DAS/Lessons: It's time to talk money...

[Rogerborg]

The counterpoint specifically for bikes is that you can ride around at 70mph+ on the least capable bikes and the most dangerous roads essentially indefinitely without ever passing a test.
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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

[Alpineandy]

[Baffler186]

[Gosties]

Yesterday, I just paid a package at £550.
All lessons are 2hrs with use of School's Motorcycle

But that's for :-

Conversion Lesson

2 Mod 1 Lessons
5 Mod 2 Lessons

Included Mod 1 Test (Cover cost of a retest and use of Motorcycle)
Included Mod 2 Test

I had already previously undertaken CBT earlier this year.
Theory Test passed earlier also.
CBT and Theory cost around £145 combined with the DAS package bringing it to £695.

I don't believe it's that expensive as once you pass you have potentially decades of riding to enjoy.
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Riding Honda CB 125 F | Previously Lexmoto Street 125|

On the little bike who tries !!!!

[M.C]

[stevo as b4]

What I really don't get and need spelled out for me is why you can ride/practice on a 125cc before taking a test for up to 2years before they revoke your CBT, yet you can't practice solo on a 998cc bike or even realistically insure one on a provisional licence?

Why is there the two different rules, and what makes 125cc bikes so special that your actually allowed to use one?

[M.C]

[techathy]

The problem with the current licensing rules is there's very little incentive to get your A1 licence, okay you can ride on the motorway but on a 125... really? I'd say up to 25kW when you get your A1 so that you can actually ride in a safe manner on motorways (eg. not getting over-taken by HGVs)

As for prices my sister in the early 2010s passed her driving test, it cost her around £1600. I spend just under £800 getting my motorbike licence.
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Bikes: '17 Zero FX ZF6.5, '16 BMW R1200 RS, '12 Triumph Daytona 675

[Ste]

Get your A1 license and you don't have to redo your CBT every two years. Given that it's roughly the same price to do the A1 tests as it is to redo a CBT, it's a no brainer IMO.

Insurance might be cheaper as well if you've got an A1 license rather L plates. Or it might not be as you can go on motorways and take pillions.

[techathy]

Maybe I'm missing something, which is highly likely, but... A few months after you're 17 get your CBT. You can then ride for 2 years on a CBT. When you turn 19 do your training and get your A2 licence (which costs the same as the A1 licence). So by spending no more than going CBT -> A1 you've gone CBT -> A2.
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Bikes: '17 Zero FX ZF6.5, '16 BMW R1200 RS, '12 Triumph Daytona 675

[Ste]

Yup, for the A2 license you're going to need a suitable bike, schools won't rent you one unless you pay them for a load of lessons which you might not need or if you buy your own A2 bike then you're going to have to get it to the test centre some how.

Plus 17 year olds don't want to wait a few months before they do their CBT.

[M.C]

[Alpineandy]

As mentioned by others, the ability to ride a 125 on a motorway after getting your A1, isn't much of an incentive.
If they changed it to an A1 = up to 250 cc (somewhere in the 20/25hp range) then I can see more people doing it.

A friends GF is far too small (in her view, which is what counts to her) to ride/manhandle a big bike for her A2/A test.
She will never ride something that big (in her opinion) but she has no option if she wants to ride something bigger than a 125.
So she'll stick with a 125.
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The above comment isn't necessarily the truth and anyone that says it is, is only correct if it's the truth or they're bigger than me.

[Kentol750]

There was a massive loophole.....cbt @16 on ped. @17 get geared 125 and do test. 2 years later auto upgrade to 200bhp superbike of choice with no real time on road.

Closed it and then nailed the door. For all. Tough. And then made another hoop for people to jump through.
Pass car test, win lottery, buy Veyron. Only restriction there is insurance cost.
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Some bikes.

[........]

I recently paid about £850 to do DAS. That was for a day training on an off-road area (old airfield), 3hr accompanied round trip to do Mod 1, 2 full days training on the road and then the Mod 2 test (both passed at first attempt). It didn't seem cheap but if you look at the price per hour then considering that this is paying for the bike, insurance, fuel, the instructor's time etc. I didn't feel that I was being ripped off at all.

I think that in reality the instructor was charging very little for his time (I certainly wouldn't work for his hourly rate).

[Ste]

[Kentol750]

It was a loophole. It's how it was closed that was wrong. (Ste, it's how I did my test.)
The sýstem is wrong because of how bikes are regulated in eu, then what is sold on uk market hasn't ever matched.
90s parallel market?
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Some bikes.

[M.C]

[Kentol750]

Don't even go into the power to weight....fazer Rogerborg argument.
Back to op' s point though.... is the what you can/can't ride include in instruction fees?
How about the little chat about 'how to dodge a massive excess' chat during a lesson. Saving £500 after a 'silly off' might make you think better about the hourly rate. Not everyone is clued up on everything. I learn new tricks every day.
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Some bikes.

[Jmoan]

[stevo as b4]

33bhp for two years wasn't really an issue in the day IMO. What it did was allow people that bought smaller cheaper bikes to get 2years NCB to make their Fireblade insurable two years down the line.

The issue of you could have a CG125 sat in the shed for two years then buy an R1 with no post test miles wasn't really an issue, but insurers were wise anyway and never regarded 10'000miles on a C90 as useful or appropriate to insuring a Fireblade.

[andyscooter]

[pinkyfloyd]