Head or heart ?

[m25jambuster]

There has been a good point made about experience and something that I forgot to mention about my wife. Yes she did do direct access but apart from a short break when our daughter was born she has always had a 100cc or 125cc bike to go out and ride on to get roadwise and bike experience. Even she admits that there is no way she would have done direct access without this level of riding experience.

[winger]

Blimey were do i start!!!

Pauline i must have been talking out of my ass for the last 35 years then cuz i've never let my heart rule my head,I certainley wouldn't have a bloody S thats for sure if I did!!!,those that have heard it before(Sorry) but haveing parted with 6,300 quid for my S i remember rideing of down the road thinking a load of junk,but my head told me it was the right bike bike for the job!!!.

DAS!!! I'd say it's one of the major contributors for the decline in the standard of rideing here in the UK over the last 15 years it's a bloody disgrace,go to any raceing meeting were the bike parking is on a field etc,which requires a modicum of skill and it's laughable,Lloyd and I rode to a couple of meetings last year I think we spent more time talking about the crap rideing we'd seen than the raceing!!.

Learning to ride a bike is an art form,it takes years,I bet i'd gone through three or four bikes before i bought a big'un,not because i couldn't afford but because it daft trying run before i could walk,and everyone of my friends who started with me did the same,we just seem to live in a society of gimme gimme gimme and bollox to any kind of common sense.

Richard's partialy right,yes i've no doubt thee are people out there that have done DAS and are ok,their in the minority and a small one at that,but just to show what ass this DAS is i work with a guy at work he's just about to take delivery of a brand new SV650,do you know how much exsperience he has??? non!!! a half day rideing round cones for his CBT and and 3 days rideing around for his DAS and now he's going be go out on the queens highway hopfully he'll be lucky,the person who had his job before hime wasn't and is now a cabbage!!!,and worse still if he had the money that SV could be a Busa!!! it's a barmy system,and thats why the goverment and the law of fed up with scrapeing people up of the floor and thats why things are going to change.

Chris

[boxerpan]

and worse still if he had the money that SV could be a Busa!!!

Chris

Why didn't he buy a three year old Busa for the same money then

[BOX ON'T BACK]

Thanks guys and lasses !

Lots of great advice ...and the majority seems to be in favour of leaving the aprilia in the showroom . Although its not exactly what I wanted to hear, you will probably save me plenty cash ... and maybe even the odd limb or two !!

I know where you are coming from re learning to ride a bike before I get a "proper" bike though! I rode a lot of dobbins over the years before I got on a racehorse !!!!!

Just dont laugh please when I turn up for the odd meet on something barely bigger than a BMX !!!!

T
ps .... of course another trip to the showroom and I cant guarantee that I wont think stuff it .... I like it , ill have it

pps. and I thought all bikers were reckless tearaways

[PBBoxer]

I'm confused.

Can anyone tell me what there was before Direct Access please?
I didnt know it had been invented, but I thought that restrictions had been put in, rather than DA suddenly coming along.
Wasn't it the case years ago that once you passed you bike test, you were in theory able to ride any machine? I remember lots of moaning and complaining in the motorcycle comics about riders being targetted and made to ride rstricted machines, where on the other hand car drivers were able to get into any car.
Am I wrong?
In my book DA fine, unless the same issue is addressed on the car test / licensing.

[boxerpan]

I'm confused.

Can anyone tell me what there was before Direct Access please?
I didnt know it had been invented, but I thought that restrictions had been put in, rather than DA suddenly coming along.
Wasn't it the case years ago that once you passed you bike test, you were in theory able to ride any machine? I remember lots of moaning and complaining in the motorcycle comics about riders being targetted and made to ride rstricted machines, where on the other hand car drivers were able to get into any car.
Am I wrong?
In my book DA fine, unless the same issue is addressed on the car test / licensing.

Before DA? Depends how old you are
Young riders still have to go through the tiered system (33hp) after passing the test but owd fogies can do the DA and then go and buy a 140 hp second hand bike next day for say £5k (insurance may be a bit steep) To get that sort of performance in a car is a lot dearer and the chances of getting dead by sticking a powerful car in the hedge is significantly lower than on a bike.
Mandatory retesting of all drivers every ten years is the answer to all the ills of todays society

[herrman]

What PB says is quite relavent I'm afraid, When I started riding (35 years ago) there was no moped law it was a case of putting L plates on any 250cc bike or any bike with a sidecar (friend of mine rode around on a Vincent 1000 with a sidecar chassis with a small box full of bricks on L plates for ages) So back then you could pass your test on Monday riding a 125 BSA Bantam and on Tuesday ride a 750 Norton Commando or Triumph Trident if you wanted providing you could afford it. Something to think about perhaps??

Peter

[adamski49]

Wasn't it the case years ago that once you passed you bike test, you were in theory able to ride any machine?

Yes, but this invariably meant a spell on a learner bike [12hp 125 when I was 17; 250 for those older than me and no restriction prior to that]. You couldn't just turn up and do a weeks intensive training on a loan bike and then use it for the test.

I found going from a 12hp 125 to a 65hp 550 was an eye opener, even with 20k miles experience (10k on a moped, 10k on the 125). Doing a DA course with no other riding experience and jumping on any of the 100 bhp 600's, never mind a Busa, is a potential recipe for disaster.

I'm not saying there aren't people who can ride well after the DA, it's just that a spell on a 125 seems a safer way (providing they've had some training) to weed out those that don't have the ability / desire to ride.

Adam

[PBBoxer]

Thanks Pete thats what I was on about.
DA wasnt "invented" to suddenly help people take their test then get a fast bike.
The more restrictive 33bhp for 2 yrs or indeed the "Under 62 mph for lfe" tests were introduced to restrict some riders, and therefore were brought in as a safety measure.
Prior to the restrictive tests, everyone was Direct Access!

[boxerpan]

if you wanted providing you could afford it.
Peter

I reiterate my point about the relatively affluent middle aged folks in todays society being a lot more financially able to do such, against the vast majority of the population 20+ years ago.
You can get a lot of bike for not a lot of cash today.

[m25jambuster]

You can indeed get a lot of bike for your money today. My local H*onda showroom has an X-11 for sale for under 3K. Loads of bhp, plenty of grunt and speed and as its not on the 'nick - list' its quite reasonable on insurance. DA today - X-11 tomorrow for around 3k or so.

[winger]

B-O_B

Those people who take their bikeing seriously certainley won't laugh at what ever you turn up on,anyone learning their trade will always get plenty of respect.

As for what was before DA,Peter has looked at what was going on 25-35 years ago with todays mentality,he's right in what he says but peoples point of view was completley different.

As I remember i bought two old knackers and then paid the princely sum of 299 pounds for a brand new CB250 bought on the drip,the object of the excercise was to pass your test so you had the street cred of rideing your bike without any L plates and being able to take your mates on the back.

Rushing out to buy a bigger bike wasn't only classed as pretty stupid(but was possible)but people just couldn't afford it,the difference being we were all kids!!! there was non of this'I'm haveing a midlife crisis darling I'm of learn how to ride a bike'we were all kids in the same boat,the 40 year olds that rode a bike did it cuz they couldn't afford a car!!!

Even after i passed my test I carried on rideing the CB250 for another 12 months and then moved on to a 350 Yamaha YR3,you just gradually moved to a bigger bike,I know of one person who passed his test and bought a big'un and was treated with derision,the mind set of the day was you learned your trade just like a job and then moved upwards,the problem being,bikeings gone from a way of life to fancy dress on a sunday, consequence people don't respect it like they used to, hence why so many people are getting scrapped up of the floor.

It was sum years ago that Richard put up a one liner that i hadn't seen before'All the gear no idea' and that just about sums it up!!.

Chris

[Gromit]

You can indeed get a lot of bike for your money today. My local H*onda showroom has an X-11 for sale for under 3K. Loads of bhp, plenty of grunt and speed and as its not on the 'nick - list' its quite reasonable on insurance. DA today - X-11 tomorrow for around 3k or so.

Having ridden one, that is kinda scary I have to agree.


(It was fun though....cue lots of Vincent Price-type laughter... )

[PBBoxer]

I had an X11 for a few months last year. Took ot over to TT week. What a stomking torquey motor, felt better mid range then tha blackbird.
It also handled better than the bandit i swapped for it, which had a fair bit of suspension work done. The x11 was very smooth and dare I say even quite comfy.

[winger]

When i'm on earlys and finish midday on the way home i normally see a guy on an X11 comeing into town,the problem being he must 6'6 and 20 stone so he looks like he's on a monkey bike!!!

Chris