Spongefinger

Hi all,

Thought I'd just pop a post on here for people who may be thinking of getting into biking and were wondering about cost. I have listed my expense below from starting and having  nothing.

Theory test - £23

CBT - £69 from Groupon ( although I believe cost is around £130)

DAS - £725 plus £100 for mod 1 retake and extra training.

Helmet - £50 from friend

Jacket - RST from XLmoto reduced to clear £59

Gloves - £25 ARMR Moto Ikedo from the sportsbikeshop 

Trousers - £55  Spada Milan-Tex from the sportsbikeshop

Boots - Course Shorties £44 half price sale XLmoto

Bike - 2000 Hornet £1300

Tax - £65

Insurance -£200

Disc Lock - £35

Total £2850. ( If my maths is right )

18 hours ago, Hoggs said:

You're the coolest parent ever!

I'm sure my children would argue that point but thanks anyway

44 minutes ago, Davidtav said:

Your description of what your Dad says reminds me of when I was 16 and about to get my first motorbike … so the night before I got it my Dad sat me down for a serious talk and told me how powerful the bike would be. Just the slightest touch of the throttle would make it accelerate so fast that I would have to be careful not to get thrown off backwards … it actually all sounded so exciting that I couldn’t sleep and it was a terrific disappointment actually when I got on this rather tired secondhand FS1e moped to find that was never going to happen! … I’m 60 years old now. And as I recently told my sister. I’ve only just started to ride a bike where that warning could possibly have any relevance. And it’s still hardly likely … my sister thought that very funny!

I bought my first bike against my dad's will. It was a 1970s kx125 when the saw it he got the hump and proceeded go get on it and start it, it shot out from between his legs...he went arse over it the bike smashed into the garden fence and he looked over at me and said " see I told you things are bloody dangerous".

On 20/09/2021 at 18:50, fastbob said:

I'm confused . You're saying that people turn up for a CBT with zero motorcycle riding experience and literally expect to be taught how to ride ? Surely it would be an idea to get at least a few hours practice in first . How are you going to develop the necessary balance and coordination ? 

Some motorcycle schools will do lessons before the CBT or taster sessions. So you don't go in completely unready. My 14 year old daughter had a hour lesson on Sunday just because she wanted to see what it's like to ride a motorcycle. 

Have you got a full license? The Ninja has 39 bhp and 27 nm of torque it's not a powerful bike. Also with all due respect your dad obviously knows nothing about how a motorcycle works if he believes his statement to be true.

I've knocked this on the head something else in now in the pipeline.

8 minutes ago, Stu said:

 

Thats more likely being crashed and new clocks fitted and not a new engine  

Didn't think of that....still a good indication that something has happened that has not been disclosed.

Yeah you have to be careful. There was another bike I was looking at seemed a bit cheap. There was no mention at all of the bike getting a replacement engine but I checked out mot history and the bike mileage had gone up steadily over the years as you would expect then a 4 years ago the milages at MOT dropped by about 17,000 miles !! 

6 minutes ago, Bender said:

How cheap is cheap? 

The bike is up for £1500 40,000 miles. Sounds overpriced but if rust not an issue I was going to negotiate price.

Hi  all, 

After passing my mod 2 I'm now looking at bikes I haven't got much of a budget so looking at older bikes. Seen this 2003 Fazer it has decent length MOT the only thing concerning me is the rust on the forks. I have attached a picture. Is this an issue of something quite usual to see in a older bike? Any advice appreciated.

On 24/08/2021 at 10:45, Blackholesun said:

What does anyone think I should do...have the chance to rebook mod 2 with same school same bike for £300 but I wasn't as keen or comfortable on the z650 as I was the mt 07 that I did my mod 1 on... but the mt07 school as £600 as need to do 2 days as I don't fail with them .. failing is so expensive!

Is £300 just to redo the test or for extra training as well ? The school I went with its £375 for 8 hours of training (2x4hr) including the time to get to and do the test.

They are for sale on Amazon and seem to be road legal. I guess you have the choice or returning it, getting the seller to re register it correctly or find out how much it is to re register and tell the seller they need to pay it. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FSNYB2G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_R97YZ3TRX2KM0PNFVDN5

Have you tried booking a mod 2 ? I've seen some posts that lead times are really long. This is one other advantage of using a school they are likely to be able to get you a test earlier. Also what did you fail on ? Do you need further instruction to get you through ?

Personally I'd go to the nearest school even if it's an hour away. Get on thier books book a couple of hours refresher and do your mod 2 through them. It may seems like a bit of a pain but if you try to do it yourself you could be looking at long waits for tests, Issues getting insurance and if the issues that caused you to fail have not been addressed you might have to go through the whole process again. When I was learning my school was 45 minutes aways, there are loads closer but it is one of the best around so was willing to make the effort to go over there for lessons.

6 hours ago, NewriderDave21 said:

This was what I was thinking, I am booked in for my MOD 1 and 2 the end of October which is a while yet. I don't have anything to practice on in the mean time so do I buy a 125 and practice for a bit and rebook my Direct Access Course for next year or just go and do my MOD 1 and 2?

I did my CBT in 2019 and didn't ride at all for a year due to life getting bin the way then decide to go mod 1 and 2 rather than buy a 125. It was an intensive course and from the the my lack of seat time I probably wouldn't be at the needed level in time. As it happened covid struck and I ended up breaking my course down, so I took a few 4 hours lessons, also school I used will rent you a 125 cheaply for daily hire while you are doing full license training with them and I did this a few times as well until I was ready to take mod 1 then once passed  took a couple more to sharpen road riding. It worked much better for me as the pressure of having to pass both tests back to back was too much for me. It ended up taking just under a year. But by the time I hit to mod 2 my confidence was where it needed to be...I didn't hope I would pass I knew I would pass unless I made a stupid mistake.

There are pros and cons to going 125 first but at the end of the day it's a personal choice. You do what works for you. And good luck!

On 06/08/2021 at 21:53, Silentbob83 said:

congrats on the pass….I found Uxbridge a great test centre- all the examiners were a decent laugh. 
 

with your Mod 2 at Uxbridge watch the traffic lights at the Post Office right at the beginning, loads of people have failed that as they change quickly and you either get stuck in the box junction or get caught in two minds to go through and end up in no mans land.

 

 

Congrats on getting mod 1 out if the way I hated that I also got a minor for a "sloppy" figure 8. Who cares never got to do another one ever again

I believe this is a video of an Uxbridge Mod 2 

On 14/08/2021 at 13:45, Blackholesun said:

Any tips to look out for I've got mine coming up ? Well done for passing 

I passed my mod 2 about a month ago. I read most of the experiences here and they simultaneously filled me with hope and fear !! Some said it was easy just ride it will be fine and others seemed to have a nightmare and git pulled up for missing one check or road position being slightly out of loads of other little things and I would start to panic thinking I'm never going to get all that right.

The best advice is the most repeated here. Ride as you would ride ( you may be nervous at first but I found that went because I was so focused on my riding) forget about the examiner except when he gives you instructions. If you think you messed up forget about it and focus on the rest of the test ( most of the time you haven't my mucked up as bad as you think or the instructor may not have seen). Make sure you do those shoulder checks and once you have made a turn give those indicators 2 or 3 pushes to make sure off.

Remember they are not looking for perfection they want to see that you are confident, in control and ride safely.

If your training has been of a good level you should sail through. Once I was riding it just all came together I only felt like I was out for 10 minutes and it was over.

Good luck !!!

I wonder if it will ever get to a point where if you do not heed the warning your car grasses on you and you get an automatic fine.

Cheers, thanks for the information , I had no idea that rest of Europe need full license to ridec125....i thought we had the toughest bike licencing laws here in the UK!

I was just wondering. Regardless of peoples opinions of the quality of Chinese 125 bikes ( that's not what this thread is about) there are some great looking Chinese 125's out there , loads of retros, scramblers, flat trackers....but as far as I can see there are virtually none or actually no kinds of these bikes made by the big Japanese companies ? They seem to be popular so I wonder why ?

4 hours ago, S-Westerly said:

That's a point. Given electric bikes have fairly rapid acceleration I wonder whether they'll split them on basis of KW or just have a one size fits all test. I've never thought of it but what kind of test do you need now for an ev? 

I was thinking about that Spicy110 did a review of a Zero CBT legal bike and I'm sure it could do 80 and the acceleration was insane, obviously it cost 10k so you are not going to find the local chavs out on them but it makes you think if they will have to look a categories once powerful electric bikes cone down in price. 

Mmm... Interesting so are they going to change the law so you can do full licence on a bike you feel more comfortable on ?

Cheers Guys

So did my Mod 2 today at Basildon. 7 am test had to get up at 5 to drive to training school then ride to test center but on the positive note hardly any traffic. Ride to test center was good I was a bit apprehensive as I'd not been on a bike for month but I actually felt the most confident I ever had so good start. Got to test center glad when I realised I had a guy called Rob assessing me as I had him for my Mod 1 and he was a nice guy. For show me tell me I had, tell me how would a pillion effect bikes performance, show me how kill switch works and tell me how you check oiland brake fluid levels. 

On to the ride Basildon is quite a busy town and I don't know it that well so had a bit of nerves but we headed out of the test centre and over to a small town nearby ....where I lived for 30 years Know the place like the back of my hand. Generally it was pretty quiet, got pulled over 4 times in total, one was  a car length behind a car for angled start and one was a gentle hill start. Nothing complicated on the ride back streets left and right turns, few medium sized round abouts, no 20 mph zones. Independent riding was simple " go to the next round about and follow signs to London " which equated to me taking the correct exit off two roundabouts and when we were approaching the second one he reminded he that we were heading for London. One 2 mile NSL stretch. Then before I knew it he was saying take next right I to the test centre ! Pulled up he didn't mess about he got off took his helmet off and said " well done you've passed" and went off to do paperwork.

Got 3 minors 1 observation, 1 turning right ( I drifted to left before turning) 1 steering, which I think was linked to the turning right .

Felt strange after I had built it up to be such a big thing in my head but as others have said just ride as you would, do your observations and you should be ok

Got 10 months left on theory if I get to a point where I need to renew that I think I it definitely be time to throw the towel in