CBT explained: what it is, what you can ride and how long it lasts

CBT is training, not a test

The single most useful thing to understand about CBT is that nobody fails it in the way you can fail a driving test. There is no examiner marking a sheet and no pass rate to worry about. Your instructor works through a fixed syllabus with you and signs off each part only when you can do it safely and consistently. If that takes longer than a day, you come back and finish another day, usually for a reduced fee.

What you walk away with is a certificate of completion, form DL196. It is not a licence. It is proof that you have had the training the law requires before you ride on the road as a learner. You still need a provisional driving licence with the correct entitlement, insurance, tax, a valid MOT if the machine is old enough, and a helmet that meets British standards.

Because it is training rather than an exam, the honest advice is to treat it as your cheapest riding lesson rather than a box to tick. The instructor in front of you has watched thousands of new riders and will tell you more in six hours than a year of YouTube videos.

What happens on the day: the five elements

DVSA sets the syllabus, so the shape of the day is the same at every school in the country. It runs through five elements in order, and you cannot move on until the instructor is satisfied with the one before.

• Element A: introduction. The aims of the course, the eyesight requirement, and choosing suitable clothing and equipment. You will be asked to read a number plate at a set distance.
• Element B: practical on-site training. How the machine works, the daily and weekly checks you should be doing, and getting a feel for its weight and balance off the bike.
• Element C: practical on-site riding. The yard work. Moving off, stopping, changing gear, braking properly, slow control, U-turns, figure of eight, and above all the habit of looking behind you before you do anything.
• Element D: preparation for the road. The legal requirements, road positioning, separation distances, speed, weather and surface, and how to anticipate what other drivers are about to do.
• Element E: practical on-road riding. At least two hours out in real traffic with the instructor following on a radio link, taking in junctions, roundabouts, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, gradients and bends, plus a U-turn and an emergency stop.

Element E is the part people remember. Two hours is a minimum, not a target, and a good school will keep you out longer if the route has been quiet.

Who needs CBT and who is exempt

Almost everyone riding a moped or motorcycle on a provisional entitlement needs a valid CBT certificate. There are a handful of exemptions, and they are narrower than most people assume:

• You passed a car driving test before 1 February 2001, which gives you moped entitlement without CBT.
• You hold a full moped licence obtained by test from 1 December 1990 onwards.
• You already hold a full motorcycle licence in another category and are moving up.
• You live and ride on certain offshore islands.

If you passed your car test on or after 1 February 2001, your provisional moped entitlement is there, but you must complete CBT before using it. That catches out a lot of drivers in their twenties and thirties who assume a full car licence covers a 50cc scooter. It does not.

What you can ride once you have it

Your age on the day decides what the certificate unlocks. At 16 you can ride a moped: up to 50cc, limited to 4kW and a maximum design speed of 45km/h, which is about 28mph. At 17 you move up to a light motorcycle of up to 125cc producing no more than 11kW, which is roughly 15bhp.

Those limits are the whole reason the 125 class exists in the shape it does. Manufacturers build to exactly 11kW because that is the ceiling a CBT and A1 rider can legally use, which is why a modern 125 four-stroke tends to sit at 14 or 15bhp and top out somewhere in the seventies.

You can browse what is available right now: 125cc motorbikes for sale or mopeds and 50cc scooters. If you want a twist-and-go rather than gears, filter for automatic transmission on the search page.

The restrictions that catch people out

A CBT certificate is a learner permission, and the learner rules apply in full for as long as you rely on it.

• L plates front and rear at all times. In Wales you may use D plates instead.
• No pillion passengers. Not even another qualified rider, and not for a short trip.
• No motorways. Dual carriageways are fine, motorways are not.
• No towing a trailer.

The pillion rule is worth repeating because it is the one riders break most often, usually without realising it invalidates their insurance as well as breaking the law. If you want to carry someone, you need the full test.

Two years, and what happens when they run out

The certificate lasts two years from the date of completion. Within that window you must pass your full motorcycle test, or you go back and do CBT again before you can keep riding.

Plenty of riders simply repeat CBT every two years and stay on a 125 indefinitely. That is entirely legal, and for a city commuter with a short journey it can be the cheapest way to keep riding. But run the numbers over six years and three CBT courses cost more than the whole full-licence route, while leaving you with L plates, no pillion and no motorways. If you know you will still be riding in three years, taking the test is usually the better financial decision as well as the better riding one.

Note the other two-year clock: your theory test certificate is also valid for two years, and both practical modules must be passed inside that period. See the A1 licence guide for how the two clocks fit together.

What it costs and how to book

DVSA does not set the price of CBT. Training schools do, so it varies with location and with whether you use their machine or your own. Most UK schools charge somewhere in the region of £130 to £200 for a one-day course including bike hire, helmet and gloves, with London and the South East at the upper end. Always ask what is included: some quotes exclude bike hire, and some exclude the fuel.

Before you book, get your provisional driving licence, which costs £34 online. You can apply from the age of 15 years and 9 months, which means a 16th birthday moped plan can be organised well in advance.

Choose a school by talking to it rather than by price alone. Ask how many students per instructor (two is good, four is a long day of standing around), whether Element E goes out on roads you will actually ride, and what a second day costs if you need one.

Choosing your first bike

Buy the bike after the CBT, not before. A day on a school machine tells you more about whether you want gears or a twist-and-go than any amount of reading, and it costs you nothing to change your mind.

When you do buy, the practical priorities for a first bike are low seat height, light weight, a full service history and cheap insurance. Sports-styled 125s look the part and cost noticeably more to insure than the commuter equivalents with the same engine. A used bike with 8,000 miles and a stack of receipts is almost always a better first purchase than a nearly new one from an unknown seller.

Start with 125cc bikes for sale, or if you want automatic only, scooters and mopeds. You can also search by location so the test ride is a short trip.