Day 4 and 5, hours 5 6 and 7 finished!
Friday night was just one hour lesson (hour 5). Speaking of crashes! 😂 Not me thankfully lol. But Blue #7 that I had been using since battery on #6 is dead is now out of commission it looks like. I guess someone else who had a lesson on Friday during the morning must have had an accident on it and it is in need of repair now. Guess that goes to show why they do reserve the blues for the newbies. As such I was graduated to one of the newer red/white CB400's! Merely by the fact that both of the blues are out of commission lol.
Riding the newer red/whites though yeah I think they are feeling nicer in smoothness and other areas. Though to be fair as I ride more personally I am getting smoother with everything too so can't really say it's just the bike.
New instructor for Fridays lesson. Probably early 60's guy. He's probably the most strict one I've had yet. Actually this day there were two students assigned to the one instructor, same younger guy as I was with in the simulator the day before. But he is further along though so instructor just gives him a bike and asks if he remembers the test course then just tells him to go through and practice on his own.
For me it was all balance beam practice this lesson. As before I struggle especially in the beginning. I try modulating the clutch and rear brake better but especially in the beginning I keep falling off at some point. But I keep going and finally I am able to get it! I go down it successfully about 5 times towards the end. No where near perfect and definitely need some more practice on that. That was end for Friday.
Nothing on Saturday had my first off day since starting last Tuesday. Today Sunday morning though I was back for lessons 6 and 7! Unlike the previous two hour day I had last week both hours were spend out on the track riding though with a bit of a twist! Todays instructor was the younger guy I had back in lesson #3 I think it was.
First hour back on a red/white (#10 I noted). As on Friday that young guy was also back and assigned to the same instructor. This time though we both ride along to follow him. Today introduced three new things I haven't done yet, slalom, s-curve and crank. Slalom for medium bikes you have to complete it in under 8 seconds. S-curve and crank no time limits just don't hit cones or put feel down at any point.
S-Curve and crank, no real problems at all with these for me. Didn't hit any cones at any point.
Slalom course is rather tight! But here as well no real problems I never tapped any cones. At first though being first time I was a bit above 8 seconds but the more I did it the more I was able to get that down to around 7 seconds. I will need to get this down better as the large bike license looks like you need to get that under 7 seconds. Last 20 minutes I am left to be on my own and just keep practicing the slalom. I did go back and do the S-curve and crank once more but I don't see any problems here so I didn't spend much time on them.
Also I should note this was my first time riding during daylight hours all my previous lessons have been at night. I realized my helmet does get a bit hot even keeping the visor up the whole time (all vents are in open position too I believe). Also during daylight the lights on the front that indicate which gear you are in just can not be seen at all really. But I think I got better at telling which gear I am in without needing to see that in any case.
Hour 2! Well this was a bit of a twist. I guess even if you are going for the manual bike license (speaking of which did I ever mention that manual and automatic bikes have separate licenses? Manual one will let you ride either but AT you can only drive AT) there is at least one hour that is required during training to drive around on an AT scooter. We pull out these Honda scooters of some sort from the bike shed and fire them up. Clutch is now a rear brake lever like on a bicycle. Man this thing is comfortable lol. We cruise around the course on these scooters and go through all the different tests. I am just not able to to the balance beam on this thing though (I lost whatever I had that got me through it on Friday i guess lol) but other parts are no problem even getting the slalom under 8 seconds. We won't be tested on these so it didn't matter in any case
Looking at the pictures I think you might be going to the same driving school I went to 😊
My recommendation for the balance beam is to give it a bit of gas to get on it, then keep your eyes far forward (my school had a power pole aligned with the beam that was good for that) and grab the tank with your knees/thighs, then yeah control the speed with clutch/rear brake.
There is a fellow Japan rider on here! If you happened to go to a school way up in Tochigi its possible! Most of these places all look same really though. I'll get another crack at that balance beam on Tuesday night when I go back I hope. Do you have a bike now? Which insurance you go with if you do? I have Sony Sonpo on my car but doesn't look like they do bikes so will need to use a different company.
