Bike Driving License/Laws....?

[Rave]

and 0-60 times on bikes are nothing really.. when you look at my FZ6, it will do 0-62 in about 4.5 seconds.. my RSV was 3.7 and a Stobbart BSB Blade will do it in about 2 seconds.. so there is only 2.5 seconds between my FZ6 commuter bike and an out and out race bike!

Yes- but it's still twice as fast mate, and it'll feel twice as fast if you ride them back to back. In fact your Fazer can do 0-60 in under 4s, and I doubt that any bike without a drag style lengthened swingarm could do 0-60 in sub 2.5s without looping, so the difference up to 60 is less in time terms. Just had to question your logic on mathematics grounds.

All the practical advice has been done and dusted here, I reckon, so I'll chuck in my anecdotals. I passed my bike test before I passed my car test, aged 17 1/2- I got stiffed by the new rules; because I did my theory test late I ended up with a restricted licence despite passing my practical test in 1996. It was more or less irrelevant anyway as I could never afford a bike after that.

This year though I got a new job driving a bus that pays well but requires me to commute 10 miles at all times of day depending on my shift. A bike was the only sensible option, and I needed one in a hurry- so I headed into the nearest showroom and ended up with an ER-5 like Agent's, only a fair bit older and crappier. Cost me £850 with a brand new, fairly decent Arashi helmet. When I collected it and rode it home it felt like a rip-snorting beast, and handled rather frighteningly- which I soon realised was because the front tyre was drastically underinflated- they told me they'd serviced it before I bought it. A quick detour to a garage had it up to 28psi from 8psi which sorted the handling- but the power was still a bit frightening. By the end of my first commute though, I was fairly used to it- which I reckon is where the problem lies. You very quickly adjust to the sensation of speed whatever bike you ride. In my experience it's not true that any given speed feels faster on a bike than it does in a car- I find it genuinely difficult to stick to 40mph on the bike in town now, let alone the 30mph speed limit. I have to be disciplined. My quickest commute- 10 miles, all 30mph limit- was 16 minutes (at 4am in the morning, I hasten to add).

I'm lucky- when I was 13, my mum was kind enough to buy me a moped to thrash round my grandad's field, so I learned about handling a bike in a safe environment (was also a keen mountain biker in my teens/early 20s). The other day, heading into a roundabout which normally never has anyone on it, I had to haul on the anchors because a taxi was joining from the right. I would have been fine, but there's a zebra crossing on the entrance, and my front wheel locked up on the white paint. Pure instinct kicked in, and I was off the brake and on again in time to come to a halt about a metre from the taxi. Had I not had the bike handling experience, I'd have been off- or worse, under the taxi.

I don't want to put anyone off- I've loved bikes since I was 13, and I'm really glad to be back on one- but they can be dangerous, and the biggest killer of bikers is overconfidence in their own abilities. Do it- but be careful.

[J4MES]

and the biggest killer of bikers is overconfidence in their own abilities

is it? not other people knocking us off? you might be right...

[Rave]

It was in last month's Bike. One of the police forces did a survey of the circumstances of every fatal bike accident on their patch for three years (or so)- there were about 50. Of those, the vast majority (45 or so) happened on dry, daylight roads, to riders on sports bikes or sports tourers, and usually involved them misjudging a corner and hitting another vehicle.

I'm sure they had plenty of accidents where the biker was knocked off by a myopic driver, but those don't tend to be fatal.

[kaillum]

Yes- but it's still twice as fast mate, and it'll feel twice as fast if you ride them back to back. In fact your Fazer can do 0-60 in under 4s, and I doubt that any bike without a drag style lengthened swingarm could do 0-60 in sub 2.5s without looping, so the difference up to 60 is less in time terms. Just had to question your logic on mathematics grounds.

pah.. maths was never my strong point! and they were guesstimate figures as well.. and i'm sure i'd read somewhere that this years BSB Honda was around the 2.08 0-60.. but cant find where I read it..

You very quickly adjust to the sensation of speed whatever bike you ride. In my experience it's not true that any given speed feels faster on a bike than it does in a car- I find it genuinely difficult to stick to 40mph on the bike in town now, let alone the 30mph speed limit.

And I think you've hit the nail on the head.. my commute takes me M55 for 10 miles, M6 for 7 miles and then the M65 for 14 miles... and by the time I get onto the M65 I find that 70mph feels very slow.. and even sitting at speeds in excess of the limit still feels slow... its as if you've very quickly become desensatised (sp?) to the speed

I don't want to put anyone off- I've loved bikes since I was 13, and I'm really glad to be back on one- but they can be dangerous, and the biggest killer of bikers is overconfidence in their own abilities. Do it- but be careful.

excatly. I love bikes, but only having passed my full test 2 years ago, felt a little bit vunerable out on the mean streets.. so the most important thing for me was to get some extra training... So I did the IAM course, passed the test and it was the best £80 i've ever spent! It showed me how much of the road i'd not been observing when i'd been driving in the car.. It really did change my driving and riding!

[J4MES]

It was in last month's Bike. One of the police forces did a survey of the circumstances of every fatal bike accident on their patch for three years (or so)- there were about 50. Of those, the vast majority (45 or so) happened on dry, daylight roads, to riders on sports bikes or sports tourers, and usually involved them misjudging a corner and hitting another vehicle.

I'm sure they had plenty of accidents where the biker was knocked off by a myopic driver, but those don't tend to be fatal.

fair one... i'll stick to riding in the wet, at night

seriously though, interesting statistic (is that an oxymoron?)... i'll keep that in mind...

which bike mags do people recommend?

[dave87]

I've got a subscription to Bike, and buy MCN weekly. The latter mainly because of the amount of campaigning they do on behalf of bikers, the former because its a good read, and, well, Dad's paying

I used to read Ride, which was good, but the journalism in Bike is a lot better, easier to read and covers a wider topic area

Dave

[Michael]

So, Gr44, booked your CBT yet?

[Gr44]

I haven't yet... I'm ashamed to say!! I'm still well up for doing it though. Purely because of the amount of time I'm spending at work and also a recent death in the family means I haven't had chance.

However, promise I'll get it done!!

[tobycro]

Agent - you basically set out the laws of motorcycling

CBT you use the schools bikes, as you can with the training & test afterwards - no need to buy a 125 (unless like me there was a gap between CBT & training)

in northern ireland you dont do a cbt you just get on a 125cc with "L" plates until you pass your "A" liscence then thats you for two years on a 33hp restricted bike or over 21 years old do your "DAS" for instant access

[GAteKeeper]

Holy thread revival Batman!

[Gr44]

Blimey....

Though it's ironically timly. I've _finally_ got my CBT booked up for the 19th... less than 2 weeks now... Only took me like you know, 2 years.

Wooo!

[Dirk]

What bike will you be getting once you pas your cbt?
I started off with a yam YB100 until the engine lost most of its compression and then moved onto a TZR125 which I loved to bits until the piston melted on me with dramatic effect!

[Gr44]

No idea Dirk.... though any advice is welcome

Thought I'd post in here seeing as it was bumped recently! Did my CBT yesterday! I was the only person of about 20 who had never been on a bike before... Obviously I opted for a geared bike to make life nice and easy too! :-)

Started at 8am anyways, 30mins chat... 30mins to show us the bikes and kit out.... then we were on a playground from about 9-9:30 till about 2pm doing non-stop practice... man I was ready to sleep after that!

After that we went back watched some dodgy video that looked like it was made in the 80's then had another lil' chat about general rules of the road... then we went out onto the road for about 3 hours... no idea how many miles we did but I'd guess at 30+ ( judging by the route which I knew part off ).

Was good fun anyway, I'm a little sore today in various places but I passed so top notch really :-)

I'm thinking about getting a cheap bike to play around on... but I know nothing about them at all. We rode on Yamaha YBS125's ( I think ) all 07 plates so I'm sure anything I get will be kinda crap in comparison. You guys have any suggestions? ( thinking about ~£1000 ish )

Or I might just go and get lessons... I'll dwell on it for a few days

[dave87]

CBR125

Meant to be a brilliant bike to ride. I've got a Varadero 125, but they seem to be around £1500 upwards. (Give you and idea my 52 plate with 16k on it would be at a dealers for just under 2k)

If you are over 21, do the DAS course and get something like an ER5, very good bikes and a perfect place to learn from

[Gr44]

http://www.yamaha-motor.co.uk/produc...5cc/ybr125.jsp

Thats what I rode! :-)

Yeah I'm 21 at the moment but I don't know how I'd find time to do many lessons or get good enough for my DAS at the moment to be honest

Guess I'd have to write off a load of weekends lol ( though most of them are kinda full for a month or so... plus the g/f might murder me )

[SilentDeath]

Im still thinking about doing a cbt. Never ridden a bike before...

I expect my car insurace will cost LOTS next year.. however just done a bike quite on gocompare and its ~£200

Bloke at work says the test is changing soon so if I want to its worth doing it now.. not that I can afford to... (about £1k debt atm)

For a cbt do the company provide the clothing etc.. or do you need to buy all of that first? I might go and look at a local one sometime.


Supprised to see the above yamaha link showing somone riding wearing jeans on promotional pictures... cant remember if jeans are considered safe for riding but it still looks ****...