeks ago
I'm assuming you did your CBT on an automatic OP? If so then don't panic; it'll cost you a bit, but in this situation I'd suggest redoing your CBT on a geared bike.
If you did do your CBT on geared then then is a serious issue with the riding school allowing you to go out by yourself like that. Book a CBT again, but go with a different school.
In short, you need more training with a professional to help you through the mistakes.
Being brutally honest you were unprepared to ride the geared bike and that initial experience is still playing in your head. You need to just go and take a few lessons on a manual, they're usually about £30 an hour (Derbyshire prices, anyway) and learn the clutch control.
It is very different on a scooter and a geared bike, but it's far from impossible to master. If you're confident in riding in general, you're already halfway there, but it sounds like you're making it worse by trying to power through.
You need to get yourself booked in for some tuition with a school - sounds like you don't know how to ride it. Get some practice with a tutor on a lot, especially with the gearing, and hopefully it'll give you some confidence on the road.
Go to a car park in the middle of the night, practice stopping, then getting going again (up into 2nd gear), then stop again, and repeat.
Do this each night for a week, guarentee you'll rarely stall again.
It is a lot easier to get a high hp bike moving, but equally you can twist the throttle quite a bit on a 125 and not have it kill you, so give it some beans to start with, then gradually do it with less and less.
Start at like 4k RPM, then once you got that down, do 3.5k RPM, keep going until it literally wont move (probably around 1500 RPM depending on your size)
CBT is a joke, the fact they can teach you on auto, then you can jump on geared is stupid, and quite honestly dangerous!
But dont give up, it'll just click, and you will never need to think about it again, allowing you to focus on things like cars, pedestrians and thr fabled squid
A slow release is also crucial, find the biting point and hold it just before it begins biting, practice releasing to that point, over and over, then its smooth as butter from there, count to two whilst moving your hand
Phone up a riding school and explain your situation, I’m sure they’ll give you a few lessons on a geared bike, but in general you should’ve took lessons prior to getting a geared bike imo. Good luck
You can try a geared conversion course at a training centre. Basically redoing your CBT, but on a geared bike. Don't stress over it too much mate, you literally just need a little practice. Soon you will be up and down the gears without even thinking about it
I would argue that a geared conversion course is much better than the CBT since there are no required manoeuvres, hence OP can focus on the skills he needs to practise and not, for example, spend an hour being taught that shorts aren’t a good idea on a bike.
The geared conversion course I did was pretty much: ride round paddock in 1st gear; ride round in second gear. Change gears while moving. Move to a longer stretch of quiet road to change from 1st to second to third. Come to a safe stop. Go out on roads and practise.
No messing with figures of eight: strangely, a manoeuvre which I’ve never needed to complete in many years of riding bikes.
Clutch is a dimmer switch. It is not an on and off control (you can however adjust how fast you go from 0 to 100 and vice versa). You also need to get in your head to ride your own ride - car drivers are impatient twats, and the majority would have no fucking idea how to ride a bike, so they have no place in tooting at you for a slight error.
I would book a couple of hours training, or redo your whole CBT (which may be cheaper depending on the school) on a geared bike.
Tbh if you were okay riding the moped and you already have a geared bike, I don't think you need to do your CBT again.
Carry on practicing. I know you say there is "nowhere" but that surely can't be true. Ask around if you can't think of anywhere appropriate.
Gears are tricky and for some they take ages to learn. You will get it eventually.
One tip I'd give, if you're stalling, is to try and change gear frequently according to your speed. If you're slowing down to a stop, don't stop in 4th gear and then try to knock your way down to 1st. You want to do it as you're reducing your speed and then smoothly roll to a stop in 1st, ready to take off again.
I did my cbt on a 50cc auto scooter. I didn't want to do it on a scooter. I told them I was going to buy a geared bike.
There wasn't really another option near me so I did the cbt. Afterwards I bought a geared bike and I walked it to a large and mostly unused car park. I spent the whole day getting used to it and watched a lot of YouTube. I even posted my own reddit posts asking for advice.
Do things really slow. Just start off spending a few hours learning how to roll off in 1st and up to 2nd. Go really slow so you can think about what your doing without being a risk to yourself and others.
It'd be hypocritical of me to suggest lessons and say you SHOULD do them because I had that advice given to me and didn't acknowledge it. But then again, I'm very adept at teaching myself skills.
I've been driving a car for 37 years. The only accident I had was within a a year of getting a licence. It shook me up but taught me to be careful. I've been a relatively safe driver since.
A few years ago I got my motorbike licence. A couple of years later I was knocked off my bike (other drivers fault) and had some serious injuries. I will be returning to riding again soon but even though the accident wasn't my fault I will learn from it and make sure it never happens again.
My point is that as a new driver/rider you are more prone to accidents. But you will learn from it. As others have said, get some proper training.
For me it was trial and error mate, just keep trying in a place with less traffic and just make sure you get the hang of braking in case you panic. You got this!
If I remember correctly I crashed on my 125 1st week of owning it. All experience I had with bikes previously was CBT. Right after I got the bike from shop I went to brag to my friends and couldn't even start it, because I didn't know I have to hide the side stand and my friend that never owned a bike figure it out... I also rode into the back of a 7 seater taxi within 1st year of owning it.
No, you don't give up, you go home, take rest, wake up next day, giving yourself a slap and keep going.
what, exactly, is the issue you're having with the clutch?
assuming you're in 1st, stationary, with the clutch in
Apply power, slowly release clutch until you feel the bike start to move. pull clutch in. Do it again. Keep doing this until you learn where the bite point on that bike is.
I’m not entirely sure, I’m fine going up gears, going down gears is a little jolty but not horrendous, it’s when I have to move off, I don’t know if I’m not revving enough or letting clutch out too quickly, I struggle with knowing when to go down gears too
So for a start you want to select the gear based on road-speed. Each gear has a range of road-speeds it is viable for, and there is some overlap between adjacent gears. The gear and road-speed also will force the engine into a specific RPM, this is a mechanical pairing. Generally speaking the correct gear to select at any given road-speed, is the one that allows the engine to work un-laboured and also not be over-worked. Most riders determine when to shift based on feel and sound, and you should aim for that too.
So you want to down-shift when slowing down, because the engine will start to feel bogged down if you don't - it won't have enough power to overcome the friction in the gearbox/transmission in the higher gear for the slower road-speed. People also down-shift when they want to speed up quicky, to perform quick overtakes for example, as lower gears are able to rev quicker.
You want to up-shift when (or after) speeding up, because turning the throttle for acceleration starts to feel like diminishing returns and revs get louder with lesser road-speed gains. If the engine is revving excessively in a lower gear then shifting up would make sense. People also up-shift when maintaining the same speed, to reduce engine revs and potentially save fuel.
You should focus on rev-matching for smoother down-shifts. You should be rev-matching for upshifts too but they're far more accommodating, in fact if you rev-match well then you can shift up a gear without touching the clutch lever, but I wouldn't even consider trying that for a while haha, and never for downshifts. The reason your downshifts are jerky is because gear and specific road-speed pairing will warrant a specific engine RPM as mentioned earlier, this is mechanical. If the engine RPM isn't near to the mechanically warranted figure when the clutch is re-engaged then something will be unceremoniously sped up or slowed down.
You should try to rev the engine at an appropriate rate for the newly selected gear and road-speed. You'll get used to this with practice and as you get familiar with your bike. Using a constant road-speed as an exmaple: If you shift down a gear then you should rev *higher* before releasing the clutch for the same speed. If you shift up a gear then you'll want to rev a bit lower. You might have heard ppl blip their throttles here and there, this is likely them rev-matching for gear changes.
You should focus on clutch control for smoother take-offs. Best practice for this is slow-speed riding, and the key is to feather the clutch. Practice by going in straight lines as slow as you can, literally crawling pace. Keep the engine revving at 4-5krpm (so very audible) for a start, and then simply feather the clutch out a tiny bit to start inching forward, and pull it back in if you want to slow down. This will help improve your balance too - try to go literally as slow as you can without putting a foot down. If you feel like a foot is doing down then simply feather the clutch out a tiny bit more to speed up - the bike will balance itself when it accelerates at all so you should regain control. 100% worth nailing this down.
If youve had no experience riding geared bikes i believe some riding schools do a quick conversion course. Theyll teach people who already have a cbt how to do gears. Try looking into one of them.
If you need to practice just find a car park or an industrial estate in the evening. Just try moving off by letting the clutch out slowly with no throttle. That should help you get the hang of the bite point.
When learning to drive i really struggled with moving off, id stall, try to recover quickly, stall again and make it worse. Its easier said than done but in that situation youve got to take your time. You actually have more time than you think, youre on a bike so youll probably move quicker than the cars once moving anyway. And to be honest screw whoevers behind you, they dont matter, focus on what youre doing and itll be easier.
If youre still not happy and go back to a moped theres no shame in that, youll still have loads of fun on it. But dont give up, youll be thankful you didnt when you get the hang of it
Watch a YouTube video. I did, never having used anything with a clutch before, managed to get the basics to where I rode to a car park and practiced all night until I had it down.
I struggled with clutch control & stalling a bit too. I think we try to be too good. Same as driving a manual car. One tip that helped me get over it was getting the revs up. Don’t worry about making noise. The clutch is your control, ultimately. Doesn’t matter how high you’re revving
Don't give up for something like this it's just inexperience. It's like when u first learned how to ride a pedal bike most people drop it etc it's just now it costs about the price of several of those bikes to replace a plastic fairing😂.
I haven't been riding long and definitely don't claim to be great but when I first started riding I went out with one of my mates who had been riding for around 6 months and almost slammed into a railing on the widest and easiest to take T-junction because I had never used a clutch and was trying to show off and be quick with only around 10 miles on the saddle.
Bro I recommend u to go to a big parking where you have a lot of space and practice there, use the clutch and try to go in circles or do 8, if you get a moped you won’t learn and trust me there will be a point where you would like a bigger cc bike, so I recommend you to practice until you have mastered the use of the clutch 👍
To clarify, I did a CBT on an automatic moped, my dad used to bike and very much has the attitude of get on and ride and you’ll be fine so I thought it would be tbh, Thankyou all for the advice, I got the hang of gears, it’s literally just when I have to move off after stopping, I will book some lessons or a CBT on a geared bike and hopefully won’t need to post again
Don't be scared to over revving the bike, I was used to not needing the throttle from riding a 650cc bike from my brother, but on the 125 you need the throttle to start moving, rev it up to 2k and slowly release the clutch, once you get a hold of that you will slowly be able to ease on the throttle and release the clutch earlier.
Very much this. I need to rev the nuts off my wife’s 125 on the odd occasion that I ride it. It really doesn’t enjoy running with low revs and it can stall really quietly, leading me to sitting at traffic lights wondering why the thing isn’t moving…
Post as much as you want, youngling. But we can't teach you clutch control. Your dad could do this in an hour, in a deserted car park on a Sunday morning. If he won't, book some tuition from the local riding school.
Sorry to hear you came off on your 125s maiden ride home, but props for getting back on and finishing the journey. Your dad could have prepared you a lot better, riding a geared bike can feel super chaotic if you have no experience with the clutch, deffo shouldn't be taking it lightly. Just practice your clutch control and you'll be fine. A whole CBT might not even be bang for your buck, try calling some schools and seeing if you can get a discounted lesson just going over clutch control.
If you decide to ride your 125 to the school then I'd recommend practising clutch control yourself for 10 mins. Just ride in a straight line as slow as you can possibly go without putting your foot down. You need to feather the clutch for this. 125s tend to invite the bad habit of riding the clutch for new riders, where they find biting point then roll on throttle to manage speed - this is wrong and will send bigger bikes jerking forwards, but you can get away with it on most 125s. Riding at a crawling pace requires feathering the clutch to stay in control, where you can be revving as high as you like while managing speed mainly by slipping the clutch in/out, so this builds the correct habit for clutch control. Rev high then feather clutch to set off as slow as you can and maintain this super low speed, if you feel like putting a foot down then engage the clutch a tiny bit more to speed up and regain control. The throttle is there just to feed enough power to the engine, feathering the clutch is the main focus to maintain speed/control. If you get this down then everything will be a doddle.
You want a loud engine (so revs), then use the clutch to meter your speed. I
That may be where you're going wrong.
Try it in a straight line somewhere quiet.
Noisy engine > gently let clutch out move off a bit > pull clutch back in.
Repeat and then move off, stop and repeat until comfortable. Then go further.
Ita counter intuitive because your brain thinks noisy = bad but for bikes that's not really the case. This might sound obvious, but it's one of those things learners don't realise how reserved they're often being. Obviously don't rev the tits off it.
There's a YouTube channel called MotorcyclePWR. I really recommend him.
Edit: also, if you post what rough area of the country you're in someone may be able to help you and go for rides?
You only need more training, go for more lessons and that’s it. Also you can always move to a moped and then when you ready for the A route move again to geared. Also there’s solutions like the dual clutch transmission and e-clutch on modern bikes as well.
Don't have an MC license (yet) but I've had a few lessons on an mt07 and own a manual car so the clutch came really naturally, maybe I could give some advice, who knows.
Basically what I did to get used to the clutch on a car, same with the motorcycle, is to just visit a wide open parking lot with as little distractions as possible. Direct yourself straight forward, apply no gas, and just incredibly slowly ease out the clutch until you start to feel the pulling without stalling. Doing this over and over again until you can find the biting point effortlessly, eventually you'll become quicker at finding it. Then just start adding some mild consistent gas and do the exact same thing. Eventually you'll be able to release it fully and get going without a problem. Important part is to not rush it, if it takes you 5s to fully disengage the clutch then so be it.
As for you not having anywhere safe to practice, ask your dad to drive your motorcycle to a safe place and practice there.
Before I did my CBT I practiced on my friends bike on private property so if you have a Cul-De-Sac try going up and down it slowly using the clutch on the biting point
I'd ask for a gear conversion lesson. I did my cbt and the standard was to do it on a 50cc moped as my balance was shocking. After I did that, my instructor told me he did gear conversion lessons. It was like £100 for a day of just riding and getting used to gear changes in the bike, there was no pass or fail. But you could ask for more practise. I'd have a look at those.
What you need is lessons, this is a prime example of why the cbt is no good, it just doesn't teach you enough to be safe on the road.
I’m not convinced they’ve even done a geared CBT.
Doesn't sound like it yeah
There's no requirement to do it on a geared bike in order to ride one, that's the problem Doesn't know how to use the clutch, definitely only did it on a scooter
If you complete your CBT on Automatic its on your CBT and you only allowed to ride on Automatic otherwise as same as driving whitout licence as far as im aware
Oddly it's not. You can do an auto CBT and jump straight on a geared 125 and hit the public road. It's utter lunacy.
No - the CBT certificate points out that you did the course on an automatic, but you can go on to ride a geared bike. That's what I did myself. I spent six months on a scooter to get used to riding, then six months slowly learning to use the gears on a geared bike.
I've been told by the school who did my CBT...either way...if it is not this way that needs to be fixed ASAP.Same as you guys saying Theory should be mandatory.I would say doing a driving/riding test every 5 yrs as well....the amount of not checking blind spots,using indicators or forgetting on and drive miles this way causing danger and confusion for everyone and thats goes both for bikes and cars
> I would say doing a driving/riding test every 5 yrs as well If everyone drove to test standards none of us would ever get anywhere :)
That's not a thing afaik, it didn't stop you legally riding the other types
That's just stupid AF
100% agree with you as evidenced by OP Stalling in order to stop the bike, like honestly no common sense to even Google how to use gears before endangering everybody
I did google and watched YouTube videos for hours on end, and got advice on a Facebook group where people said go for it without CBT as loads went from moped to bike on a moped CBT, I just thought it would be easier as people made it sound better lol
Was the group the Beginner / New Motorcyclists group on Facebook? There are a lot of confidently wrong people on that group. To be clear: I have no issue with difference of opinion. I do have issues with difference of verifiable fact.
Yes I am on that group
That’s what I thought as well - complete your CBT on a scooter and you can ride a scooter, same as the auto/manual rules for a car license.
Nope. I did my CBT on a scoot and I've been on my XSR for the past year or so, all legally.
Prob not tho only if you asks for it...it should be geared standard and if you ask you want to automatic they will provide you one... I'm the same....can't get the gears in cars and bikes but im absolutely fine on Automatic on both. Some people just not meant to be drive/ride manual and thats fine
They learn on gear bikes
Issue with the CBT is the length, it should be a two-three day course instead of a morning rush to get up to standard to ride on the road. Unfortunately the MCIA don't want to fix it, instead they just want to force CBT renewers into full license paths as that's where training schools earn their money.
Never ridden a bike before, had an intro lesson on a geared bike and 3 days later completed my CBT also on a geared bike, I feel extremely confident on my KTM Duke and been on my bike everyday since and got around 120 miles on it so far, I passed 2 weeks ago
You're being cocky at the moment, cbt is so brief it doesn't cover enough or go deep enough into any actual skills
Fully understand that, my whole point was learning on an automatic then going on the road with a manual, there’s a lot more to think about
I'm assuming you did your CBT on an automatic OP? If so then don't panic; it'll cost you a bit, but in this situation I'd suggest redoing your CBT on a geared bike. If you did do your CBT on geared then then is a serious issue with the riding school allowing you to go out by yourself like that. Book a CBT again, but go with a different school. In short, you need more training with a professional to help you through the mistakes.
Being brutally honest you were unprepared to ride the geared bike and that initial experience is still playing in your head. You need to just go and take a few lessons on a manual, they're usually about £30 an hour (Derbyshire prices, anyway) and learn the clutch control. It is very different on a scooter and a geared bike, but it's far from impossible to master. If you're confident in riding in general, you're already halfway there, but it sounds like you're making it worse by trying to power through.
You need to get yourself booked in for some tuition with a school - sounds like you don't know how to ride it. Get some practice with a tutor on a lot, especially with the gearing, and hopefully it'll give you some confidence on the road.
Go to a car park in the middle of the night, practice stopping, then getting going again (up into 2nd gear), then stop again, and repeat. Do this each night for a week, guarentee you'll rarely stall again. It is a lot easier to get a high hp bike moving, but equally you can twist the throttle quite a bit on a 125 and not have it kill you, so give it some beans to start with, then gradually do it with less and less. Start at like 4k RPM, then once you got that down, do 3.5k RPM, keep going until it literally wont move (probably around 1500 RPM depending on your size) CBT is a joke, the fact they can teach you on auto, then you can jump on geared is stupid, and quite honestly dangerous! But dont give up, it'll just click, and you will never need to think about it again, allowing you to focus on things like cars, pedestrians and thr fabled squid
A slow release is also crucial, find the biting point and hold it just before it begins biting, practice releasing to that point, over and over, then its smooth as butter from there, count to two whilst moving your hand
On a lot of 125s you can actually get it going with only the clutch- once you’ve got the hang of the above, maybe something to practice as well.
For me it felt strange until one moment it just clicked. Keep at it, but please find a safe environment to do so!
Phone up a riding school and explain your situation, I’m sure they’ll give you a few lessons on a geared bike, but in general you should’ve took lessons prior to getting a geared bike imo. Good luck
You can try a geared conversion course at a training centre. Basically redoing your CBT, but on a geared bike. Don't stress over it too much mate, you literally just need a little practice. Soon you will be up and down the gears without even thinking about it
I would argue that a geared conversion course is much better than the CBT since there are no required manoeuvres, hence OP can focus on the skills he needs to practise and not, for example, spend an hour being taught that shorts aren’t a good idea on a bike. The geared conversion course I did was pretty much: ride round paddock in 1st gear; ride round in second gear. Change gears while moving. Move to a longer stretch of quiet road to change from 1st to second to third. Come to a safe stop. Go out on roads and practise. No messing with figures of eight: strangely, a manoeuvre which I’ve never needed to complete in many years of riding bikes.
Clutch is a dimmer switch. It is not an on and off control (you can however adjust how fast you go from 0 to 100 and vice versa). You also need to get in your head to ride your own ride - car drivers are impatient twats, and the majority would have no fucking idea how to ride a bike, so they have no place in tooting at you for a slight error. I would book a couple of hours training, or redo your whole CBT (which may be cheaper depending on the school) on a geared bike.
Tbh if you were okay riding the moped and you already have a geared bike, I don't think you need to do your CBT again. Carry on practicing. I know you say there is "nowhere" but that surely can't be true. Ask around if you can't think of anywhere appropriate. Gears are tricky and for some they take ages to learn. You will get it eventually. One tip I'd give, if you're stalling, is to try and change gear frequently according to your speed. If you're slowing down to a stop, don't stop in 4th gear and then try to knock your way down to 1st. You want to do it as you're reducing your speed and then smoothly roll to a stop in 1st, ready to take off again.
I did my cbt on a 50cc auto scooter. I didn't want to do it on a scooter. I told them I was going to buy a geared bike. There wasn't really another option near me so I did the cbt. Afterwards I bought a geared bike and I walked it to a large and mostly unused car park. I spent the whole day getting used to it and watched a lot of YouTube. I even posted my own reddit posts asking for advice. Do things really slow. Just start off spending a few hours learning how to roll off in 1st and up to 2nd. Go really slow so you can think about what your doing without being a risk to yourself and others. It'd be hypocritical of me to suggest lessons and say you SHOULD do them because I had that advice given to me and didn't acknowledge it. But then again, I'm very adept at teaching myself skills.
Redo your CBT, this time on a geared bike
I've been driving a car for 37 years. The only accident I had was within a a year of getting a licence. It shook me up but taught me to be careful. I've been a relatively safe driver since. A few years ago I got my motorbike licence. A couple of years later I was knocked off my bike (other drivers fault) and had some serious injuries. I will be returning to riding again soon but even though the accident wasn't my fault I will learn from it and make sure it never happens again. My point is that as a new driver/rider you are more prone to accidents. But you will learn from it. As others have said, get some proper training.
Practice in a car park for a day and you’ll have it nailed.
For me it was trial and error mate, just keep trying in a place with less traffic and just make sure you get the hang of braking in case you panic. You got this!
If I remember correctly I crashed on my 125 1st week of owning it. All experience I had with bikes previously was CBT. Right after I got the bike from shop I went to brag to my friends and couldn't even start it, because I didn't know I have to hide the side stand and my friend that never owned a bike figure it out... I also rode into the back of a 7 seater taxi within 1st year of owning it. No, you don't give up, you go home, take rest, wake up next day, giving yourself a slap and keep going.
what, exactly, is the issue you're having with the clutch? assuming you're in 1st, stationary, with the clutch in Apply power, slowly release clutch until you feel the bike start to move. pull clutch in. Do it again. Keep doing this until you learn where the bite point on that bike is.
I’m not entirely sure, I’m fine going up gears, going down gears is a little jolty but not horrendous, it’s when I have to move off, I don’t know if I’m not revving enough or letting clutch out too quickly, I struggle with knowing when to go down gears too
So for a start you want to select the gear based on road-speed. Each gear has a range of road-speeds it is viable for, and there is some overlap between adjacent gears. The gear and road-speed also will force the engine into a specific RPM, this is a mechanical pairing. Generally speaking the correct gear to select at any given road-speed, is the one that allows the engine to work un-laboured and also not be over-worked. Most riders determine when to shift based on feel and sound, and you should aim for that too. So you want to down-shift when slowing down, because the engine will start to feel bogged down if you don't - it won't have enough power to overcome the friction in the gearbox/transmission in the higher gear for the slower road-speed. People also down-shift when they want to speed up quicky, to perform quick overtakes for example, as lower gears are able to rev quicker. You want to up-shift when (or after) speeding up, because turning the throttle for acceleration starts to feel like diminishing returns and revs get louder with lesser road-speed gains. If the engine is revving excessively in a lower gear then shifting up would make sense. People also up-shift when maintaining the same speed, to reduce engine revs and potentially save fuel. You should focus on rev-matching for smoother down-shifts. You should be rev-matching for upshifts too but they're far more accommodating, in fact if you rev-match well then you can shift up a gear without touching the clutch lever, but I wouldn't even consider trying that for a while haha, and never for downshifts. The reason your downshifts are jerky is because gear and specific road-speed pairing will warrant a specific engine RPM as mentioned earlier, this is mechanical. If the engine RPM isn't near to the mechanically warranted figure when the clutch is re-engaged then something will be unceremoniously sped up or slowed down. You should try to rev the engine at an appropriate rate for the newly selected gear and road-speed. You'll get used to this with practice and as you get familiar with your bike. Using a constant road-speed as an exmaple: If you shift down a gear then you should rev *higher* before releasing the clutch for the same speed. If you shift up a gear then you'll want to rev a bit lower. You might have heard ppl blip their throttles here and there, this is likely them rev-matching for gear changes. You should focus on clutch control for smoother take-offs. Best practice for this is slow-speed riding, and the key is to feather the clutch. Practice by going in straight lines as slow as you can, literally crawling pace. Keep the engine revving at 4-5krpm (so very audible) for a start, and then simply feather the clutch out a tiny bit to start inching forward, and pull it back in if you want to slow down. This will help improve your balance too - try to go literally as slow as you can without putting a foot down. If you feel like a foot is doing down then simply feather the clutch out a tiny bit more to speed up - the bike will balance itself when it accelerates at all so you should regain control. 100% worth nailing this down.
I've been riding an electric motorbike for 2 years now...I keep forgetting I'll need to learn gears again if I go back to petrol 😳
If youve had no experience riding geared bikes i believe some riding schools do a quick conversion course. Theyll teach people who already have a cbt how to do gears. Try looking into one of them. If you need to practice just find a car park or an industrial estate in the evening. Just try moving off by letting the clutch out slowly with no throttle. That should help you get the hang of the bite point. When learning to drive i really struggled with moving off, id stall, try to recover quickly, stall again and make it worse. Its easier said than done but in that situation youve got to take your time. You actually have more time than you think, youre on a bike so youll probably move quicker than the cars once moving anyway. And to be honest screw whoevers behind you, they dont matter, focus on what youre doing and itll be easier. If youre still not happy and go back to a moped theres no shame in that, youll still have loads of fun on it. But dont give up, youll be thankful you didnt when you get the hang of it
Watch a YouTube video. I did, never having used anything with a clutch before, managed to get the basics to where I rode to a car park and practiced all night until I had it down.
I struggled with clutch control & stalling a bit too. I think we try to be too good. Same as driving a manual car. One tip that helped me get over it was getting the revs up. Don’t worry about making noise. The clutch is your control, ultimately. Doesn’t matter how high you’re revving
No Just let the clutch out slowly And you won't have any problems just nice and slow
Took me 8 times to pass my full test so Pointless giving up
Don't give up for something like this it's just inexperience. It's like when u first learned how to ride a pedal bike most people drop it etc it's just now it costs about the price of several of those bikes to replace a plastic fairing😂. I haven't been riding long and definitely don't claim to be great but when I first started riding I went out with one of my mates who had been riding for around 6 months and almost slammed into a railing on the widest and easiest to take T-junction because I had never used a clutch and was trying to show off and be quick with only around 10 miles on the saddle.
Bro I recommend u to go to a big parking where you have a lot of space and practice there, use the clutch and try to go in circles or do 8, if you get a moped you won’t learn and trust me there will be a point where you would like a bigger cc bike, so I recommend you to practice until you have mastered the use of the clutch 👍
I wrote a bike off during my cbt and 5 days later booked my cbt in again, best thing to do is not give up and get back on the proverbial horse my guy
To clarify, I did a CBT on an automatic moped, my dad used to bike and very much has the attitude of get on and ride and you’ll be fine so I thought it would be tbh, Thankyou all for the advice, I got the hang of gears, it’s literally just when I have to move off after stopping, I will book some lessons or a CBT on a geared bike and hopefully won’t need to post again
Don't be scared to over revving the bike, I was used to not needing the throttle from riding a 650cc bike from my brother, but on the 125 you need the throttle to start moving, rev it up to 2k and slowly release the clutch, once you get a hold of that you will slowly be able to ease on the throttle and release the clutch earlier.
Very much this. I need to rev the nuts off my wife’s 125 on the odd occasion that I ride it. It really doesn’t enjoy running with low revs and it can stall really quietly, leading me to sitting at traffic lights wondering why the thing isn’t moving…
Post as much as you want, youngling. But we can't teach you clutch control. Your dad could do this in an hour, in a deserted car park on a Sunday morning. If he won't, book some tuition from the local riding school.
Sorry to hear you came off on your 125s maiden ride home, but props for getting back on and finishing the journey. Your dad could have prepared you a lot better, riding a geared bike can feel super chaotic if you have no experience with the clutch, deffo shouldn't be taking it lightly. Just practice your clutch control and you'll be fine. A whole CBT might not even be bang for your buck, try calling some schools and seeing if you can get a discounted lesson just going over clutch control. If you decide to ride your 125 to the school then I'd recommend practising clutch control yourself for 10 mins. Just ride in a straight line as slow as you can possibly go without putting your foot down. You need to feather the clutch for this. 125s tend to invite the bad habit of riding the clutch for new riders, where they find biting point then roll on throttle to manage speed - this is wrong and will send bigger bikes jerking forwards, but you can get away with it on most 125s. Riding at a crawling pace requires feathering the clutch to stay in control, where you can be revving as high as you like while managing speed mainly by slipping the clutch in/out, so this builds the correct habit for clutch control. Rev high then feather clutch to set off as slow as you can and maintain this super low speed, if you feel like putting a foot down then engage the clutch a tiny bit more to speed up and regain control. The throttle is there just to feed enough power to the engine, feathering the clutch is the main focus to maintain speed/control. If you get this down then everything will be a doddle.
You want a loud engine (so revs), then use the clutch to meter your speed. I That may be where you're going wrong. Try it in a straight line somewhere quiet. Noisy engine > gently let clutch out move off a bit > pull clutch back in. Repeat and then move off, stop and repeat until comfortable. Then go further. Ita counter intuitive because your brain thinks noisy = bad but for bikes that's not really the case. This might sound obvious, but it's one of those things learners don't realise how reserved they're often being. Obviously don't rev the tits off it. There's a YouTube channel called MotorcyclePWR. I really recommend him. Edit: also, if you post what rough area of the country you're in someone may be able to help you and go for rides?
Thanks,I’ll check it out, I’m from warwickshire
You only need more training, go for more lessons and that’s it. Also you can always move to a moped and then when you ready for the A route move again to geared. Also there’s solutions like the dual clutch transmission and e-clutch on modern bikes as well.
Have you actually completed a CBT course?
Don't have an MC license (yet) but I've had a few lessons on an mt07 and own a manual car so the clutch came really naturally, maybe I could give some advice, who knows. Basically what I did to get used to the clutch on a car, same with the motorcycle, is to just visit a wide open parking lot with as little distractions as possible. Direct yourself straight forward, apply no gas, and just incredibly slowly ease out the clutch until you start to feel the pulling without stalling. Doing this over and over again until you can find the biting point effortlessly, eventually you'll become quicker at finding it. Then just start adding some mild consistent gas and do the exact same thing. Eventually you'll be able to release it fully and get going without a problem. Important part is to not rush it, if it takes you 5s to fully disengage the clutch then so be it. As for you not having anywhere safe to practice, ask your dad to drive your motorcycle to a safe place and practice there.
Before I did my CBT I practiced on my friends bike on private property so if you have a Cul-De-Sac try going up and down it slowly using the clutch on the biting point
I'd ask for a gear conversion lesson. I did my cbt and the standard was to do it on a 50cc moped as my balance was shocking. After I did that, my instructor told me he did gear conversion lessons. It was like £100 for a day of just riding and getting used to gear changes in the bike, there was no pass or fail. But you could ask for more practise. I'd have a look at those.
You can be fairly abusive with the throttle on a 125 just make sure you’re always smooth with the clutch
If you can't ride a geared bike in 10-15 mins of riding it I'd suggest you never get on a bike again..
This is a curious opinion. None of us learn at the same rate. Why do you think we should all be able to learn within 15 minutes?