Hi - general bike Q's

Hi everyone,

i am a total novice with bikes and i am considering starting riding, a mate of mine has an sv650s and the few others i have spoken to have recommended it.
however i have no experience of riding, and was wondering which route any experienced riders would recommend (ie DAS or doing 125 test and then practice for 2 years for full test)
I am 24 and hold full car licence so as i understand it i can do direct access or 125 test and then another test on bigger bike?

my concern is if i do DAS im straight on a larger bike with no previous real world riding experience.

any advice would be great and sorry if this is in wrong forum!!

You would be fine to do a DAS and go straight onto a big bike as long as you are sensible with your bike choice i.e not an R1 for your first bike.

An SV is ideal for your first bike.

A lot of people do the DAS route and would only usually do the 2 years if under 21 years old. A bigger bike is a lot more planted on the road and as long as you spend time getting used to riding you'll be fine.

I did DAS then stright onto an SV650S... I had not sat on a bike until I did DAS.

I found the "big bike" easy to ride..... on the 125 I felt top heavy on the 650 I felt more stable and was able to ride better..

Go for it and have fun

[Kylie]

DAS, then get good biking kit, then get a second hand SV, then put crash bungs on it, then ride. You will have a whale of a time, but you will drop it...
or at least, I've done all the above and dropped mine loads

Im 24 mate and have been riding since i passed my DAS at 21. If you're going to do it, do it now because in the near future tests will be quite different and may result in restrictions. Dont buy a 600 sports straight off as my mate did it and put him off biking. Develop your ability with a cheaper slower bike so if you drop it, it doesnt hurt your wallet as much. A less focused road machine will allow you to fine tune your skills rather than having to learn how to handle a much more focused sportsbike

Go for the DAS, SV is a perfect first bike.

I had a 125 for the three months between doing my CBT and DAS, and if I had been stuck with the 125 for two years I probably would have given up biking.

thanks for all the replies!!

excuse my ignorance but what are crash bungs??!
and by "drop it" are we talking broken limbs or just knocks the bike gets??!

can the sv carry a pillion comfortably?
i see robchester mentions perhaps a slower bike would be advisable can anyone recommend bikes they have owned before the 650?

thanks again!

(are there any good beginners websites for biking in general (save me asking questions that have prob been asked thousands of times on forums!!))

I had never ridden a bike before doing my DAS course and getting my SV650S. You've probably been driving a car for a bit so you have the road knowledge so you shouldn't have any problems getting on a big bike

SV650S are good 'first' big bikes, if you prefer a more upright position then the naked SV is pretty good, as are Honda Hornets and Fazers etc.

Basically do your CBT, DAS and test then start sitting on everything until you find one you like!

Good luck and enjoy!!

Dropping it is refering to very low speed or stationery toppling over of the bike. Its extremely likely that new bikers will drop their bike (I did, many times )

Crash bungs are mushroom-shaped protectors that you can fit to the side of bikes to minimise damage when the bike hits the tarmac.

HTH

[timwilky]

The manager of my local bought herself an R1 on passing her DAS. Yes I told her, but so far (4 months) she has defied my predictions.

Do your DAS, the SV is not just an ideal starter bike, it is so forgiving, yet has enough in those 2 pots to put a smile on your face. It also has excellent handling characterists that make it an ideal tool for improving your riding skills. Once on twisty roads you are at an advantage over those on out and out sports bikes.

I'm also 24, and went the route of CBT, a month or so riding around on a 125, and got bored, quickly. So I went & did my DAS & bought the SV650S.

In hind sight, I should of saved myself some money & just done the DAS/theory straight away (you need to do the theory before you can even book your DAS test). There's no real need to worry about being thrown to the dogs on a big bike, as if the school that teach you are worth the money, they will put you on a 125 for the first day & you pretty much do a CBT that day. Then the rest of the time (so long as they feel you're riding is up to scratch) is spent on usually a 500cc bike (in my case, a kwak er-5, which I found very underpowered compared to what I was expecting).

As has been said already, the SV is a good first bike, and feels a lot better on the road than a 125, trust me. For starters, you have wider, better profiled tyres, so cornering/bad weather riding is so much more comfortable.

Crash bungs are attachments that are bolted to the bike, when you drop the bike, these are the first things that contact the tarmac. Declare them to an insurance company & get a discount. It may also be worth considering fitting crash bars, but this isn't suitable for every bike, again, it's an insurance saving though.

As someone mentionned 'drop it', this can be anything really. I've almost made the rookie mistake a few times of not putting the sidestand down when I get off the bike but it could be something far more serious. As my instructor told me, when you buy a bike, budget to spend 20% of the cost of the bike on riding gear. I didn't quite follow that, I spent maybe 10% of the bikes value (I bought a brand new SV650S for £4599), but that's quickly going up as I'm finding myself in the local bike shop whenever I'm off work, looking for new gear (esp winter stuff) but that's mainly due to me commuting a lot on the bike.

Also, you'd be better riding around on something cheap to be honest. As I keep shouting, general rule of thumb, you will drop your first (and probably every) bike. The only question is how/when it will happen. Also, if you don't buy something brand new, you don't have to worry about running the engine in