learner falls off

[Deus]

As some of you saw at paignton last night matt was in full bike kit( even if his jacket looks loke it drowns him, skinny git ) Rule was that he was not going on the back until he was kitted up. Too many times you see the rider in full kit and the pillion in normal clothes. Its the one thing that does my head in

My rule is pillion has to have jeans, proper shoes and I have a spare jacket + helmet .

[A_T]

Ah good job, you may well have trained me last year for me A2 and the year before that CBT

Have recommended to a few mates, had a good laugh. Don't remember seeing that bike parked up there though

Cool I probably booked you in ... .. Although I searched for Cheese Monkey on the system and couldn't find you

[Cheese Monkey]

Thats surprising, it says that on me licence

[badgerKDD]

Personally I think you shouldn't be aloud to ride any motorbike until your 17/18. Get rid of 50cc's because they are just too slow for normal roads. But it will also stop all the dickheads turning 16 doing a days training on a twist and go then being left to be as twatty as they like.

totally disagree on that one, I couldn't wait till my sixteenth birthday (back in 1986) so I couldfinally stop riding my ER50 after dark only, down the lanes around Cullompton! Maybe it's different for kids these days but some of my mates got 50's knowing full well they'd sell them at 17 and get a car, it at least gave them transport when stuck in the backside of beyond and at the same time made them better drivers cos they got a chance to see life from a two wheel point of view.

Better driver education and less reliance on speed cameras to police the roads is the way to go ( in my opinion at least! )

[Blue]

Have to agree with badgerKDD. i couldn't wait until i turned 16, my bike was in the shed waiting for me (a DT50 ) then spent a finding out that falling off hurts and that i had freedom. No more self reliance on public transport. (rubbish then and still is ).

My oldest is now 12 and when he hits 16 I will encourage him to get a bike but more importantly proper kit and training. Trouble is, a speed camera cannot pull you over and tell you that you are riding/driving like a pillock only on road police can do that. As much as we say on here and other forums about the police if they actually targeted bas driving and riding equally then we would have a lot less accidents. but they wont cos speed cameras make more money

[Johnnyb]

Get rid of 50cc's because they are just too slow for normal roads.

Ha you just wait till you get some kids m8 and they are ragging you constantly for lifts here, lifts there, bowling,into town, round my mates house,swimming etc etc you will soon be saying to the missus, lets get him/her a moped so they can go where they like without all these sodding lifts.........

[gazkwak]

the right gear is a must, a couple of months ago i upgraded my helmet to an agv because my old one felt a bit slack, came off yesterday, and hit the ground head first, and am glad i upgraded it, felt how hard my head hit the ground but didn't feel any pain, just my neck shoulders aching this morning, will be getting an agv again, leathers also done well

[Tom L]

not to hijack, but where do you guys buy your gear, as im in search of a new lid. I keep hearing all these stories from people buying £300 helemt for £150. I dont care if its last years model, i just want it cheap

[badgerKDD]

Couple of years ago Chissington Leathers had a sale on, got me and the wife KBC V1 helmets for 65 quid each ( normal RRP at time was about 150 odd) they were on sale cos they were old stock as the V1R was replacing it. Found the deal by spending an evening on internet and trolling through various combinations of helmets, discount and cheap etc.

[Milky]

Whats the first thing you do when you fall over, put your hands out.

Indeed, personally i dont fancy my bare wrists hiting the cheese grater at any speed. I'm gad I've got long gloves, screw riding wihout them there just asimportant as your helmet!

[steve-d]

Some fair points there, I know I was the same waiting to turn 16 for my FS1E last year, as a few of you have said.
But nowadays most people turn 16 buy a moped rag it for a year making a nuisance of themselves trying to overtake anything infront of them because they have another 2 mph top end than what they are at. Then once they turn 17, do there car test [censored] bikes off while in the meanwhile give us a bad name, and 'tastefully' mod a clio/saxo ect.
At college, in the bike shelter there are about 30 mopeds in there, about 5 125's. A gs500 owned by some older guy, a massive cruiser owned by one of the teachers, my divvy and my mates cbf250. And everyday I can guarente I will get pestered about how fast have you got out of that mate bet my car that i have but cant drive yet will beat it ect ect.
The amount of people who actually upgrade to a 125 or do a full lisence is something like 30/1 in my expirience
But yes definatly, if training was better would have no problem, but cbt's are a joke. I convinced someone at work to get a bike, he got a brand new cbr125. Did his cbt over 2 days as they wouldnt let him pass first day. A month on he still has no idea what hes doing. Stops in 4th trys to pull away in 4th. Doesnt change down for corners. Has crashed 5 times. Doesnt know when to change down gears. Won't listen to anything I try and explain to him.

[Blue]

yes steve but it all comes down to the crap training rules we have in this country. I agree CBT is a joke, But also cars should be restricted the same as bikes. This is why so many saxo's etc end up in ditches cos kids, as you say are only interested in going flat and are buggered when the get to the corner.

Unfortunatly the goverments answer is to make the real bike test so hard it will encourage the kids to get cars instead which will add to conjestion etc. (smart move, I wonder who thought that one up ) The only real way out is to make the CBT a test and raise th car age to 18 and bring in the compusory 1 years approved driving school training for cars which was an option.

No kid is gonna understand that a 600 will have a clear power to weight advantage than most road cars off the lights cos they are on a moped that will only do 30mph flat out. But is you ban all the 50s then all you are left with is the kids in corsas. Unfortunatly bikes are and love / hate thing and always will be.

[steve-d]

The only real way out is to make the CBT a test and raise th car age to 18 and bring in the compusory 1 years approved driving school training for cars which was an option.

Don't quite understand the 1 year training.
But yeah, making the cbt a test, with some standards other than yea you can wobble around a car park you'l be fine.
I may be a bit harsh on learners, I can see that. But crashing a car at 40, not exactly going to hurt that much IMO. Obviously I have nothing to back this up as I don't drive yet, and havent been in a car crash. But crash a bike at 40, which I have done hurts like hell. And with lack of gear which admitidly I didn't have trousers or boots on, causes more problems, and tbh how many learners have full protective gear.

[Blue]

They want to bring in that learner car drivers have to complete a years tuition with an approved school before they can take their test, so no more tarquin throwing the L plates in mummies range rover

As for crashing a car at 40 not hurting. I crashed which I was stationary and a car slid into me, so a speed of about 20 max, I ended up with blood gushing out of my head and the air ambo landing in the field next to me. so yep any crash can hurt like hell

The point is, all tests we have are a load of bollocks, the goverment have got the whole system the wrong way around and they are having knee jerk reactions to try and sort it out