how to, how to get a heavy motorcycle driving license (a) in sweden

For such a DL, the bike should produce at least 67 BHP & weigh a minimum of 175 kg.

BHPian supermax recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

There is something truly meditative about taking on the twisty country roads in Sweden on a motorcycle. A powerful and comfortable touring motorcycle that can be ridden hard all day is perhaps the best way to take advantage of the super long summer days, where one enjoys as many as twenty hours of sunshine.

While motorcycling can be beautiful no matter what part of the world one is in, the combination of incredibly beautiful countryside and the long days makes the experience of motorcycling in Sweden uniquely enjoyable. With the right machine, one can easily cover long distances without compromising on the viewing experience. It’s summer now, and I often see large groups of motorcycles, a mishmash of choppers, cruisers, sports bikes, cafe racers, and pedigreed touring bikes majestically making their way across the country.

Some thirty and odd years ago, anybody who passed the LMV test automatically got with it the eligibility to ride all kinds of motorcycles, but not anymore. The Swedish transport authority has resolved to achieve zero road fatalities (noll visionen or zero vision) and has been going at this with an iron resolve. They have successively improved the quality of roads, signage, and raised the bar repeatedly, making the acquisition of a driving license much harder, so only the truly determined and committed applicants get through. Acquiring a licence for a motorcycle has now become just as hard and expensive as getting an LMV licence, so even the decision to get a motorcycle license isn’t something one makes on a whim.

I’ve now held an LMV license (B license) in Sweden for close to a year, and was curious about what it currently entailed, to get a heavy motorcycle license, the kind which allows me to ride any kind of motorcycle, without restrictions on power or engine displacement. While some things are going to be easier since I already know the traffic rules etc, there are quite a few hurdles to clear, before I can get myself a license.

Classes of motorcycle licenses in EU/Sweden

  • A1 – light motorcycle
  • A2 – mid-sized motorcycle
  • A – heavy motorcycle
  • With an A1 license, the holder is limited to bikes with a maximal engine volume of 125 cc, maximal power of 11 kW (approx 15 BHP), and maximum power to weight ratio of 0.1 kW/kg.
  • With an A2 license, the power is limited to 35kW (47.5 BHP), and a maximum power-to-weight ratio of 0.2 kW/kg.
  • The A license is the big daddy of bike licenses, a license with no limits on the type of motorcycles, allowing the holder to ride both two and three-wheeled motorcycles.
  • Four-wheeled ATVs require a B license (LMV).

Requirements for an A license

  • Eye test
  • Learner’s permit
  • Risk 1 (theory lecture about effects of alcohol, drugs, and even exhaustion/lack of sleep on motorists)
  • Risk 2 (riding in wet-weather conditions in a controlled environment)
  • Theory test
  • Driving test

What’s already covered if you have an LMV license (B)

The eye test and a large part of the theory course, and knowledge of the road rules are the only things you bring in, from the LMV license. Everything else, including the content for Risk 1 differs whether it is for a car (B license) or a motorcycle license (A1/A2/A license), so the course has to be taken afresh, even if you’ve cleared Risk 1 for cars.

Costs (absolutely mandatory/minimal)

  • Eye test: 100 SEK
  • Driving rules book: 300 SEK
  • Motorcycle rules book: 200 SEK
  • Theory test: 325 SEK
  • Risk 1 theory for motorcycles: 750 SEK
  • Risk 2 for motorcycles: 3000 SEK
  • Driving test for motorcycles: 1650 SEK
  • Motorcycle rental for driving test: 1900 SEK
  • Manoeuvre track session 80 minutes: 1200 SEK

Total: 9425 SEK (approx 71K INR)

Costs (non-mandatory but invariable)

8 x 80 minute session of driving practice @ 1580 SEK each: 12640 SEK

Revised total: (guesstimate): 22065 SEK (approx 1.7 L INR)

The unknowns and the challenges

  • I don’t have a motorcycle, and even if I did, it would not be legal for me to operate it, without a registered private tutor, sitting behind me, or beside me, on his/her own bike.
  • The registered private tutor can only be somebody who has held a motorcycle (A) license for at least 5 years, without incident/interruptions.
  • Since I have no access to such qualified private tutors, I’ll have to depend 100% on the driving school, to get the required hours of practice, till I’m ready for the test.
  • While I’m comfortable now with the road rules, it’s still uncertain exactly how many 80-minute sessions I’d need before I’m ready to face the test.
  • While I’ve ridden motorcycles for several years in India, I’ve never ridden any high-performance heavy motorcycles, and the cost per hour of getting acquainted with riding such machines is very high here.
  • Unlike in India, where I can take the driving test with a 2-geared 65 cc Hero Puch and earn an MCWG DL, which allows me to then legally ride and take my own time getting used to a high-end sports bike, here, I need to demonstrate total control and confidence with both the machine and my surroundings, before I get the necessary paperwork that makes it legal for me ride it by myself.

Requirements for the bike for the driving test

  • Each license category has its own requirements that a bike has to satisfy.
  • For a B license (car), it is possible to rent a car with dual controls, directly from the examination center, but for motorcycles, the candidate should bring his/her own, and the bike should satisfy all of the requirements of the class of license opted by the applicant.
  • For an ‘A’ license, the bike should produce at least 50 kW (67 BHP), and should not weigh less than 175 kg.
  • If the bike is powered by an IC engine, the engine displacement should not be below 595 cc; if electric, the power to weight ratio must be at least 0.25 kW/kg.
  • A driving school bike may be rented for the duration of the test, but they need to certify the candidate as ready for the test, before they allow one of their bikes to be rented for the examination.

The components of the driving test

The driving test itself has four components; low-speed manoeuvres, high-speed slalom runs, and hard braking tests, followed by the actual driving test in traffic. Fail any component, and there won’t be a final test. If you fail the final test, you repeat the whole process all over again, and if you’ve failed, you’d almost always need more lessons to be able to correct the mistakes and/or regain confidence before the next test, so accurate cost estimates are rather hard. Instead, one must have a big budget, and really steady nerves. Once you venture in, you can’t take a break or pause without losing the momentum. The cautionary tales of people who get unnerved by the expense and quit midway are unfortunately all too common.

The low-speed manoeuvres

You have to stop before the T, push the bike to one side of the T, and back it to the other end, without touching the outer lines. After that, you are allowed to exit the T from the gap, and stop at the double cones. After that, you are not allowed to put a foot down, or stop, and are expected to complete the turns around the cones, without hitting any cones, and making the way back inside the T while holding the speed between 5-7 km/h. Any faster than that or if you put a foot down, you will be asked to repeat the step, and more than one repeat would be deemed a failure. You are generally not supposed to control the speed with brakes, using the clutch and playing with the bite-point to keep the bike at a crawling pace instead.

The high-speed slalom run

The rider has to accelerate to a minimum speed of 50 km/h before starting the slalom course, weaving in and out of the cones, performing a 180 turn at the far end and coming back and performing a brisk stop after the yellow cones.

Braking test

The rider has to perform aggressive braking, first from 70 km/h to 0, and then 90 km/h to 0, using a combination of both front and rear brakes, demonstrating vehicle awareness and control to a satisfactory degree.

Here’s a video from the traffic school association, showing the first three components of the driving test, i.e. the parts before the driving test in the traffic.

Here’s a video posted by a candidate who’s cleared the test. He’s re-ridden the route he was asked to take during the test, noting the things he was asked to do. This video, like the one above, is in Swedish, but it gives a good idea of what the conditions look and feel like.

In the above-hyperlinked video, here are some key moments:

  • 00:43 – The tip he mentions is to scan for speed signs or route/road information as soon as you turn onto a road. Here, it’s a priority road, so any traffic coming onto this road from side roads will have to yield, which in extension means that he has to be careful to yield to everybody on the road, before he himself turns onto it. Since the road lacked a speed sign here, the examiner apparently told him that it was a 60 km/h zone.
  • 2:55 – Note how the silver SUV yields to the bike. It’s not a case of ‘might is right’; even an SUV will have to yield to a bike, if the bike is on a priority road.
  • 3:05 – Note how the rider scans both sides for pedestrians. Again, might is not right; if there is a pedestrian at the pedestrian crossing, the biker has to stop and yield.
  • 3:42 – A perfect example of a roundabout entry; he scans for traffic early, notes many cars which are approaching from the left, all of whom he has a duty to yield to. He downshifts, uses engine braking, taps the brakes to ensure that his brake lights go on, warning traffic behind him, comes to a full stop and waits out the white panel truck and the red car, before he eases into the roundabout.
  • 8:28 – Scan for pedestrians and prepare to accelerate hard to enter the motorway; here, the speed is 80, but motorway on-ramp speeds are often 110, and you need to come up to speed before you merge.
  • 10:02 – Speed limit climbs to 100. Unless the weather conditions or visibility is poor, driving/riding below 100 is considered causing a hindrance to other road users. This is not good. If you are at 80 on a 100 road for no reason, that can be sufficient reason to get failed on the test.
  • 15:19 – He turns off left, leaving the priority road, and enters a 40 km/h zone. Here, he must pay close heed to traffic from the right side, to which he has an obligation to yield to.
  • 15:43 – He demonstrates slowing down and checking for traffic from the right; if anybody were to be there, they’d have priority to pass before him.
  • 15:55 – He sees a car approaching the road from the right, and he correctly yields to it; this is a must, and is called the right-hand rule. Right-hand rule applies on all roads which don’t have any special signs indicating that it is a priority road.
  • 25:28 – The rider notes that a motorcycle behind him demonstrated great patience and didn’t overtake him, even if there were several opportunities to do so, even while he maintained a frustratingly legal speed! The fact is, on a riding/driving test, you have to be absolutely on the dot with the speed limits, but in real life, many of these limits are slightly elastic. While a 30 limit would never be elastic ever, doing 10 km/h over in a 60 or 70 zone is closer to the rhythm of the traffic.

Points to ponder

  • The decision to get an A license is not one made on a whim; it has serious financial ramifications.
  • Costs of acquiring a license can be around 22KSEK (1.7 L INR) in the best case, and can easily balloon to twice as much, or even more before the achievement is actually unlocked!
  • Rental costs for decent bikes are astronomical; a single day’s rental can cost anywhere from 900 SEK to 5000 SEK (8K INR to 40K INR), depending on the model.
  • Should you decide to buy one, even basic insurance costs (3rd party) are very high, much higher than the cost of insuring cars!
  • Riding opportunities will be restricted to spring/summer, as even autumn weather can be tricky for biking, while winters increase the dangers severalfold.

Keyword: How to get a heavy motorcycle driving license (A) in Sweden

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