Learning to ride

i don't fully understand the tests and what you can ride and when
But here's an article from 2013 out of the daily telegraph Which I suppose means anyone can teach someone. but is part of the test being taught by a qualified instructor? If not what's stopping you from just turning up on the bike your qualified to ride to take a test

The rules surrounding the motorcycle licence changed this month, but there’s still a great deal of confusion about what they mean, and anger at their implications.

The rules have been imposed on Britain by the European Union, even though the British government voted against them for being too complex and not achieving the objectives they set out to achieve. Yet, on the face of it, they’re not as unfathomable as many in the bike industry are making out.

First, you must complete a Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) course before being allowed out on the road. With this, and a provisional licence, you can ride a moped (defined as less than 50cc and restricted to 28mph) with L-plates.

If you’re 16 and want to ditch the L-plates and move up to the first of four full licences, known as AM, you must take a theory test followed by a two-part practical test comprising Module 1, an off-road manoeuvring test, and Module 2, the on-road exam. It should be noted that at this age you can still only ride mopeds, which are pretty dangerous on today’s roads as they’re too slow to move at normal traffic speeds (which makes it strange that the law allows the least mature and most inexperienced road users to ride them).
By waiting until the age of 17 (even if it means riding a moped on L-plates for a year), you can go for the A1 licence. With CBT and theory in the bag, passing the two modules of the practical test now entitles you to ride any bike up to 125cc without L-plates.

Only when you are 19 or older are you allowed to go for the A2 licence category, which covers motorcycles up to a power output of 47bhp. This includes some decent and interesting bikes, many of which have more power as standard but can be restricted to 47bhp (as long as their unrestricted power output is no more than 94bhp).

Finally, there’s the full A licence, which you can apply for either if you’ve held an A2 licence for two years (in which case you can get one from the age of 21) or, if you’re coming in fresh, you’re at least 24. As with the other licences, the A licence first demands CBT and theory, followed by the two-module practical test.

This might all sound reasonably straightforward, but the problem is how it breaks up rather than encourages the path into riding larger-capacity motorcycles. I was super-keen on bikes as a youngster, and took the typical route of starting out with a moped at 16, then progressing through the capacities into big bikes. My full moped licence was unusual but not unheard of, nor the fact that I took a moped test and a motorcycle test with zero training.

To do the same today some training would be forced upon me, which is a good thing. I would need to train to get my CBT, learn The Highway Code and other road-related information for the theory part of the test, and train some more for the two-part practical test.

However, what is absurd is that to retain a full licence in my progress up to a big bike at 21 or older, I would now need to take a two-part practical test at every stage, meaning two test modules each for the AM, A1, A2 and A licences. Including the one CBT, that’s nine motorcycle tests. What’s more, these are essentially the same pairs of tests each time, so there’s no incentive or indeed need to take any more training to progress – you’re simply being re-examined repetitively.

This is all fabulously expensive – it could cost at least £1,500 – as well as being enormously time consuming and inconvenient. So in practice, no one is going to take this route. Instead, riders are in effect being encouraged to avoid taking tests and training and instead hang on at each stage with their L-plates in order to save time and money. The incentive is to avoid training and instead just wait to gain a full licence when old enough, exactly the opposite effect the legislation is supposed to achieve.

 

The other thing is are you teaching her/him to ride a bike or pass a test?

 

Unfortunately, If you are training on anything over 125cc, you can only do so when accompanied by a qualified instructor.

Following quote from this page:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/direct-access-scheme-das-motorcycle-training-guidance

"All provisional licence holders training on a motorcycle over 125cc and 11kW power output can only be trained by a qualified DAS instructor."

It was really difficult to find this particular bit of information by the way, all the typical pages of information don't mention this. I was only able to find it because I had been told this before and knew what to search for.

 

As Graeme said to ride a bike bigger than 125cc you must be accompanied by a qualified DAS trainer.
That's on road.
If you have access to private property then ( you will be one of the few ) you will be able to ride a bike without a licence but all that will do is get you used to riding a larger bike and the way it handles.
If it was large enough you could put cones etc out and do a mock module one.
To go to a larger bike sadly you have to do it with a school.

 

Wow, and I thought our licencing system was twated!! Here in Australia you can ride a 50cc moped on your car licence, it used to be 250cc or less for first bike license, then open class, RE was limited R was open, they have now gone to LAMS system, where RE is now any bike configuration (number of cylinders or even 3wheelers) up to 660cc but limited to 43hp , they use a formula to pass each new model , power to weight ratio not allowed to exceed a certain HP/kg ratio I think its like 0.23 HP/kg Anyone can Instruct so long as they hold the appropriate code for for 4yrs or more, but prior to test you must record hrs ridden and at least 2hrs must be with a qualified assessor/trainer, must have done 25hrs riding before you can book your test. The testing centre will check your log book of hours and the licence numbers of listed instructors as they must sign the log. Against their licence register before they will give you a test date.

LAMS. Stands for Learner Approved Motorcycle System. Our state and territory government bodies have come to the conclusion that learners need a power restricted bike not a capacity limited machine, having the cc restrictions was artificially boosting the value of bikes of great age and therefore learners would be learning on old poorly maintained machines, because they didn't want to buy new as only intention was to qualify for open unrestricted licence as soon as possible !!!

 

I still find the whole license process bonkers. I've not really got anything against the system per say, as it's probably a good idea having power restrictions when younger, and only being able to go out with a qualified instructor for larger capacity.
But, it would only make sense if it wasn't for the fact a 17 year old can do their theory test, get a couple of lessons from mum/dad, be taught only how to pass their test (not how to actually drive), pass their car test, jump into mum/dads 3.5 litre BMW (rich enough to pay for insurance), pick up their mates, and then wrap themselves around a tree, killing all 4 in the car.