Rollingskies

The only one I have ever dropped (excluding when someone hit me) was when I was stood stock still on my DAS talking to my instructor. He said in 20 years of training he had never seen someone who was sitting comfortably just drop it. To this day I have no idea how I did it.

Time to cough up. If you don't want to just vote in the poll. Car points count too - because the license is one. I have had several close near-misses. I freely admit both in my car and bike my license should strictly have been taken away at some point or other. Nowadays if I do go over I make sure it is within non-banning speeds. And for the disclaimer we, that is me, this thread and this site, do not encourage or gloat in law breaking.

Scooters! My life! I have never driven one and never wanted to. Ever. I used to nod to them, but I don't think I ever got a nod back.

All the best! Don't rush anything on the day, talk out loud in your helmet and double check everything, esp those indicators. And yes MOT places like to be seen as very british and have things that look like they are an exact time. So it's 8:17 or 9:46. You can bet to your last penny it won't be that precise. Just like the trains.

What's the point of the government split of 3 and 4 years? I'm confused.

Yep, most people say that. If you drive a car I found you change that style of driving too!

Yeah they had that at my uni. One of my classmates did it and she had a great time. I have my own connections in Africa, so I've been able to do it all for nothing. In fact I've been to a very rural part of Kenya three times now and worked there. One time was for 3 months. If you really go rural way out of the cities its almost medieval in places and a real eye opener to what some people live like. There are plenty of places you can go to, but be very very careful about contacting people on the internet to go and help or worse still donate money. It's a huge scam in Africa and people in the west (especially in the US where most of the money comes) have no idea just how prevalent it is. Whatever you decide to do, be careful and have fun.

I really like it. Good idea putting the top box on for kid pillions too.

That's correct - but if you read my post all the way through I explain why I think there is a possibility that would be a grey area. It is very closely associated with another business, indeed he will be getting half the income. Anyway remember you cannot claim VAT expenses with the flat rate method so you are not saving 6% (if you are at 14%). It is still probably less I'm sure for you though otherwise you'd be on the other method.

True, but you would have to look at first your expenses and see how much could be reclaimed. The fact that the profits are to be split to the person who is leasing the rights to the track is a complication. What you refer to is here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/start/schemes/flat-rate.htm One of the things that prevents flat rate is a close association with another business. The man that owns the business will be VAT registered proper and will be getting some 50% of the sales from this. This is why you need a qualified and experienced accountant that knows what he is talking about. For sure though it looks good if you go to the accountant with these various options to get him thinking things through.

Sensible. Insurance premiums are high on sports bikes with 0 no claims. Well done.

Well done.

Well done. I'm in the middle of mine, but they've stopped for the Autumn here. Bit colder up here in north Scotland. You'll realise how much more there is to riding safely, but don't be surprised if you feel challenged as it isn't easy if you are a naturally slow rider like I am. The most important advice I can give is to NOT go out of your comfort zone and stay within your limits and they will tell you that in their disclaimer before each ride.

Yep train style. I think it might be to emphasise punctuality. If you are more than 2 minutes late I don't think they allow you to sit it.

Why? You can get a dirt cheap set of plain plastic overalls that will go on top of any peice of clothing and keep you dry. My first waterproofs were £8. Obviously they are not fantastic, but they'll do you MUCH better than non-waterproofs.

lol it'll be years and years. Takes ages, 90% of CAs and CTAs are graduates, so we've already done 3 or 4 years at uni. The CA takes between 2 and 4 years of studying depending how much time you give it and you need at least 3 years of experience whereby you are expected to be able to do anything by the end. Altogether it commonly takes 10 years from the time you leave school. I've only been working for 16months, but you learn loads in that time. I learn a lot less per month nowadays on the experience side. It's the little tips, tricks and most importantly speed to do a set of accounts. I try not to think about the journey ahead too much. Just glad I'm earning a wage in this economic climate. It helps I'm single and living with my parents though, much harder if you have a family to raise.

Sometimes playing the man backfires. Sounds yuk. Good it looks to be ok. Getting a wasp in my helmet at high speed remains one of my worst nightmare.

Ah, a photography service package. Yeah good one. Low costs, being limited for that one would be only be for tax reasons. So you should start sole trader and after your first year of trading then consider going limited. You want to avoid being VAT registered. The VAT threshold allows you to make more than £6,000 sales a month before needing to be VAT registered so even if you go above that on your first year that's fine. You'll just have to start the following year if you do (you can get away with being over for the first 12 months). Some people actually work for 10.5 or 11 months to the turnover limit and then go on holiday! I am concerned about how you are working that split. This is where it really needs an expert. Is it better to pay him for track hire (or some kind of a purchase levy on your sale) or make him a shareholder of a limited company for dividends. You can have different types of share capital so your dividends could still be higher than his if you wanted to have different types and amounts and want to have a controlling share in the company etc. If you are splitting profits then you could end up paying tax on his share of the profits if you are not careful. Do take advice.

Take your time to read this it'll have a lot more there than I have time to write about too: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/Horizont ... 64_SE2.pdf If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them within my limits. I'm still a bit of a way off before I reach chartered status.

Most people do intend to earn that. The reality is the beginning is very tough. Most people do not make that in their first year unless they are very good business wise. I've done loads of accounts for all sort of companies and your average 1 man company makes that and a bit more if he is lucky after years of experience. You can go limited anytime - it's no big deal. Your accountant will charge about £400-600 and do it all for you. You will just sign the paperwork. You will need public liabiltiy insurance in almost any business and most of them give million of pounds of space. You should see how much some of the gas/boiler guys pay for theirs! The two main reasons for going limited are 1) for tax saving reasons 2) for limiting your liability in the event of it going bang. Public liability insurance will not stop that. It's if you (lets say) fix someone's boiler and their house blows up after. Please be careful "relying on mates". Accountants hear this all the time and an unknown subtle difference can make a difference beyond belief. I've seen too many people blow it Phil. The success stories are very thinly spaced out between the many disasters. It's hard sometimes in my job seeing the effects of this.

I laughed, even though I knew it was something like that coming.

I'm an accountant working in tax, unfortunately I'm still training. My advice is to get a visit with one. Many accountants will give a free first visit (we are NOT like lawyers) and you can get loads of information in a very short space of time. They can help you save money and if you want to borrow a large amount of money the bank will probably ask you to get an accountant to do you a cash projection. I'll run a few things for now Accountant choice. Firstly, avoid the big names. The big companies - without naming names see the big 4 - they charge two or three times a smaller firm. Go for a good firm though - you can tell a lot from the building. Sole trader In short if you want to just start a small business, open a business bank account (it's MUCH easier trust me to work your finances in a seperate account) and away you go. You will almost certainly need an accountant to do your financial statements for your tax return anyway - so this is why you might as well see one now. Keep a record of what you do in excel. Use your business bank account statements and put them in there under headings. The less work your accountant does the less you get charged. That's the theory. Remember to keep all expenses. All of them. Every cash receipt will lower your profit which is put into your yearly tax return and lowers the amount of tax you pay. For this reason try and use your credit card/bank card for ALL transactions. DO NOT register for VAT. In more than 90% of the clients I work with they pay VAT and do not get VAT refunds. It depends on your trade and what you are doing. If your product was children's clothes then it's VAT free, but you could sign up for VAT and reclaim VAT on all your expenses. Branch out into adults clothes and you find you make a loss. The VAT turnover threshold is £73,000. So unless you are going to making over that a year you won't need it. That's sales, not profit btw. Remember you as a sole trader have unlimited liability. You screw up bad and they'll take everything you have. Everything. A limited company limits liability. A seperate legal entity in law and that means if the company is sued it isn't you being sued. Although it will feel like that if you are the only shareholder. A limited company must pay corporation tax. You save tax over paying income tax if the company is making a good profit (approx 18 or 19k I think it roughly pans out at). So if your yearly profits are under £15k stay as a sole trader (if you are happy being unlimited). If they are over £20k you should be going limited and save tax. Your accountancy bill will approximately double - but providing you are making that profit it is worth it. The higher the profit the more you save. The above is a taste. It is all extremely complicated and all depends on what business, what product, turnover etc etc etc. You need to get proper advice and go through your plans. Hope that helps you in the right direction.

Because we live in a cilivlised society and that is what sets us apart from the siege mantallity of animals in other nations. otherwise it makes us no better than the terrorist or dictator I so disagree with people who say "as bad as him" "killing him in cold blood" "treated like an animal". Well guess what!? If a wild animal killed hundreds of people in Britian we would get it killed! It wouldn't get captured and put in a zoo. He died a death too good for him. I think people that have sympathy need to start watching the gruesome videos from Libya. Have a look at Liveleak which leaks very graphic footage and the other videos out there. Look at the burnt bodies of men, women and children burnt to death for their part in the rebellion which start this year. Yep, tortured and burnt alive. He used metal sheds to do it in. A bullet to the head is an awesome way to go compared to what he's been doing and how anyone could shed the slightest emotion for his just reward. He lived by the sword and died by the sword as the saying goes. Just like Hitler, Mussolini, Saddam Hussain, Bin Laden and so on. An early death didn't come early enough for any of them.

Let's face it no-one here thinks we should allow 17 year olds to drive formula 1 cars on public roads. Most people would also probably think no-one should be driving them on public roads. They are illegal for a good reason. So why do some people think that 19 year old who has ridden for 2 years on 125's or a 21 year old who has ridden a motorbike for just 5 days should be able to buy and ride the formula 1 equivalent in the motorcycle world?

Insurance does a pretty good job of pricing out idiots. The fact that you must be 21 to do DAS must save loads of lives and is probably a pretty good restriction IMO in itself. Like everyone says if someone really wants to kill themselves being stupid they can do that on a 125. Althought I voted no, I wouldn't be too upset if there was a higher restriction - perhaps <650cc for 2 years after DAS.