Well I'm on my journey to become a biker!! (Edit - Mission: Complete!!)

haaammit

haaammit

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Allo all. I've been driving a car for 30 odd years. Always fancied getting a bike/bike licence but never really could justify it if that makes sense. Not a bike novice, and used to hoon about on my mates bikes as a teen etc, but not properly/officially ridden on the road. Well now I'm booked onto my CBT mid Oct and have my motorcycle theory test end of Sept with a view to booking the direct access course once I've got my theory. Exciting stuff.

My car is undergoing a full resto and I'm unwanting to put additional miles on her once the full respray is done next year so was looking at a cheaper/less new paint and bodywork getting ruined way of travel. I don't do a lot of miles (that might change soon, hence the reluctance to add miles on the car). Unfortunately my best mate lost his battle with cancer earlier in the year and I've been helping sort out all his stuff. Upshot is that I now own his old bike, so that's prompted the start of my bike journey.

Got a few insurance quotes and they're acceptable (about £70 TPFT which is fine to start off). Off to collect it tomorrow (coming back in a van, don't worry). The bike was MOT tested July this year. It's a 1991 GPZ500s Not a looker, but certainly a workhorse, which is all I'm looking for at the moment!

I'm sure I'm going to be fine with the theory, except some of the mock tests I've done shows I don't know stopping distance in meters ( :rolleyes: ) and the hazard perception tests are a bit toss aren't they? I've bought the DVSA e-learning thing, so that'll be fine. Any pointers/tips etc?

Edit to add I have a helmet, textile jacket, gloves and sturdy boots already, will be adding either textile or riding jeans soon
 

Hades

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Good luck. Do you have the DVSA app on your phone? I assume that's what you mean. There is a hazard perception part of the test and on the app. You have to click when you see an evolving hazard. Sometimes I would see the hazard earlier than it accepted. But if you click too many times it apparently disqualifies you from that part. So I found that clicking three times with a second apart allowed me to get the right click timing and not get disqualified.

Good luck. It's amazing fun.
 

Griffo

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Congratulations on making the decision @haaammit :). Your jacket has a spine protector yeah? Similarly if you get jeans try to ensure you get armour in them. I imagine knee caps into a kerb would be most upsetting.

On a brighter note, that's a nice bike to have a start on I'm sure :). Do get it checked over, serviced etc. As @Hades says, it is amazing fun! Welcome to the cool kids club :p
 

Hades

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The wet weather outside reminds me... be careful of leaves on the road in autumn which are slippery. Also be very careful of any road markings or metalwork such as drain covers. They are very slippery in the wet.
 

haaammit

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Well that happened yesterday - passed me theory! Thanks for the tip on the hazard part, I used the "three click" method and it worked well.

CBT booked in for mid Oct with my Mod 1 booked in for the second week in Nov. Yes, my jacket has spine, shoulder and elbow protection built in. Having done *some* research I think I'm going to go down the textile route for trousers as they seem most versatile for riding in most weather (which is what I'm planning on), something like this to get me going Motorcycle Trousers they've got a removable liner for cooler weather, armoured knees and foam padded hips, and I'm going to have to get changed regardless if I use the bike for commuting.

The bike is now back at my place, I've since put down a small hard standing pad for the centre stand, and there is a lock/chain for what it's worth. I got a cheapo Oxford cover for now. I will give her a proper clean and polish, get some of those swirl marks out of the paint if I can, and yes, I know the tank is the wrong colour scheme :o :p :DExciting times!

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Hades

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Fantastic. Well done. Love the bike.

I'd recommend trousers with hip armour as well as knee armour. Some trousers have it as standard but others have it only as an option. But it's worth buying them. When I hit the ground my hip definitely took a whack and the armour stopped me getting any injury there. If you buy those trousers then definitely replace the foam hip pads with proper hip armour. Foam pads won't do anything. I see they are ladies fit too. I don't know your gender but if you're not a lady then I would look for male trousers as the fit can affect where the armour sits.

For added security you could get a ground anchor. Or just chain it to something heavy like a bucket of concrete with an upturned U lock in it. Also, if you ride somewhere and take the chain then please don't carry it across your back and shoulders. Just imagine what that would do in a crash. Get a tail bag and put it in there.
 
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haaammit

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Cheers all - I went to the actual outlet shop as it's kind of near me, and was able to try on some different styles/fits and had got a good set of textiles with replaceable inserts, so that's good. I've had a local blacksmith bend be up some 16mm steel - that's going to be buried about 20cm into some postcrete, so that should slow any scallies down. There is also CCTV covering the bike for what it's worth.

So - this happened today CBT complete! It was bucketing it down most of the day, but that didn't dampen our spirits, even if it did our bodies a little!

DAS MOD1 training in two weeks time with the test booked in for the 09th Nov!! Went really well today, both me and the other trainee have held driving licenses for a while so we could prioritise actual riding instead of roadcraft, so that was good. Not long now!

JfNSwYi.jpg.png
 
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Scythe

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haaammit said:
I've had a local blacksmith bend be up some 16mm steel - that's going to be buried about 20cm into some postcrete, so that should slow any scallies down. There is also CCTV covering the bike for what it's worth.
Click to expand...
I can recommend Pragamasis for ground anchors, chains and locks: https://securityforbikes.com/torc-ground-anchor.php

I use their Torc ground anchor, 19mm chain and a square padlock for my bike.
 

Rimsy

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Nice one well done. How much training did you have (if any)?

I'm wondering if riding my 125 for another 3-4 months (plus practicing the mod1 manoeuvres in a car park) will be enough to go straight for mod 1 test or some sort of training on a bigger bike is essential?
The training place near me only offers 3 days of training which is pretty expensive...
 
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iamtheoneneo

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Rimsy said:
Nice one well done. How much training did you have (if any)?

I'm wondering if riding my 125 for another 3-4 months (plus practicing the mod1 manoeuvres in a car park) will be enough to go straight for mod 1 test or some sort of training on a bigger bike is essential?
The training place near me only offers 3 days of training which is pretty expensive...
Click to expand...
Problem is not experience but how you are going to acquire and then get a road legal A2 bike to and from the centre to take the test?
I don't know any places that offer such a service unless your on a course.
 
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haaammit

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This has all been booked through a local bike training company/bike showroom type place. I've gone from never officially riding a bike on the road to going for my full licence. The breakdown is as follows:

CBT was upto 8 hours, but it ended up being 7 hours with a mix of basic theory stuff followed by low speed stuff in the carpark before heading out onto the road for, idk, couple hours? This was £160

Mod 1 training was pretty much all riding. 3 hours out on the road day one, day two was 4 hours on the road, including about 2 hours on the actual DVSA Mod 1 course (both days included a debrief) then day 3 was an hour ride to warm up before taking the test, then a ride back to hq. This was £390 Day one was much more road oriented, day two the actual "test" oriented.

Mod 2 is 4 hours riding day one (followed by debrief again) then an hour warm before heading off to to the test day 2. This is £320

So the DAS is ~13 hours of actual riding/tuition/training not counting the CBT stuff?

Prices all include fuel and use of a bike, but you need your own gear. The bike I've been using for the DAS is a Yamaha MT-07, which is really nice. It's a parallel twin, like my Z500, just more biggerer! My instructor says they encourage extra tuition to be booked at the payment point if needed, I guess they're pretty adept at seeing where students are. Obvs driving for such a long time means there's less theory stuff to go through, plus being older I'm not that interested in seeing how fast I can rag the bike!
 
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haaammit

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Rimsy said:
Nice one well done. How much training did you have (if any)?

I'm wondering if riding my 125 for another 3-4 months (plus practicing the mod1 manoeuvres in a car park) will be enough to go straight for mod 1 test or some sort of training on a bigger bike is essential?
The training place near me only offers 3 days of training which is pretty expensive...
Click to expand...
TBH I would say if you've got road craft, and can do the low speed stuff you should be fine, I found the bigger bike easier to control than the smaller 125 I was on for the CBT, *BUT* the bigger bike is so much more powerful, so you would need to factor that in, and as @iamtheoneneo says you've got to get your bike there, with insurance etc. YMMV though, I can't comment on your riding skills :)
Riding the actual DVSA course was really helpful, especially as regards to getting up to speed for the 3 stops
 
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