Taking Up My Dream (Riding!)

[Spacedeck]

Hey, I'm new here and in a couple of day I will be 21. I've always been a big fan of bikes and just see no appeal in cars whatsoever.

I need to send of my provisional to get ammended but I was wondering for little advice on which route I should take?

I have always found it's easier to learn on something which I will be riding on (learnt this from bicycles)

What I want to do is..

Get a 2 stroke Motorbike 125cc something like Yamaha YZF-R125 or Derbi GPR125 (which the loan would cover).

In the meantime I was thinking of maybe buying the protective gear which I worked would cost around 500-600 for bottoms, jacket, gloves, helmet, boots and gloves. Once I have all the gear needed I could then save up the money for the thoery / hazzard and CBT tests.

One thing I would like to do though is learn on my own bike. Like buy the bike and see if I can have the bike transported to the place I will undertake the CBT.

I would sill need to sort MOT and Insurance out but hopefuly this would be covered by the spare money from the loan.

Is there anything I've missed out (I'll still be buying secrurity for the bike and also a yellow jacket) or could do different? One main problem is we don't drive so don't have transport incase I never passed the test and had to walk home with the bike!

And for the bike I would love a bike which is brand new but thinking it could be cheaper / less maintenance if I bought a used one.

Sorry if this is the wrong section, forgive me.

PS for the CBT would a test centre allow me to sit in and observe what happens before I actually book a test for myself?

[mealexme]

Hey, I'm new here and in a couple of day I will be 21. I've always been a big fan of bikes and just see no appeal in cars whatsoever.

I need to send of my provisional to get ammended but I was wondering for little advice on which route I should take?

I have always found it's easier to learn on something which I will be riding on (learnt this from bicycles)

What I want to do is..

Get a 2 stroke Motorbike 125cc something like Yamaha YZF-R125 or Derbi GPR125 (which the loan would cover).

In the meantime I was thinking of maybe buying the protective gear which I worked would cost around 500-600 for bottoms, jacket, gloves, helmet, boots and gloves. Once I have all the gear needed I could then save up the money for the thoery / hazzard and CBT tests.

One thing I would like to do though is learn on my own bike. Like buy the bike and see if I can have the bike transported to the place I will undertake the CBT.

I would sill need to sort MOT and Insurance out but hopefuly this would be covered by the spare money from the loan.

Is there anything I've missed out (I'll still be buying secrurity for the bike and also a yellow jacket) or could do different? One main problem is we don't drive so don't have transport incase I never passed the test and had to walk home with the bike!

And for the bike I would love a bike which is brand new but thinking it could be cheaper / less maintenance if I bought a used one.

Sorry if this is the wrong section, forgive me.

PS for the CBT would a test centre allow me to sit in and observe what happens before I actually book a test for myself?

 

Have you thought of DAS? (Direct access) where you do a few days of training then do your test.

Personaly I dont like 2-strokes as they sound horrible and you keep needing to fill it with oil. (NEVER FORGET THE OIL otherwise the engine may seize)

any security you get should go round the rear wheel as the front wheel is easy to remove with a couple of spanners and about 30 seconds

Tax on a 125 is £15 (or may have gone up to £16 a few months back, im not sure)

CBT is easy, you cannot fail as it is not a test, it is just training, so you are garunteed to get a certificate at the end of it (I know someone who went the wrong way round a roundabout, someone who drove on the wrong side of the road and someone who ran over someone elses foot and they all passed)

Dont think they will allow you to sit in on a CBT though as they go out on the roads, and you would be unable to follow

Have a look on http://www.geton.com (?) if thats not the website, search "get on" into a search engine. It is a scheme that allows you to get on a bike for an hour on an offroad tarmac area and it is free. They give you a bike, their time (and the one i went to gave gloves and a helmet too) for an hour for free

NEVER buy a second hand helmet, even if its "unused" because if it has been dropped it can become damaged and not work in a crash, and that damage can not always be seen as it is inside the helmet

Also when buying helmets its best to go to a shop and physically try them on, a member in the shop should come and help you as it needs to be perfect to stop it being uncomfortable after a while and to make sure it will work

propperly

If you buy a disk lock and it goes on the front, get a piece of string or something to place on the handlebars as I have heard of people driving off with them still on and dropping the bike/cracking parts of the bike because of it

Alex

EDIT: Well that was definately the wrong website, unless you want webdesign... this is the correct one http://www.geton.co.uk/ I'm just glad it didnt link to anything rude

[argentum40]

2 strokes do not sound horrible at all... however the Yam YZF-R is a 4 stroke not a 2 stroke.... you would be better off gettng a cheaper second hand 125 and lose very little on resale if you do your tests....

[Boothy]

Get cheap second hand 125 4 stroke...

Ride it for a few months to get some experience.

Do DAS

Buy more capable bike.

That's what I would do

[Throttled]

I would not go to the bother of having your own bike transported to do the CBT. Just use what they have and then start using yours. You may also like the riding schools own bike so much (or so little) it will give you a starter for 10 as what to buy.

You should also be able to kit yourself for a lot less than £500. There is a sale of Weise armoured jackets with CE armour on eBay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WEISE-ARMOURE ... 1e66911cec

decent looking trousers again with CE armour

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CE-Waterproof ... 1e6651b832

and you can easily get a helmet for under £100 with a good Sharp test rating

http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/

and boots and gloves for £70 and £30 respectively.

I make that about £350, which is what I spent and all my kit is still going strong.

[Guest]

Hi, the shop i bought my bike from ran CBT training so i did the training on the day i picked up the bike,that gave me a chance to get used to the bike as well.I rode my 125cc for 6 months to work every day and then booked my tests when i felt confident enough.It depends on what size machine you want when you pass your test that counts,direct access would allow you to ride anything when you pass which can be a good or bad thing as there a some mean machines out there that demand respect,or if you pass on a 125 (like me) you are limited for two years to 33bhp which is fine for me as i use my bike to commute to work.Then again i'm 42 now and wish i did it years ago before i had kids and a mortgage to think about or i'd have got myself something faster and meaner, but for me it's about saving money these days not looking cool unfortunately ,good luck with whatever route you take.

[Spacedeck]

Have you thought of DAS? (Direct access) where you do a few days of training then do your test

 

I did think about it but reading the sticky post on here it still says I have to go through the CBT anyway to get my certificate? If I could go this way I would.

 

any security you get should go round the rear wheel as the front wheel is easy to remove with a couple of spanners and about 30 seconds

 

Well I don't have a garage so to be on the safe side I was going to buy a cover, a disc lock and a chain along with an alarm. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

NEVER buy a second hand helmet, even if its "unused" because if it has been dropped it can become damaged and not work in a crash, and that damage can not always be seen as it is inside the helmet

Also when buying helmets its best to go to a shop and physically try them on, a member in the shop should come and help you as it needs to be perfect to stop it being uncomfortable after a while and to make sure it will work

propperly

 

I never planned on it, every bit of protection I wanted to buy new. With it being my first and all that.

 

EDIT: Well that was definately the wrong website, unless you want webdesign... this is the correct one http://www.geton.co.uk/ I'm just glad it didnt link to anything rude

 

Cheers, had a look and the three closest are 9 miles away, would I be allowed to take someone with me? Like my mum for instance and let her observe?

 

Get cheap second hand 125 4 stroke...

Ride it for a few months to get some experience.

Do DAS

Buy more capable bike.

 

Well see, we arn't made of money lol and I wanted this first bike of mine to stay with me a good year or two before moving onto something bigger.

The reason I looked at 2 stroke is simply because even if I passed my DAS and i got a 125cc I was reading that they don't travel that fast? Plus I live on a main road with a speed limit of 40 I think it is but eitherway I know it's higher than 30.

http://www.scootercrazy.com/acatalog/Derbi.html

This shop seems pretty good and was going to buy my gear and bike from these guys. The bike I was thinking about was one of the 125cc a bit down that list.

 

Hi, the shop i bought my bike from ran CBT training so i did the training on the day i picked up the bike,that gave me a chance to get used to the bike as well.I rode my 125cc for 6 months to work every day and then booked my tests when i felt confident enough.It depends on what size machine you want when you pass your test that counts,direct access would allow you to ride anything when you pass which can be a good or bad thing as there a some mean machines out there that demand respect,or if you pass on a 125 (like me) you are limited for two years to 33bhp which is fine for me as i use my bike to commute to work.Then again i'm 42 now and wish i did it years ago before i had kids and a mortgage to think about or i'd have got myself something faster and meaner, but for me it's about saving money these days not looking cool unfortunately ,good luck with whatever route you take.

 

What tests did you book after riding? Even if you did pass the CBT on a 125cc shouldn't you be able to do a DAS?

Would it make sence / be alright if I went out and bought my protective gear before my tests / bike? That way I'm not rushing around all at once trying to buy everything.

[Throttled]

You have to do the CBT on a 125cc bike. DAS comes afterwards.

I bought my helmet and gloves to do the CBT on as I did not want to use the riding schools stuff. I got the rest soon afterwards for lessons.

[Boothy]

You say your not made of money but your looking at a 125 that costs 4k

CBT on the training schools bike £100

Cheap 125... buy it for 1000 sell it for 800-900 depending on how much you drop it.

Do DAS after a few months road experience on the 125. £700...

You can get some really good 600's for the 2-3k range...

125 4 strokes are capable of 60+ mph.

[Spacedeck]

You say your not made of money but your looking at a 125 that costs 4k

CBT on the training schools bike £100

Cheap 125... buy it for 1000 sell it for 800-900 depending on how much you drop it.

Do DAS after a few months road experience on the 125. £700...

You can get some really good 600's for the 2-3k range...

125 4 strokes are capable of 60+ mph.

 

That's only possible if I could get a loan out not looked into it yet.

I would think second hand bikes are good and I am seriously looking towards that for the sake of the costs. But I don't think I could get the type of bike I'm looking for at £1000 even at second hand (Second hand Debri 125's are around 3 grand on MCN website.

If a 4 stroke 125cc is capable of 60Mph+ than I am in no rush to upgrade to something like a 600cc. As there isn't anywhere I would go that would require that kind of speed.

One thing though.. before I could even ride it home wouldn't I need to sort of the Insurance and MOT? And if providing the bike dealer isn't close enough for me to go pick the bike up, I have nobody who could go pick it up for me. So depending on who and where the bike is being sold, it might be easier to get a bike from a store where I live.

When would be a good time to take the Theory / Hazzard test? I need it before I take my CBT?

Also I don't mind taking a 4k loan out for a bike if I would be allowed as I don't have much bills to go out anyway so I can easily afford it.

[Boothy]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rieju-RS2-125 ... _500wt_898

The above is a 4 stroke.

Don't really matter when you take your theory... take it when you feel that you might want to start thinking about booking your DAS.

Most bikes will come with a MOT... and you can easily sort out insurance before you go to pick up the bike. As for picking up the bike, if its far away go on the train and ride it back... if its too far for that there are many delivery services available. Make sure you take somebody that knows about bikes to look at one with you, if you don't know anybody then there might be somebody on here near you that can take a look?

Don't take out a 4k loan on a 125... Save the money because you will be bitten by the bug and no matter what you say you will be wanting a 600 in no time

[JamieK]

Get a yamaha wr125x, there cooler than a yzfr125, easier to ride and then do your test on one and you p*** it! Cause there tall with loads of steering lock makes life easy! And geared faster acceration than the yzf

But if your 21.. Do a DAS and get a 600

[Mawsley]

If you're getting I to this through finance then don't do it on a 125. If/when you pass you'll want a bigger machine - use your credit on that.

Hold off for a little bit on kit - sales will soon start all over the shop. You'll be able to get onepiece rainsuits for £20, gloves for a fiver and a jacket for thirty. Lidl currently have bike gear on the cheap.

Boots - buy workboots on eBay, less than half the price of bike boots and do the same job.

Lid, you should be able to get one for 30/40 quid online. Go into a shop first to get your size by trying them on.

Spend up to a grand on a 125 and you'll sell it for the same money you paid or turn a profit.

When you get your machine spend 10-20% of it's value on decent security - and use it - to bring your premiums down.

My ten-penneth

[Spacedeck]

Right, so for me to do a DAS I first have to go through my CBT and get my certificate?

Once I've done that I should do my Theory / Hazzard Test than I can book my DAS?

Then once all this is complete I can go out and buy a 600cc? Without having to buy a bike to start on?

Really unsure which option would be best. A part of me wants a 125cc to get the feel for it but another part of my wans to just get this DAS over and done with.

And even though it might be easier to ride I'm a fussy bugger and just love the full body work on bikes

[iiisecondcreep]

Totally up to you. Personally I went down the DAS route.

I did mine as lessons and didn't do my theory/hazard until I'd had a few lessons, no reason other than I'm quite lazy when it comes to getting things booked!

If you do DAS then you could still buy a 125 if you wanted. Also if you do your restricted license you can still buy a big bike and have it restricted to 33bhp for 2yrs.

Also re the wr125x, I was on a mod 1 lesson with a guy on a similar bike and although I was never interested in that style of bike, at that moment I was very jealous of how easy he made everything look, that bike went round the cones absolutely effortlessly!

Edit: yes, whichever route you choose CBT always comes first

[Spacedeck]

Totally up to you. Personally I went down the DAS route.

I did mine as lessons and didn't do my theory/hazard until I'd had a few lessons, no reason other than I'm quite lazy when it comes to getting things booked!

 

What do you mean by these "lessons"? Ok I will go down the DAS route as it's more for what I'd prefer to do.

Right just to work out now in order.

Go to one of these free events where they let you ride in an open space for an hour

Do my CBT (On a school bike)

Maybe have a few lessons first? then book my Theory / Hazzard

Jump into a DAS on a school bike and do my Mod 1 and Mod 2 succesfully (hopefully on my first attempt)

buy a bigger 600cc bike and away you go

And all this will come to an average price of say....?

Price is important because I want to have enough to get everything done. Cause what I don't want to do is pass my DAS and not be able to buy my own bike for a few months.

What time period would you say is reasonable for getting all this done? A couple of months maybe?

Then I buy my gear around the time I buy my first bike? (Maybe buy helmet / gloves first for the free ride / CBT)

[iiisecondcreep]

Totally up to you. Personally I went down the DAS route.

I did mine as lessons and didn't do my theory/hazard until I'd had a few lessons, no reason other than I'm quite lazy when it comes to getting things booked!

 

What do you mean by these "lessons"? Ok I will go down the DAS route as it's more for what I'd prefer to do.

 

Most people seem to only mention DAS as an intensive course, but I did mine as lessons ie 1x2hr lesson a week

 

Right just to work out now in order.

Go to one of these free events where they let you ride in an open space for an hour

Do my CBT (On a school bike)

Maybe have a few lessons first? then book my Theory / Hazzard

Jump into a DAS on a school bike and do my Mod 1 and Mod 2 succesfully (hopefully on my first attempt)

buy a bigger 600cc bike and away you go

 

Yes

You could do your theory whenever you want, I bought a practice disk on ebay and just practiced til I was consistently passing.

Don't leave it too late to do it though, you can't book your mod 1/2 until you have your theory certificate and there could be a bit of a wait for a test space so you don't want to hold yourself up too much if you are making good progress

 

And all this will come to an average price of say....?

Price is important because I want to have enough to get everything done. Cause what I don't want to do is pass my DAS and not be able to buy my own bike for a few months.

Totally depends, the place I did mine was cheap compared with everywhere else I saw but I was really nervous and took ages to be confident so I had lots of lessons, I was also delayed in booking my mod 1 due to waiting ages to do my theory (didn't anticipate how long a wait it would be to get a test).

 

What time period would you say is reasonable for getting all this done? A couple of months maybe?

Again, depends on how confident you are and how well you take to it. It is do-able in a couple of months although the waiting time for/between tests could extend that (it can be as much as 6 weeks although you can get cancellations).

 

Then I buy my gear around the time I buy my first bike? (Maybe buy helmet / gloves first for the free ride / CBT)

 

The place I went with provided helmet and gloves for CBT/Lessons, if wherever you go provides these then I'd probably recommend getting a jacket while you can borrow helmet/gloves. It can get veeeeeeery cold on a motorbike, and a proper bike jacket will provide much better weather protection than a non bike jacket. After my CBT I bought: helmet, gloves, boots, jacket at the Scottish Bike Show for cheaps!

I bought trousers shortly before doing my mod 2.

The advantage of already having the gear and used it for agesmeant I was already used to wearing it when i got my own bike, so i only had the bike to get used to. Although it did turn out my trousers aren't that great on my bike (I have a gsxr, my trousers aren't very comfortable when crouched up on a sports bike).

[Boothy]

If you are planning on doing DAS straight off then most DAS courses you can do a CBT as part of it. So if you wanted to do this the best way IMO would be too...

Pass your theory/hazard perception tests.

Buy some gear.

Book a 4/5 day DAS course which includes a CBT.

Then go and buy yourself a 600.

[Guest]

4k is a LOT of money to spend on a 125cc unless you keep the bike for a long time you will not make that money back, you can get a new honda cbf 125 for £2300 ish with 2 yr warranty 2 yr AA cover as well and it wont have been thrashed/dropped either.My advice to you is to do the cbt on the training bike provided then look around for a bike after.the cbt is not a pass or fail course (unless you are really dangerous on it) its quite easy.Get your kit first,i got most of mine off the web but make sure you get some decent wet weather gear as theres nothing worse than a good soaking on a cold winter morning.

[getready]

Totally up to you. Personally I went down the DAS route.

I did mine as lessons and didn't do my theory/hazard until I'd had a few lessons, no reason other than I'm quite lazy when it comes to getting things booked!

 

What do you mean by these "lessons"? Ok I will go down the DAS route as it's more for what I'd prefer to do.

Right just to work out now in order.

Go to one of these free events where they let you ride in an open space for an hour

Do my CBT (On a school bike)

Maybe have a few lessons first? then book my Theory / Hazzard

Jump into a DAS on a school bike and do my Mod 1 and Mod 2 succesfully (hopefully on my first attempt)

buy a bigger 600cc bike and away you go

And all this will come to an average price of say....?

Price is important because I want to have enough to get everything done. Cause what I don't want to do is pass my DAS and not be able to buy my own bike for a few months.

What time period would you say is reasonable for getting all this done? A couple of months maybe?

Then I buy my gear around the time I buy my first bike? (Maybe buy helmet / gloves first for the free ride / CBT)

 

This what it cost me:

Theory test £31

CBT (inc use of school's bike) £80

DAS (two days training and pre/test warmup trips to and from test centre for Mod1 & 2) £330

Mod1 Fee £15

Mod2 Fee £75

A grand total of £531.

[Spacedeck]

This what it cost me:

Theory test £31

CBT (inc use of school's bike) £80

DAS (two days training and pre/test warmup trips to and from test centre for Mod1 & 2) £330

Mod1 Fee £15

Mod2 Fee £75

A grand total of £531.

 

Well going by that than it won't be too long. I could set up a savings account and have £200-£300 transfered to that every month from my wage (Also to leave me a little spending money).

I reckon once I've got my provisional up to date (Sorting it tomorrow to send off), I'll go ahead and book that free lesson but also try book a theory / Hazzard test also. I could easily have enough money to pay for all the tests in 2 months. so then it's just buying the bike / gear.

[Lynn]

Spacedeck,I notice your from Huddersfield have you checked out Brighouse Motorcycle Training?, along with DC Motorcycles on Alder Street and also Earnshaws in Longroyd Bridge

I did all my training with BMTC and found them very good, instructors are great too as are the bikes they use (Suzuki Gladius, GN125 and Honda CBF500), Id looked at a few secondhand bikes in Scootorcrazy/Motorbike crazy and thought they were a little over priced. Both Earnshaws and DC's also have a great choice of clothing.

[Spacedeck]

Spacedeck,I notice your from Huddersfield have you checked out Brighouse Motorcycle Training?, along with DC Motorcycles on Alder Street and also Earnshaws in Longroyd Bridge

I did all my training with BMTC and found them very good, instructors are great too as are the bikes they use (Suzuki Gladius, GN125 and Honda CBF500), Id looked at a few secondhand bikes in Scootorcrazy/Motorbike crazy and thought they were a little over priced. Both Earnshaws and DC's also have a great choice of clothing.

 

Used to live in Newsome and when we used to take the long walk we used to pass Scooter Crazy but never went inside. Been in ES but I've never really been in any of the bike shops to browse because I wasn't getting a bike at the time. Do BMTC also do the DAS?

I did find with ES though is they don't exactly have that many newer types of bikes. This was a a good few years back though

I think I might browse ES for a my gear. What's DC? The name doesn't ring a bell.

PS does anyone know if I need my provisional with me to take the Theory / Hazzard test? If not I could get the tests done while waiting for my new card to be ammended.

[Rebel Rach]

Yes you do have to have your licence with you for the theory.

Personally the only way to go is DAS. I also wanted a bike because I like bikes not just as a means of getting about. I never had any interest in riding a 125 and was bored of them by the end of my CBT .

I would def say get your theory before you start your DAS course as the instructors can sometimes get you very last minute bookings (My Mod 2 was only booked 2 hours before the test slot straight with the examiners after my mod 1).

Above all else don't get stressed out by the process and enjoy it.

[Spacedeck]

Well got my provisional sorted and should have it soon. Any tips on learning the highway code / theory / hazzard tests? The practice tests I've done so far I keep failing (around 30/35 of 50) Although I did get a pass rate on one of them at 46/50. I have a book which has DSA questions valid from "2007" which I dipped in and out off but never really went into it too deep. Think I might need an upgrade to the latest one though.