onwards and upwards...

[carsounds_dan]

hi all, im new on here and to biking but ive read a few threads and u all seem pretty friendly folks so here goes..
Ive read all the stickys on licencing and so forth, and atm i am 16. unlike most 16 year olds i don't want a ped. Next year i am going to need some sort of transport to and from college, which is about 6 miles away, and will be 5days a week plus pottering about seeing mates. So...
I first thought, get a CBT, abuse it for 2 years and no loss. but id be restricted to a 125 and small power when the roads i'd be using are 50mph, with people regularly cruising at over 70 on them. So the 125 idea went out the window...
Then... I thought "ah-ha, ill do the full licence thing (do a 5 day course with test thrown in as i havent ridden a motorbike in well over 3 years) and potter around on a de-restricted bike for a bit" but then theres the high maintainance of ragging the shit out of an engine to cruise at 60-70mph... (not that i am affraid of maintainance, i've rebuild engines for cars and farm machinary before and have workshop facilities)
Then it dawned on me the whole restricting a bigger bike... So a few questions:
1) How does that work with insurance? will it be steap for the first year(s)? i live in a low crime area if that helps, and it would be garaged and alarmed (im an apprentice sparky)
2) Would running a larger bike (400-600cc) at 33bhp do it any good? asin would the engine get a bit choked up from not being opened right up?
3) The local bike shop (who i am very friendly with) have said that they restrict alot of R6's down? As i am pretty new to bikes (riden a quad & a crosser, and im handy with a mountain bike) would an R6 be a good idea?
4) any of you on restricted larger bikes? if so can u recomend any that take well to it and would be good to learn on?

Lastly i'd like to say that i don't intend to ride like a cunt on it and do burnouts infront of my mates, although i would like to be able to go out on a nice afternoon and wizz about the lanes near my house.
Any thoughts would be muchly appriciated, and if it helps i can get up to about £3k for my first bike and first years insurance. and
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add me on msn for info on CAT 2 immobalisers, and cheap fitting in the crawley area

[Davo]

Hi & welcome to the forum! I'm just down the road from you (well about 15 odd miles).

[carsounds_dan]

hi Davo, if you ever fancy a brew and your near felbridge on a saturday pop into carsounds, and ill gorp at your bike
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add me on msn for info on CAT 2 immobalisers, and cheap fitting in the crawley area

[carsounds_dan]

anyone else? please...
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add me on msn for info on CAT 2 immobalisers, and cheap fitting in the crawley area

[ncrn]

if you did go down the 125 route, you can get bikes that will happily do 80 while restricted, my nsr125 does, and it didnt cost to much to buy and insurance was only £560 with 0 years no claims, so not bad really.

with regards to larger bikes, i dont know as i havent gone down the test route yet (But I am saving) if you can afford it then go for it.

[carsounds_dan]

ive been a busy bee and been looking at getting an old Honda VFR400, can anyone give any advice wether theyre good or bad or what to look for?
They look to work out cheaper, is it really worth going for fully comp on insurance? or should i go tpft?
thanks
dan
____________________
add me on msn for info on CAT 2 immobalisers, and cheap fitting in the crawley area

[ncrn]

well it depends can you afford fully comp? fully comp is good as if you have a massive wipeout on a corner, you can get a new bike from the company, if you hve tpft then you will need to buy yourself a new bike.

if you have any free time tomorrow i suggest phoning a couple of insurance comapnies and get some quotes, ask how much tpft would be and how much fully comp would be, you can try online but i find the online forms charge you more.

have a look in the back of a bike magazine (like bike trader) there is pages of insurance companies.

[Davo]

To be honest going fully comp when your young is not cost effective as the cost of claiming may well push your premium up more than it'd cost to replace the bike yourself.

Best way to go is to get a cheapish bike for a couple of years, accept that you are likely to drop/crash it, build up your confidence/skills then get a tartier bike etc..

[stinkwheel]

I'd probably get myself a cheap and cheerful 125 and ride it on my CBT for the first year.

After that, you'll have much more of an idea of what you want out of a bike and, importantly, some no-claims bonus.

You'll sell a cheap (under £1000) 125 for almost the same as you bought it for after a year provided you don't crash it too badly. There is a constant demand for them by people such as yourself.

For the record, I think forking out for an R6 and restricting it to 33bhp is a stupid idea. If you're restricted to 33bhp, far better to get a bike that produces roughly that amount of power. Why pay the insurance premium for a bike with three times the power you actually have?

[Fadel]

I got and indicated 68 out of my 50cc (over reading big time! lool but I even overtook cars on ring road and A52 etc) Could easily keep up with them.

125's, you'd be surprised at the speed of some.



so gonna get flamed for the dna bit