General request for advice

A month or so ago I got my class B licence (manual cars) but I'm now
looking at getting a class A licence (bikes).

[ Why? Because I need to be able to drive for work, but I would rather
have a bike than a car for personal use. I've not had a chance to look
around a show room properly yet, but if it's practical, I think I'd
rather get a bike than a car. ]

I have some questions...


o) My theory test pass (which I had to get for my B licence) is about 6
months old. Is that also valid for a class A licence or do I need to
take another test?


o) Decent bikes seem to be c£3k. Is that about right? I'm looking for
a second hand tourer thing. Something not insanely powerful, but not
something undignifying either


o) How much is insurance likely to cost? I'm 19, living in central
london with parents, I have no no-claims bonus from driving (but I've
never needed to make a claim), and the bike will be kept in a garage.
Probably only after 3rd party or 3rd party fire and theft. If that's a
tricky question, how does bike insurance tend to compare with car
insurance? Significantly higher/lower?


o) I guess I'll need other stuff... Clothing, bike covers, helmet, etc.
Is £500 about right for that stuff?


Is there anything else I should be considering or thinking about? Any
general advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Alex

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, alex amazed us all with this pearl of wisdom:

Depends what you're after.

Ah, you'll need to pass your test first then.

Buy one of the many bike mags and phone around for insurance quotes.
There's loads of numbers in the back.

If you want cheap then yes. Good quality (and warm) kit will cost you a
bit more. Motorcycle stuff is all vastly overpriced but you do (mostly)
get what you pay for.

Don't crash

 

It is not valid for a Class A licence. You will have to pass another
Theory Test (which is slightly different than a car one, but some of
the questions remain the same) and you will have to pass the *same*
hazard perception test again before you are granted the other
certificate.

My insurance company don't count the NCB of a car against my bike, but
they do count CLAIMS made againt the car on my bike policy. I'm 24
and TPF&T cost me about £300 for my ER-5, living here in south-east
Kent in the cun'ree.

Jacket cost me about £100
Helmet £150 (although there are a LOT cheaper than that)
Boots about £50, IIRC.
Cover cost me about £40 and I've only used it twice ever. Not a good
investment.
Gloves were about £20 or £30.

Why are you looking for a tourer? You would be better off starting
(IMHO) on a Honda CB500 or a Kawasaki ER-5 or perhaps a 250 or 400cc
if you planning on mostly city work.

Another consideration would be what you're going to bolt it down to to
help ward off naughty people.

 

You need to take another theory test. Erm, I'm almost sure. There's M/C
questions in the theory test that aren't in the car one. Paging SWK

Depends what you want. The number of times I've spent 3k on a bike, I
can count on the fingers of one hand, and I've owned about 250-300
bikes. I've just bought a very tidy 1990 Kawasaki GPz550 for well under
£600, and ridden it 120 miles home this afternoon.

Something like a Yamaha 600 Diversion would be right up your street.
Decent ones start at about a grand, though I did see a bloody nice one
go for less than £800 on Fleabay recently.

Massive. A hell of a lot.

You won't be able to afford FC on anything more than a 125, and you may
not be able to afford TPFT&T on anything bigger than a 250.

Risk factor, innit? You're young. I imagine you'd be hard put to afford
insurance on much more than a basic supermini. o with bikes, you can
probably kiss goodbye to the idea of anything much pokier than the
aforementioned Diversion - which will, incidentally, still rip the
wheels off any car up to about 80mph.

Yes and no - really good leathers maybe 500 quid, top-of-the-range
helmet omething similar, real quality gloves another 80 quid. Bike cover
25.

Basic leathers or second-hand ones from an autojumble 100 quid, decent
budget lid the same, £10-15 for some gloves from an autojumble, bike
cover still 25.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot boots. I got a bloody good pair from Kempton Park (UK
made, brand new, four-buckle and zip bike boots) for £45.

And a pair of those Aldi or Lidl ones, shortie style, for a third of
that. Amazingly, they're still going.

 

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 18:55:10 +0100,

I'm always worried that someone's already died in 2nd hand leathers.

I still don't own any. Must grab some for next year, I've done
cordura style stuff for half a year now.

 

Shurely if someone died in them, there'd be horrible scratch marks on the
outside and lots of bits missing, and the inside would be full of blood and
bits of the previoous owner???

 

Too many petrol fumes today.

 

They walk around like regular people.

 

BGN says...

<small voice>

I see dead people

 

They don't know they're dead.

 

Just another *OSM Sunday morning at the Black Horse.

 

BGN wrote

Kids today, bunch of fucking wusses the lot of you. Why I can remember
back in the good old days when I was kicking practice for the local
rockers I wouldn't dream of going out without me parka with it's Genuine
Bullet hole in it.

Don't **** about with leather, whatever they say, it isn't waterproof so
just buy some that has a good snug fit sir with plenty of pre-fitted
armour and treat it as dry day only wear.


--
steve auvache
750 VT Shadow (something for the weekend)
Bindit 600 (was lost and now is found)
GS500E (small but perfectly formed)
mongvan (dehydrated)

 

*perk*

Hmmm, my first one of them did well over 80k miles without any hassle
and was bloody economical as well.

Dull as ditchwater, but an excellent commuter, IMHO.

Something for me to think about, anyway.

 

Perhaps I should buy some that's too small for me as another reason to
lose weight.

 

BGN wrote

They do them in pink as well you know.


--
steve auvache
750 VT Shadow (something for the weekend)
Bindit 600 (was lost and now is found)
GS500E (small but perfectly formed)
mongvan (dehydrated)

 

BGN emerged from their own little world to say

I'll fish out the pair I bought 10 years ago. That will give you a
challenge.

 

I'd have to replace my boots if I got them in pink.

Helmet = Shoei X-Spirit BLACK
Boots = Diadora Crossbow BLACK + WHITE

One can mix red, black and white, but not PINK, black and white.

I could get away with dark leathers that featured a dark pink swoosh
that went from bottom left to top right as long as they had a white
line down either side that would help to highlight the white on the
boots as well as the shite Shoei logo on the helmet. I'd have to get
some new black gloves too.

<fx. Pondering music>

 

Too small != Too short

 

boots as well as the shite Shoei logo on the helmet.
w

Genuine freudian slip.