Maine Motorcycle Knowledge Test Cheat Sheet
The fastest way to review before your BMV motorcycle test — the numbers and rules most likely to appear.
💪 Permit & License
- You must be at least 16 to apply for a motorcycle permit
- An approved rider education course is required for every applicant, any age
- The course completion certificate is a temporary 60-day permit
- Temporary-permit holders may NOT carry a passenger
- Motorcycle authority is a Class M endorsement on your license
- Apply through the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles (maine.gov/sos/bmv)
🔢 Most-Tested Numbers
- Following gap2 seconds minimum
- Poor conditions / night3 seconds or more
- Scan ahead12 seconds
- Front brake70%+ of stopping power
- Legally intoxicated.08% BAC
- Alcohol clears~1 drink per hour
🪖 Helmet & Gear
- Helmet required for riders & passengers under 18
- Helmet required for learner's-permit holders, any age
- Helmet required for operators in their first licensed year
- Maine law does NOT require eye protection -- but the manual urges it
- Helmet must meet U.S. DOT and state standards
- Never wear tinted eye protection at night
✅ Remember This Answer
- Quick stop? Use both brakes together
- Front brake? Squeeze firmly -- never grab
- Curve? Slow, Look, Press, Roll
- To lean/turn? Press the handgrip toward the turn
- Swerve? Brake before or after -- never during
- Stopped in traffic? Stay in first gear
✅ Remember This Answer (2)
- Starts to rain? Ride in the cars' tire tracks
- Railroad tracks? Cross straight, within your lane
- Parallel seam or rut? Cross it at 45° or more
- Tailgater behind you? Change lanes and let them pass
- Cut reaction time? Cover the clutch and both brakes
- Daytime visibility? Headlight on -- 2× as likely to be seen
⚠️ Common Test Traps
- "No room to stop" → Swerve -- don't just brake harder
- "Stop fastest" → Both brakes -- not front alone, not rear first
- "Brake while swerving" → Wrong -- brake before or after only
- "Made eye contact" → Driver still may not yield
- "Following distance" → 2 seconds minimum
- "Slow tight turn" → Lean the bike only, body upright
⚠️ More Test Traps
- "Curve, too fast" → Slow before -- don't brake hard mid-curve
- "Lane sharing" → Usually prohibited -- bikes need a full lane
- "Front wheel locks" → Release the front brake, then reapply
- "Being passed" → Stay in the center of your lane
- "Carrying a passenger" → Bike responds slower -- ride slower
- "Cross an obstacle" → Hit it near 90°, rise onto the pegs
🚨 Emergency Situations
- Tire goes flat → Hold grips, ease off throttle, keep straight, edge off the road
- Flat-tire braking → Use only the brake of the good tire
- Stuck throttle → Kill switch + pull in the clutch
- Wobble → Close throttle gradually -- don't brake, don't accelerate
- Engine seizes → Squeeze the clutch, pull off the road
- Front-wheel skid → Release the front brake at once
🌧️ Surfaces, Weather & Night
- Pavement is most slippery in the first minutes of rain
- Slippery surface: slow before it, no sudden moves, both brakes gently
- Cross parallel seams or grooves at 45° or more
- Ice forms in shaded areas and on bridges and overpasses
- Night: ride slower and open a 3-second-plus following gap
- Night: high beam when not following or meeting a car
🏍️ Motorcycle Control
- Press left grip → lean left → go left
- Use both brakes every stop -- the front gives 70%+ of the power
- Corner in four steps: SLOW · LOOK · PRESS · ROLL
- Slow tight turn: lean the bike only, keep your body upright
- Default lane position to see and be seen: the left third
- Head-check your blind spot before every lane change
🍺 Alcohol & Impairment
- Legally intoxicated.08% BAC
- Under-21 limit.00%-.02% BAC
- Alcohol clears~1 drink per hour
- Riders killed who drankNearly 40%
- As little as one drink hurts judgment and balance
- Judgment is impaired well below the legal limit
🎯 Last-Minute Before the Test
- Both brakes to stop -- front brake = 70%+ of power
- Every curve: SLOW · LOOK · PRESS · ROLL
- Press the grip toward the turn to lean (countersteer)
- Brake OR swerve -- never both at once
- Follow at 2 seconds -- scan 12 seconds ahead
- Helmet under 18 / permit / first licensed year
- SEE = Search, Evaluate, Execute · .08% BAC = intoxicated
Confirm every number against the official Maine Motorcycle Operator Manual before test day. Full helmet law →
Source: Test details reflect the consensus of major rider-education sources — confirm with the state agency before your visit. Maine adopts the standardized MSF Motorcycle Operator Manual (16th Edition). The BMV does not publish a motorcycle-specific knowledge-test count; 25 questions / 80% is the third-party practice consensus. An approved motorcycle rider education course is required for everyone, of any age, before a permit, license or endorsement is issued, and completing it waives the BMV written and road tests. Maine law does not require eye protection, though the manual strongly advises it.