Starting my DAS tomorrow

[britboy4321]

I am starting my full DAS tomorrow morning?

Some basic, maybe embarrassing questions

1) It is SOOO hot I am thinking of just wearing my pants and socks underneath my (kevlar) trousers and top. So JUST basically JUST wearing the biking gear, nothing really underneath. Is this a major no-no? you can stop laughing now, I'm serious! It isn't leather, its fabric with kevlar plates.. do you have to wear more then undies underneath? Its 31 degrees here!

2) If the bike starts to drop away from me (I'm stationery) do I try and save it or just leap off and wince as it falls?

3) They said something about 'for an extra £40 you can have super-duper insurance, otherwise you're paying if you stack it'. Would you go for it?

4) I had a crash in the 6 months I was riding the 125. Tell them about it?

5) Bearing in mind I rode the 125 for 1600 miles, do you think this will be fairly easy (kind of just a heavier faster machine but the same kind of gig), or will this be a tough few days ahead of me?

6) Its a 550cc Honda. If I am in first and accidentally release the clutch 100% what will happen? The 125 would stall with a little nudge. Will this bigger beast, I dunno, fly away from me like a kicking mule and land in a heap 2 metres in front of me??

7) What is the 1 thing you would say I will struggle with most bearing in mind (after crashing!) I became pretty confident on the 125?

Any help appreciated,

Britters ..

 

[apatia77]

I can't give you answers for all your questions but just relax, you have done some good 125cc riding and you have enough experience now for a bigger bike. It's all the same, you just need to get used the extra power and weight but for a strong bloke this is not going to be an issue.

You would be very unlucky to drop your bike during the training as you won't be doing any dangerous or high speed riding.

Never heared of place that would charge you for damaging their bike but my school I've done the training with charges for damage to helmet only (if you use their helmet and you drop it or have an accident). If it's only £40 more for duration of the training then I'd probably go for it, any damage you will make will surely cost more than this to fox if you had to pay for it.

Keep us updated how your training goes.

I have my MOD2 tomorrow

 

[thepeteh]

Doing DAS training myself at the moment so this is what I would say to you sir;

1. The clothing your planning to wear is fine, they would let you do it with just jeans and a biking jacket, gloves and helmet and some substantial shoes.

2. Drop away from you? If your stationary you can just rest your foot on the floor whilst on the back brake.

3. You're not going to stack it, you will be taught to ride safely and they will work your way up to build your confidence.

4. If it comes up in conversation, but I wouldn't be bragging about it that's for sure.

5. IMO as you have done some miles on a 125 you may have picked up some bad habits in that time, but this should be the first thing they address.

6. It should just lurch forward and stall.

7. You shouldn't struggle, it's all fairly basic. take it in small steps.

Hope this helps

 

[growse]

Good luck with it - there's lots of advice to be given, but the main things I'd say (after just having gone through mine) are:

1) Don't panic.
2) Relax.
3) Listen to the instructor, they're very friendly and (usually) very good.
4) The back brake and engine braking will suddenly become new, very useful things

If you've done significant miles on a 125 through traffic, it'll be a lot easier than you're expecting. Assuming your road riding's mostly ok, you'll be fine on the mod 2. Then it's just a case of learning how to do the mod 1, which is easy once you know how.

 

[Maccapacca]

snip .

1) is fine, I wear pants and a t shirt and have my work clothes in a rucksack

2) brace it between your legs, man up

3) That's only the excess cover, usually £750 if you crash, you pays your money you takes your choices

4) No, why?

5) Tough, listen to instructor

6) No depends on the throttle position, pinned open yes big crash, tickover no just stall

7) The difference in speed and the difference in getting to a speed

 

[PardonTheWait]

1) It is SOOO hot I am thinking of just wearing my pants and socks underneath my (kevlar) trousers and top. So JUST basically JUST wearing the biking gear, nothing really underneath. Is this a major no-no? you can stop laughing now, I'm serious! It isn't leather, its fabric with kevlar plates.. do you have to wear more then undies underneath? Its 31 degrees here!

I never wear anything under my bike gear unless it's the dead of winter.

2) If the bike starts to drop away from me (I'm stationery) do I try and save it or just leap off and wince as it falls?

Try and catch it, but it won't get that far before it's too heavy. If it's going to go it's going to go. Don't give yourself a hernia!

3) They said something about 'for an extra £40 you can have super-duper insurance, otherwise you're paying if you stack it'. Would you go for it?

Possibly, but you're unlikely to crash. I can't see them charging you for new bar ends if you drop it on a u-turn.

4) I had a crash in the 6 months I was riding the 125. Tell them about it?

Doesn't matter.

5) Bearing in mind I rode the 125 for 1600 miles, do you think this will be fairly easy (kind of just a heavier faster machine but the same kind of gig), or will this be a tough few days ahead of me?

Piece of cake. It's just faster. It all works the same. Slow speed stuff is a little harder because of the weight but that's it, it's a 550 parallel twin, it won't eat you

6) Its a 550cc Honda. If I am in first and accidentally release the clutch 100% what will happen? The 125 would stall with a little nudge. Will this bigger beast, I dunno, fly away from me like a kicking mule and land in a heap 2 metres in front of me??

It'll lurch and stall. And stop calling it a beast, my mum used to have one!

7) What is the 1 thing you would say I will struggle with most bearing in mind (after crashing!) I became pretty confident on the 125?

Nothing, except maybe your confidence. You seem very wary of the bikes and have since the get-go, I think you just need to knock that on the head. If you believe you can achieve!

It's the same, it's just a bigger, heavier bike that's faster. Believe me, a 500 twin is not a scary bike, even proper rapid bikes will only go as fast as you tell them to.

Relax, you think too much

 

[MrRoper]

So how did it go BritBoy?