Ontario Motorcycle Licence Explained — My M1 and M2 Journey as a Dubai Rider

This time I'm not in the UAE — I'm in Canada. During my trip in August and September I decided to start my Canadian motorcycle journey, with the goal of eventually holding a full M licence and exploring the country properly on two wheels. I got my M1, completed my M2 training, then rented a bike on my UAE licence and went riding around Ontario. This is how the licensing part actually works — from someone who just did it.

Step One: The M1 Written Test

The M1 is a written test covering road rules, signs and motorcycle-specific safety questions. I took mine in Oakville and walked out with the M1 licence the same day — the official start of the journey. Before training I researched a lot online, and one of the most useful resources was the Traction Control Canada YouTube channel; some of their clips helped me understand the evaluation criteria before I ever sat on a training bike.

Step Two: Learning Curves at Mohawk College

To move toward the M2, I joined a motorcycle safety course with an institute called Learning Curves — and a big shout-out to their instructors: highly skilled, patient, and very different from what I experienced in Dubai. Honestly, I thought I already knew most of this. I was wrong, quickly.

Day one was a three-hour classroom session. Days two and three were full on-bike training, 8am to 4pm, at Mohawk College in Hamilton, where a huge parking lot becomes the training ground. The format: instructors explain an exercise, one of them demonstrates it, then you ride it yourself. Then it started raining — and hats off to Canadian culture, because rain or snow, life continues. Instructors kept demonstrating in a downpour, and once it stopped they took out brooms and swept the loose gravel off the lot just to keep us safe. Excellent doesn't cover it.

Instead of simply coaching us to pass, these instructors focused on making us safe riders on Canadian roads. That is the core difference.

The Six Exercises — and the Lessons Nobody Taught Me

The evaluation is six tests: a timed light turn and stop, a timed start-and-stop on a curve, cornering at a set speed, then emergency stops and quick swerves left and right. Pass, and the certificate substitutes for the M2 test at a DriveTest centre. It cost me 600 dollars and was worth every cent — about 90% resembled my Dubai training, but the approach was completely different.

Two things I'd never been taught in years of riding. First, lane position: ride away from the curb side of your lane, because every vehicle's right mirror is convex with a wide field of view while the left is narrow — bikers position themselves where drivers can actually see them. Second, intersection positioning: stopping half-turned and diagonal for right turns, and staying centre-right when turning left so large vehicles can't squeeze into your lane. Small details; potentially life-sized consequences.

The final evaluation was surprisingly relaxed — no Dubai-style exam stress — and we all passed, celebrating with a very Canadian group selfie. M1 cleared, M2 course done, full M licence on track for the next trip. The riding that followed — with the DRG crew, through Forks of the Credit and along the Niagara River — made every test question worth it. And if you're starting from zero like I once did, the riding-at-50 beginner guide is where my whole story begins.

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