Just arranged to start my DAS

HoneyBadger

HoneyBadger

HoneyBadger

Soldato
Joined
2 Aug 2016
Posts
4,280
Location
Third Earth
Sick and tired of my commute. (Kent to London) so have decided to do my DAS.

I get the coach to work and it’s gone up in price to £3k a year and it’s now starting to take 5-6 hours a day. (3 hours each way) unless I get the very first one (5am) but this is slowly killing me!

A chap up the road has started to bike it in having just passed his DAS so I’ve decided to do the same.

I’ve always had a soft spot for bikes, I’m 38, my uncle has 4 bikes and has just given me a load of gear, the chap up the road reckons it’s taking him about 1 hour, 15 mins and that’s him taking it steady as he’s just passed.

My thinking is that I’ll buy a commuter scooter for comfort but get a pleasure bike too, always loved my uncles Triumph T100 bonnie.

I’m mostly worried about coordination with brakes and clutch, and if I pass particularly if it’s busy as the weaving up between cars scares me, although I hope with time, I’ll overcome that.

Anyone else here commute to London? I can park at work in a secure area but will be doing 80 miles a day!
 
The place local to me are mega busy, so they have booked me in on the 11th of Nov for a free assessment. I’m looking forward to it but I’m scared.

The DAS is £860 which includes everything, I’ve decided I’m going to do it over 5-6 days rather than several weekends.

I’ve never been on a motorbike in terms of riding, I’ve sat on some with engines running but that’s it. My cousin has Triumph Tiger and uses that to commute. I go out on my moutain bike a lot so the woman said at least I should have balance.

I did explore a Piaggio trike as you can ride on your car license but the 500cc variant is not congestion charge exempt and the 300cc would be on its limit doing 70mph on the A2. So I figured I’d do it properly and do the DAS.
 
With no prep, I decided to do an online mock theory test, you must get 43out of 50 to pass and I got 45 correct. The ones I got wrong were first aid ones, so that’s boosted my confidence a little.

I’ve already decided on a commuter scooter and decided that I’d like to get a 2017 Yamaha TMax DX. It gets great reviews, it’s 530CC so can sit comfortably at motorway speeds and has heated seat and grips among other bits of tech.

I want to get a second pleasure bike eventually (Triumph Bonneville) and the mrs has asked me to buy her a Keeway 125.

A lot of my uncles gear fits me so I’ve done quite well in terms of kit but need to get my own helmet. The mrs and I start our assessment on 11th of Nov. Excited, yet scared!
 
lol - I'm not looking for love :p

The scooter will be a work horse, designed specifically to get me to London and back each day in comfort, ease and reliability.

The idea is then I'll have a 'real bike' for going out for fun.
 
Well I’ve ordered my first starter helmet. I ultimately want a Shoei GT Air in Matt Grey but at £419 but thought I’d buy a cheaper one so got this: https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/319311

It’s got good reviews so hopefully should be ok.

I got some gloves and boots too from the same place. My uncle has given me a Weise Winter coat and over trousers too. And a pair of Kevlar jeans.

In terms of bike, I’ve decided on Honda NC750X ABS - Gets great reviews as a first starter big bike and I like the looks, they’re supposed to be very reliable too.

It’s all starting to get more real now!
 
They have accepted my return and have posted out a new helmet, they’ve been brilliant. They didn’t have the one I ordered in a larger size so after having a look they suggested a Shark 900S ltd edition Matt black from there clearance section and have refunded me the difference.

It’s still a brand new helmet so hopefully it’ll fit!
 
So Mrs HB and I went to the local place today for our free assessment, now I hasten to add:

It was pouring with rain
I had just got back from Frankfurt on business, so was knackered
I was wearing a brand new pair of Cat boots, with only an hours use

In summary, Mrs HB was great, I was not ...

I was really struggling. The assessment lasted an hour and was purely on their course, I seemed to be looking down a lot, not looking where I was going despite him shouting at me "Look at me, Look at the magic tree, look at this, that and the other" - The throttle on the Yamaha 125 seemed almost on and off and I veered off towards a hedge where I was getting annoyed with myself and making mistakes. I kept tensing up and was pulling back on the throttle, I was trying to lean the bike which apparently I wasn't supposed to and I was either almost stalling so felt very unstable or too much gas, luckily I didn't crash and always remembered to pull the clutch in. At one point I used the front brake too hard, I did about 3~4 good laps and got praise then he started shouted other instructions at me and I lost it again and veered off and almost hit a cone.

Really angry at myself. It was my first time ever on a motorbike though which Mrs HB keeps reminding me, she had done a CBT successfully 12 years ago so she had some experience and perhaps knew what to expect, unlike me.

So, he suggested I forget about the DAS for a while and concentrate on my CBT but he thinks I need a 4 hour pre-CBT so that's booked in for 7th of December with the CBT booked in for the 17th of December. Mrs HB is doing the pre-CBT with me as she needs practice with the gears, all in this is costing me £420 for 2 people to do pre-CBT and CBT. Mrs HB, very excited having done so well asked to go to JS Accessories in Maidstone to get some gear - lovely guys and we ended up spending £350 on a new jacket, helmet and some boots. (Boots for me, rest for her) - Got chatting with some guys (Everyone knew each other) and their wives, one was an advanced instructor, really, REALLY nice people and put me at ease that I shouldn't be beating myself up so much.

I'm really gutted that I did so badly, the instructor said to me that if I can sort out my vision and where I'm looking and relax a bit, I'll be OK - He reckons I was over thinking everything. To be fair to me, I said that was my job!!

I think I was my own worse enemy, I'd built it up in my mind as to what it would be like, having done many track days (With cars) and loving motorsport, I thought "How much different can it be?" It turns out VERY different. I'm also kicking myself for wearing such big boots for only an hour before getting on the bike, I couldn't feel any of the pegs or back brake at all.

Hopefully I can have a much better session on the 7th, but time will tell.
 
Thanks guys for the re-assurance. At least I know I’m not alone! The place has very good feedback, when I say he was shouting, it wasn’t abusive or angry, he was just doing it I think trying to get me to focus.

I couldn’t believe how different it was, and I wasn’t impressed by the 125’s throttle! I’ve already said to mrs HB that I’ll be using the bike she excelled on!

Her and I have a 4 hour pre-CBT (just the two of us) on December 7th and our CBT has been booked in for December 17th. I don’t think it helps that I’m 38, so getting stuck in my ways!

I’ve said to mrs HB that if I can’t grasp it on the pre-CBT, I’m giving it up but realistically, I need to keep at it because I’m desperate want to use a bike to commute and would prefer not having to use a Piaggio MP3 using my car license.
 
Well today Mrs HB and I did our pre-cbt.

4 hours of riding in the rain! This was basically a private, non road going CBT for us. Having been a complete disaster on the free assessment, I was determined to do well or give up.

This time, I aced it. The instructor was quite surprised (both of them) and so was mrs HB and myself. I made a few small errors but nothing major. Mrs HB struggled to do a figure of 8 but was ok.

Despite the weather, I actually really enjoyed it this time and got into second and third!

Our CBT is on the 17th and he reckons I’ll need another 4 days to finish my DAS.

He was so shocked at how much better I was, he shook my hand!!

I think last time I was just really nervous and this time I had an idea what to expect. I also was far more relaxed.
 
Last edited:
Mrs HB and I did our CBT today. Both did good!

We had 4 hours on site training. I had to go onto a different bike, a road legal scrambler (2017 Kawasaki 125) which threw me a little but I adjusted ok after half an hour. That all went ok but there was 4 of us and the instructor could only take out two people at a time so asked us to go home (we live 10mins away) for 2 hours. I hasten to add this morning was VERY frosty and freezing fog!

By the time we got back and on the road, it was almost 15:45 and was starting to get dark and again, was raining hard. But we went out for 2 hours and apparently we did really well.

As we first ventured out Mrs HB was up front, instructor in the middle and me behind. All wearing high vis with “under instruction” and some little black fiesta decided 20mph wasn’t fast enough and rather give us chance to speed up, decided to over take us on the wrong side of the road with horn blazing. Other than that I stalled it once at a set of traffic lights and then panicked but the instructor was talking to me over radio and sorted me out.

Everyone else we encountered, including a police car were great and gave us plenty of room and Lee way.

Really pleased with ourselves, every time we’ve been out the weather has been really bad so if we can contend with that, a better day in terms of weather should be great. At one point we went through Medway tunnel and we were doing 50mph, that was fun!! I got in to top gear and even blipped the throttle. Hehe.

We’re both going to do our DAS now in Jan/feb and we’re going to pickup a cheap 125 to get some experience on in the interim.

We’ve just had a bath and are now enjoying some alcohol!
 
Mrs HB loves the look of the Keeway superlight 125CC LTD. I've spent the last few days researching, checking out reviews. Seems like a decent 'starter bike' so I was looking online. Gumtree add comes up with a 65 reg one near me for a very good price, cheaper than my GFX card!

Did an online check on it and it all checks out so contacted the seller - he's delivering it to me on Wednesday! Job done! It's something almost disposable that we can use to keep the skills alive as we start out DAS.

Secretly excited!!
 
So, here she is! Covered in muck as its been snowing but now tucked up in the garage (Which needs a clear out!!!)

Mixture of my me on iPhone and original sale photos.

12k miles, 65 plate, after market remote alarm, immobiliser and remote start, plus upgrades bulbs and horns. It's first MOT is in a year.

Not bad for £800 - plus it arrived with a full tank of fuel!

26023825_10155816507131259_1509742305178933836_o.jpg


26060482_10155816507136259_2618699274330059598_o.jpg


26111936_10155816506986259_693077782006998862_n.jpg


26165147_10156173647432189_6657234851239371777_n.jpg


I will be carrying out a full service and freshening up the rear of the wing mirrors.

Before buying it I carried out a digital check online, all clear.

Very happy with it, sounds quite throaty for a 125. Mrs HB is over the moon with it too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom