Advice required

Firstly hello to you all. I was sent a link to the site from a mate of mine who is a long time lurker, who has an sv650s and have lurked myself for some time.

Having taken my cbt last saturday and throughly enjoed my first ride, I'm having doubts about going for my DAS. I have always been interested in owning and riding bikes but being a naturally risk averse person, reading threads, newspaper arictles etc about bikers sadly passing away causes me concern.

I've had many a near miss in my car and play high intenisty sports where people do die on occaisons. but i think nothing more of driving in my car or playing sport till I'm seriously F*cked!

Any sensible thoughts on this subject would be more than welcomed.

Thanks
Dave

[fizzwheel]

Yes but you can get knocked over crossing the road... accidents happen...

Personally getting my license was the best thing I've ever done and I've never looked back, I've known 2 people who passed away in biking accidents, but TBH it still doesnt put me off. If I go on a bike I'm doing something I love.

to balance it out my friend got knocked over walking back from the pub by a drink driver who mounted the pavement and ran him down. He'd been riding bikes since he was a kid, but he got knocked down leaving the pub. My dad has just turned 65 been riding all his life, never to my knowledge has seriously hurt himself.

When its your time its your time.

Theres plenty of stuff you can do to reduce the risk, Advanced training, wearing decent protective gear etc, you'll never remove all risk from anything you do, What you gonna do wrap yourself up in cotton wool and let life pass you by ?

I personally think the media massively over hype the risks, you always hear about accidents, but you never hear about the thousands off bikers who complete their journeys with no incident every day.

It never hurts to be aware of the risks involved but to shy away from doing something because you might get hurt, well thats something that I wouldnt do.

If you've done your CBT and enjoyed that you'll love riding a bigger bike. Go for it.

Can't put it better than Fizz just did

[embee]

I've been riding since 16, and I'm now 50, and (gulp, tempting fate) never had an accident (on the road that is!).

You can enjoy riding bikes while minimising the risk of serious accidents mainly by following the tips in Fizz's post, but most of all use your imagination. Just think what might be ahead, round the corner, what if that car does pull out ('cos they will sooner or later).

I ride 90% of the time in cautious defensive mode, just so that I'm pretty sure I'll survive to enjoy the other 10%. Don't ride every mile like it's a competition, and always follow rule#1, if in doubt........don't. You can always go back and do it again once you're sure it's safe.

Get training.

Great advice guys!

If you aren't 100% sure, why not just get a littler bike for now and do your DAS later if you feel like it? You can still have lots of fun on a smaller bike (been looking at Honda 125 NSRs and 125 CBRs) and that way you don't end up spending lots of money on a DAS course and changing your mind later.

I've had a number of accidents, but its something I accept with being ona bike. You are more vulnerable on a bike than in a car, thats all there is to it. I love being on a bike and even though I had a head-on collision with a car back in February, I still ride and it would take something pretty damn huge to make me want to stop riding.

Look at it this way, the ones you hear about are the bad examples. How many people go out on a bike and post up or is reported in the news that they had a safe trip? Its not interesting news, only accidents etc are posted and are far far fewer than the people who are out on their bikes all the time and don't have any accidents.

HTH

My Dad has been a biker from his 17th until now (55), and he has never had any serious accident, just one slip on cobbles. I personally have never had an accident aside from dropping the cursed thing 3 times cos of disc locks! I much prefer riding a larger bike, I feel safer, more in control, able to accelerate and decelerate faster, more of a part of the traffic rather than traffic driving around me. The only bad point about larger bikes is if you yourself lack the discipline to ride them sensibly. So get a big one, ride sensibly, and you will have a great time! As others have said, if in doubt, just take a deep breath and sit back. I have NEVER regretted NOT overtaking someone!!

now that's some of the best advice i have ever seen on this subject,
i don't think every1 should have a bike there are some people you know would be dead in a week, but if some1 is sensible enough to put a post on here asking about this then i think you will be fine on a bike, just make sure you keep the bike well maintained so nothing can go wrong with that side of things, and then just keep your whits about you, think twice before doing a manure, and all will be fine!!

Good luck with what ever you choose tho mate.

i would say get a bit of expereance on a smaller bike first, if you are not to sure

I did my CBT with the sole intention of doing the DAS after picking up an SV650s off a mate for pennies. After the CBT I was thinking, "this is a lot harder than I thought it would be". I stalled about 6 times on the CBT and was generally pretty crap. I was also physically knackered and unsure if biking was for me. The fact that I'd already bought the bike forced me to carry on and about 1 hr into my first DAS lesson it all came together and I have been loving it ever since. It's a steep learning curve but well worth it. With the congestion on the roads today and the prospect of congestion charging in most big cities I'm very glad to have the motorbike option available.