Hey mate.
Glad I inspired this a little
Okay, my riding started out of frustration at forking out £40 for a two hour lesson week on end for car lessons with some dozy bint who wouldn't get her act together.
I googled around for what 125cc bike I wanted... I'm young, male... that'd be a fast "sports" bike then. I settled on the Aprilia RS125 (A nippy two stroke bike that will upset an awful lot of cars, especially when it has a couple of L's strapped to it.)
Anyway, I found one at a dealer near me. Arranged to buy it and do my CBT through them.
The CBT consisted of being tought how to control a bike, use gears, balance, etc... It's all very easy once you've been on it for 30 minutes. The training lasted up until about 1PM, I got there at aroud 9AM. It's not all that long. Being a car driver will help, plenty of road sense already.
Anyway. I finished the training, put my certificate in my pocket, and that was it. I was free to leave the dealership on my new crotch rocket
Crapped myself. The acceleration was like nothing i'd felt before... thought my arms were going to be ripped from their sockets. - The feeling lasted about a week or two until I got used to it.
I'd like to think i'm a fairly decent rider now. Just ride defensively and you'll be fine. Always be checking the side streets and never assume a car has seen you, make sure you leave plenty of room to get yourself out of trouble if some tool pulls out on you.
I'll be doing my restricted license test in 10 days and will be moving up to a 400cc bike, which will, I hope... give me that arms out of their sockets feeling once again
Just do it mate. It'll change your life, and you'll love it