Hywel

yep, seeing as you're old enough go for the 125. It doesn't take long to get used to and the power delivery is very forgiving if you go for a run of the mill 4 stroke, my feeling is you wouldn't gain much from riding a 50cc first. I think the upper power limit is 11kw or just a little below 15bhp

Do kevlar jeans with impact protection exist? I have some really good goretex trousers which would be amazing for longer rainy rides and rideouts with people, but I'm probably gonna be doing a lot of riding to the shops, to see bands and to see friends etc and I can't see myself wanting to go about my life in these big bulky padded waterproofs.

they're not all arses! my instructors and examiners where all really nice!

bad luck though hywel - better luck for the next one

Cheers

DISCLAIMER: I'm not generalizing here, my posts after the initial rant should be taken in jest.

The instructors who took me through CBT and mod1 were fine, "firm but fair" as they say, and the examiner who took my mod1 was a genuinely lovely chap, I don't think he works at that particular test center normally though. My first day of mod2 training on the other hand felt like a savage day long ear bashing, never knowing whether he was shouting at me or the other guy who was also training. Not a bad bloke off the bikes though strangely.

I may word a sensible email to the school when my test is done, just stating politely that although I put up with it for the purposes of getting a motorbike license without having a serious falling out to delay the process, it would be more than enough to put someone more timid and nervous off for good.

consider getting that out of the way first rather than waiting for the school to book you in.

.... Not sure if that image is supposed to be agreeing with you or calling you stupid. I agree with you anyway!

I did get told that if you get the same examiner the second time he/she is more likely to pass you!

Probably not this bloke if he lurks on TMBF

I see a pattern emerging in this thread...

Test #1 - Candidate has an overly strict examiner with the social warmth of an open pot of drying tip-ex, feels uneasy in his company and fails

Test #2 - Candidate is given a cheery, slightly more lenient tester who is more encouraging, candidate passes with a new improved outlook on the testing staff, can no longer be arsed to complain, and two test fees per student for the DSA.

BUSTED!!

EDIT: made up word fail

Completely depends on how quickly you pick it up, instructor availability, test availability etc. My advice is to have a look around for some local motorcycle schools where you live, book a CBT with the school that seems to be the friendliest towards you when you call, then just go with the flow.

First examiner was an ar*e.... with a big attitude problem, i failed, and he said i shudnt have gone out cos my L plate was cut down too small grrr...

Next examiner was on standby for another area, cos the other was ill.... he was polite, put me at ease, and whilst out on the test was askin what bike I was gonna get etc etc...

It makes all the difference... i can understand they cant be too familiar, but manners and being pleasant would be good!!

I had some training initially, what a w**ker he was too... no patience, swearing all the time, and short changed me on time allocation... needless to say, i just bought a CG125 and taught myself for a year, just gaining confidence and experience.

I swore I wouldnt do anymore bloody tests and training after the experience, i didnt like it at all!!

Good luck for next time

Did you notice all the pan euros / deuvilles / hi-viz goretex jackets / flip lids used by the a**holes? I think they're just gutted about not being traffic cops

I'm just gonna let it go over my head, waiting for a callback with some available dates for another test. Determined to get it done and dusted!

My module 2 test was booked for yesterday afternoon, I'd done two days of training and drilling the test routes with my instructor, who is a bit short tempered for my liking and occasionally thinks that shouting barely comprehensible swearwords down a crackly one way intercom is the best way to deliver criticism to an adult. However, I was feeling ready for the test.

As I'm waiting in the test centre I get called into the office and the examiner notes that there is a problem with my CBT cert. Turns out the plumb who wrote it out forgot to include the pass date, which he argued was a good enough reason to cancel the test, despite it being overlooked by both instructor and examiner for module 1.

Anyway my instructor managed to wrangle a way around the paperwork and sorted out a test for this morning with a bit of training before hand. But I failed. There was a small van stopped over to the left of a 30mph road with what appeared to be enough space for two lanes of traffic ahead, so assuming it was just badly parked I waited for a gap in the oncoming traffic and went for the pass, but just as my front wheel got in line with his back wheel he pulled off with no indication, I dabbed the back brake, did a left shoulder check and tucked myself back to a central road position a safe distance from the back of the van... No drama, it wasn't dangerous and the van wasn't forced to break, turns out he was just waiting for traffic to pass before moving on through a gap (which I thought looked like plenty of space for him hence my decision that he was just stopped, plus he was really close to the parked cars on the left). I had one or two minor faults, which were basically for a wobble when I turned right out of a side street over a crazy camber, so a pretty solid ride apart from the van incident.

I admit that I'd made a bit of an iffy judgement call but as soon as the situation changed I'd dealt with it calmly with no ill effects on the van. Seeing as the rest of my ride was fine with lots of hazards dealt with etc, I can't see why a bit of 'benefit of the doubt' wasn't used. Instead it's £80 down the crapper and another day of my life spent hanging around the damn test centre.

What made me way more annoyed about the whole thing was the examiners attitude. My initial smiles and friendliness were met with a steely silence and no eye contact, I'm not expecting a DSA examiner to be bobo the f**king clown but what's wrong with putting test candidates at ease with a smile, a hello and a handshake?! I really cannot wait until I'm done with these people.

I did it in quite wet conditions the other week and had no problems.

Tips:

When you're practicing for mod 1, find a bit of open space and accelerate to 55kph ish in 2nd gear, try to remember what the exhaust note sounds like at that rev so that when you're doing the maneuver, you can fully concentrate on the task at hand whilst listening to the engine to get the speed right rather than watching the speedo.

I felt very tempted to close the throttle a little way before the speed trap - this scrubs off a valuable 2-3 MPH, a problem if you're already close to the minimum speed. Try to keep the power on until you're knees are through the speed trap.

Apart from that, don't change up to third gear because you could fluff it whilst fiddling around with leavers and don't be afraid to set up for the turn a little bit before the trap, makes it a lot smoother and easier to manage.

Good luck!! It's easy once you've had a go or two.

Mod 1 passed today! Crappy weather all morning but it cleared up a little before my test, wind was really battering the test area though. The guy who had been doing the training with me went first and passed with flying colours on a 125 so the pressure was on for the ER-500 and myself. It went well, the wind was trying it's best to muck up my slow ride and I locked the back wheel a tiny bit on the stop but aside from that it was fine. 54kph for the avoidance and 57 for the emergency stop.

Mod 2 booked for the week after next with one day of training before hand!! Woooooo. Then there's just the small matter of somehow aquiring the cash for a decent bike, might have to sell a load of beloved guitar gear... Or rob a granny, either option should work nicely.

Big up UMT in Cardiff / Newport by the way. Keith was a legend and very patient with my occasional brain farts.

I did mine the other week, it's nothing to worry about. Worth going through that 'learn to ride' book though, I had the same one. Just read it then go through all the questions in the back, highlighting the ones you feel are a little bit tricky. That should guarantee a pass for the multiple choice part.

As for the hazard perception, just follow the instructions carefully and don't loose concentration. Getting a dvd to practice wouldn't hurt either I suppose.

Actually yeah I didn't think about the weight of it compared to a human on the back. I guess it's nowt. Thanks for answering a n00bs silly question though.

In other news the bike delivery company that works for the dealership I just got the 125 from have been playing funny buggers. Waiting till the day they told me it'd arrive to call and delay the delivery by another 4 days. I'm expecting it tomorrow but they didn't call today to let me know what time the van will get here like they said they would. If the same happens again I'm taking the cage to Tamworth and kicking someones ass!! I need a bike before I explode.

Hi all, I'm getting a 125 delivered tomorrow, and am planning on getting something more powerful as soon as I've done my DAS, hopefully in August at somepoint. Considering this and the fact I'm probably going to be stopping my bike in a few pretty dubious areas I figured I should get a good lock so I bought an Abus chain / disk lock combo. It's heavy duty, VERY heavy duty. So heavy in fact that I'm wondering whether or not it's gonna be completely safe to carry on board the bike. I've got a nice solid rucksack with a belly strap which would hold it, but might be uncomfortable after 20 minutes. I'm guessing if I put it in a top box it might add too much weight to the back, decreasing front tire grip right? Don't wanna panic about loosing the front tire when leaning into every corner. Tank bag maybe?

I suppose another option is to just carry the disk lock part, plus another cheaper and lighter chain to anchor the bike.

Do any of you carry heavy chains? Where on the bike is the safest and most practical place on a bike to add weight? Bearing in mind I'll probably have luggage on the back also.

Congratulations!! I can't wait 'till I have my full license. Booking my DAS as soon as I get the August rota for my new job.

Thanks everyone, I think it's a done deal for the knox contour, I'll go and try one on this week! Can't beat a sales pitch like Chimera's.

And buy a proper back protector and get rid of the foam that comes inside most jackets.

 

Bit of a sweeping statement

You obviously are not aware that some strap on back protectors can cause more problems than they solve in road use, whereas a lot of in built back protectors are actually safer, particularly those made of memory foam which is standard on a lot of garments these days.

 

Can you elaborate please cos Im not aware and wouild like to know

I second this sentiment. TC do you have a good reason for telling all the poor 'unaware' folk this? A lot of people here seem to be all about the strap-on back armour. Gimme tr00fs plz kthx.

Nice read... I've gone down the route of getting all the gear I can afford before doing my DAS and getting a ride. Bought a heavy duty armoured Gortex Jacket with matching zippable trousers, all with removable lining / air vents to fend off the temptation to leave it behind or unzip on really hot days, Maxwell GTX booties and some Gortex padded gloves (would you recommend I got some proper armoured ones? I just couldn't bring myself to ok a suggested £170 odd pair of gloves, no matter how incredibly hot the lady helping me choose all my stuff in HG was). I got an AGV Titech lid, not keen on the graphics but it fits absolutely perfectly and was a really good price. Currently looking into a proper slab of stand-alone back armour too. ATGATT and all that right? I went for the textiles because I'm never going to be bothered to carefully treat leathers / carry around a big tent to wear just incase it starts tipping down.

The story about the leg getting whipped off by a snapping chain is awful, really made me shudder, and the case about the girl in a bikini reminded me of a photo the instructor at my CBT showed me of a (consenting) girl in her underwear showing off an absolutely brutal amount of road rash following a fairly quick tumble wearing some cheap jeans, vest top and a helmet. SHE HAD NO SKIN

I've been accumulating some nice gortex gear and I just got myself a good lid seeing as I have my CBT and a 125 available, I'm booking my DAS really soon and I'm completely comitted to getting a proper bike in the near future. 'Sorted' I thought, but then I thought about my spine in a crash, surely it's a very flimsy thing ready to be destroyed by a car or a curb in an accident, so I thought I'd look into a good back protector.

I've read the "buying a back protector?" sticky and had a look at a few product specific threads but I want to get a few opinions on back protectors in general. I've heard some people say very matter-of-factly that they'll do more harm than good in a big crash, and I've heard other people say that they consider them to be as important as a helmet when riding. I'd like sopme thoughts on this sort of gear. Any particular ones I should avoid? Any recommendations?

I got through it! It was just my dad, another guy and myself doing our CBTs with two instructors overseeing us. In the carpark I picked up the gearing quickly, balance was fine and cornering was smooth as soon as I'd gotten the hang of looking through to where I wanted the bike to take me. After a massive breakfast roll from a burger van, a few emergency stops and some figure 8's we were taken onto the industrial estate for some slightly more realistic road-ish experience coupled with some faster emergency stops and U-turns etc. The instructor on a Kawi ZX14 (pretty sure) took me and my dad, while the instructor driving a Triumph Tiger took the other bloke. At first I had trouble remembering to cancel the indicator (car habit), but after 15 minutes I was fine and we went out into the real world. First couple of junctions / roundabouts felt sketchy because I sometimes didn't know whether I was in 3rd or 2nd but I got used to the gearbox and my riding felt a bit smoother. Stalled once on a steep hill start but apart from that it went without a hitch. Loved it through and through, we spent ten or fifteen minutes going through some twisty bits at 40 - 50 mph (feels quick to a noob on an sr125), and I had the stupidest grin on my face through the whole stretch. I'm sold on this biking thing, the pops is too. We're getting a ybr125 to share next weekend for a bit of practice but I fully plan on getting my DAS done asap so I can step it up to a Hornet 600 or a Bandit 650.

In summary the instructors were awesome and very good teachers, the weather was great, and we all had fun. My only complaint is that it ended too early, we had our certificates by 2pm . Can't wait to get back out on a bike now.

I went with UMAT (http://www.umat.co.uk) by the way, and having the CBT cert from them means I get 20% off everything in the Cardiff Hein Gericke, a credit card and I shall be paying them a visit tomorrow.

Problem... I booked my theory test yesterday, supposed to have it tomorrow morning but I suddenly twigged earlier that I havn't seen a "paper counterpart" to my license since getting my photocard through the post 5 years ago, after hours of rooting through my parents filing cabinets + a few key paperwork filled drawers I've had no luck. I'm guessing that's 30 quid down the pan, plus another 20 for the new piece of paper? Is there any way I can take the test without this paper version of my license?

Thanks for the responses! I think I will go down the route of having a quick chinwag before booking. I don't mind being shouted at if I do something really stupid or irrisponsible, I'm not in the business of treating roads like playgrounds anyway. I'm really easy to get along with but I am however perfectly willing to let someone know if I believe they're being an arse for the sake of being an arse , I'm sure it'll be fine though.

Theory tomorrow morning in Builth Wells, fingers/toes crossed!!!

I've got a theory test tomorrow, and I'm booking my DAS on the weekend, I do have a concern though. I've been hearing a fair few stories from people about instructors raising their voices / getting really irate with students. Is this common? All I know is that if someone tries that with me through a loud intercom while I'm stressed (inevitable in the beginning seeing as It's something really new and fairly dangerous), I'm not exactly going to react well to any stretch of the imagination. I'm not saying I'm unhinged at all, but I don't tend take any sh!t whatsoever and such an instructor may find his bike tipped into a ditch, and me walking the shortest route back to my car. I remember appreciating that my driving instructor was such a chilled out bloke, I could really do with a similar temperament to hold my hand through the bike training.

So, questions... Any experience with short tempered instructors? How were they dealt with?

Any motorcycle schools / instructors in South Wales I should steer clear of?

TA