Practical tests. The most cost effective way?

[CoolBreeze]

Hello all, been reading this forum for a while now. Mainly the same old tired questions that get asked in this section. To everyones credit, you still answer them thoroughly. As a result, I haven't felt the need to ask anything myself... until now that is.

So I did my CBT back in October and went out and bought a bike in early November and had been riding around until last week. I had a low speed accident on the 31st of Jan (Car drivers fault) and had been riding a hire bike from my insurance company till last week. I got the cheque from the third party and after looking for a replacement bike and realising that the prices had spiked considerably because of the time of year & weather from what they were in November, I decided to just forget getting a replacement 125 and just get my DAS done and out of the way and look into bikes after that.

I passed the theory test a few days ago and now I'm trying to find the cheapest way to do my DAS. The cheapest because I'm confident I can do both mods with very little to no training. I think I would need a little bit of practice time for the mod 1 slow ride stuff, to get used to the bike but not a lot more.

The problem I have is this. I've called and checked with a few local training schools and one of them had a 2 hour session priced at £86 and £97 for test day sessions. Which I thought was great. I'll book mod 1 and book one of those 2 hour sessions and get mod 1 done at a cost of £112. That'll do. But when I called them, they said that those prices were only singular prices as part of an overall course which costs like £700 for both mods and like 5 days training. The woman said they didn't do singular sessions and started to give me loads of scare stories about crashes and so on at other schools, thats why they don't offer that option... they want to give the best training to make you a better rider blah blah.

I also called my CBT instructor who said their school does it at a cost of £200 a day. So I could book the mod 1 in the afternoon and get a days training and be accompanied to and from the test centre for £200.

I think that is still too expensive. Anyone know how I can get it done cheaper?

I'm located in Slough btw, so if anyone knows of anywhere that can be more accommodating, that'd be useful....

Cheers

[Imonster]

Possibly cheaper to borrow a mate's bike, get it insured for the day and have them either ride it to the test centre or trailer it there?
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Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

[Teflon-Mike]

1/ If you haven't done any training while you had the chance to on the 125, then, I doubt you are as 'test ready' as you think...
2/ DAS is expensive... failing DAS very expensive.
I would reconsider those 125 prices, and ponder picking back up where you left off, rather than looking for a short cut.
3/ Bite the bullet - pay of a full DAS course.
4/ If you were going to buy a big bike... get one, insure it. Get some-one else to ride it to test centre with you on the back; suck it and see, if your so confident you are test standard.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[CoolBreeze]

I did a lot of practicing from day 1.

For example, on the way to the gym there is like 4 manhole covers that I practiced the swerve on at the required speed on a daily basis. I also happen to live in a house that has private residential parking right in front of it with a narrow'ish entrance which I used to practice the u-turn daily.

I also did a bit of figure of eight and general slow ride practice on a 500cc bike where I did my CBT. They let me go back and just have a go on it for nothing to see how it was and such.

[Teflon-Mike]

[Rogerborg]

I agree that you're right to just go for it, there's nothing hard in the tests. It really is just a question of costs: you can learn to ride better afterwards via the IAM or RoSPA if that's your bag.

Well, the local training schools only offer what they offer, so keep calling round.

Doing it on a borrowed large bike is the cheapest route, but does rely on you knowing a guy who knows a guy, and having you put on their insurance with a provisional license might be an expensive pain.

The other alternative (again if you can find affordable insurance) is to buy and insure your own 500+ bike and get a mate with a license and other-bike cover to ride your bike there; or trailer or van it there.

The cheapest - but slowest and most time and work intensive - pure "DIY" route is likely to be: buy a 125 for £X, spend £90.50 passing the 'standard' tests, sell the 125 for £X (or more!), buy whatever 35kW+ Big Boy bike you want, restrict/"restrict" it to 25kW, and go and pass your 'large' tests' on it - if asked, tell them that it "is"/is 35kW.

Best case, that costs you an extra £90.50, plus the extra insurance costs and shopping-around time of getting a policy that can be switched from a 125 to a 500+ bike (check before buying!), plus the cost of getting the bike restricted (unless you "restrict" it, some insurers - e.g. Swinton - don't ask for evidence before you stack it).

The advantage of this that you're only ever paying extra test fees if you fail, instead of test + bike hire.

However, it's a long road for a short cut, and if you're that confident then there's nothing to stop you booking Mod 1 and Mod 2 for the same day, both in the afternoon. That gives you the morning to drop practice on the £200-a-day school bike.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[CoolBreeze]