Well, for those of you who know, I fairly recently decided to get my bike license, I brought a 2001 Honda CBR600 a few weeks ago, and my license is coming along nicely, just thought I would give you all an update.

Last tuesday was my motorcycle theory test, piece of cake really , then this sunday just gone I had my CBT, took all flamin day, and it was 30+DEG which was nice with a helmet, jacket and gloves on........, so all that is done and dusted.

Yesterday I got the date for my test, the 28th June, so the 24th, 25th, 27th and 28th are my training days, and all being well I will have my license on the 28th, the plan is to make the karting event my first "proper" ride out on my bike, so I better bloody pass first time

Dan,

Good luck m8. Just make sure when you check your mirrors the tester can see you doing it.

I passed first time even though I missed a gap at a roundabout on one occasion. He also criticised me for doing 28mph past a school instead of 30mph. I thought a bit of extra caution was the order of the day but it seems 30mph is slow enough for most situations in the testers view.

Hope its dry that's the main thing. Good luck m8.

best of luck dan

I just want to ride it so badly!!!!!

I can't remember where you were doing your test, but i had mine in bristol. The examiner actually follows you round in his car!!! The instructions are to keep going straight unless told otherwise, i kept losing him as he was stuck in traffic whereas i could carry on. An intense half an hour but well worth it!!

All the best

Andrew

Quote from danowat :

I just want to ride it so badly!!!!!

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a96/danowat/Image3.jpg

You could start it up and ride it on the centre stand!!!!

Quote from mrfell :

You could start it up and ride it on the centre stand!!!!

Who says I haven't , test is being done in Norwich, I am pretty sure they follow on a bike.

Dan,

Best of luck with it, Dan. I think slow-in, slow-out might be the best strategy for a test though.

Quote from danowat :

Who says I haven't , test is being done in Norwich, I am pretty sure they follow on a bike.

Dan,

Indeed, you see it a lot here, usally 4-5 guys learning with a guy behind them all.

Nice bike by the way, shame it's yellow though XD

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Nothing wrong with yellow. My girlfriend's bike is yellow, and so is my sister's.

But they are girls. Oh, never mind.

Wow, I can't believe what you guys over there have to do to ride a motorcycle. Over here in the land of stupid regulations, like wearing a seatbelt by law, yet not required to wear a helmet (yes in a car and motorcycle respectively). All we have to do, at least in my state, is pay for a permit which doesn't allow you to ride on 4 lane roads, without a helmet, with a passenger, and after dark. Then you just go and take a quick road test and you're done. You have your license. But, the majority never do the roadcoarse and either renew the permit every year or ride without altogether. I've been riding for 4 years and only had a permit for the first year. Never bothered to renew it or go for the license. I do want to, but.....

We do have a voluntary motorcycle safety training. It is free, takes 2 or 3 days, and you get your license endorsment at the completion. This is the route I want to go, as folks who have been riding for 10-20 years say they still learn something from the beginner's course. But it is very difficult to get in, very popular and busy. You have to sign up well in advance, but they provide the bike, so you don't even have to have one yet.

I thought it was mad that after "just" 4 days training, and assuming I pass my test, I can ride whatever I want wherever I want, seems even madder in the states, and the not required to wear a helmet rule is totally stoooopid, mind you the amount of people I see riding R1's and 'Busa's with shorts and a t-shirt on is mental, fools.....

Dan,

One really really REALLY fast bike is Yamaha R1. Hmm, i get Google and find about it more

Quote from danowat :

I thought it was mad that after "just" 4 days training, and assuming I pass my test, I can ride whatever I want wherever I want, seems even madder in the states, and the not required to wear a helmet rule is totally stoooopid, mind you the amount of people I see riding R1's and 'Busa's with shorts and a t-shirt on is mental, fools.....

Dan,

You can ride whatever you want, but your own skill will choose for you. The day after you pass you're not going to hop onto a twin turbo 'Busa, or any large bike. Unless you're an idiot and want to die. It's the same with cars, once you pass you can drive anything, but you're not going to jump in a 1000+ BHP monster for your first car just because you wouldn't be able to control it.

When I did my bike test (not DA) back in the mists of time all the DVLA Examiners bikes were away being serviced, so they followed me in a car. Needless to say I lost them, even driving like a learner has to, within a few minutes, and spent at least 65% of the test by myself.

I passed

Quote from danowat :

I thought it was mad that after "just" 4 days training, and assuming I pass my test, I can ride whatever I want wherever I want, seems even madder in the states, and the not required to wear a helmet rule is totally stoooopid, mind you the amount of people I see riding R1's and 'Busa's with shorts and a t-shirt on is mental, fools.....

Dan,

Yes, riding without a helmet is really stupid I think as well. I don't have to wear a helmet, but I do. Full face helmet.

A quick little story. You all know american football, may not like it, but you know it. All of you guys in the US know the Pittsburgh Steelers won the superbowl this year. I'm from just north of Pittsburgh (irrelevent to story). Anyways, Ben Roethlisberger is the quarterback, at 24 he is the youngest quarterback to win the superbowl. He was given not one, but two motorcycles from dealerships around here (must be nice to have folks kissing your rear end just because you can throw a damn ball). One was a Harley and one a Hayabusa. In his nothing-can-hurt-me 24 years old glory, he does not wear a helmet. Even though the coach of his profession and his teammates tell him it is stupid and he is risking his very young career he doesn't wear a helmet. Yesterday morning, going through a green light at around 35 mph, a woman turned in front of him causing him to collide with the car. Smashed the windshield in 2 places with his face and his shoulder and flipped over the car while the bike was sent the other way. He hit and rolled on the pavement on his face as well. Now everybody, and I mean everybody knows who Ben is in Pittsburgh. Witnesses claim they didn't even recognise him laying there. He attempted to get up and said he was alright. The people around helping him tried to convince him that he wasn't. One witness said she thought she witnessed a fatal accident because of all the blood. He asked where he was, he didn't know. He had to ask what city he was in. He spent today in 7 hours of surgery putting his face back together. Of course, you or me wouldn't have an entire hospital looking after us. It would be just one team of doctors, not the whole hospital. He was lucky, only crushed sinus cavities, mouth full of missing teeth, broken jaw, and a 9 inch gash in the back of his head.

Just wanted to put the wearing of the helmet into perspective here. No we are not required to wear one, but damn, I'll never be without.

Awfull story, and maybe if it makes just one more person wear a helmet it wont be in vain, quite why anyone would think that riding a bike without protective clothing is beyond me.

And BTW, yellow isn't a girls colour you sods...........

Dan,

It aint half tempting not to put your leathers on when its 30 degrees and you're only popping up the road or trying out someone elses bike.

I look forward to asking you if you've ever riden in jeans and T-shirt in a years time Dan

btw I ripped all the skin off my back at Le Mans 2 years ago on a mini bike in a 20 mph accident! Best thing about it was I was allowed to walk through the pits to go see the medic. When he saw me he asked "Are you a driver?" I wish.

Still got scars now although they have faded.

Quote from Gentlefoot :

It aint half tempting not to put your leathers on when its 30 degrees and you're only popping up the road or trying out someone elses bike.

I look forward to asking you if you've ever riden in jeans and T-shirt in a years time Dan

Never say never, but the plan is not to ride around in a T-shirt....ever

Dan,

Boots are a must too. The amount of times cars have driven 1 inch past my foot in traffic!

Quote from Gentlefoot :

It aint half tempting not to put your leathers on when its 30 degrees and you're only popping up the road or trying out someone elses bike.

Wow, 30 degrees? I don't ride below 50. I'd freeze. Oh, you're talking Celcius, LOL.

Quote :

I look forward to asking you if you've ever riden in jeans and T-shirt in a years time Dan

I have to admit, I don't even have a leather jacket (or other type of riding jacket), and ride the afternoons in a T-shirt and jeans all the time. But the helmet is a must.

And, if you guys would like a quick little test vid I did, I tried mounting the digital camera on the bike last weekend and took some quick clips. I can only take 20 second clips so I ran a few together with Movie Maker. No sound unfortunately. And it looks like I came close to crossing the centerline, but I wasn't close (remember, we drive on the right over here, hehe). It's the way the camera was mounted, then got moved by the airflow.

Next test will be a smaller vid size, but 120 second recording length.

http://www.geocities.com/mrodg88/Untitled_0001.wmv (3.9 mb)

Quote from mrodgers :

Wow, 30 degrees? I don't ride below 50. I'd freeze. Oh, you're talking Celcius, LOL.


I have to admit, I don't even have a leather jacket (or other type of riding jacket), and ride the afternoons in a T-shirt and jeans all the time. But the helmet is a must.

And, if you guys would like a quick little test vid I did, I tried mounting the digital camera on the bike last weekend and took some quick clips. I can only take 20 second clips so I ran a few together with Movie Maker. No sound unfortunately. And it looks like I came close to crossing the centerline, but I wasn't close (remember, we drive on the right over here, hehe). It's the way the camera was mounted, then got moved by the airflow.

Next test will be a smaller vid size, but 120 second recording length.

http://www.geocities.com/mrodg88/Untitled_0001.wmv (3.9 mb)

That's a pretty nice video, and you live in a great area. Who'd have thought America had grass and trees ;p

Quote from danowat :

Awfull story, and maybe if it makes just one more person wear a helmet it wont be in vain, quite why anyone would think that riding a bike without protective clothing is beyond me.

And BTW, yellow isn't a girls colour you sods...........

Dan,

Actually, the 2 times I've riden my bike without protective clothing, not even a helmet, I've gotten hurt in one way or another.

The first time was in my backyard just after getting the bike. It was my first time on a motorcycle and I was going really slow on the grass. The bike stalled and started to go down. I put my leg down and held the bike up with my leg. I was wearing, yep, you guessed it, shorts and t-shirt. The cooling fins gave my leg a nice set of slash-mark burns that, oddly enough, I didn't notice until later. I promised myself I'd never ride in shorts again.

The second time was again while riding around on the grass around my house. I was showing off to my brother and thought I might try and get some air going over the seam between the grass and the asphalt driveway. I hesitated and grabbed a handful of front brake, probably locking the front wheel on the grass. This resulted in me completely missing the grass and landing on the asphalt driveway in pants (remember I promised myself? ) and a t-shirt. Both the pants and t-shirt got ripped up a bit and I got several large gashes on the right side of my body. Driveway asphalt is a lot rougher than road asphalt. I wasn't even going that fast (I seem to recall seeing around 10-15 mph on the speedo) but I was hurting pretty badly after that. I had also instinctively put my left hand down to keep myself up so that got a little ripped up too.

The only time I've ever gone down on the street, I was doing 35 mph around a really tight corner. The front end washed out and all that happened was I slid on my stomach for about 10 or 15 feet. The only damage to me or my clothing was my knee got scraped up a bit and my pants got ripped. My leather jacket (which happens to be older than me) didn't show any damage at all. The bike ended up with a bent handlebar, smashed right rear turn signal, and a sheared off right passenger peg.

I would say the "protection" people wear gives a false sense of security to far too many people.

"I've got a helmet, leathers (colour matched to the bike, obviously.), backprotector, boots, gloves, if i crash i'll be fine." - Then proceed to ride like a complete idiot everywhere.

You hit a car at 150 mph, and i really dont care what gear you are wearing, you will be very seriously injured. If the first car you hit doesnt do it, the 2nd/3rd that runs over you, or that pole you hit while sliding on your arse, will do.

I've ridden without gear (offroad mind), and i found i take far less risks then i do when wearing my gear. No jumps, no wheelies, and much slower speeds. Yes, i've been hurt when not wearing gear, but i've been hurt worse when wearing it because i was riding that much harder.

And back on topic. Good luck with your DAS. Im planning on doing mine this year, got to wait till august though.