Professional instruction to pass your ICBC Motorcycle Road Test
Urban Rider specializes in preparing riders for the ICBC motorcycle road test. It is arguably what we do best and we take great pride in seeing the transformations in our students after just 2 lessons.
Our short, affordable, road test prep course (two 75 minute private lessons includes a video of your ride and the use of a school motorcycle for your road test) identifies the areas in your riding that need to improve in order to pass your class 6 road test on the first attempt. A byproduct of fixing these errors is that you also become a better, safer rider along the way.
To book a road test lesson, view the options on our course outlines page, check the calendar for available lesson times that fit your schedule, or go straight to the booking page and create an account.
I HAVE DECIDED TO TAKE A MOTORCYCLE ROAD TEST COURSE. TELL ME WHY I SHOULD CHOOSE URBAN RIDER’S COURSE INSTEAD OF GOING TO ANOTHER SCHOOL?
Taking professional training is always a good idea, and your odds of passing the road test will likely double regardless of which riding school you take lessons with. But here are some reasons why you might choose Urban Rider Motorcycle School over other options:
- FLEXIBLE PRACTICE TIMES. Urban Rider offers a variety of road test practice times, including Sunday afternoons, weekday mornings, afternoons and evenings. View a list of available practice times.
- PERSONAL ATTENTION. All of our road test lessons are 1-on-1, private lessons with our lead instructor, John Buddo. You get the instructor’s undivided attention throughout the entire lesson.
- VIDEO REVIEW. The riding portion (about 1 hour) of your first lesson is recorded on video, with complete commentary throughout the video of what you are doing right and which habits you need to improve on in order to pass your road test on the first attempt. This video allows you to see your actions from the same perspective as the ICBC road test examiner (following behind you) and to hear the recommendations of your instructor on your every move.
WHERE DOES THE TRAINING TAKE PLACE?
All of our motorcycle road test training takes place in BURNABY. ICBC motorcycle road tests are only conducted in a few locations and Burnaby is the closest location to the city of Vancouver that conducts motorcycle testing. Some riders ask us to travel to their city in order to conduct training on the roads where they will be tested, but we can’t do that for a number of reasons. First, ICBC examiners have countless routes that they might take a rider through during the test, and there is no way to predict this, so it doesn’t necessarily help to have the practice in your own city. If you feel strongly that this would be a benefit to you, then please consider hiring a riding school that offers motorcycle lessons in your city. After seven years of training thousands of riders on proper road test habits, our lead instructor has developed specific routes through Burnaby that will challenge even seasoned riders. These routes are designed to force the rider to repeat the actions that are marked on the test, over and over again. This brings out any possible errors or bad habits that could come up during the road test, and gives us a chance to correct them. If we conduct the practice test in Vancouver, or Port Coquitlam or Richmond, we will not be able to guarantee a route that mimicks the types of challenges that you will be put through again and again during your actual motorcycle road test.
WHAT ARE THESE HABITS THAT THE EXAMINER IS LOOKING FOR? AREN’T THEY KEPT SECRET?
The habits that are marked on the road test are not a secret. ICBC wants every examinee to be successful. The habits that are marked are the same habits that are clearly outlined in the Learn to Ride Smart PDF that can be downloaded from the ICBC website:
To review the habits, read ALL of Chapter 6 – See, Think, Do, or you can read the Urban Rider overview on our website blog: https://urbanridermoto.ca/icbc-motorcycle-road-test/
IF THE SECRETS AREN’T SECRET, THEN WHY DO I NEED LESSONS?
You will definitely be much closer to being ready to pass your motorcycle road test if you carefully read the chapter on See, Think, Do, however, taking road test lessons from a professional instructor will identify every instance where your bad habits show up. For example, when I explain to a student, who is also an avid cyclist, about the cyclist check that must be made on every right turn from a stop, they might insist that they always do this deep shoulder check, but within the first couple right turns, the truth comes to light! You might think that you are doing a particular requirement of the road test consistently, but with so many requirements, the only way to indentify these habits is through the eye of a professional instructor (which is essentially the position that you take when watching the video after the ride).
Another shortcoming of simply reading chapter 6 of the Learn to Ride Smart guide, is interpretation. As an instructor, I have attended hundreds of road tests in order to listen to the examiner’s instructions before the test, and the feedback they give after the test (not by eavesdropping! Instructors may be invited into the conversation by the student). This information has helped me to determine how to interpret the requirements of the test and to give specfic, detailed instructions to each of my road test students about which of their habits need to be fixed, and which ones are ok. Many times, a student will arrive to their first lesson after conducting much research on the road test and display habits that they intentionally created which would be certain to create a fail on the road test. Understanding why and when various shoulder checks should be conducted, and the differences between scanning, shoulder checking, and deep checks over the shoulder is imperative to creating habits that are designed to get you through the road test on your first try.