Tips for new Class 2/2A students (especially foreigners) BBDC

[Shanghai]

I am a foreigner with an “open” motorcycle license in my home country of Australia and also in Hong Kong. My Australian license I earnt many years ago and my HK license I earnt in 2010 (by attending the required course and Traffic Police test.

When I moved to Singapore in 2014, I went to convert my Australian car and motorcycle license to a Singapore license. I was granted a Class 3 car license (full) and a Class 2B bike license.

In Singapore, there are 3 levels of motorcycle license, 2B (up to 200cc), Class 2A (200cc-400cc) and Class 2 (greater than 400cc).

Despite my “polite” protests there was no way that they would give me a Class 2A or Class 2 as I could not prove what capacity I did my foreign license on. Which is a pain as I’m 196cms tall and look stupid on a 200cc bike 

So I took the plunge and decided to follow the process that would eventually lead me to a Class 2 license. I completed Call 2A in 2016 and Class 2 in 2017.

It should also be said that you must have a Class 2B license for 12 months before you can start the Class2A process. Also once you have a Class 2A you must wait a further 12 months before you can start the Class 2 process.

This is the story

Before you think of starting , you need these:

• your own helmet or use one provided by the driving school (must be PSB approved and stamped)

• a pair of gloves (any gloves will work but buy a pair of riding gloves)

• Covered shoes

• a pair of long pants, riding pants, or jeans

• A long sleeve shirt

On the paperwork end of things, you should have:

• A Singapore license

• Your NRIC or FIN card

You must complete a course at one of the driving centers before you can sit the Traffic Police Test.

 

 

The Class 2 course consists of the following steps.

• Enroll & pay registration fee.

• Practical Stage 1

• Practical Stage 2

• Evaluation

Once you pass the Driving School evaluation you can book your Traffic Police Test (2 month waiting times when I wrote this).

Each lesson is 1 hour & 40 minutes long. Be sure to arrive approx. 20 minutes before the lesson

 

Practical Stage 1:

In the lesson the following is taught.

• General course (consists of riding the course and practicing when to do the appropriate blind spot checks, turning procedures, posture, where to signal, where to turn or change lanes, course familiarisation etc. You would have learnt all of this during your Class 2B and Class 2A courses

• Plank: Same as in Class 2B & 2A except you must now stay on the plank for a minimum of 10 seconds (instead of 6 & 8 seconds for 2b & 2A), if you take less than the 10 seconds you lose 4 points. The plank is a raised piece of metal sheet 3-5 cms high, 10 meters long and approximately 20cms wide. Before the plank, there’s a line, and you should stop there and wait for the instructor to tell you to proceed. If you fall off, fall over or put your foot down, you’re done. First, don’t look down, or you will go down! Focus on the far end of the bar, or even better, a tree or something in line with the exit. Lock your knees on the tank, relax your arms, and proceed smoothly. Use constant throttle, and pull the clutch in about halfway, to the friction zone. If you need to slow down, use a touch of rear brake (don’t use your front brake!) and if you need to speed up to keep from falling, let the clutch out a bit. It’s better to go too fast and lose points than to go too slow and fall off. You don’t get bonus points for going longer than 10 seconds

• Slalom: Snake your way through a line of cones in less than 6 seconds. You must change into 2nd gear before the first cone. Watch your crash bars, and don’t touch any cones (immediate failure). If you need to reduce speed, use your rear brake only. You lose points for being too slow.

• Emergency Brake: Braking from 40km/h and stopping on a wet skid pan before the second line. You must be going 40km/h when you cross the line, and you’re aiming to stop before the last line. Be in 3rd gear when you cross the first line. When you cross the line, leave the clutch out to use engine braking. Don’t shift down, but you need to come to a stop with your left foot on the ground and your right foot on the rear brake. As soon as you’re stopped and stable, check behind you before shifting into first gear; check behind you once more before starting & indicate. These videos give you an idea of the Plank, Slalom and Emergency brake, but this is a Class 2B rider so the plank is a minimum of 6 secs instead of 10 seconds (Class 2) and the Emergency brake is 30km/h instead of 40km/h.

• Bumpy: Uneven surface (speed bumps), taking longer than 8 seconds. There is a series of bars or raised protrusions (8 I think) perpendicular to your path, and locked in place. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but you have to take 8 seconds or more to cross it. You need to stand on the foot rests and have the ‘correct posture”. Don’t look down! Focus on the end cones and aim for them. If you take less than the required time you lose points (4). If you run off the course, stall, put a foot down then its an immediate failure.

If the Instructor feels that you can handle all of this properly then you can pass onto practical stage 2. If not, you must book another day and come back as many times before until the instructor passes you

 

Practical Stage 2:

• General course again

• Figure of 8 & Crank: Figure of 8 is self-explanatory. Crank is a 90 degree right turn followed by a 180 degree left turn, in a confined space all in 2nd gear before entering the crank course. Touch a cone or curb & it’s an immediate failure. Time limits are 11 seconds or less and 6 seconds or less respectively. Make sure you don’t cut the exit turn on the figure of 8 too wide; enter at a slow speed and in 2nd gear. You can use the clutch and first gear. When you exit, don’t forget your blind spots. This video gives you an indication of the Figure 8 & Crank

• Hill start: A normal hill start, however making sure that you locate your bike in the correct position, coming into, during and after the hill start. No roll backs, excessive revving and clutch out when going downhill (otherwise more lost points)

• Lifting a bike: You need to take a bike off its centre stand, lay it on its side, pick it back up again and then walk it through a figure of 8 between cones. You can’t hit a cone and you cannot reverse the bike.

If the Instructor feels that you can handle all of this properly then you can pass onto the Evaluation. If not you must book another day and come back until the instructor passes you.

 

Evaluation

After some warm ups the instructor will follow you around the complete course watching you and deducting points for incorrect procedures or noting any immediate failure infringement.

The list of things that you can lose points for is immense. Anything from failure to check blind spots, incorrect blind spot checking (4 points for each occurrence and there are approx. 50 required blind point checks around the course), posture (4 points) , wide turns (2 points), narrow turns (2 points), riding to slow (2 points), stopping unnecessarily (2 points), wobbling when starting (4 points), changing lanes to abruptly (4 points) , fail to change to appropriate gear before turning/stopping (4 points) and the list goes on.

Immediate failures include, putting a foot down, not meeting the time requirements on the plank, bumpy, slalom, crank & figure of 8, failure to follow the correct course, strike or skip a pylon, roll backwards on the hill start, change lane without due care, fail to form up correctly at intersections, go through a red light, unable to lift bike on its centre stand and the list goes on.

You fail if you accumulate more than 18 points or have an immediate failure. If you pass you can book your traffic Police Test. If you fail, come back again another day.

 

Traffic Police (TP) Test

Here is a simulation video of the Class 2A test route. The Class 2 route is the same.

So you have now completed your Driving School Course. The number of lessons you took depends on your ability and luck 

On the TP test day there at approx. 7:30.

Class 2 bikes go first followed by Class 2A. In each class foreigners & older riders go first.

You get a 30 minute warm up followed by a briefing by an instructor where you can ask any questions that you still might have.

Then outside for one of the 5 Traffic Policemen to check your ID.

Then the bike lifting test.

Then the riding test begins. Only 2-3 test bikes on the course at one time (however there is car lessons being conducted at the same time which is a real pain as these guys can travel very slowly. If you get caught behind one its difficult not to wobble etc).

There are 5 TP stationed around the course. 1) at the start point, 2) at the figure 8 and crank, 3) at the Plank and slalom, 4) at the Emergency brake and Bumpy 5) at the hill start. Before proceeding at the start, Figure 8, Plank and Emergency brake up must wait for the TP man to signal to proceed.

You must follow the course exactly. I took 2 attempts for my Class 2 test. First attempt I lost 16 points (OK) but got an immediate failure for turning one corner to early (corner 18 instead 19)

 

There are many little rules. Here are some special ones.

• Before you take off from any stop, turn your head left and right, then turn your head around to look behind you and then look left again. Mirrors don’t count. Before you start, read off 1-2-3-4 (left-right-back-left). Then go!

• At you go through intersections, you need to check left and right before you proceed. Eyes movements don’t count and exaggerate the head turning.

• Use all 4 fingers for the brake and clutch.

• Your left foot must be on top of the gear lever not to the side or underneath.

• When mounting the bike your right foot must go straight to the brake, not to the ground.

• Never mount or dismount the bike with the stand down

 

I hope that this helps some people. I’m sure that I have missed may things but it may at least be supportive to those new comers and especially foreigners like me who have no idea what to expect when first starting out.