Honda CBR or NSR for full A1 license adventurs?

[Ste]

No reason why someone shouldn't do the A1 test on their own with no formal training if they've got their own 125 bike. It's a tick box exercise, the examiner has a list of things they're looking for you to be able to do and a list of things they're looking for you not to do. You can practise on your own bike in your own time without having to pay an instructor, you can ride to and from the test centre on your own bike, the logistics are simple and straight forward.

The report sheet they fill in afterwards is on the .gov.uk website right here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/driving-test-report-forms

The main reason people have to go through a training school when getting an A2 or A license is because you need a bike that meets specific criteria which you can't (legally) get to the test centre on without taking it in a van or having someone ride it there for you. On top of that, you can't (legally) practise on an A2 or A bike without an instructor so most people have little choice but to go through a training school.

If someone who's over 24 is going to pay for lessons and to rent a bike for doing the tests then they should do DAS to get themselves a unrestricted A license. Because if they get an A2 license then they're just going to find themselves wanting to do the tests again at some point to get a full A license.

Go to a training school that doesn't give you one hour on a big bike before telling you that they want you to do mod 1 on a 125 because they've not bothered giving you enough time to get used to the big bike.

With a bit of experience, big bikes will no longer be unwieldy behemoths that seem impossible to handle. Everything will be cool and you'll be wondering why it was such a headache in the first place!

I'm going to say that all the problems are mostly down to the training school who fucked you around before mod 1 as you came away from that thinking that you were unable to "control the big bike that the instructor provided" and "wasnt able to use slow control with it and had it tip over while standong still." Asking "should I just accept that ill never be able to use a big bike" confirms that they really fucked it up for you!!

(4am page get )

[M.C]

[tara1234]

failed my test. 3 major mistakes on roundabouts they had me doing roundabout after roundabout for at least 10-15 mins. Also 9 minors for silly stuff like leaving indicator on when pulling out.

I managed the exercises ok though. Pulling out from behind parled car etc. Should I ride around for a few weeks then try again. Or go get training? I know what I done wrong so maybe just practice doing roundabouts perfectly?

[M.C]

You'll remember (or maybe not) I said after your Mod 1 not to waste anymore money getting an A1 licence. My advice hasn't changed

[Ste]

Ah well @ 2 majors and 9 minors. Now you've got an idea what the test is like.

Practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. You know what you did wrong on roundabouts so you know what to work on. Silly little stuff just needs to be drilled into your brain so that it becomes second nature.

I wouldn't bother booking in for the A1 test again, IMO get lots of practise in on your 125 to master roundabouts and the silly little things and then at some point go to a different training school than the one who fucked you around last time and get training for an unrestricted A license.

[tara1234]

[M.C]

Mod 2 is easier assuming you have a bike to practice on, but Mod 1 makes the bike test harder overall IMO. When I passed my car test I think I only had to parallel park, and I touched the curb* but still passed Mod 1 is like having to do every driving maneuver in a row and failing if you slightly mess up one.

*still shit at parking

[Bhud]

The test is one thing, but real life is another. When riding normally, you encounter 'situations' constantly. Those 'situations' are the thing that actually make it through to your conscious mind. Handling roundabouts is all about experience - when you have enough experience you just look and then you make a judgment call, and that confidence is more than enough and is blindingly obvious to an examiner. So if you're tripping up on this, you need to gain more experience. I do remember thinking about roundabouts a lot when I was learning. I remember working them out, concentrating, carefully scrutinising and observing oncoming traffic, etc. That was a very long time ago... There comes a point when you don't even notice roundabouts, and believe me, the examiner will be able to detect that sort of competence... Just practise. Roundabout confidence is linked with machine control.

[Sister Sledge]

I've avoided commenting because I'm 'Old School' and went from a pass on a 100cc bike to unlimited - the good olde days. I really don't have a clue about the test now.
But,, I do know about driving tests in general. You need to practice. You really do need to switch on that determination and confidence. You need to shove lifes other distractions to one side and concentrate on practicing and doing everything correctly.
I used to say that you should do it all correctly and then can forget about what you did to pass but here's where it gets interesting: That determination and practice becomes second nature. You find yourself doing it anyway - many years after passing the test. The practice and concentrating to build to the test becomes ingrained. Yes on the test day you'll show you know what to do and can do it but it also has a bonus effect of becoming second nature.
I'm sure you'll have seen more experienced riders on their machines and wondered how the f*ck do they remember everything and make the rest look so easy? Practice and second nature.

OK a 125. From me - please go for a bigger bike/test. Yes a 125 can probably do what you want of it (not a 2-stroke. You'll regret the stripdowns!) but a bigger machine will make the journey far safer for you.

Back to practice. For my olden days test I did my test at the same time as my cousin. We helped each other with practice. It was also like a mini competition to see who could do it. Rivalry. Best of all it was fun.
Try finding another to practice with??
____________________
CCM 404 DS

[grr666]

[Ste]

Seems a bit harsh.

She can't have been that bad otherwise the examiner would have stopped the test.

1 minor or 9 minors makes no difference and with 9 minors she knows what needs working on, if you've failed then they might as well give you a comprehensive list of everything you didn't do quite right. Chalk it up to experience and move on.

But yes, training time. You're going to have to pay for training for your unrestricted license so there's no benefit in putting it off.

[grr666]

[Teflon-Mike]

Why all this insistence that 2-Strokes need frequent and diligent rebuilds?

I've owned one two-stroke bike over thirty years, it's had ONE complete engine rebuild!!! And its a competition bike! True, limited use on events limits the wear and tear.... well... on the engine A-N-D its a low tuned, air-cooled, piston ported two-stroke..... there's basically three moving parts FFS, piston, con-rod and crank! Remember to put oil in the petrol, and the thing aught run pretty much forever! THEN when it comes to rebuild time? Well... there's only three moving parts... and a cylinder.... which probably should be re-bored.... when done it's 75% 'new' engine! But still.....

Problem, is that two-strokes dumbell at the extremities; at the one end, you have incredibly low-tuned examples, as used in hum-drum commuters like the old MZ, or my Cota trials bike.... OR... they are tuned to the rollocks race engines, like a Honda RS125 grand-prix bike, that has a crank lifed in running hours, that needs replacing probably every five or six outings.....

In between... there's not an awful lot... but stuff tending towards race-tune, ent going to fare well, on the road, especially at the tender mercies of 'Learners'.....

I suspect, that a lot of this 'lore' about 2T's, if there is much of a seed of truth behind it, it's in bikes like the fickle Aprilia RS or Cagiva Mito, which came as stock with near race tuned engines, and pretty demanding maintenance schedule, that 'sort' of demanded, at least a top-end rebuild and new piston, every 5ooo miles or so..... and probably never got them, in the hands of rag it till it breaks, numpety owners....

The Honda NSR, was, comparatively 'tough', for a learner-legal, and if anything makes them rather unreliable, its the same old; numpety kiddie-go-kwick owners, more want to spend money on silly tuning mods than spark-plugs, ragging and crashing them.... combined with old age.... so they have likely seen a dozen kiddie-go-kwick owners by now.... and the engine, and likely engine rebuilds? PROBABLY, if I was going to go buy one.... with still, essentially just 3 moving parts to wear out and or need replacing.... NOT really top of the worry list, really! Bent forks, worn or seized suspension linkages; wiring bodgery, cracked panels and panel clips or fasteners; rust and silt in the petrol tank, bald and or squared tyres the wrong sizes, Kph clocks, and dire confection of bits from the moto-fizz catalog, blended with whatever was available in the scrap-yard, and an awful lot of stuff off e-bay, in the same of 'de-restriction'... would all be some-what higher up my list of things to be worried about!!!!

But still.....

Unless you are into Masocist-Mechanics, (like I probably am!!) You don't go looking to buy problems, trying to, first find, a 20- year old bike, worse a 20 year old learner bike, worse still, a kiddie-go-kwik 'sporty' one, in even 1/4 promising condition, and then trying to press it into every-day service.....

But then the OP has already been doing that with an old Yamaha SR.... which 'probably' is as demanding of basic routine maintenance, if not more so, than an NSR, by dint of having tappets that beg frequent tickling, and oil-changes that don't get done automatically, by simply remembering to keep the auto-lube tank topped up!!

Thread has, however... run, and girls done tests..... and not got a licence; so it's all still rather fanciful thinking either which way.

Number one priority is that licence.

Round-a-bouts..... well, three majors sort of suggests that they are a problem. Grumbles of the number of round-a-bouts examiner included in test route, 'sort' of suggests he a) spotted a weakness.... and b) 'wanted' to give benefit of the doubt, and see if it was a 'random' test wibble... or something that really DID need to be tackled..... three majors and a fail... sort of suggests this IS a problem.

Contention over the school who wouldn't put her into test on their DAS bike with minimal training, too, is sort of supported.... they said go do it on own 125.... and she still couldn't.... she was simply NOT up to test standard... Even on her own, every-day bike she is familiar with. Trying to get her up to speed on a completely unfamiliar, and larger, heavier, more powerful bike, then PROBABLY is something rather more than a two-day job.....

Which leaves the matter hanging some-what.

Test fail, says 'Nope', more know-how needed.

You can either go away and go-it alone and hope, that you have learned from the mistake, and what the examiner said to possibly put it right... practice practice practice, and repeat.... and HOPE you dont get into a circle, where next time, the examiner finds a different fault, you need go work on.... and repeat until you suss it....

Or you can go get some lessons, and be taught what to do 'right', rather than learn from making mistakes, only picked up on test.... which begs query, whether to go for lessons on the 125, familiar with, and have another crack at A1... or bite the bullet and go DAS and try it on a bigger bike.

Lessons can be expensive..... and if you have to take them, little difference in cost doing lessons on a 125 to on an A2 bike, that bar plug-in black box to restrict its engine to A2 power limits, is probably the exact same bike as the Ride-What-You-Like full 'A' DAS bike.... so if paying for the lessons, why short change yourself for it, testing for A1 or A2 if you can do the full-bore 'A'?

But then, failing self booked tests on a 125, can get expensive too..... So pays your money and take your chances.....

BUT, if you want to feel you have earned 'something' doing tests, by way of a 'better' bike..... then you need to go for the higher licences.

A1 has exact same limitations on the bike you can ride on it, as on an L-Plate. And if you have this idea of trying to 'cheat' the system, getting a kiddie-go-kwick, sporty 125, and 'tuning' it without telling the insurance company, and riding that bike, outside licence limitations on whatever licence you have.... [shrug] why bother taking tests at all? Get whatever bike you like, whatever capacity you like, don't bother even trying to get insurance on it, and just ride the thing.... you'd actually be breaking fewer laws....

Which brings me to the contention of motorways and pillions, that seem the main imperative behind wanting something 'more' than the SR....

Personally, I keep a few 125's knocking about for the giggles; I find thrashing one for all its worth, to as much of its limited performance out of it as I can, rather rewarding, and a lot of 'fun'... see comment on masochistic mechanics, though.

I also have pillioned a fair few 125's.... and suss pillioning on a low-powered light-weight, with more weight over the bike, than in the bike, come to do it on something bigger, much like learning anything on a 125, the bigger bike aught be a piece of pizz.

As to the dire doom and gloom warnings that 125's aren't 'safe' on a motorway, or carrying a pillion..... BORROX!

Even on a big-bike, I tend to sit it out in the truck-stack, in the inner lane, at the double-nickle.... Motorways are 'boring' end of. And it makes little odds whether you are on a little bike, or a big one, or sat in an executive saloon. They are built to NOT have junctions; they have merge on and merge off ramps, so you dont have round-abouts or traffic lights or anything else disturbing the flow of traffic. They are wide; they have a hard-shoulder 'refuge', and there are no tight corners or anything, A-N-D there's no pedestrians or cyclists or other more incompatible vehicle types..... They are, statistically the SAFEST roads we have..... and its what makes them 'safe' that also makes them so 'Boring'.

And its in that, we get a perverse compensation, where drivers, so 'bored' by the safe and easy, seem to feel compelled to crank the adrenaline levels up, trying to go faster, leaving it till the last moment to merge onto an off-ramp, major tail-gating, and cutting up other traffic....

BUT... for all that, they are still the safest and least stress-ful roads we have..... And they tend to be pretty well lit, which can be a bonus on any bike; let alone one with a glow-worm in a jam-jar single headlamp....

When circumstances suit, they can be a great way around the country... IF you are ready to accept the 'boring'.... and as said, I tend to sit it out in the truck-stack at the double-nickle, big bike or little, solo or 2-up.... and I HAVE done both on a 125..... it IS do-able!!!

A-N-D, sitting it out, at 55; that tends to your journey 'average', and you can make a point to point average close to 50, door-to-door, from the simple 'boring' not having to deal with blind bends or round-a-bouts or pop-up-pedestrians.

I have done it more than a few times; comparing point to point time between using the motorway and using main-roads; and it's rare that there is much in it, 'unless' you ramp the risks, opening the taps, and doing silly speeds.... and even then! There's still not much in it twixt motorways and alternative routes! And still the motorway tends to be the easier and the safer!

On a 45mile run, door to door; using the motorway, will take about an hour. Using the A-Roads, much the same; perhaps 5-10 minutes more... I spend longer either end togging up and togging off!

So do you want 'easy' or do you want 'exiting'? If the latter, get off the bike and go to a theme park!!

So, motorways and pillions. Good reasons to get a full licence... and all 3 are not necessarily justification for getting a big-bike, even when all three are put together.... as said.... I have pillioned on motorways, on a 125 on a full licence.....

And 90% of it is in the riders head, not in the tackle twixt their legs!

And here, with failed test on the ticket... its getting that head dialed in that's needed; not a new bike.

So.... going it alone on a 125, and trying to learn purely from mistakes, OR going for proper lessons?

That really is the question here, not what sporty 125 to get after licence, or even what 'big-bike'!?!? Which really? Is a non issue!
____________________
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?'

[kgm]

To be honest I agree that it's a pretty significant fail and serves to highlight the absolute need for training. She might, maybe, be able to work on her riding herself but using an instructor will be safer, more effective and sensible. With that number of issues her riding clearly makes her a hazard at the moment. It takes something really serious for a test to be abandoned - it's rare.

OP - some of the above might sound harsh but heed the advice and get some training. Don't become disheartened, I doubt many of us would have passed either with next to know training or car experience.

If money is an issue then save up longer, make cuts elsewhere or work more hours. It's not cheap but the training is worth every penny.

[M.C]

[Travis Bickle]

I'd also just like to add that while others have said that practising on your own 125 CAN be done and CAN be cheaper, a professional instructor can tell you where you're going wrong, where you need to practise and improve and when you're test-ready... as opposed to keep trying to fumble your way through it on your own. You'll have a better chance of passing more quickly. Save up if necessary and get some professional tuition for the A licence. You won't regret it.
____________________
Must Go Faster
1999 Yamaha FZS600 Fazer

[M.C]

[linuxyeti]

[Travis Bickle]