[swe.desi]

"Avoid cliches like the plague", one of my favorite authors opines.

Therefore, doing as he does and not as he says I quote one such cliche.

Four wheels move the body; Two wheels move the soul!

This aptly captures the 'Why?' behind this journey I embarked upon in October of 2023, approximately seven months ago.

I'm extremely pleased to share my experience of ...

The Swedish Heavy Motorcycle A Driving License - (Körkort Motoryckel A)


In a nutshell, the following steps need to be completed to obtain a Motorcycle license in Sweden -

1. An eye test
2. A learners permit
3. Risk 1 (theory on risks associated with riding a motorcycle, causes of accidents, statistics, etc.)
4. Risk 2 (riding control, riding in hazardous conditions, obstacle avoidance, weaving, hard braking, etc.)
5. Theory Exam
6. Practical Exam (Maneuvers and Street riding)

SuperMax has a superbly detailed post on the process here (Getting a heavy motorcycle licence (A) in Sweden).

Getting the car license was sensible, but this? This was purely passion. And passions did indeed run high and low, as you will come to read.

The idea of getting the motorcycle license shuffled between the back burner and the deep-freezer several times since I moved to Sweden in the Autumn of 2019. Covid did not help matters any. The odds seemed stacked against me with this one. Consider the following; the riding exam only take place between May and October, the theory exam is only in Swedish, the examinee has to get their own bike for the exam, lessons with a school are expensive and sell out fast, yada yada!

This was not an easy recipe, but having had enough of excuses and not enough of motorcycling in my life I rolled up my sleeves and started cooking in earnest.

That's the end of kitchen metaphors. I think.

The Chronology

To appear for the practical one has to have passed the Theory. To appear for the theory exam one has to have completed Risk 1 and Risk 2. Risk 1 & and Risk 2 can be done in any order, and they're different from the Risk courses for a Car.

Risk 1 & Risk 2 -> Theory -> Practical -> Licensed to Rev!


In the August of 2023 I realised the need to plan if I wanted my MC license. The riding season of '23 was swiftly coming to a close. If I wanted to appear for the exam in May of '24 I would need to complete Risk 2 before the end of October '23, prepare for the theory through the winter to attempt the exam in March or April of '24, and hope to get an early slot in May. This was the rough plan.

Tick-Tock! The clock was ticking.

A few hours days of manic googling later I had identified the riding schools in Gothenburg, the prices involved, the Risk 1 providors, the Risk 2 course providor, and the fact that everything was in Swedish. There was absolutely no support for English.

As they say in the Soulsborne circles, it was time for me to "git gud" at Swedish. But that's a different story.

Risk 1

I booked a Risk 1 class which I could attend after work, price and timing were the only considerations here. Since the class was in Swedish, and at this point I could only understand basic sentences most of the class was spent nodding and frowning intently. Any efforts to communicate from my side were met with confused frowns. There was serious risk of sprained eye brows. My attentiveness in the class and participation, pantomimed and flawed as it were, was enough to ensure I cleared the first hurdle. To be fair, it would take serious skill to fail this one.

Prior to taking a Risk 2 I had taken a lesson with a school to understand their perspective on whether I was ready for Risk 2. That was on a BMW 750GS, and the instructor was happy enough to recommend I go for it. I was happy to be riding after months.

Risk 2

Risk 2 was more straightforward to book. There is only one place in Gothenburg that I'm aware of that offers the course (Stora Holm). I booked the second last course of the year, and as luck would have it, it was a rainy day. The school had a bunch of Yamaha's, mostly MT-07's and a few MT-09's. The school also provides all the gear so all I had to do was show up. There were 5 people in all, and after changing into our gear we had a brief which consisted of introductions, some basic safety information, and information on the activities for the day. Again, I was mostly nodding, pantomining, or speaking in a deeply mutated form of Swedish. After the brief we were led onto the course which comprised of riding in different maneuvers like slalom, u-turns, braking, etc. The instructors watched us and then provided input where needed. We also practised panic braking and tried to activate the ABS on both wheels. All in all it was a really fun time riding the MT07, an extremely refined bike with a very approachable power delivery and seat height. Most riding schools use the MT07 as their learner bikes.

The easy part was done, and I could now appear for the theory exam. I now had all winter to brush up my Swedish and study the theory, just as planned.

So obviously I procrastinated.

...

[swe.desi]

I booked the theory exam for the 5th of April, and purchased a three month membership on one of the license theory portals (https://www.ikorkortmc.se/). These portals provide the theory and practice exams which are similar to the real thing. The idea was to read through the theory and take as many practice exams as possible. The reality was I had to rely heavily on Google Translate, reading every paragraph of the theory once in English, immediately followed by reading in Swedish, making notes of the Swedish words in a wordlist with their English meanings, rinse & repeat. It was long, slow, and arduous process. And never did I feel truly confident. In fact, I had made up my mind to treat the first attempt like a practice test.

In the meanwhile, I also had to start practice riding. Fortunately, a friend and fellow motorcycle enthusiast volunteered to be my instructor. We registered online & in five minutes we were good to go. All I needed now was a motorcycle to practice riding and to take the exam on.

I had been scouring Sweden's version of ebay called blocket for weeks. I needed a bike with at least a minimum of 595cc volume & 0.25 kW/kg power to weight ratio to qualify for the heavy license. This would allow me to ride any motorcycle. However, this also meant that the choices within my budget were severely limited, and coupled with my preference for an off-road biased machine which didn't break my bank every excursion into the land of second-hand deals was akin to a man looking for an oasis in the desert whilst being surrounded by tantalizing mirages.

Eventually I ended up finding & purchasing this, my Triumph Tiger 800 xCa 2017.



(There will be another post on the whole buying process and we will focus on the license in this one. )

The following weeks were chock-full of work, planning and actually doing the practice riding, home chores, and studying for the theory at night.

The theory exam by far was my main concern. I knew the rules, but not knowing a word or mis-remembering a meaning meant I was getting more answers wrong than I would have liked.

I kept my nose on the grindstone, and soon it was time for the theory exam. Feeling less than confident I gave my attempt. The exam is a multiple choice question format and I was feeling quite confident. I had blanked on a road sign, and knew I missed a couple of questions but at this point I was more hopeful than when before I started. Unfortunately I didn't clear my first attempt. I missed passing by two marks. A quick post-mortem brough me to the realization that I spent more time with the theory in Swedish, and didn't do a revision of the road signs which I thought I knew well enough. Simultaenously over and under confident.

On the way back home I booked another theory exam a week later. I knew exactly what I had to focus on, and I spent my evenings reading the theory again, making a Swedish word list on my phone with English meanings, and taking as many practise exams as I could. The exam rolled up and this time I passed it. With two marks!

I was elated! In my mind this was the greatest hurdle and the cat was almost in the bag. Little did I know.

[14000rpm]

Great stuff there @swe.desi. quite an experience.
Congratulations on the Triumph and happy riding.
Good luck for rest of the process.

[swe.desi]

With just four-ish short weeks left before the practical exam I had to cram in as much practice as possible for the maneuvers part. The riding exam consists of two parts - maneuvers and city riding. The maneuvers are slow speed riding, high speed evasive and slalom, and high speed emergency braking. The city riding is where the examiner follows you on their own motorcycle and gives direction over an intercom, and you are judged on road regulations, positioning, navigation, etc. Only after passing the maneuvers can one proceed for the city riding.

The important thing for me to focus on were the maneuvers. Since I was learning privately it complicated matters not only from a logistics perspective, and also that we didn't have the best idea of what the examiners were looking for. The schools will teach you the 'right' way of performing the maneuvers, the things to the examiners look for. This came back to bite my in the ass big time.

Talking about logistics, my bike was parked in my friends garage which made sense since I could only ride when accompanied by him. The problem was he lives 40 kilometers away. On occasions I would hitch a ride with him after work, get in an hour or two of riding, then take public transport back home. On weekends I would take public transport both ways. This meant a train and a bus ride, which usually added up to an hour each way. After meeting my friend at his place we would ride down to the practice track nearby. This practice area was essentially a dead end street where the course had been graffitied on to the tarmac.

Coming to the actual riding complications- I had just got a bike completely new to me. Much heavier than my previous ride, a Duke 390, and with very different riding characteristics. The first day of practice were terrible on the slow speed maneuvers. My friend instructed me to practice garage turns as slow as possible without putting my feet down. It went terribly. I had never actually tried to ride slow before. The bike wanted to tip over at every chance, and indeed I did drop it on the first day of practice. Thanks to crash guards it didn't hurt as much as it could have.

Any one can ride fast, It takes skill to ride slow.

Eventually I began to understand the bike better and found the balance and the ever important precision on the clutch and throttle. The high speed maneuvers were better and I quickly got comfortable dancing with the bike on the slalom.

The emergency braking was no problem at all. Accelerate up to 70 kmph and brake as your life depends on it, then do it again from 90.

The evening before the exam we rode down to town and parked the motorcycle at the office garage with an agreement to meet at 7 AM the following day.

I was quite nervous but managed to get a good nights sleep, keeping negative thoughts at bay. Thoughts like, "Oh! You bought an expensive motorcycle before you cleared the exam? That's quite gutsy. Or foolish. Well, better not fail tomorrow or you'll a bike you can't ride. Alright, sleep well"



It was finally exam day.

[supermax]

Originally Posted by swe.desi

It was finally exam day.

Dude! What a cliff-hanger you've left us on! I'm sure you wouldn't have started writing this post had you not cleared, but still Ekta Kapoor style cliffhangers are too much man!
Many congratulations on your A license, and looking forward to reading the rest of your post!

[swe.desi]

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

Good luck for rest of the process.

Thanks so much, 14000rpm. The cat is in the bag. The rest of the process is proving to be most difficulty - actually getting the experience down in words and shared here quickly enough!

Originally Posted by supermax

Dude! What a cliff-hanger you've left us on! I'm sure you wouldn't have started writing this post had you not cleared, but still Ekta Kapoor style cliffhangers are too much man!

Super perspective of you, supermax! Thank you, and I'll try to speed it up.

[supermax]

Originally Posted by swe.desi

Super perspective of you, supermax! Thank you, and I'll try to speed it up.

Check your private message .
I was in Gothenburg last month, matter of fact, with my mother, and had a great time in your city. Looking forward to catching up with you on my next visit there.

[swe.desi]

I woke up a few minutes before my alarm; pressing snooze was not on the agenda today. I got ready with a consciously measured pace and left home with plenty of time. My friend and I had agreed the best course of action would be to meet at the office garage and then ride from there together to the exam location. So we had parked the bike in the office garage the evening before. I rode the bus into work, albeit much earlier than normal and with a tad more excitement than normal work days. I had to hoof it a kilometer or so with my gear which was not ideal since the sun had already been out for a couple of hours at 6:30AM. That's the Swedish summer for you.

My friend reached a minute after me, right at the agreed upon time and we rolled out for the exam stopping to fill up some fuel on the way. The test location is outside the city and we reached there with plenty of time to spare.

The waiting hall had a few tables and chairs, a few shelves to keep helmets and gear. There were small whiteboards on the tables with names written on them. Examinees were divided in groups of four and the names were in the sequence in which the hopefuls would perform the maneuvers. I found my name and took my seat, saying hello to the others. I was third on the list which was not great because it just meant more waiting around, which meant more nerves. Blah! My buddy/trainer was waiting right along with me.

This is how the events go at one of these things -

1. Everyone parks their motorcycles in the designated parking spot near the testing area and wait their turn at the main building. When they are next they can go to the parking and prepare for their ride.
2. The first rider goes out to the spot near the slow speed maneuvers. The examiners walk along side with tablets in their hands to conduct the exam.
3. The slow crawl area is performed first. There can be a retry if you put feet down, but it's preferable to keep below 5 kmph, and ideal if the speedometer doesn't go above 0!
4. The high speed maneuver (green) is performed next. Accelerate up to 50kmph, do the moose avoidance, flow into the slalom, drop speed and perform a U-turn, speed back up to 50 and then perform an emergency brake between the cones.
5. Perform emergency stops from 70kmph and 90 kmph.
6. The examiners provide your result immediately after this on whether you can go ahead for the road exam, or go home.

Curiosity meant we were looking at the maneuvers being performed while getting baked in the heat on the tarmac and concrete lot. Most of the folk there were with schools and were on MT07s. There were few privately trained riders as well. And roughly half (or more) were failing the first part of the exam! The most unfortunate of the lot was a young boy riding for the A1 (light mc) exam. During inspection of this motorcycle it was identified that the tire did not have enough tread depth and he was not allowed to ride. Straight up disqualified due to the bike not passing inspection. Yes, they are THAT strict.

It was my turn eventually. I got myself kitted up and rode out to the starting spot. The examiner didn't take more than a cursory look at my bike and asked me to perform the slow speed test. I had practiced this a lot and was quite comfortable with it. In my mind it went swimmingly with no feet-downs, no excessive accelerator wringing, not much braking.

Onward to the high speed test. I accelerated smoothly up to 50, disengaged the gas to maintain 50, did the avoidance. I arrived the first cone at 50 in third and had to keep letting go of the gas to maintain the speed so as not to speed up too much. Performed the U-turn and made my way back, braking hard at the mark.

It felt good.

Next was the emergency braking and that was just speeding up and stopping quickly, nothing much to write about.

The examiner then asked me to stop near the parking area and said, "Din körning är underkänd"

"You have failed."

[supermax]

Oh my goodness! There was a twist in the tale that I didn't see coming. If I had to guess, I'd say it was something in the part that you thought wasn't much to write about!

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by swe.desi

"You have failed."

What a bummer. So Close yet so far. Call me for more such Sympathies.
what next? do you know what went wrong? When can you go back for re-test?

[swe.desi]

I didn't want to believe what I was hearing. My mind was numb as the examiner went on to explain what went well and what went wrong. My hopes and dreams were literally crashing down, but for him it was just another Wednesday.

My buddy was nearby and he had overheard. I could see my disappointment reflected on his face. I felt I had failed him as much as myself. When I got off my bike and we spoke he tried to cheer me up, and we rode back to his home to park the bike again. We were going to be training more. In the back of our minds this was always an eventuality, there was no reason for my friend to stay back otherwise.

We returned to my friends house, and throughout the journey I kept replaying the events in my mind. He offered me a coffee and we cheered each other up, our usual brand of dark humor replaced by more fitting gallows humor. There was need for some serious retrospection and introspection. Not to mention, more targeted practice.

I checked the trafikverket website while on the train ride home to see if there were any slots available, but without much hope. The season had been booked solid and I didn't expect anything before July. My inner voice was debating whether to sell the motorcycle or be content with riding with a chaperone, neither alternative was much fun to think about.

Luckily I found a slot for Thursday the following week, and immediately booked it. I also booked another riding lesson with the school.

Now, alone with my thoughts I could ponder upon the exam feedback and what went wrong. The feedback, which, as far as I could understand it, was that I used the rear brake too much on the slow course, let go of the accelerator on the high speed course whereas I should have maintained a constant grip while performing the maneuvers, and I also kept my foot on the rear brake so the brake light was active. The last one was a bad habit that snuck back in unnoticed under stress.

So that was it, I had not done the maneuvers in the way they were "expected" to be done. I credit this to only having taken two classes with a riding school and therefore did not have the sufficient guidance I needed. My friend had gotten his license a long, long time back and I don't blame him in the least on not being aware on the current state of things. I became lackadaisical and a tad overconfident with my preparation. Finally, not speaking Swedish fluently robbed me of the opportunity to educate myself better from the helpful videos and articles on the net.

To recap -

For the low speed maneuver it was important to not use the front brake so as not to upset the balance of the bike, manipulate the speed as far as possible with the clutch and accelerator, use the rear brake when needed to bring the speed down, and look where I wanted to turn, not where I was turning.



For the high speed maneuver it was important to keep the acceleration steady throughout the maneuver, no gas-on gas-off shenanigans, dance with the bike through the slalom, decelerate smoothly for the U-turn and accelerate back up to 50 on the way back.



Now that I had been back to the drawing board, it was time to put my nose back to the grindstone. It was the same punishing schedule again, running around in the heat with gear to get the practice in. The next few days were spent on targeted practice and polish till the maneuvers are second nature.

If I sounded bitter at any point in this retelling, I assure you I was not. At the end of the day I was riding and exploring on two wheels, and was thankful for that.

But the heart yearns more, and it was with that yearning I looked forward for the second attempt, and my chance at redemption.

[14000rpm]

Nice catching up in Gothenburg after a long time.

Thats quite an experience you've had. Nice to hear the whole story and your resilience.

Lovely bike you have. It is indeed way more comfortable than the GS1250 that I last tried.



Happy riding.

[swe.desi]

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

Nice catching up in Gothenburg after a long time.

Yes, it was really nice catching up with you as well, Avinash. Thanks so much, it was indeed a humbling experience. Hopefully I can complete typing out the experience in a couple more posts.

[swe.desi]

The 23rd of May swung by quickly enough. As before, we had practiced for an hour or so after office and then rode back to town to park my bike in the office garage. As before, we agreed to meet at 7 the next morning.

I reached home, had a quick dinner, prepared everything for the next day, and went to bed only to lie awake trying to hold the door on the intrusive thoughts trying to break in. I slept well, thankfully, and even managed to scarf down some breakfast before heading by bus to the office.

I must have been quite a sight on the bus, wearing riding jeans and boots, carrying my riding jacket and my helmet-gloves in a bag. I reached office with only a minor SNAFU which was quickly rectified, and spirits unaffected. My buddy showed up right on time, as usual.

We departed to the proving grounds promptly, riding cautiously and arrived well in time.

The maneuver test

This time around I was the first in my group so there was no time for nerves. The usual ID check and briefing took place and then it was time to gear up and report at the first zone.

The instructor checked the motorcycle information: the power, weight, registration, and insurance. He was a friendly guy and asked a couple of questions about the bike and how it was to ride, and he didn't seem to mind that my Swedish was broken.

The slow speed maneuver went very well. I maintained a very low speed throughout and remembered not to drag the brake relying almost entirely on the clutch and accelerator manipulations. Got a thumbs up as I reached the stop, the instructor already starting to walk towards the next zone.

The high speed maneuver was where I had failed the last time. The instructor asked me to swerve to the left. When he waved I started off and somewhere in the middle a couple of wires got crossed in my mind and I fixated on the cones and rode straight on.

Screaming internally, I turned around. A minor expletive or two might have been screamed into the void which was my helmet.

Fortunately he did not fail me instantly, but showed me where I had to swerve. I went again and then the maneuver went perfectly. I rev'd up in first gear, felt for the right RPM and shifted to second, then opened the throttle smoothly and shifted to third. A quick glance at the speedo to check I was hovering around 50. Held the accelerator and I performed a counter-steered swerve to the left then back again to the center, positioning my body for the slalom.

I swung around the first cone, shifting my body weight for the second, the third, fourth, and final fifth cone, counter steering left and right and shifting my body for the best balance. I dropped speed after the fourth cone and geared down to first gear, braking and turning smoothly within the box, trying to get as close to the outside cone as possible. This gives a straight line to accelerate before hitting the cone for the slalom again. On the way back I accelerated and shifted gears with the cones. At the first cone I shifted to second gear, revved up again and shifted to third gear at the second cone, and maintained speed for the rest. At the end braked hard at the red cones and came to a stop.

Got another thumbs up and moved on to the the braking test, which was really straightforward - accelerated to 70km/h and used both brakes aggressively (enough for the ABS to activate) at the cone and came to a stop. Repeat for 90km/h.

The instructor then informed me I had passed the first step, and to say I was well and truly chuffed would be an understatement. My buddy who had been watching understood and was grinning from ear-to-ear. I parked my bike and we hugged and high-fived and were basically giddy like teenage girls at an Elvis concert for ten minutes straight. He then left for office saying he will see me there since I would be able to ride back by myself. No pressure.

I waited for the rest of the group to complete the maneuvers, and it was eventually time to go for the street riding test. The instructor had geared up and was riding a BMW 850GS.

Driving in and outside urban areas

For the street riding exam instructions are provided over an intercom strapped on to the helmet, the speakers and mic velcroed on to the helmet lining. The examiner rides behind and would say a street name, or a highway number, or a turn to take in succession and the rider acknowledges by saying yes. It's up to the rider to decide how best to follow the instructions. It can be a bit unnerving feeling the eyes on your back, but the best advise I got was to forget there's anyone there and follow the instructions provided by the disembodied voice. Aakashwaani, if you will.


We started off, the instructors voice clear in my helmet and vice-versa.

- Exit and take a right turn.

Ok, the exit rule applied, I waited for the road to be clear, then swung out and occupied the middle of the lane, that's the safest spot for the motorcycle. Settled at around 50km/h, the speed for built-up areas and kept scanning further down for road signs and crossings.


- Follow E6 to Malmö

Ok, E6 would be a green board for European highway and that meant I had to merge into traffic moving at 90 - 100 km/h. I was already in the right most lane so simply indicated out and got on the ramp. Dropped a gear and accelerated to reach highway speeds and match the traffic, checked the mirrors, indicated merging onto the highway, checked the mirrors again, turned my head to check the blind spot and shifted lanes, ending up again in the center of the lane.


- Follow the signs to Säve.

Ok, Säve would be on a white signboard, there were three lanes so I scanned ahead to see which lane I had to be in, identified and shifted to the correct lane.

And so it went, a series of instructions and a series of acknowledgements. It really was the easier part of the exam for me.

Redemption

We arrived back at the test site, I parked my bike, and the instructor said, Din körning är godkänd. Your drive has been approved. Such sweet music to my ears. There might as well have been a choir of cherubs accompanied by orchestral harps playing in the background. All the hours of studying, practicing, running around, fretting, and failing had lead to this moment. This was my redemption.

He went on to say I will receive a mail in a few minutes, and I can ride on my own now. In case the Traffic Police or a Tarffic Warden stops me for a check I can show the email and ID card. Then he tapped up my result in his tab, and hey-presto, I received the mail and was good to go.

I handed over the intercom to the person riding after me, took a short breather, and headed straight to office. Gave my buddy a call and had another quick round of celebrations. From there it was on to home and to park the bike at its spot which had been waiting ready for a week.

Getting this license would not have been possible without the support system I had.

I doubt I can convey the gratitude I have towards my friend or repay him in some form. On the occasions that I've tried he says he doesn't want anything in return and that he's happy to have another rider on the streets, and being a riding buddy for those twisty country roads and forested gravel tracks is all I need to do.


I'm A-Okay with that.

[swe.desi]

Hello Folks!

Here's a short video I cobbled together from one of my practice sessions.

https://youtu.be/77ISWYMdCmY?feature=shared

The first two clips are basic garage turns, third is the high speed maneuver, and and the final clip is me dropping bye the office to say hello to my buddy after having cleared the exam.