Spongefinger

Cheers Bender, I said I'll let him know tomorrow I need to sleep on it. Part of me thinks he has my best interests at heart and part of me thinks it's a easy way for them to make more money out of me ! I'll let you know what happens at the end of the week...either way I'm thinking it may call for a beer or two .

Hi Jackie, The tests are part of the package. Confidence is a strange thing ! I did feel pretty confident after my initial wobbles and I found the 40 minute ride back very enjoyable with no issues. The guy who is training with me has got his mod 1 tomorrow, the instructor told him he is more than ready but he told me he doesn't feel ready at all. He actually stayed a hour after the training was over to practice.

Hi all, I had my das booked for earlier in the year but for obvious reasons it got cancelled I managed to rebook it for this week. It's a week long course training Mon,Tues,weds then Friday morning training onto mod 1 Test , friday morning training onto mod 2 Test. Also I did my CBT 14 months ago and had not been back on a bike since due to various issues. Mondays training went fine slow control ,like most bit rusty first couple of times on cones, slalom, walk ride and u turn but after that all good. Was supposed to be mod 1 fast training today emergency stop, serve etc but when I turned up they said mod 2 stuff today and we will do more mod 1 tomorrow. It didn't get off to a great start. Out of the school onto the road minute later I went straight over a crossing someone was about to cross at, went quite wide on the first left hand turn I had to take and I wasn't planning ahead enough approaching roundabouts often finding myself coming to a stop in 4th when I should have changed down a lot earlier. I was pretty nervous being out on the road on a big bike for the first time. Anyway after that things got a lot better did 40 minute drive to where test centre is ( including 30 mins on dual carriageway) drove around and managed to get hill start on second attempt. Any way we drove back and in my de brief my instructor said I had made brilliant progress that day but he said if I had seen you ride the way you rode first thing I wouldn't have even given you a CBT ! Now he is advising that I move my test dates and add a couple more training sessions. He said you might get lucky and squeak through if I didn't. He added he didn't think there was any doubt I had the ability to ride well seeing the progress I made but he said my lack of "saddle time " was evident. So I'm not sure what to do an extra two days training would obviously add a fair bit of cost to my course AND there would still be a chance I could fail and then have the additional cost of rebooking one or both of the tests. Or I could push on complete my training and hope that over the next couple of days I may well improve enough to be at a level where I could pass and if I don't I've gained the experience of taking one or both tests and re book.

Definitely to some research on training schools as there are good ones and bad ones ( plenty of stories here) . Look at Facebook reviews and Google reviews. You will probably pay more for a well respected decent school but that is money well spent. I did my CBT with a school through Groupon (£65) but you get what you pay for course was rushed through only took about 3 hours from start to finish only had about 30-40 mins road riding in that. I didn't really feel much more confident when I left than when I turned up having not been on a bike for 34 years ! When I got home and started watching trading videos it was evident how much they left out. Also when I look on Google the school had a few quite scathing reviews and when I went to book my DAS with a better training school they refused to accept my CBT certificate from my previous school as they knew how poor thier training was. I have noticed that because if covid some training schools are requiring you to have your own gear and some (like the one near me) are offering quite good deals on new rider gear if you book a CBT with them, one I saw was helmet , jacket , gloves and trousers for £250. Once you have done a CBT you will have a much better idea where you want to go with your biking . You may find that a 125 is enough for you if all you want is a little bimble round the country lanes every now and then. Bikes - 125's. I'm not a hater of Chinese bikes but as stated earlier you have to really look after them to keep them in good condition where as a jap bike will be much more forgiving. I guess it all depends where you fall on maintenance. If you are someone who feels part of the fun of the biking experience is getting your hands dirty and working and cleaning the bike then a Chinese bike may not be a bad idea. If however you would find maintenance a pain and just really want to do the minimum and jump on and ride then go Jap. The other consideration is depreciation. A well looked after Jap bike will hold its value well. If you buy a decent one a few years old and look after it in a couple of years if you decide to go for a bigger bike you will loose hardly any money. If you go Chinese the second you sit in that bike you can forget about getting much of that money back. I guess it's down to you and what your financial considerations are. Whatever you decide to do...be safe and have fun !

I'm starting my das on Thursday. Haven't been on a bike since my CBT last year. I hired a bike for the day from my training school. It is located on an industrial estate that was deserted . I did some road riding but spent over 4 hours in a large empty carpark practicing mod 1 stuff. It was really worth doing my skill at the end was much much better than when I started and I felt a lot more confident about taking on my das. There is a guy on YouTube called TheFuture he has the best video by far of the mod1 and mod 2 courses give them a good few watches.

I guess a way to look at it is. You can still find 125 Honda's and Yamaha's from the 80's in decent condition for sale. In forty years time how many of the bikes make this year will still be around ? I think a lot of the 125's made today are designed to be cheap and have a finite life they are not seem as any kind of investment and because if the low cost people don't look after them run them into the ground for 3-4 years flog them for a few hundred then either get a bigger bike or another cheap 125.

Facebook Market place and local Facebook selling groups.

I've got my CBT so not for me but I'm just interested. Are there any mopeds that are legal on only a car licence? I remember reading an article about a Yamaha Fizzy that was legal on a car only licence due the the pedals that were on it. Is this true? Do these laws still exists or have they been updated ?

As someone new to the world of motorcycling this is very interesting to me. I've did my CBT last year and I'm doing my das in a couple if weeks. As you can imagine I have done tons of reading about which bike to get when I get my full license ! And as you can imagine there is tons of conflicting info out there. A lot of he advice seems to be don't go less that 600cc or less than 80-100 hp as you will get bored on anything less powerful than that. But as a newbie I thought something around the top limit of A2 licence horse power would both be enough to keep me entertained but also a nice amount of power so I could ride safely while I'm in the early stages of my riding experience.

Happy review reading Im struggling to find the drz 125 on there for review or any for sale anywhere. Am i being stupid or....?

A days Van hire is cheap. Getting a bespoke company to move it will be expensive. Or do you know someone with a van you could bung a few quid.

Funny you should say that I saw one for sale a while back and liked the look of it and the reviews seemed very positive just thought 900 cc might be a bit too much for my first big bike. The clue is in the nickname TeDiuM 900, if a bit unjust. My FZ6 could get me into trouble allot quicker (98 BHP) than the TDM (89 BHP). if your considering a 500 the TDM will keep you amused for a fair whilst. I have sold my FZ6 and kept the TDM then I also have Triumph Trophy 1200 which is a lovely bike but at 250kg is hard work to manoeuvre on my own... If your interest is out and out speed forget the TDM go for one of the 600's, if you are looking for enjoyable days ride TDM should not come of the list. Cheers, Speed if definitely not one of my priorities....I think pottering is probably more my style

Funny you should say that I saw one for sale a while back and liked the look of it and the reviews seemed very positive just thought 900 cc might be a bit too much for my first big bike.

Cheers guys...it's sold already

Hi all, Doing my full license this year and been looking at bikes. Looked at the obvious ones Bandit ( which is my fave) , hornet , Fazer and Er6 N. On a selling group today a ER 5 came up pretty cheap and I wondered if it's worth considering as a first bike to knock about on ? My biking will be purely for fun , Sunday rides etc. I realize it's HP is pretty low compared to the others I listed I'm wondering if I would get fed up with it quickly ? I'm a pretty large chap as well 6ft and over 18st. Thoughts

Cheers , Swagman.

Fingers crossed

Cheers.

Cheers Tankbag , probably a 600cc Bandit.

I started planning my bike journey in January this year . Slowly got my gear , put money away went to book my DAS and BAM ! Lockdown Anyway spoke to training school yesterday and they can take non essential clients from June 2nd and testing resumes 3 rd week in July. All booked just fingers crossed it goes ahead

I guess you could always print out a dominoes sign and stick it to your top box

Oh ok I just assumed third party was cheaper

Hi all, I was supposed to be doing my DAS next month but...well you know what. Anyway gave me a chance to look into stuff and been thinking about insurance. From what I've seen if you have a cheap bike and have an accident there is a good chance it will be classed as a write off as repair costs will be high compared to value of bike. This in mind if you do have a cheap bike is it worth getting fully comp ? Thoughts. Cheers.

[/img]First bike was a 1970's kx 125 ( imagine like the picture but after years of abuse ) . Bought off my mate in 1986 when I was 16 for £70. Wasn't road legal and neither was I so I pushed it home and put it in the garage. My parents didn't want me to have a bike and my old man was a bit pissed off. Anyway once he calmed down he started the bike up in the garden and it shot out from under him and broke the garden fence...he just walked off shouting " I told you those bloody things are dangerous"

Good luck Smurfy