The back brake

On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:19:29 +0000, in
<627ltiF2275ahU1 DeleteThis @mid.individual.net>, Derek Turner
<frderek DeleteThis @cesmail.net> wrote:

>Ace wrote:
>
>>
>> Well back in t'old days in the UK (did mine in 1978, but I think it
>> was unchanged until the early 80s) we had no theory test at all, no
>> off-road manouevers, and just a couple of highway code questions,
>> which weren't even specifically bike-related. The practical part
>> consisted of driving round a block two or three times with the
>> examiner standing around somewhere (like in the nearest cafe)
>> watching, then one round when he'd step out for you to do an emergency
>> stop. From about 50m away, just in case he had to jump back out of
>> your way.
>>
>
>AOL, did mine on Honda SS90 in 1970 at the age of
>sixteen-and-a-couple-of-months. If I'd been able to afford it, I could
>then have swapped straight onto a 650 (those being the biggest commonly
>available then). Seem to remember I had to drive along at walking pace
>behind him for a few yards too? And didn't we have to do both left- and
>right-hand circuits round the block?

Yeah, you're right about the walking-pace thing, but I don't remember
reversing direction. Probably, though.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/ DS#8 BOTAFOT#3 SbS#2 UKRMMA#13 DFV#8 SKA#2 IBB#10
`\\ | //'
`\|/`
`
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake 

"Ace" <seesig DeleteThis @ifrance.com> wrote:
> "Geo" <gRkEaMpOnVaEsCAPS DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:

>>I could write a lot about how ridiculous it used to be (all you had to do
>>was pass a silly theory test, then perform two"eights" around some dots
>>without putting your foot down or going too wide and presto, no mandatory
>>tutoring or anything)
>
> Well back in t'old days in the UK (did mine in 1978, but I think it
> was unchanged until the early 80s) we had no theory test at all, no
> off-road manouevers, and just a couple of highway code questions,
> which weren't even specifically bike-related. The practical part
> consisted of driving round a block two or three times with the
> examiner standing around somewhere (like in the nearest cafe)
> watching, then one round when he'd step out for you to do an emergency
> stop. From about 50m away, just in case he had to jump back out of
> your way.
>
> So I spit on your theory test and 'no putting your foot down' we had
> it easy.

<fx: outrrrageous French accent>

[And] I fart in your general direction!!

</fx>

I'd feel more comfortable if we were competing about how immensely difficult
tests were/are (four Yorkshiremen style). Either way, I believe that many,
if not most serious traffic accidents are not caused by lack of
training/experience, rather than by lack of brains and that's difficult to
improve through training.


Geo
(having a Monty Python moment)
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake 

Mark Olson <olsonm.TakeThisOut@tiny.invalid> wrote in
news:13rtctrcidj9g81@corp.supernews.com:

> A though experiment tells me a FOAD flywheel on a transverse
> crank bike would indeed make a huge difference in low speed
> riding, whereas on a longitudinal crank engine the bike
> would fall over just as easily but wouldn't yaw or pitch as
> much.

Exactly, although bikes don't yaw or pitch much in normal operation anyway.
My bike has a transverse twin cylinder engine, and shaft drive, so as far
as I know it contains nothing at all that rotates around an axis
perpendicular to the direction of travel.

It does lean to the right if you blip the throttle at traffic lights,
though.

--
Jeremy
R1200RT
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake 

Geo wrote:
> "platypus" <monotreme.RemoveThis@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote
>
>> Actually, driving tests were intoduced in the UK in 1934, suspended
>> during WWII, and then suspended again in the year I was born.
>
> <googles>
>
> Well, now I know how old you are.
> How exactly is the Suez crisis related to driving skills anyhow?

Theoretically, someone who was born during the first period of suspension
would have been eligible to obtain a licence during the second. Just about.
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake 

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

> We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
> drugs began to take hold. I remember "Alan"
> <alanb_stard DeleteThis @btopenworld.com> saying something like:
>
> >> > If it's the emergency stop one, I heard it in about 1972.
> >>
> >> Yeah, about the same. Urban legend, probably.
> >
> > According to snopes that story has been around since just after WWII
> > http://www.snopes.com/autos/mishaps/examiner.asp
>
> Yeah, and snopes is right all the time.
>
We seem to have two or three people who have heard the story at
different times in different places. I've personally heard it twice and
been assured both times that it definitely happened in that town 'cos
the person telling it knew the person involved. Once was in
Northallerton in 1978 and the other Shrewsbury in 1997 so yeah, I would
say that snopes is right and it is an urban myth.


--
Alan
ZX10R - Green of course
Tiger - A pleasant shade of green
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake 

Platypus spoke:
> >>> Oh, you got your license in Greece too?
> >>
> >> 7/6 from the Post Office.
> >
> > Have I ever said that my first provisional license number
> > was license # 1?
>
> Not so far as I am aware. You must be very old.

It was in the days before DVLA, when local authorities issued
licenses, and that year (1970) they switched to the 'new
style' little red book things, and I was 1st in the queue on
the morning of my 16th birthday.

--
Rob_P
UKRM(at)indqualtec.co.uk
uppercase(d) BBIWYMC#1 BOG#11? MRO#31 IBCDBBB#1(kotl)
FJ1200, CCM130
Atonal apples and amplified heat available now!
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake 

"Jérémy" <jeremy.mortimer.TakeThisOut@ifrc.removethis.org> wrote in
news:Xns9A4C8FDF79B20jeremymortimerifrcre@140.99.99.130:

> Mark Olson <olsonm.TakeThisOut@tiny.invalid> wrote in
> news:13rtctrcidj9g81@corp.supernews.com:
>
>> A though experiment tells me a FOAD flywheel on a transverse
>> crank bike would indeed make a huge difference in low speed
>> riding, whereas on a longitudinal crank engine the bike
>> would fall over just as easily but wouldn't yaw or pitch as
>> much.
>
> Exactly, although bikes don't yaw or pitch much in normal operation
> anyway. My bike has a transverse twin cylinder engine, and shaft
> drive, so as far as I know it contains nothing at all that rotates
> around an axis perpendicular to the direction of travel.
>
> It does lean to the right if you blip the throttle at traffic lights,
> though.
>

On my 1150 Boxer I find keeping the revs up, and fairly constant, during
low speed manoeuvures makes for much smoother progress. The same was true
for the large single cyclinder bike I had. At low revs both bikes can be a
bit jerky if you use the throttle alone to control speed, not what you want
on a cobbled hairpin in the Alps!

--
wessie at tesco dot net

BMW R1150GS
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake 

Derek Turner spoke:
> Ace wrote:
>
> >
> > Well back in t'old days in the UK (did mine in 1978, but I think it
> > was unchanged until the early 80s) we had no theory test at all, no
> > off-road manouevers, and just a couple of highway code questions,
> > which weren't even specifically bike-related. The practical part
> > consisted of driving round a block two or three times with the
> > examiner standing around somewhere (like in the nearest cafe)
> > watching, then one round when he'd step out for you to do an emergency
> > stop. From about 50m away, just in case he had to jump back out of
> > your way.
> >
>
> AOL, did mine on Honda SS90 in 1970 at the age of
> sixteen-and-a-couple-of-months. If I'd been able to afford it, I could
> then have swapped straight onto a 650 (those being the biggest commonly
> available then). Seem to remember I had to drive along at walking pace
> behind him for a few yards too? And didn't we have to do both left- and
> right-hand circuits round the block?

You are, of course, correct - the emergency stop was a joke, really - I
did mine in the wet, on a Lambretta (175cc, at the age of 16) with a
seized front brake, and easily stopped in time. - the main hassle for us
scooters-boys was to remove all the chrome before the test, or a failure
was almost a certainty.

Then they introduced the first 2-part test scheme, and I qualified as a
Star Rider instructor, with the part-one riding around the cones
sillyness.

--
Rob_P
UKRM(at)indqualtec.co.uk
uppercase(d) BBIWYMC#1 BOG#11? MRO#31 IBCDBBB#1(kotl)
FJ1200, CCM130
Atonal apples and amplified heat available now!
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake 

On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:19:29 +0000 in uk.rec.motorcycles, Derek Turner
says:

>Ace wrote:
>
>>
>> Well back in t'old days in the UK (did mine in 1978, but I think it
>> was unchanged until the early 80s) we had no theory test at all, no
>> off-road manouevers, and just a couple of highway code questions,
>> which weren't even specifically bike-related. The practical part
>> consisted of driving round a block two or three times with the
>> examiner standing around somewhere (like in the nearest cafe)
>>
>
>Seem to remember I had to drive along at walking pace
>behind him for a few yards too? And didn't we have to do both left- and
>right-hand circuits round the block?

IIRC the circuit was a figure 8 around two blocks to make sure of
turning both left/right and proceeding straight across a junction. My
brother got his left and rights confused and went off into the
distance but still passed.

--
Ian
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake 

boots.DeleteThis@despammed.com wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:19:29 +0000 in uk.rec.motorcycles, Derek Turner
> says:
>
> IIRC the circuit was a figure 8 around two blocks to make sure of
> turning both left/right and proceeding straight across a junction. My
> brother got his left and rights confused and went off into the
> distance but still passed.
>

In 1961 it was once around the block watched by the tester who was
only interested in the emergency stop, conveniently a few yards
before returning to the testing station. Stopped neatly in front of
the tester who wrote out the pass slip on the spot.
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake 

In message <04gtr3pmct72dr0hc8v1tm90h5ihp1uoad DeleteThis @4ax.com>, Ace
<seesig DeleteThis @ifrance.com> writes

>>> Well back in t'old days in the UK (did mine in 1978, but I think it
>>> was unchanged until the early 80s) we had no theory test at all, no
>>> off-road manouevers, and just a couple of highway code questions,
>>> which weren't even specifically bike-related. The practical part
>>> consisted of driving round a block two or three times with the
>>> examiner standing around somewhere (like in the nearest cafe)
>>> watching, then one round when he'd step out for you to do an emergency
>>> stop. From about 50m away, just in case he had to jump back out of
>>> your way.
>>>
>>
>>AOL, did mine on Honda SS90 in 1970 at the age of
>>sixteen-and-a-couple-of-months. If I'd been able to afford it, I could
>>then have swapped straight onto a 650 (those being the biggest commonly
>>available then). Seem to remember I had to drive along at walking pace
>>behind him for a few yards too? And didn't we have to do both left- and
>>right-hand circuits round the block?
>
>Yeah, you're right about the walking-pace thing, but I don't remember
>reversing direction. Probably, though.

I did mine in 1979 and don't remember any of that slow speed malarky. 3
rounders doing right hand turns, 3 doing left hand, an emergency stop
and a few questions. All over in 20 mins. ISTR.

After the questions he asked me what the speed limit was and I thought
it was some sort of trick question. Then he mildly bollocked me for not
overtaking the other bloke on a 250 Superdream that was doing his test
at the same time (I was on a CB100N) as he was going so slow. I passed
anyway.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)
 >> Stay informed about: The back brake