Here in Manitoba, You write a Motorcycle Riders test ($10.00) after reading over the Hand Book (see below), passing it means you move to the Class 6 M stage. That allows you to “Attend” a Manitoba Approved Motorcycle course (2 day full, or 1 day half course), if you take the 2 day course and pass, MPI rebates you $200.00 of your fee back to you. If you take and pass the 1 day you get no rebate. The "M" class ONLY allows you to ride in the Motorcycle Course. Until you pass that, you are stuck...
The 2 day course costs $430.00 and the 1 day course costs $300.00 so you save a bit if you take and pass the 2 day (actually its 21 hours) course… The students get to practise on 125CC bikes and have a choice of sport or touring based on what they plan to be riding.
Once you pass that Motorcycle Course, your License gets changed to Class 6 L stage. This allows you to ride single person only and you can only ride ½ hour after sun rise and you MUST be off the road ½ BEFORE sun set. You must also have a 0 BAC level. There you must spend 9 months under the GDL program.
Then after the 9 months, you can take the Road Test ($30.00 fee), and when you pass, you move to the Intermediate Stage under the GDL program and must spend 15 months there, unless you already have spent time in the Intermediate stage under any other class of license (i.e. regular Class 5 driving license). At this point, you have no real restrictions other than the 0 BAC level. After the 15 months is up (or sooner if you already have spent time at the “I” Level) your license gets changed to a Class 6F and ALL restrictions are removed (except for the first 36 months you MUST maintain a 0 BAC level).
There is one other level… Class 6A. This level is for those that held/hold a Motorcycle License from another jurisdiction and after moving to Manitoba are converting over, OR those that held a Class 6 - 90 day Beginners Permit BEFORE the GDL program came into being in Manitoba. They only have 1 restriction: you can only ride 1 up (there is another restriction but it doesn’t apply if you have also a Class 5 license). That is it. Once you take the Road test. Your Class 6A gets changed to a Class 6F. There are no time limits imposed at the “A” stage. You can stay there for decades if you like! In fact, the only reason to take the test is if you want to carry a passenger, or tow a trailer behind you bike.
I lucked out (if you can call it that) in that back in 1983’ish, I had held one of those Permits… As such, all I had to do was re-write the test ($10.00) and I got a Class 6A instantly! Saved me a BOAT LOAD of money!!
Here is the Manitoba Motorcycle Hand Book (down-loadable PDF) if you would like to see/compare what we have here.
http://www.mpi.mb.ca/en/PDFs/Motorcycle-handbook.pdfCheers!!