Questions for newbie to bikes

Daff_Duck · 2 Jan 2007 at 10:38

Ok looking into purchasing a bike. But first I know that you have to pass some kind of test in order to buy the bigger and more powerfull bikes. So what I would like to know is and I hope you can point me in the right direction is...

How much would you be looking at @ for first time bike to get me to the stage of passing the required courses (How long do these take and how soon can you apply for one) secondly How much does the actual course cost? What other costs should I take into consideration in respect of owning a motor bike.

Your help would be appreciated

Hawk Tuah · 2 Jan 2007 at 13:22

Its dependant on your age. Provided you are over 21, you can do a direct access course.

I did one last summer. It cost me £600. That included all test prices (theory, CBT and Main Test), bike hire, equipment hire, VAT, etc.

It took 6 days. Mine was from a Thursday to Tuesday.

Oakesy2001uk · 2 Jan 2007 at 13:36

i did my full licence at 17 with some riding experience from my RS125. it cost me £220 having already done my CBT to ride the 125 and passed my theory(bike and car are seperate. That was 2 days training and the test. If you have little or not bike experience on no CBT an 4 or 5 day course may be more appropriate. It depends how fast you learn and how much training you need. £220 is you minimum, up to about £800 for a 7 day course inc CBT and test. My licence was then restricted to 33bhp for 2 years before I could ride anything I wanted (at 19) and I took a good route of 125 (albeit a genuine 100mph RS125), 400 (Honda NC30) and now my R6.

How old are you, and what experience do you have.

Scort · 2 Jan 2007 at 13:39

Sorry to hijack the thread, but had you ridden before Bug One, or did you go straight for DA?

I'm going to be looking at taking the direct route later this year, will be 26 and hoping to pick up a Honda CBR 600RR, but I've never ridden before and was toying with the idea of taking lessons before laying down £600+.

Cheers.

Scort.

Guigsy · 2 Jan 2007 at 13:55

For about £600, someone who is over 21 and has driven a car for a few years (so is road aware) should be able to do a full course, takes about 5 days. That'll consist of:

1 day to get CBT certificate
1 day on 125 to teach you to ride properly
2.5 days on a 500
0.5 days for a DAS test

When you're done, you can legally ride. As when you first learnt to drive though, you'll be a bit carp for a little while.

I did it a couple of years ago, but I did the CBT first, waited a few months, then did the DAS course. My first bike is a Fazer FZ6.

moss · 2 Jan 2007 at 14:00

Scort said:
Sorry to hijack the thread, but had you ridden before Bug One, or did you go straight for DA?

I'm going to be looking at taking the direct route later this year, will be 26 and hoping to pick up a Honda CBR 600RR, but I've never ridden before and was toying with the idea of taking lessons before laying down £600+.

Im sure bug was just like me and was a pretty much total newbie, both done our DA then onto 600's.
I was only 21 at the time though. the £600 DA course will teach you all you need to know, the DA usually includes upwards of 10hours of biking plus your CBT.

Scort · 2 Jan 2007 at 14:02

moss said:
Im sure bug was just like me and was a pretty much total newbie, both done our DA then onto 600's.
I was only 21 at the time though. the £600 DA course will teach you all you need to know, the DA usually includes upwards of 10hours of biking plus your CBT.

Thanks moss, I'll get saving then

Pretty certain I will book some sort of advanced course after I pass though, wouldn't mind building up on my skills, not to become over-confident but just to give me a bit more knowledge.

Scort.

Oakesy2001uk · 2 Jan 2007 at 14:07

Scort said:
Thanks moss, I'll get saving then

Pretty certain I will book some sort of advanced course after I pass though, wouldn't mind building up on my skills, not to become over-confident but just to give me a bit more knowledge.

Scort.

dont discount the value of track training either, teaches you vital bike control techniques in a slightly more controlled and safe environment.

Road training is also good, I am even considering doing the police one, I discounted it as a law learning session, and a speed limit bore fest, but I got pulled over by a bike cop the other week, who was just querying the colour of my bike after my colour change. He was genuinely nice, ignored the blatently illegal exhaust and black/ semi painted screen, (cant see out of it even if you might want to on an R6) and told me to follow him as we were going the same way.

We did the whole of my 8 mile commute to work down the quiet back lanes, and there were speeds of up to 100mph on the cards, and he was a great rider. Safe and controlled, but genuinely fast (considering he was on a big pan european), I really enjoyed the ride!

Scort · 2 Jan 2007 at 14:15

Oakesy2001uk said:
dont discount the value of track training either, teaches you vital bike control techniques in a slightly more controlled and safe environment.

I'll be looking at anything and everything to help get my skills and knowledge up, so will more than likely be skint come next xmas

Scort.

pinkaardvark · 2 Jan 2007 at 14:17

All the info requested is in the sticky.

Oakesy2001uk · 2 Jan 2007 at 14:31

Scort said:
I'll be looking at anything and everything to help get my skills and knowledge up, so will more than likely be skint come next xmas

Scort.

HAppy and skint, with a big grin wishing it was dry and warm outside.

Hawk Tuah · 2 Jan 2007 at 14:49

No, I'd never ridden a motorbike before. I'd obvioulsy riddena mountain bike, I'd also ridden a scooter on holidays before. Plus I have ridden my wheel of death (see sig).

Before I started I always thought riding a bike would be well easy. You see guys in the street diving in between traffic, pulling stunts, leaning it right over. It was only when I sat on a bike for the first time that I realised it wasn't! Takes a lot of learning to get the co-ordination, balance and control all together.

As for owning a motorbike, there are three main things to take into account.

* The cost of the actual bike, and of course any maintenance required.
* The cost of tax and insurance.
* The cost of all your protective equipment. Helmet, armoured jacket and trousers, boots and gloves. Plus if you're going to be riding at this time of year, you'll also need a lot of thermal equipment. Beleive me, it gets very cold very quick once you get moving on the bike.

My bike, an X reg GSXR 600 cost me £2300.
The insurance is £240 plus £45 tax.
My equipment was probably around £400 (mainly quite light summer stuff, but all with full CE armour).

My next thing will be a full set of leathers and a new rear tyre / chain / sprockets.

Guigsy · 2 Jan 2007 at 14:49

I did a police BikeSafe course last year.

The first day was mainly town based stuff. Lots of people found it very useful, but I guess I am paranoid enough to have worked most of it out by myself. There were some very useful tips on how the police interpret the rules of the road for bikers and the attitude you should take to riding. The practical side happened to be on a day where it was pee'ing rain, which was good. They showed us how far you could push it without loosing it on skiddy roundabouts and showed us what spilt diesel looks like and does...

The second day was country roads. We had a couple of hours in the classroom, then most of the day out on the twisties. Everybody came back with the same experience, they started off at 50mph (as you do with a rozzer on your tail) and ended up doing about 100mph... with a policeman following like a wingman at 2m distance. Great fun. Lots of tips on how to read corners and most importantly, the way to take them. I'd been an over-cautious rider before, but now I'm quite a bit quicker and much safer than I was before. When I go out on rides with my mates (who have all been riding a couple of years more than me), I no longer follow them, I'm just riding on the same bit of road as them at the same time and totally doing my own thing. If you want to ride roads fast, it's got nothing to do with clipping the apex.

Anyhoo, the course cost £80 over the Saturday and Sunday and was brilliant value for money. Everyone said it was fantastic. I was the only person on the course to have less than 5 years experience though (only about a year at the time) and my trainer said I'd not learnt some of the bad habits yet and picked up lots of stuff quicker than the others. He said that people feel like they need to be experienced to do BikeSafe, but it isn't the case.

This year I really want to do a track day, only problem is I've only got two piece leathers and most tracks need you to have a one-piece. Gonna look on eBay for some leathers that someone has grown out of...

Daff_Duck · 2 Jan 2007 at 15:22

Thanks so much for all your input I dont have any experience of driving a bike.However I am in my 40s and have a driving licence and HGV licence and just thought "I want a bike" now..

Oakesy2001uk · 2 Jan 2007 at 15:41

Daff_Duck said:
Thanks so much for all your input I dont have any experience of driving a bike.However I am in my 40s and have a driving licence and HGV licence and just thought "I want a bike" now..

get it done, you will love it! do your theory (much the same as the car) then book yourself onto a direct access couse at a local riding school. You will even enjoy the training.

moss · 2 Jan 2007 at 15:46

Oakesy2001uk said:
get it done, you will love it! do your theory (much the same as the car) then book yourself onto a direct access couse at a local riding school. You will even enjoy the training.

Unless you do it during winter like I did, started snowing during a lesson 20miles from the riding school and heavy rain and winds during my test.

Oakesy2001uk · 2 Jan 2007 at 15:57

moss said:
Unless you do it during winter like I did, started snowing during a lesson 20miles from the riding school and heavy rain and winds during my test.

Nice! bet your still glad you did it, just regret not wearing you 4th pair of thermals!

moss · 2 Jan 2007 at 16:05

Oakesy2001uk said:
Nice! bet your still glad you did it, just regret not wearing you 4th pair of thermals!

Totally glad I done it and I had my licence ready for the summer

I wouldnt recommend doing it in the winter though, literally after a couple of miles or so, my hands were hurting due to the cold. Good experience though, got me used to riding in rain/fog/crap!

Oakesy2001uk · 2 Jan 2007 at 16:08

moss said:
Totally glad I done it and I had my licence ready for the summer
I wouldnt recommend doing it in the winter though, literally after a couple of miles or so, my hands were hurting due to the cold. Good experience though, got me used to riding in rain/fog/crap!

commute for a winter you will certainly learn the value of proper gear. The coldest I get is when I clean it every day to get the grit off!

Hawk Tuah · 2 Jan 2007 at 16:13

I stopped commuting on it in early december. Its just not worth it. Its so cold, wet. You have to carry so much gear. Its just not worth it.

Bring no the summer again!