Failed RE

[Mybowlcut]

Had my RE test at Midland today at 11.25. Failed on controlled braking because I didn't start braking as soon as the assessor put his hand up and the bike ended up at about the 20m mark which is a shit effort. Lesson learned: start braking as soon as soon as he shows any sign of movement in his hand.

A question: Do they use the hand instead of just saying "brake when you see the yellow mark on the road" to emulate the unpredictable nature of controlled braking? Or is it just because it's hard for some people to see the mark?

There were other things, but not fail-worthy apparently, and mostly out of nerves, as I'd usually have done them if not with someone assessing me. Chris, could you post up the sheet?

Another thing I learned is that it's always a good idea to book a test with an instructor a week before your test to make sure that you've got all the little things down, as I had a lot of little things marked down.

[thegraeman]

I actually did an hour lesson with an instructor immediately prior to the test for my R class. They took me through the actual test route, then critiqued me on it, and we had time to go back over the areas I wasn't that smooth on.

[Don]

Sorry to hear dude.
Next time for sure... I found it great to have a lesson right before the test, just a short one, 30 minutes to warm you up and refresh and you're away.

Dont take it too hard, and book immediately.

[Mybowlcut]

I actually did an hour lesson with an instructor immediately prior to the test for my R class. They took me through the actual test route, then critiqued me on it, and we had time to go back over the areas I wasn't that smooth on.

It's a good idea.

Sorry to hear dude.
Next time for sure... I found it great to have a lesson right before the test, just a short one, 30 minutes to warm you up and refresh and you're away.

Dont take it too hard, and book immediately.

I did have a warm up beforehand, but it was mainly practising controlled braking and slow turns, which I had down (both). Although I was going too fast at first with my slow turns, but I could do them at the pace he wanted and demonstrated that.

The assessor suggested not to book immediately and recommended a couple more lessons with an instructor to make sure I correct everything on the report.

[darkfibre]

Normally the assessor will explain exactly what they want you to do, and should have said "when I drop my hand I want you to brake etc"
There should be nothing on the test requiring you to look for marks on the road.

Good luck next time around

[Rocky]

The raising of the arm thing is not used all the time, but is starting to come in more and more.

Steve from Sixth Sense told me that it might be used in my R class (forgotten whether it was or not). The thing Steve emphasised, and what gets a lot of people unstuck, is the panic reaction caused by the 'not knowing' where/when to stop. This is actually pretty good practice, as emergency stops are always a surprise.

I will repeat what I was told back when I did my test, and hopefully some of it might help you. If you have been told something different, and it’s working for you, disregard any of the below.

1) Don't panic, very important. On a bike with decent brakes (almost all assessor bikes would be in this category) you have plenty of time to stop within the allowed braking distance without jamming on the brakes too hard. So remember, all you need to do is a controlled quickish stop, that's what they're looking for. Believe it or not, it helps thinking about it as a ‘controlled quick stop’ rather than an ‘EMERGENCY BRAKE OMGWTFBBQ’.

2) Don't go too hard on the back brake. Depending on who your assessor is, a rear wheel chirp could land you a fail, or they could ask you to do another one. 2 rear wheel locks is usually a fail. Not to create paranoia, but remember, as you decelerate, your weight moves onto your feet, and more pressure will be transferred to your brake as a consequence.

3) Prepare for your brake early. Preparation should include:
- straighten your arms (this limits the downward force on the accelerator from a rapid deceleration.
- Cover your brake and your clutch, be ready to apply a smooth, controlled brake.
- KEEP YOUR HEAD UP AND YOUR EYES ON THE HORIZON. I cannot stress this enough. If this is the only thing you remember, remember this. It helps, enormously.
- Be in a steady 3rd or 4th gear, depending on what bike you’re on. What I mean is don’t coast at 50Km/h in 5th/6th gear. Try and hold a medium amount of revs in 3rd or 4th rather than sitting at a gurgling amount of revs.
- Don’t pull in the clutch right away. I know this is a strange concept and there are differing opinions of this one, but again, I am repeating what I was told by someone who I have the utmost confidence in, and also what worked for me. The basic idea is that this helps you NOT lock up your back wheel, by keeping some drive to the back wheel during your braking maneuver. Pull in your clutch lever when you’re almost at a dead stop. The difference it makes is quite significant, and really helps you not lock up your back wheel. There are other forces in motion that help you stop quicker, but they are not important at this stage.
If back wheel locking up is not a concern for you, keep doing what you’re doing and forget about anything above. The biggest thing to remember is to do everything in a smooth controlled way. There should be no jerkiness in your actions.

I hope this helps, even a little bit Good luck man, don’t get despondent, you’ll be out there in no time.


I recommend giving Steve at Sixth Sense a call (I have nothing to gain by plugging him) but he is seriously worth his weight in gold, can probably give you a quicker assessment time (he organizes it all for you, and hence can swap your time with another one of his students if he thinks you're more ready than they are) and insists on a lesson directly before your test.

[Don]

Nice write up Rocky, good effort.

+1 for Steve being worth his weight in gold!

[drifter]

Next time you do it, don't be afraid to ask the assessor to clarify exactly what they want you to do.

When i first did my RE test, the assessor did the emergency brake different to how i'd been doing it with my instructor and I was way off first time. After that I was made sure I understood exactly what the assessor wanted.

[Mybowlcut]

Normally the assessor will explain exactly what they want you to do, and should have said "when I drop my hand I want you to brake etc"
There should be nothing on the test requiring you to look for marks on the road.

Good luck next time around

Yep, he was perfectly clear, I just didn't brake early enough.

The raising of the arm thing is not used all the time, but is starting to come in more and more.

Steve from Sixth Sense told me that it might be used in my R class (forgotten whether it was or not). The thing Steve emphasised, and what gets a lot of people unstuck, is the panic reaction caused by the 'not knowing' where/when to stop. This is actually pretty good practice, as emergency stops are always a surprise.

Yeah, I had thought about that, and that's what I meant by emulating the unpredictable nature of e-stops.

I will repeat what I was told back when I did my test, and hopefully some of it might help you. If you have been told something different, and it’s working for you, disregard any of the below.

1) Don't panic, very important. On a bike with decent brakes (almost all assessor bikes would be in this category) you have plenty of time to stop within the allowed braking distance without jamming on the brakes too hard. So remember, all you need to do is a controlled quickish stop, that's what they're looking for. Believe it or not, it helps thinking about it as a ‘controlled quick stop’ rather than an ‘EMERGENCY BRAKE OMGWTFBBQ’.

2) Don't go too hard on the back brake. Depending on who your assessor is, a rear wheel chirp could land you a fail, or they could ask you to do another one. 2 rear wheel locks is usually a fail. Not to create paranoia, but remember, as you decelerate, your weight moves onto your feet, and more pressure will be transferred to your brake as a consequence.

3) Prepare for your brake early. Preparation should include:
- straighten your arms (this limits the downward force on the accelerator from a rapid deceleration.
- Cover your brake and your clutch, be ready to apply a smooth, controlled brake.
- KEEP YOUR HEAD UP AND YOUR EYES ON THE HORIZON. I cannot stress this enough. If this is the only thing you remember, remember this. It helps, enormously.
- Be in a steady 3rd or 4th gear, depending on what bike you’re on. What I mean is don’t coast at 50Km/h in 5th/6th gear. Try and hold a medium amount of revs in 3rd or 4th rather than sitting at a gurgling amount of revs.
- Don’t pull in the clutch right away. I know this is a strange concept and there are differing opinions of this one, but again, I am repeating what I was told by someone who I have the utmost confidence in, and also what worked for me. The basic idea is that this helps you NOT lock up your back wheel, by keeping some drive to the back wheel during your braking maneuver. Pull in your clutch lever when you’re almost at a dead stop. The difference it makes is quite significant, and really helps you not lock up your back wheel. There are other forces in motion that help you stop quicker, but they are not important at this stage.
If back wheel locking up is not a concern for you, keep doing what you’re doing and forget about anything above. The biggest thing to remember is to do everything in a smooth controlled way. There should be no jerkiness in your actions.

I hope this helps, even a little bit Good luck man, don’t get despondent, you’ll be out there in no time.


I recommend giving Steve at Sixth Sense a call (I have nothing to gain by plugging him) but he is seriously worth his weight in gold, can probably give you a quicker assessment time (he organizes it all for you, and hence can swap your time with another one of his students if he thinks you're more ready than they are) and insists on a lesson directly before your test.

Great advice, cheers.

Next time you do it, don't be afraid to ask the assessor to clarify exactly what they want you to do.

When i first did my RE test, the assessor did the emergency brake different to how i'd been doing it with my instructor and I was way off first time. After that I was made sure I understood exactly what the assessor wanted.

I wish that I could have given it another shot. I should have said "I braked a bit late, can I try again?". I know he said that I could have braked as soon as I saw his arm move, but I waited until it was up in the air until I started.

Out of interest, did they fail you for that, or give you another turn?

By the way, here is my assessment sheet.

[drifter]

I wish that I could have given it another shot. I should have said "I braked a bit late, can I try again?". I know he said that I could have braked as soon as I saw his arm move, but I waited until it was up in the air until I started.

Out of interest, did they fail you for that, or give you another turn?

got a couple of shots at it.

[Mybowlcut]

got a couple of shots at it.

I guess the bad part of that is that if it was a real life situation, you could have been injured if you stuffed it up the first time... but there's something really crappy about failing haha. I felt disappointed for the rest of the day.

[Blazon]

Unlucky mate.

E-stops was I something I struggled with. practice, practice, practice.

I was getting lock ups & my instructor said, focus on the front brake & dont use the rear brake. Worked a treat.

You'll nail it next time

p.s dropping of the arm is what my assessor did

[filbert]

it's not a fail until you give up, trying to convince my wife of that she hasn't been on her bike since she failed a test over a year ago.
Consider it a speed bump, it has slowed you down but no reason you can't continue

[Mybowlcut]

Unlucky mate.

E-stops was I something I struggled with. practice, practice, practice.

I was getting lock ups & my instructor said, focus on the front brake & dont use the rear brake. Worked a treat.

You'll nail it next time

p.s dropping of the arm is what my assessor did

That's just it though, I can do them fine, it's just that I started it too late haha. Oh well. I'm going to call Alert up and get a few lessons in.

Edit: A question regarding the hand as an indication to brake - what if they are late with the hand and hence the marker on the road will become useless but they still use it to show you how far out you were? I'm not saying that this was the case in my test at all, but am curious as to the practicality of it on the chance that it did occur.

it's not a fail until you give up, trying to convince my wife of that she hasn't been on her bike since she failed a test over a year ago.
Consider it a speed bump, it has slowed you down but no reason you can't continue

Cheers to you and everyone else for the encouragement. Nice to have it when you are kicking yourself over something.

[Blazon]

I did my test at City West. There was no marker on the road.

Maybe theres a variation at each of the licensing centres...Dont know.

My advice is to check with your instructor!!

[reddog]

E-stops could save your life. You should be able to do these with your eyes closed.

Forget worring about the assessors arm, practise setup and squeeze. If you can't stop in 20m from 50kph then you deserve to be failed.

Not trying to cain you, but thinking about this skill as a test item rather than a life saving maneouver is dumb. Go and practise mate, once you pass the reality of the situation will possibly sink in.

Good luck and hopefully you nail it next time.

[TROUBLE]

good time to practice them is at Amber lights when there is nothing behind ya.

[Blazon]

You have to E-stop within 12m.

and yeah its a life saving maneouver.

as I said consult with a instructor......and practice on quiet street

[Mybowlcut]

I did my test at City West. There was no marker on the road.

Maybe theres a variation at each of the licensing centres...Dont know.

My advice is to check with your instructor!!

This is what I mean.. in my case, there was a yellow marker on the road, then 12, 17, etc. spray-painted on the curb. If he raised his arm late, the first marker (marking the start of the measurements) would have been useless, since he's supposed to measuring from where he raised his arm.

This sounds like I'm dwelling on it, but I'm not. I'm just curious about what happens in the above scenario, especially at centres like City West where they don't have markers. Do they just estimate the distance?

What if I wanted to do this with my shadow? How would he measure the brake distance if he was using his arm and had no marker?

E-stops could save your life. You should be able to do these with your eyes closed.

Forget worring about the assessors arm, practise setup and squeeze. If you can't stop in 20m from 50kph then you deserve to be failed.

Not trying to cain you, but thinking about this skill as a test item rather than a life saving maneouver is dumb. Go and practise mate, once you pass the reality of the situation will possibly sink in.

Good luck and hopefully you nail it next time.

Haha nah I definitely don't think of it as that. I'm serious about riding safely. I know that if I did it again and was quicker to react to his arm that I could have made it easy - although I know that that would be me smashing into the back of a car in a real emergency brake, so I have to stop whinging and just do it again properly.

good time to practice them is at Amber lights when there is nothing behind ya.

Ever since Stephan came up to me and said that I could have stopped at a couple of orange lights at one of the WSRs, I have been really anxious around traffic lights haha. He's a serious guy.

You have to E-stop within 12m.

and yeah its a life saving maneouver.

as I said consult with a instructor......and practice on quiet street

I'm not arguing this.

[dirt_infected]

I know he said that I could have braked as soon as I saw his arm move, but I waited until it was up in the air until I started.

Hey Mitch, sorry to hear. Meh, you'll get it next time. I failed my first go for doing a fat endo in the e-stop. Who knew examiners don't like stunts?

Surprised at the technique you described that the examiner used to stop you- both my tests at Midland (Ray and Rod) went thus:
1: Send me off down the street for a ~100m run-up.
2: I accelerate to 50km and maintain.
3: Arm goes up, signaling there is no traffic behind me and it's safe to complete the exercise.
4: Arm goes down, stop ASAP whilst maintaining control.