Hoggs

Hi Conks01,

You can go straight in to a DAS (direct access scheme) course which upon completion will let you ride any bike (I don't completely understand the restricted courses but you have to do all the same things so better to do the full one) . You'll need to do a CBT (on a 125), your theory test (lots of helpful practice questions and hazard vids online) then the "big bike test" which needs to be on a larger bike (I can't recall the limit possibly 500?) Most centres use 600s or 650s (Suzuki Gladius / Kawasaki ER6N style)

There's no prior experience needed for the DAS, there are different length courses and when I was doing mine there were a couple of people who went from 0 experience to full licence in 5 or 6 days

Can't comment on the Virago but I had a Suzuki Intruder 125 which is very similar and to be honest I think you are going to want a bit more oomph on the motorways because you'll be riding at pretty much 90% of the bike capacity which I found was quite tiring as you don't have the luxury of a bit more power should you need to get past a lorry or the like. I also found my inner thighs were quite sore after about an hour or so riding but that may just be me!

Hiya,

I had loads of problems with my U turn and figure of 8 at first because I kept looking down at the ground rather than keeping my head up and picking a spot in the distance to head towards. When doing the figure 8 you need to make the cross over bits as straight as possible and don't feel like you need to keep really really close to the cones!

We were told to imagine a post we were turning round when doing the U Turn which is weirdly helpful as it gives you a fixed point to turn around. As said, practice makes perfect so you'll get there!

I rode for a year or so on a 125 before doing my test, the bonus is you build up some confidence on the road, the downside is you inevitably pick up a few bad habits you need to break to get through the test.

The other bonus is things you know you need to work on (for me looking for speed limit signs on the entrance to every single road you ever turn in to) you can practice in-between sessions. Where I took my test (Enfield) there are shed loads of 30 to 20 zones and it seems to be a common failure.

But there were lots of people taking (and passing) the mod2 who had literally never ridden a bike before starting the CBT /DAS course.

I did a four day DAS (two Saturdays for training and then Mod 1 on a Monday afternoon and the Mod 2 the following Wednesday). I think there were Saturday tests available but they were £40 extra. My training centre booked blocks of slots in advance so there wasn't too long to wait but not sure if they all do that. As mentioned above you can do the mod 1 and 2 on the same day but I didn't think my nerves would be up to that!