CDC Motorcycle 2A/2 Lesson 1: Slope
You will be practising 3 courses in CDC Motorcycle 2A/2 Lesson 1. The first course in CDC Motorcycle 2A/2 Lesson 1 will be the Slope whereby you have to move off from stationary position on the slope without rolling back or stalling engine. There is no time requirement for slope course but do not take your own sweet time to complete the course. There are 2 slopes in CDC. You must go to the class 2a/2 slope which is on the right side of the class 2b slope when you are facing them. Remember that there can be only 4 riders waiting for the slope. Two riders will be before the line on the slope while the other two riders will be at the foot of the slope waiting. The rest of the riders have to wait at the broken gap with left signal on.
While you are turning left to the slope, you have to decide which side of the slope to head to and then signal toward the side of the slope you are heading. Always occupy the left side first if possible.
For example, If you are going to left side of the slope, then you will have to signal left when you are nearing the slope and must be in gear two when moving up the slope before the line. If you are going to right side of the slope, then you will have to signal right when you are nearing the slope and must be in gear two when moving up the slope before the line.
If you are waiting at the foot of the slope, then you should move up the slope using gear one. Remember if you are on the right side of the slope foot, you have to check back left instead of check back right.
Throttle slightly harder before you hit the slope so that you have enough momentum to head up to the slope. I suggest clutching in while kicking your gear down to gear one so that you will free wheel up the slope. The bike will slow down by itself as it head up the slope. To stop completely, press both front and rear brake. You should be able to stop smoothly this way without stalling the engine. Use both front and rear brake to stop the bike. After stopping, signal away from the kerb. Next, you have to release your front brake while holding onto your rear brake. Then you need to get the biking point of the bike by turning on the throttle. There are a few ways to gauge the biking point.
You can gauge by hearing the sound. When the bike is near biting point, then throttle sound will decrease as you slowly release the clutch. Or if you sense that the bike is moving forward while releasing clutch, then the bike is at biking point. However, I determine the biting point by looking at the tachometer. When the rpm starts to drop as you slowly release your clutch, then the biting point is reached. Hold the clutch at that point. The engine will stall if you continue to release more of the clutch.
After achieving biting point, do not release the rear brake suddenly. Release the rear brake slowly while turning on the throttle. If you sense that the bike is rolling back as there is not enough throttle is being applied, you can re-apply the rear brake again to prevent rolling back. If you do it correctly, the bike will not roll back when you have fully released the rear brake. To move off, you have to release more clutch and turn on the throttle at the same time. The motorbike will start to move off from the slope and i suggest that you lift your left foot slowly up instead of immediately when your bike start to move to prevent any wobbling or instability. If you lift up your leg too fast, then the bike may become unstable and the bike will move either to the right or left as you try to balance the bike by leaning left or right.
After your left leg is up, fully release the clutch when you are at the top of the slope and then signal left. As you are moving down the slope, depress both rear and front brake while keeping your left hand away from the clutch lever. Clutch in fully when you are near the stop line while applying both rear and front brake.
Remember not to inch out. Check back right and blindspot left regardless whether you are on the left or right side of the slope before turning left.
CDC Motorcycle 2A/2 Lesson 1: Plank
The second course in CDC Motorcycle 2A/2 Lesson 1 is plank. You need to stay on the plank for at least 8 seconds for class 2a and 10 second for class 2. There is an arrow on the road before the plank course. This arrow indicated that you need to signal left before you reach the arrow. When your bike is completely within the arrow on the ground, you need to check your left blindspot before you filter left into the plank course. After entering the plank course, remember to cancel the signal.
- To mount the plank, you need to align the bike straight in front of the plank when you are waiting for your turn to go onto the plank course.
- Once you have aligned the bike straight, accelerate hard to mount the plank. You need to accelerate hard because if you are too slow, your bike might wobble and the alignment with the plank will be off. You may want to lift your left leg up only when the bike is stable.
- You should be looking at the far end of the plank or at the cone when mounting the plank. If you look down, it is highly likely that you will not be able to mount the plank.
- Once you are on the plank, use the half clutch technique whereby you maintain half clutch so that the bike can continue to move forward.
- Remember that the key to balancing is to turn the handle bar left and right to stabilize the bike instead of leaning your body left and right. Another important thing is to grip the fuel tank tightly with your thigh instead of opening up for leg as this helps greatly to stabilise the moving bike on the plank.
Pylon Slalom
After clearing Plank course, you will be clearing the Pylon Slalom. Stop before the white line. To start the course, check back right first. Accelerate hard in first gear so that you can kick up to gear two before you reach the first cone. The key to clearing the course under 6 second is to be daring and bank more. The width of the crash bar is roughly the same as the handle bar. So you can ride pass the cone without the handlebar touching the cone, the rear should also be able to clear the cone. You should be looking at the exit instead of the cone. If you look at the cone, then you are likely to go toward the cone. Remember to check right blindspot when you cross the finishing line of the Pylon Slalom course as there is a right bend in front before you enter E-Brake.
For class 2a/2, you might find it slightly harder to maintain gear 2 for the course as the class 2a/2 motorcycle requires higher speed to prevent engine stalling at gear 2. My tip is to clutch in and then throttle whenever you feel that the engine is stalling.
Pls do try to complete all your theory lessons and tests as soon as possible to prevent any bottlenecking. Both theory and practical lesson can be cleared at the same time. Some learners progress were impeded as they are unable to book their next practical lesson due to not clearing their theory lessons and tests fast enough. Do visit this post to learn more about other CDC practical lessons.
As i am no longer learning in CDC, i might not be able to give the most updated information. Thus, i am forming a telegram group so that i can create a learner community to engage all CDC motorcycle learner whereby you all can share your learning experience and learn from each other. Do join the Telegram group by clicking here. The link is https://t.me/CDCMotorcycleLearner
Telegram is chosen instead of whatapp because it allows user to create username and hide your handphone number. Do consider to install telegram from google app store.
If you have any question or thing that you do not understand, you can contact via telegram or email. For faster response, please contact me via telegram or whatsapp. The QR code is the link to contact me via telegram. Telegram is messaging app for smartphone similar to whatapp.
