A question for the bikers.

muddyl

Since I was a child I always wanted a motorbike.
About 8 years ago I tried to get my licence but failed the test (foot down on the u-turn) and could not afford to continue.

Now biking fever has struck again and I want to get on two wheels hopefully for this time next year, maybe sooner.

My question is:
I want to build up confidence first. So should i;
1, get a 125 commuter to learn on.
2, get a 125 enduro style to learn on and do some green laning too.
3, get something a little bigger and have it restricted.

I have a car, so this would be for weekend fun.

What's your opinion on this?

BonandDom

:)My vote goes with a 125 commuter.

Welcome to the world of biking:T

im-lost

do a CBT if you need to..

If you cant do a u turn in the CBT, you wont be signed off anyway, well you shouldn't be.

Buy a 125cc (YBR, CG etc they hold their value well) to pooter around on and get some experience, 125's are a lot harder to ride than a restricted larger bike, so it will give to more of the necessary skills to pass your test.

Don't go through a training school to do your 'test' its a waste of money.

Ride around for a couple of months for the experience.

Pay £15.50 to book your mod 1, its all simple stuff that you should be taught in the CBT, and even if you fail it a couple of times, its still cheaper than getting 'training' for it, it really isn't hard, YouTube videos available to see what its all about,

then pay the £70 to book your mod 2, again it takes no official training to do.

This will give you a full licence but you are restricted to 33bhp for 2 years.

The sell the 125 and you can get a 'bigger' bike if you wish and restrict it depending on the power.

Its the cheapest and best way to do it IMO, doig a DAS course ad getting a big bike straight away really isnt a good idea, best to to get the skills on something smaller that isn't as keen to kill you..

Ride out the 2 year restriction and you should be in a better position to handle a larger bike more safely..

jbainbridge

I did direct access over 3.5 days ... failed. Then came back a few months later did one more day and passed. Well worth it.

Started out with a Bandit 600 ... best thing ever!

passatrider

im-lost wrote: »

do a CBT if you need to..

If you cant do a u turn in the CBT, you wont be signed off anyway, well you shouldn't be.

Buy a 125cc (YBR, CG etc they hold their value well) to pooter around on and get some experience, 125's are a lot harder to ride than a restricted larger bike, so it will give to more of the necessary skills to pass your test.

Don't go through a training school to do your 'test' its a waste of money.

Ride around for a couple of months for the experience.

Pay £15.50 to book your mod 1, its all simple stuff that you should be taught in the CBT, and even if you fail it a couple of times, its still cheaper than getting 'training' for it, it really isn't hard, YouTube videos available to see what its all about,

then pay the £70 to book your mod 2, again it takes no official training to do.

This will give you a full licence but you are restricted to 33bhp for 2 years.

The sell the 125 and you can get a 'bigger' bike if you wish and restrict it depending on the power.

Its the cheapest and best way to do it IMO, doig a DAS course ad getting a big bike straight away really isnt a good idea, best to to get the skills on something smaller that isn't as keen to kill you..

Ride out the 2 year restriction and you should be in a better position to handle a larger bike more safely..

Sorry to hijack the thread. I'm looking to book my Mod 1 and Mod 2 test very soon via a training school. However, I see you advocate not to do the school route?
I have done the CBT and have done the theory test so I'm ready to move onto the next stage. I don't have a 125 but a automatic 100cc Honda Lead so can't take the test on that.

Is it that simple to do it without the school as I will need to get another bike to take it on?

Cheers

mr-angry

I did a DAS course (1 week) a number of years ago and a number of my friends followed suit soon after. It was by far the quickest and easiest route to biking. The downside was when looking back is that I went straight out and bought a 1000cc sportsbike with no experience and basically am only still here by luck. Two of those friends I rode with are no longer with us due to inexperience on a high powered bike.

Now, I am not saying dont do the DAS course route, but if you do get straight out and do a Bikesafe course (run by local police force) or join the Institute of Advanced Motorists and do some further training with them.

jonathon

did my DAS last November now have a Kawasaki ZZR600

fivetide

I did my test with a training school and I'm not sure what the issue is? 5 days straight, CBT Tuesday, test on Friday pass!

Helps that you are all insured if you drop the bike but definately worth getting the intensive experience if you can. I'm not so sure onthe self taught idea. There are a lot of little things that you need to do to pass the test that you might not do if you don't have someone watchign you all the time.

Think of it as properly shuffling the steering wheel in your car. Most people don't bother once they've passed and it would be a shame to fail on something trivial.

Beyond that, what do you want to do with the bike? Just commute? In that case a 125 will be fine. If you want to go out at weekends etc with friends or even tour, you'll need something with a bit more poke so I'd recommend the direct access on a bigger bike through a training school. Then you can go out and get the machine you want with the knowledge it doesn't have to be super easy to do U turns on and won't be sitting there waiting for you to pass a test.

5t.

Rolandtheroadie

You've failed on a foot down before so you were obviously as ready as you could be at that time.

I done my CBT then my instructor recommended lessons instead of DAS. 5 lessons and 2 tests later (foot down on first one too) and that was me.

Started with a cbr1000f then 18 months later got a Hayabusa. They only go as fast as you want them to and I thought as I was a big bloke, i needed something physically bigger.

In hindsight though, I've now got a gsxr600 and a st2 both of which are more fun and handle better than my previous bikes.

As far as 125 is concerned, all that expense and hassle if it's not what you want long term, I'd leave it. (Buy bike, insure bike, use it, enjoy it, want something bigger, back to square 1).

boyse7en

Do a DAS course, then get yourself a decent-sized bike that suits your needs. I wouldn't advocate a full-on 1000cc+ sportsbike as your first "big bike" but there are plenty of quick bikes that are less of a handful.
DAS is intensive, so really gets you up to speed learning-wise. You also don't have to worry about insurance, whether your bike is on the DSA's list of allowable bikes (for 125cc) and you learn loads of extra tips from the instructor over the week (like don't tuck your sleeves into your gloves, rest the balls of your feet on the pegs to avoid dragging the rear brake, etc) that you might not get if you don't ride with experienced bikers.

BillScarab

Remember you don't have to do an intensive DAS course. You can do it one lesson a week over a period of time which spreads the cost.

As you are old enough to do DAS I would go for that as there are no restrictions afterwards on what you can ride.