Biking is a real pain to get into nowadays.

Hello all, first post (I think) - just wanted to vent about how frustrating I have found getting into biking, wondered if anyone else had experienced these problems?

(TL,DR version: can't insure a big bike with no licence, training longwinded, new licencing more prohibitive to new young riders, nobody knows how to fix a datatool alarm)

1. Bought CBF125, taxed/insured non problem.
2. CBT - booked and passed.
3. Bought an SV650.
4. Couldn't insure SV because I had a provisional licence.
5. Couldn't SORN it because my test was under 21 days away, and if I SORNed it would have to wait THE 21 days to relax it. (DVLA advice)
6. So, had an uninsured/taxed bike, which would have been liable for the Continuous Insurance Enforcement fine if DVLA had been quick off the block.
7. Couldn't do any training on the bike in my own time because you need an instructor present for the training. (Which you don't need for the little 125 engined bikes).
8. Passed bike tests, etc. got insurance, ride around like a boss and generally fell in love with biking.

My friends have seen me fudge through trying to get a "big bike" licence (as in, unrestricted Cat A licence, here in the UK) and almost all of them have been put off at how much of a hassle it is.

With the new licencing restrictions I can only see that motorcycling is even more difficult to get into than it has been in the past. Is this feeling of frustration intended?

Also, finding a motorcycle electrician for my dead datatool system 3 is impossible. So annoying!

[muzikill]

Remove the alarm. They are a pain in the backside. Its difficult to get into in my opinion to sort out the bikers from the chancers. The days of getting you to do a couple of laps round the estate unsupervised for a full licence are long gone. Proper training for proper biking.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Sid Squid]

Yes, it's difficult and ludicrously pointless. What's upsetting about this is all of this stupid legislation has made precious little improvement - it has, as you rightly say, put many people off. Which is exactly the idea.
The law is an Ass, we all know this, however the near Kafka-esque situation you found yourself in when buying your SV is a new one on me.
Datatool alarms are simple, and they are connected to your bike simply too - what's wrong?

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by muzikill

Proper training for proper biking.

BS.

It's a load of eurocrat driven hoop-jumping bollox that's got minimal relevance to riding on the road, legislation designed to kill motorcycling. And as evidenced by the OP, these worthless oxygen thieving cnuts are winning.

The lessons of training will be superseded by the first few miles (well, yards) of road experience anyway.

Originally Posted by muzikill

Remove the alarm. They are a pain in the backside. Its difficult to get into in my opinion to sort out the bikers from the chancers. The days of getting you to do a couple of laps round the estate unsupervised for a full licence are long gone. Proper training for proper biking.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Hopefully the auto electrician chap I found on the internet will be able to come out and remove it today for me... fingers crossed.

Sid Squid, I think I 'spiked' the alarm by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery, but I've followed Datatool's instructions on despiking (didn't work) and bypassing (worked for a few days but has now fully stopped working. I started taking the alarm out myself but got my knickers in a twist when I got to 4 cables the alarm intercepts, but are all the same colour - from the wiring diagram it looks like they are the ignition/starter cables so if I get it wrong, then I'll fry the loom, so for the last week my bike has been sat in the garage looking like it's been hit by a grenade of multicoloured wire and disappointment.

Oh, and whoever installed my alarm FILLED it with resin so it was damn-near impossible to get to the components.

And Muzikill, I'm all-for having the current bike test, I just wish that I could have got more training on my own on the big bike before the test. The idea of being considered safe to train on 125cc's but not safe to practice on my own on 250cc's just doesn't sit all that nicely in my head. It would make more sense if it was yes/no if you can train on your own. Bottom line is, I have my licence...

[muzikill]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

BS.

It's a load of eurocrat driven hoop-jumping bollox that's got minimal relevance to riding on the road, legislation designed to kill motorcycling. And as evidenced by the OP, these worthless oxygen thieving cnuts are winning.

The lessons of training will be superseded by the first few miles (well, yards) of road experience anyway.

Its what sets you up before that counts. A few turns in a disused part of a industrial estate wont do it. The people I took my lessons with were great and I was provided with plenty of road experience on a bigger bike before my test. Maybe others arent so lucky with the choice they make.

I had 2.5 days training; 1 day for mod 1, 1.5 days for mod 2. After passing mod 2, I'm going to spend the rest of my life learning how to ride properly! Riding for the first time on my own was a bit unnerving, but I guess if you have good instruction then it makes you think about your own safety... (But if I was just on a 125 I wouldn't have been forced to take this instruction... perhaps all learner bikes should be accompanied by DSA approved instructors, but this would deter a huge number of people from riding and would be pretty controversial.)

[PyroUK]

As someone else said, most of the changes are actually designed to put people off. I'm thankful I pulled my thumb out and got my licence before the latest changes.

I never had the issue you had as I was without bike for my test and used the schools.

So just got insurance once I got the new bike sorted.

Does sound like a ball ache but by the sound of it you managed to get a full licence which is good. The fact you have to retake the exact same test to pass each restriction for the younger riders is ridiculous.

[Red Herring]

Being the devils advocate slightly....if you had actually stuck to the old way of doing things and kept your 125 to do your test on most of the problems you encountered would have been avoided.

[PyroUK]

But you can't do the test on a 125 can you?