Best cosmetic improvement...

[Kenno]

I've just made a massive improvement to the looks of my bike.

Before....

Before

Before.jpg (778.99 KiB) Viewed 1571 times

After....

After

After.jpg (788.73 KiB) Viewed 1571 times

Well worth the £600 it cost me!
(could do with a clean though I suppose)

[homie]

YEA!!!!! that looks much better, but lets keep this going because it could be useful.

I think the very first thing one can do to improve cosmetics is... RUBBER!

[Kenno]

Whoa! Sorry about the picture size. I'd resized them to meet the upload requirements, but probably should have gone a bit smaller than that!

[gn2]

Well done for passing the test, no more shall ye ride bearing the plates of shame.
Just keep learning.

[Kenno]

Ta. Such a relief to tear them off!

[Mel46]

How does your system work over there? I haven't been unfortunate enough in my life to live in a state where there eas a restriction on what size two wheeler you can ride, so I don't understand it. Maybe you can explain it. By the way, does anyone know what states in the United States have restricted riding like this? I have read that some states actually restrict you. So what happens if you came there from a place that had no restrictions, this question also applying to those across the ocean. I am sure there have been riders who have moved to the UK from other countries where they owned a motorcycle.

[iceman]

Ta. Such a relief to tear them off!

Well done! £600 - so I gather you now have a full licence not just and A1/2 - what was it like? Of two people at work, one passed 1st time with no minors!, but cost best part of £600, the other has spent over a £1000 and failed his off-road once and on-road once (did not move across into the near side lane in time, but to be fair there was a speeding car coming up fast in the near lane so he thought he was doing the right thing!).

[iceman]

How does your system work over there? I haven't been unfortunate enough in my life to live in a state where there eas a restriction on what size two wheeler you can ride, so I don't understand it. Maybe you can explain it. By the way, does anyone know what states in the United States have restricted riding like this? I have read that some states actually restrict you. So what happens if you came there from a place that had no restrictions, this question also applying to those across the ocean. I am sure there have been riders who have moved to the UK from other countries where they owned a motorcycle.

A1 (125cc lifetime licence, passenger and motorways)
A2 (similar to A1 but up to 350cc I believe, thus have to take the off-road and on-road tests on a large geared bike even to ride a scooter at the end as no one has scooters above 125cc for tests)
Full licence - 125cc geared bile to get used to it then something like 650cc off-road/on-road
CBT - lasts 2 years, 125 manual or auto, no passengers no motorway
The A1/A2/Full require theory test, hazed perception test, off-road and on-road
CBT requires most of a day on a loan geared or auto 125cc bike doing some basic riding in a yard and on-road with instructor feedback - 1 minor allowed, do something dodgy again and immediate fail. They are thinking of making the CBT yearly with both theory and hazard tests - basically a way for the instructors and government to get more money.
If you have a CBT and no accidents in 2 years on the road - why not give an automatic provisional A1 licence and then full A1! (why have to pass on a large geared bike just to ride a scooter if you have shown your a safe rider).

[Oyabun]

Same gradual system here (I guess it is harmonized across EU), but A1 and A2 has not only cc but kW limitations also. A1 can be acquried quite easy in case you have a B category it takes about 100 eur and 2-3 weekends.

[iceman]

It's the cost and getting used to gears that's the issue for the full or A2 licence as it would be nice to be able to ride a 250cc if needed. My CBT expires Nov so need to decide whether to take the course (£600-700 is you pass 1st time, more if not!) or do the A1 on my PCX - about £150 if using your own bike.

[gn2]

Definitely worth getting a full licence imo.
Means you can ride any bike and that is a definite boost when it comes to getting courtesy bikes when your scooter is in for service or repair.
In the last five years I've had loans of NC700X, CBR600F, Transalp, XV950, CBF600F, I had an NC750S for two weeks earlier this year and I've currently had an R3 for the last week or so.
No full licence = I would have been using the bus.

Only time I would reckon an automatic restricted licence is a worthwhile choice is if you have a disability which can't be got round any other way than by riding an auto.

[Simon0867]

Now thats really interesting. If you have to learn on a geared bike for your A2 then I wouldn't bother with that, no wonder it costs a fortune in training. Tried gears once on an earlier CBT but packed it in after an hour and went back to a scoot.
A 125 is fast enough for me and if I can do my A1 on my own bike then that makes getting a full licence much more attractive.

[Kenno]

When I was trying to find out about doing the licence, it seemed very geared towards young riders. Most of the information about it seemed to be written with the assumption that I was 16, starting off with a CBT for a 50cc, then explaining the next steps when I'm 17, 19 and then 21 (I think?) and the different licenses available. Made me feel really old as I'm in my 30s as if I'm the only person old enough to go straight to unrestricted!

I would recommend going for the full licence, if you're considering it, as it's the same two tests whichever bike you're on and the gears are only a small part of it really. My £600 course was for 8 lessons (including both tests) which was enough for me to pass both first time. The first lesson was on a geared 125 just to get used to the gears, but I found the 750 to be much easier to ride (taller gears meant I didn't have to shift quite as fast. The gears came naturally after 2 or 3 lessons so it wasn't an issue really (disclaimer - I did get a minor fault on the test yesterday as I managed to knock it into Neutral instead of 2nd after exiting a roundabout - that had never happened on any of my lessons and the bike is tricky enough to get into neutral when I'm TRYING to do it so I must have done something weird there!).

I was stressed doing both of my tests as lots of people do seem to fail them first time (but then, there aren't so many stories to tell from the people who pass), but in hindsight I shouldn't have worried - I can ride safely and that's really all they want to see.

You could just book the tests and do it on your own bike, but I would still recommend having at least one lesson for each module beforehand so you know exactly what they want to see. I had more bad habits than I though (lane positioning, not enough shoulder checks, safety gaps) so although I considered myself a good driver/rider, I wouldn't have passed without lessons. and then for the sake of a couple more lessons, you can open up your options massively by going for the unrestricted test - your PCX won't last forever, so at least you'll have the option to go bigger in the future. I'm keeping my PCX, and am trying to decide if I can justify a bigger bike for the very limited free time I have (can't really!).

It's all about riding safely and obeying the highway code really. Good positioning, observation, awareness, bike control etc. As a car driver I had a massive advantage over non-drivers who were also learning, and I had a slight advantage being fairly big so I could control the bike easier (it's not a problem for anyone really with a bit of practice, but being a big fat get does have it's uses sometimes!), and the lessons were structured perfectly to get me through.

Anyway, this post is long enough, so I'll shut up now!

[Bash On!]

"By the way, does anyone know what states in the United States have restricted riding like this? "

Gotta love my (relatively) new home state, Texas. Here, the only restricted riding is that 15 (!) year olds are restricted to 250cc motorcycles. At 16, they can ride whatever size bike they want. Yee Haw!

Note the age (15), that means one can be riding a motorcycle a full year before being able to drive a car! My daughter is now 14 years, 4 months, and is counting down the days until she gets the PCX. Maybe she'll use it more than I have--two years old this weekend and it hasn't hit 1100 miles yet.

[Simon0867]

Thanks for a really interesting post Kenno.

I take your point about learning gears, my only issue is it's going to cost me a fair amount of money in extra lessons when I wouldn't be remotely interested in getting a geared bike anyway. I also understand the lure of something more powerful in the future, but to be honest I can't really see me doing that. A 125cc covers all my work and social needs and there will always be new and more sophisticated 125 models on the market if I fancy something new.

I'd certainly agree with the idea of doing a couple of lessons to iron out any bad habits before the big day, that's sound advice.

I'm now seriously thinking of getting used to the PCX over the next few months and look at doing my A1 next Spring. Fed up paying money for CBT's so time to bite the bullet.

[gn2]

there will always be new and more sophisticated 125 models on the market

But they will always be restricted to 15bhp.

[Kenno]

This evening I had to meet up for a family birthday straight from work. If I was in the car it would have taken me 20-30 mins on the motorway (as it did for everyone else!). It took me over an hour on the pcx. I'd think carefully about whether you want to stick to a1 in the long run. 15bhp's fine a lot of the time but there's bound to be a time when you'll want/need more! The whole thing was nowhere near as difficult as I imagined it would be. It was just fun - I basically got to have a go on a 750cc motorbike a few times and then they gave me a licence.

[novapersona]

two years old this weekend and it hasn't hit 1100 miles yet.

I use mine for all my transportation needs! Not even a month old and I've over 1100 miles logged!

[Oyabun]

I couldn't agree more with gn2 on this one.
I have a full licence, and even though I only own a PCX125 now (on purpose, as it fits my transportation needs best) my selection of bikes would be severely limited if I'd only have a limited licence. It also helps to borrow a "proper bike" sometimes fdom some of my old riding friends and hit the twisties, just to feel alive.
It does not make a lot more effort to make the unlimited A licence as you're riding anyway it should not make much of a difference anyway.
My additional two cents. If money is an issue, save up by learning to service your own bikes.