*** How to obtain a bike license ***

Oh cheers. So is my best option to do the CBT, buy a 125 and then just go around on that until I feel confident to do my test?

What will the insurance be like for this?
 
HankScorpio said:
Oh cheers. So is my best option to do the CBT, buy a 125 and then just go around on that until I feel confident to do my test?

What will the insurance be like for this?
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That's what me and a few others have done. :) how old are you? I'm 25 and I paid £260 to insure my 125, that's with 0 NCB and first year of riding, been driving 8 years though.
 
Yeah your options are to pick up a 125 after doing your CBT and get experience on that, or go straight to DAS for the full licence (depending on your age, A2 or full A).

Nowt wrong with doing the 125 thing for 6-12 months. They're dirt cheap to run, will feel bloody fast for the first 1-2 months/weeks/days and won't lose much value. Just budget to spend probably half what you spend on your bike, on gear.
 
Wow I'm tired. Today I had my first ride out since receiving the CBT certificate. We spent a good part of 4 hours just riding around, going up on the tops and through different places I'd never even been before.

Wind was annoying today and it had rained the night before, but things went pretty well. There was lots of times I wished the person with us, would just speed up. I was having to ride slow, or stop as I was getting too far in front. But at least I can keep up with traffic even at speed.

I did have one little adventure, which I seemed to have just lost it. It was out in the countryside, so was hardly any cars about. But we was approaching a T junction, and I thought I heard my instructor say right (I was leading most of the ride). I positioned for the right until he said we was going left, I then forgot the clutch control and ended up setting off at speed. Ended up on the other side of the road but I did claw it back, plus no cars was about, luckily.

We did many bendy roads which was pretty tight, and I managed these fine. The ride was fun and for most parts, I seemed pretty good. As we was making our way back to the centre, I was really tired by this point. It was making me do silly mistakes, like keeping my foot on the brake at green lights, so I stalled the bike a couple of times.

I did pass at least 4 bikers coming on the other side of the road, and 3 of them all nodded at me :D I still have much work to be done on my clutch control, but this clutch today just felt like it was jugging, and not smooth.
 
Spacedeck said:
Wow I'm tired. Today I had my first ride out since receiving the CBT certificate. We spent a good part of 4 hours just riding around, going up on the tops and through different places I'd never even been before.

Wind was annoying today and it had rained the night before, but things went pretty well. There was lots of times I wished the person with us, would just speed up. I was having to ride slow, or stop as I was getting too far in front. But at least I can keep up with traffic even at speed.

I did have one little adventure, which I seemed to have just lost it. It was out in the countryside, so was hardly any cars about. But we was approaching a T junction, and I thought I heard my instructor say right (I was leading most of the ride). I positioned for the right until he said we was going left, I then forgot the clutch control and ended up setting off at speed. Ended up on the other side of the road but I did claw it back, plus no cars was about, luckily.

We did many bendy roads which was pretty tight, and I managed these fine. The ride was fun and for most parts, I seemed pretty good. As we was making our way back to the centre, I was really tired by this point. It was making me do silly mistakes, like keeping my foot on the brake at green lights, so I stalled the bike a couple of times.

I did pass at least 4 bikers coming on the other side of the road, and 3 of them all nodded at me :D I still have much work to be done on my clutch control, but this clutch today just felt like it was jugging, and not smooth.
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We all have times where we do daft things, first road ride of my DAS training saw me with complete target fixation end up on the other side of the road.
2 seconds later and it would have been good night as I ploughed head on into the car coming the other way.

Funnily enough not done it since :o:D
 
Whats the best route for a car driver to get a full unlimited bike license?, there's a guy at work who wants a Harley eventually, but has never ridden a bike before, he's in his late 20's & has been driving for years, I haven't got a clue what to suggest to him cos I passed my test back in the early 80's & I'm baffled by all the hoops modern bikers have to jump thru.

Can some one clue me in on the best way for him to go about it?, ide really appreciate it. :)
 
Not anymore I believe. It's a graddad right now. Those that got it before the change now have a full motorbike license instead (restricted to a trike :p)
 
VoG said:
Whats the best route for a car driver to get a full unlimited bike license?, there's a guy at work who wants a Harley eventually, but has never ridden a bike before, he's in his late 20's & has been driving for years, I haven't got a clue what to suggest to him cos I passed my test back in the early 80's & I'm baffled by all the hoops modern bikers have to jump thru.

Can some one clue me in on the best way for him to go about it?, ide really appreciate it. :)
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One of 2 routes, pretty simple.

Step 1: Do a CBT. this will let him ride a 125cc bike with L plates, no pillion and no motorways.


Then either:

Step 2: Do the motorbike theory test (it's slightly different to the car one so he'll need to do it again).

Step 3: Book a Direct Access Scheme (DAS) course, which will normally be a week/5 day course, with the MOD 1 (off road slow speed stuff) and MOD 2 (on road normal riding stuff) at the end.

Result: Full unrestricted 'A' licence. Buy a harley, or even a proper bike. ;)

Cost: CBT £120. DAS course: £700-1000 depending on where you are in the country.

Or...


Step 2: Buy a 125cc bike (you can get 125cc cruisers). Insure for cheap and ride for 6-12 months, on until bored by lack of power. £1000-1500 will get a decent 125cc bike. Enjoy 80-120mpg and running costs in the pennies.

Step 3: When starting to get bored, do the motorbike theory test.

Step 4: Book DAS course, only this time after 6-12 months experience on a bike, he should only need 3-4 days training.

Result: Full unrestricted A licence, only 6-12 months later. Sell/Part exchange 125cc bike for a couple of hundred less than he paid for it (at worse). Buy a big bike.

Cost: CBT £120. DAS course £500-700.



I doubt anyone who has spent time on a 125 regrets it, it allows you to build up confidence and get used to bike controls while not having to deal with a 250kg beast, or 100bhp at the flick of a wrist.

I did around 5000 miles over 6 months on my 125cc bike before doing a 3 day course which cost £500 quid, passed mod1 with zero faults and mod2 with 2 minors. With the on road riding it was only a tiny bit of polish that I needed, the 6 months road experience helped immensely.

I would always recommend doing a CBT first, as he may not like it, may not be able to get his head around bike controls etc.

Oh and book the theory well in advance of booking a DAS course, you can't do anything if you don't have a Theory pass certificate, and the waiting time can be a few weeks, and of course he might fail. Get it done and out the way before booking a DAS course.
 
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Well, last week I passed my mod 1 and mod 2. Had never ridden before (other than the CBT 3 weeks prior). Last Saturday I did a full day (1/2 a day on a 125 and 1/2 on a 600) doing the mod 1 stuff. Then got a last minute test at 10.40am on the Sunday as my instructor thought I was ready. Did the mod 1 and passed with only 1 minor which was going a little wide on the second figure of eight...god knows why I did as I had it nailed in practice but I think nerves got the better of me as the figure of eights were my weakest exercise.

I then had a full days riding a 600 on Wednesday and had my test at lunchtime on the Thursday. Unfortunately as it was all last minute booking I had to drive 1.5 hours to Oxford to do the test - but this proved to be a good thing as I was nicely relaxed after a good ride. Mod 2 was easy. Just a nice ride out with what someone explained above as a human Sat-Nav behind you. I passed with 1 minor which was going a little wide on a left hand turn which was an extremely tight hairpin uphill corner. But I didn't cross the white line, just touched it.

Totally chuffed.

Worse thing is I now have to wait until next month before I can get my bike as I'm waiting for a house sale to complete to release some funds. Can't bloody wait though!!

Going to be picking up a 2009 (ish) Triumph Daytona 675 and all the protective gear. Then I'm going 100% bike as getting rid of the car and going to use my bike to commute every day.

Looking forward to becoming a more regular poster here in the biker community and will post up pics of the bike when I eventually get it.
 
SamuraiTortoise said:
Well, last week I passed my mod 1 and mod 2. Had never ridden before (other than the CBT 3 weeks prior). Last Saturday I did a full day (1/2 a day on a 125 and 1/2 on a 600) doing the mod 1 stuff. Then got a last minute test at 10.40am on the Sunday as my instructor thought I was ready. Did the mod 1 and passed with only 1 minor which was going a little wide on the second figure of eight...god knows why I did as I had it nailed in practice but I think nerves got the better of me as the figure of eights were my weakest exercise.

I then had a full days riding a 600 on Wednesday and had my test at lunchtime on the Thursday. Unfortunately as it was all last minute booking I had to drive 1.5 hours to Oxford to do the test - but this proved to be a good thing as I was nicely relaxed after a good ride. Mod 2 was easy. Just a nice ride out with what someone explained above as a human Sat-Nav behind you. I passed with 1 minor which was going a little wide on a left hand turn which was an extremely tight hairpin uphill corner. But I didn't cross the white line, just touched it.

Totally chuffed.

Worse thing is I now have to wait until next month before I can get my bike as I'm waiting for a house sale to complete to release some funds. Can't bloody wait though!!

Going to be picking up a 2009 (ish) Triumph Daytona 675 and all the protective gear. Then I'm going 100% bike as getting rid of the car and going to use my bike to commute every day.

Looking forward to becoming a more regular poster here in the biker community and will post up pics of the bike when I eventually get it.
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Congrats, well done. All the best riders pass with 2 minors ;)

Daytona 675 as a first bike, awesome. I looked at these but insurance as a new rider was in 4 figures even though I'm not classed as "young" anymore :(

Enjoy!
 
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Good point. Have you checked the insurance on the Daytona before buying!? Sports bikes are super expensive for new riders.
 
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Yeah, I have quotes (only used comparethemeerkat at the moment) between £350 and £950...I think being 37 is helping keep the quotes down and the fact it's garaged.
 
SamuraiTortoise said:
Yeah, I have quotes (only used comparethemeerkat at the moment) between £350 and £950...I think being 37 is helping keep the quotes down and the fact it's garaged.
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Lucky bugger.

I'm 34 and as a new rider with 0 NCD I was getting £1200+ quotes on a £3k 675. That was ungaraged, doing 10k miles a year mind you.

Once I've had my licence for a year and have a years NCD it'll go down to £550 fully comp, garaged doing 4k a year. Much more like it.
 
I just double checked it all to make sure and still coming out the same inc. Pillion cover and doing 15k miles a year (originally was set to 6k but made no difference). Not sure I trust the £350 end of the quotes but some reasonable quotes from BikeSure and Bennetts. I will shop around more but happy it's all sub £1k.
 
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