The typical army motorcyclist (the majority weren't Royal Signals despatch riders) varied through the conflict.
Initially, most were enthusiastic motorcyclists, used to doing their own maintenance. They were the 'clubmen' of the 1930s recruited via the schemes in 'Motor-Cycle' and 'Motor-Cycling' and this intake included many of the top road-racers and trials men who went on to form the basis of the instructors in the D&M Schools.
As the war went on, the new, younger recruits often had no previous experience and had to be taken from the basics but this was a major problem with all aspects of Motor Transport. Few had ever driven a car.
The training film that Ron mentions probably gives a good impression of how the courses were structured.
This is the first part of the one and half hours of instructional DR second world war video, probably up at Catterick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z23hqSyOEi4
Since it exclusively shows Norton 16Hs, it's probable that no one on this BSA based forum could stomach giving you the direct link. Also some of the manoeuvres shown would be quite a lot more difficult on the M20...
