Even if you are thinking of going to a driving school to get a motorcycle license, there are many things you don't know, such as how much it will cost to get a motorcycle license for the first time, what you will have to do, whether you can get Heavy Motorcycle right away, and what you need.
Here we will answer any questions you may have about attending such a driving school, and also provide you with information that you may lose out on if you don't know it.

Is that driving school actually a waste of money? How to choose a driving school

Things may vary depending on the driving school! ? First, check your eligibility for admission.

The age limit for admission to driving schools varies by driving school, ranging from 15 to 18 years old.

Regular Motorcycle license can be obtained from the age of 16.
In other words, if you want to get your license at a driving school, you need to enroll at the earliest a few months before your 16th birthday, and be 16 years old on the day you take Final Driving Test (the exam taken at graduation). However, please note that depending on the driving school, the rules may vary, such as you can only enroll after you turn 16, or you can only enroll if you are 18 or over.

How tall do you need to be to get a motorcycle license?

Also, when it comes to motorcycles, we often get asked, "I'm only XX cm tall, can I still enter?" which is a very difficult question to answer.
Whether or not you can actually reach the ground when straddling the bike depends not only on your height and leg length, but also on the seat height of the training vehicle you are using and how much the rear wheel suspension sinks due to your weight, so it is difficult to give a general answer. Therefore, we would recommend that you come to the driving school once and actually straddle the bike to be sure.
In fact, a female acquaintance of mine who is 142 cm tall was able to obtain Heavy Motorcycle license in the past, so just because you are short does not necessarily mean you cannot obtain one.

Please do not give up just because you tried it at one driving school and it didn't work. The car model used may differ depending on the driving school, and even within the same car model, the seat height may vary slightly depending on the settings. Furthermore, some driving schools have training cars with significantly lowered specifications (lower vehicle height) for smaller people.

Even if you obtain the same license, the training fees vary depending on the driving school. What is the difference?

Even though it is the same license, the fees can vary greatly depending on the driving school. The content and hours of training at designated driving schools are stipulated by law, so there are almost no significant differences, but in the case of motorcycles, the cost of training at the driving school can vary greatly depending on the course. It's coming.

I won't go into detailed criteria, but I'll give you a rough idea: [If the motorcycle course is larger than a certain size and is completely separated so that four-wheelers cannot enter] [If the two-wheeler course is larger than a certain size] There are three types: when four wheels and two wheels run together; and when the two-wheel course is less than a certain size and four wheels and two wheels run together; and the same for one instructor (driving school teacher). The number of students allowed to train at the same time varies.

For example, even if five instructors are engaged in motorcycle training at the same time, the driving school with the first course can teach a maximum of 23 students, while the driving school with the last course can only teach a maximum of 10 students. Therefore, the training fee can be more than double.
On the other hand, since one instructor will be looking after multiple students, it is inevitable that they will not be able to give as much individual attention or advice to each student. If you want the instructor to keep a close eye on you or you want lessons in an environment that is closer to actual roads, it may be a good idea to choose a driving school that does not have a dedicated course and instead provides mixed lessons, even though it will be more expensive.

Don't just compare prices; make the most of great discounts inside and outside the driving school.

Maybe it's not published on the web? Take advantage of driving school discounts

When comparing driving school prices, please be careful about discounts. There are discounts for driving schools based on various conditions, such as discounts for introducing friends and when multiple people apply at the same time.

Especially if you have a regular car license, please contact the driving school where you obtained your regular car license. You may be able to get a significant discount from the amount published on the website with alumni discounts.

Make the most of discounts outside the driving school

Discounts also exist outside of driving schools. For example, motorcycle shops offer discounts of tens of thousands of dollars off the purchase price of motorcycles to those who newly obtain a motorcycle license under the name of a license acquisition support campaign. You may have to apply before entering the driving school, so be sure to check before entering!

I also need to check other things, what are the costs other than the minimum training fee?

Next, pay attention to the guarantee and shuttle bus of the driving school. If there is no guarantee, even if it seems cheap at first, the extra lesson fees may add up and end up being expensive.
Also, if there is no shuttle bus from the nearest school and you plan to commute by train, you should also take into consideration the cost of the train.
No matter how efficiently you book your lessons, you will end up visiting the school about 10 times, so the round-trip transportation costs will be 10 times higher. Even if the school has a low tuition fee, it may be more expensive than a nearby school when you factor in the transportation costs.

The cheapest way to get Heavy Motorcycle without Regular Motorcycle license

"Suddenly large" is legally OK, but...

First of all, legally speaking, it is possible to obtain Heavy Motorcycle license even if you do not have Regular Motorcycle license. However, since the training hours that must be taken will increase, the total training time will be approximately the same as if you had taken Regular Motorcycle in order. Therefore, even if you skip Regular Motorcycle training process and suddenly enroll in a driving school to acquire Heavy Motorcycle, the training fee will not be much cheaper.

So how can you get it cheaply?
This is a bit of a trick that requires some skill, but you can get just Regular Motorcycle license and then immediately take the one-shot test for Heavy Motorcycle license at a testing center.

The difficult part of obtaining a license is "legal driving"

This is because the most difficult part of obtaining a license is the ``legal driving'' part, which involves driving in accordance with the law. If you have a regular driver's license, it's easy to imagine that you should give a signal several meters before the intersection, check for safety, change course, check again for safety, and then turn. That's what it is.

If you have just completed Regular Motorcycle training and received your license, you should still have a good understanding of legal riding, so you should be able to do this part, which is the part most likely to result in points being deducted, very well.
You just need to do the same thing for the test at the testing center, so if you were able to pass Final Driving Test for Regular Motorcycle with ease, I think you will have a high chance of passing the test at the testing center.

If you find it difficult to take Regular Motorcycle Final Driving Test at a driving school, it is better to give up and get Heavy Motorcycle certification at the driving school, but if you can pass the test at the driving school in one try, you can also take the certification course after passing. The cost of acquiring Heavy Motorcycle is only 22,750 yen. You can get your license much cheaper than getting it at a driving school.

MT license recommendation

AT motorcycles are not good at turning in tight corners.

When it comes to motorcycle licenses, I strongly recommend obtaining one for manual transmission.
This is because when obtaining a motorcycle license, there are often situations that require you to make tight turns, such as slaloms, figure eight maneuvers, and U-turns.
To obtain a driver's license limited to automatic transmissions, training will be conducted on a so-called big scooter. However, due to the characteristics of the vehicle, it has better straight-line stability than manual transmission vehicles, but is not as good at turning in tight spaces, so it is not very suitable for clearing these types of training challenges.

AT motorcycles have excellent stability, but...

So, are they suitable for lessons at low speeds where stability is required? You might be wondering, but in fact, unlike regular cars, automatic motorcycles are structurally different and do not have the "creep phenomenon" where the body slowly moves forward even without opening the throttle.
Therefore, in order to move the vehicle forward, it is necessary to open the throttle to a certain extent, but it is quite difficult to "maintain a low speed while opening the throttle just enough to engage the clutch and move the vehicle." In reality, you slow down using the rear brake while opening the throttle, but if you accidentally close the throttle too much, the power will suddenly not be transmitted to the tires and you will lose balance.

<Even if it is not available before then>
Even if we ignore these, unlike ordinary cars, there is an overwhelming demand for motorcycle licenses with manual transmissions rather than automatic transmissions, and there are driving schools that do not have automatic training cars and those that charge the same fee for both MT and AT training cars. Therefore, even if you intend to only drive automatic transmissions after obtaining your license, we recommend that you obtain a license with a manual transmission.

Clutch operation on motorcycles is performed using the lever on the left hand. Since the clutch is operated with the fingers of the hand, which provides more delicate control than with the foot, it is possible to control the clutch more delicately than with a car that is operated with the foot.

If you're someone who says, "Actually, I was trying to get a regular car with a manual transmission, but I couldn't operate the clutch properly so I changed to an AT midway through," why not give it another try when it comes to motorcycles?

What you need to enroll in a driving school and what to do at the school

Required documents and equipment vary depending on the driving school

Required documents vary depending on the driving school and prefecture.

First, regarding the required documents, the documents required for admission actually differ slightly depending on the driving school and the Public Safety Commission that has jurisdiction over the prefecture where the driving school is located.

When you think of getting a license, you may think that you need a residence card, but depending on the driving school you may not need it if you have another license, so be sure to check in advance to avoid wasting your money. Sho. In addition, you will need another form of identification other than your residence card, but some prefectures and driving schools require an insurance card or passport, while others may accept a student ID or utility bill. What you can do is different.

About motorcycle equipment

Regarding motorcycle equipment, regulations vary from school to school, but at the very least, a helmet and gloves are required. If the school lends them out, that's fine, but if they don't, you'll need to bring your own.
Helmets in particular can cost tens of thousands of yen, but in any case, you will need them once you get your license and start driving your own motorcycle, so don't think of them as "an increase in the cost of obtaining a license."
Also, don't buy something just for the sake of getting your license, but choose something that is reliable. (It's a different story if you only get a license and don't drive it, but I don't think there are many people like that.)

About helmets

Please note that full-face helmets (including system helmets) or jet-type riding helmets that can be used for vehicles of 125cc or more are acceptable for training. Items that are not for riding, such as those used for construction work (items that do not have the PSC mark), or items that can only be used for 125cc or less(items that say 0.125ℓ or less) cannot be used in lessons.

Domestic riding helmets always have this PSC mark.

Also, please note that if you are using a helmet with a mirror shield or smoke shield, you may not be able to use it during training, or even if you can use it, you will be asked to open the shield. (Because the instructor cannot confirm the line of sight)

Mirror shields are not allowed in lessons because they prevent the driver from seeing the line of sight.

In the case of the driving school I went to, lessons were possible as long as the doors were open like this.

About gloves

Some driving schools allow you to wear work gloves. To be honest, work gloves are fine for the driving school, but like a helmet, you will need them later, and for safety in case of a fall, it is better to wear proper leather gloves.
Gloves range from around 2,000 yen to several tens of thousands of yen, but honestly, as long as they are made of sturdy leather, a cheap pair will suffice. When using them at a driving school, you won't be going very fast, so it's okay to prioritize ease of use.

If you are concerned about safety even after you get your driver's license, I think it is best to use something that has good protection on the palm side of your wrist, such as a patch. (I often rub the parts.)

this part

It's safe to have a fist guard like this on the back of your hand.

Wear a chest protector for safety

Also, as a slight aside, if you are concerned about safety, you should also wear a chest protector.
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's statistics on fatal motorcycle accidents in Tokyo in 2017, approximately 27% of fatalities were caused by chest injuries, followed by head injuries.
The remaining parts of the body except the head and chest account for less than 10% of cases, and these two areas alone account for 75% of cases. It can be purchased for about 3,000 yen and can be worn under a jacket so that it is not noticeable, so we recommend wearing it for safety.

Something like this. It will not be noticeable if you attach it to the inside of your riding jacket.

Will there be on-road training or high-speed training? Driving Lessons by actually driving a motorcycle

Road lessons on a motorcycle with your body exposed can be scary.
Don't worry, motorcycle training does not involve going out on actual roads or on highways.

Therefore, there is no need to obtain a provisional license to ride on the road, so there is no provisional license for motorcycles. Of course, there is no need to pay the issuance fee for a provisional license to the government.

The first stage of skill training is basic operation and basic driving, and the second stage is advanced driving, starting with how to raise a fallen motorcycle and parking it, and basic operations by actually riding a motorcycle. We will also provide training on methods such as slalom, cranking, and sudden braking.

Even if it is not necessary? Subject (writing) lessons

Regarding academic training, if you only have a moped license or if you have no license at all, you will need to take it, but if you have a regular driver's license, you will only have one period.

The first class is part of a set of lessons on hazard prediction, in which participants ride in regular cars on an actual course to learn about blind spots when viewed from a regular car, and how motorcycles appear from a regular car.
Although it is considered a departmental class, it is held outdoors rather than in a classroom, so I don't think it really feels like a departmental class.

Also, for those who need to take academic classes, as mentioned above, this is a license without a provisional license, so there is no need to pass the written test for a provisional license in order to proceed to the second stage.

When is the best time to enter a driving school?

Notes on summer lessons

You might think, ``If you ride a motorcycle, you'll feel good in the wind, so wouldn't it be nice in the summer?'' However, the truth is, it gets hotter than you might imagine while riding a motorcycle.

To prevent injuries from falls at the driving school, students must wear long sleeves and long pants during motorcycle lessons. This doesn't change even if it's midsummer.

It's like wearing long sleeves, long pants, and a helmet in the middle of summer and being exposed to strong wind from an electric fan.In addition, there's even a stove called "Engine" right in front of you. Can you imagine how hot it will be?

Be especially careful! winter lessons

The most important thing to avoid is training in the winter. If there is snow or ice on the road, it will not be possible to conduct lessons in the first place, and even if lessons can be held, it will be extremely cold.

In particular, the biggest problem is cold hands that are directly hit by the wind while driving. If you are stiff, you will not be able to perform driving operations properly, especially clutch operations with your left hand that require delicate adjustments of force, and if you wear thick gloves to protect yourself from the cold, they will also hinder the movement of your fingers. Masu.

This is what a rugged winter glove looks like. Because the movement of the fingers is inhibited, detailed operations are more difficult than in the summer version.

These are the most maneuverable racing gloves I own. You can see the difference in the thickness of the fabric when you compare it to the one for winter riding around town.

Additionally, on cold roads, tire grip decreases, increasing the risk of falling, and sudden braking becomes more difficult than on warmer days.

Spring and fall admissions are recommended!

It depends on how long it will take you to graduate, but spring and fall are recommended times to take lessons. It's a perfect time of year, neither too hot nor too cold, so it's perfect for two-wheeled lessons where your body is in direct contact with the outside air.

Also, in the case of motorcycles, if you do not graduate from the driving school within nine months at the latest after enrolling, all the training you have received up to that point will become invalid.
It was spring when I enrolled, but there were many days when I couldn't go to the driving school, and before I knew it, it was winter. I made a reservation for lessons in a hurry, but the deadline expired before I could attend because of snowfall! Please be careful not to let this happen.

As you can see, there are many important points in motorcycle license training that you won't notice unless you already know them.
We hope that this article will help those who are obtaining a motorcycle license for the first time to choose a driving school and have a comfortable learning experience.