getready

Lots of times on my trail bike, but not yet on a road bike!

DAS means no restriction = ride what you like when passed. Two mutually exclusive groups. A no from me, because I wanted the freedom to ride what I want and not have the govt dictate what I could ride.

I wear a Forcefield back protector on my road bike which is really comfy. As others have said it's a bit of a ball-ache having yet another piece of equipment to put on and take off and store, but it's a no brainer for me. I also have a Knox cross shirt which has full armour for my trail bike - I can vouch for the protection in this first hand, having had many offs/back flips etc

That's outrageous. Did he not realise that the other guy would have problems on the rideout earlier? When I did my CBT there was one lad who was obviously struggling who was told to go home and return another day (at lunchtime just before the ride out - not 4pm!) I'd be off somewhere else and asking for a refund from the first guy!

I think the Qwest is a great helmet, I'm really happy with it. It fits me perfectly, is really comfy and is very quiet with the chin vent closed. With the chin vent open there is a whistle, but that's only to be expected. For comparison, I have worn my dad's Raid 2 (same size!) and the difference in noise levels is apparent - the Raid 2 develops a distinct noise around the sides at 45-50mph, whereas the Qwest does not.

Stick your clothes in another bag/pannier etc, if you can get changed at work. I put my folded work gear in my Kreiga backpack which is waterproof and have never had a problem yet. I recently swapped to Hein Gericke Gore-Tex and have not had any water breaches yet either!

Sounds like good gear there mate. I went the cheap route for my first kit (apart from helmet - Shoei Qwest) - RST textiles which fell to bits in 6 months. These have now been replaced with Hein Gericke Gore-Tex, the difference in quality is immense.

What do you mean by these "lessons"? Ok I will go down the DAS route as it's more for what I'd prefer to do. Right just to work out now in order. Go to one of these free events where they let you ride in an open space for an hour Do my CBT (On a school bike) Maybe have a few lessons first? then book my Theory / Hazzard Jump into a DAS on a school bike and do my Mod 1 and Mod 2 succesfully (hopefully on my first attempt) buy a bigger 600cc bike and away you go And all this will come to an average price of say....? Price is important because I want to have enough to get everything done. Cause what I don't want to do is pass my DAS and not be able to buy my own bike for a few months. What time period would you say is reasonable for getting all this done? A couple of months maybe? Then I buy my gear around the time I buy my first bike? (Maybe buy helmet / gloves first for the free ride / CBT) This what it cost me: Theory test £31 CBT (inc use of school's bike) £80 DAS (two days training and pre/test warmup trips to and from test centre for Mod1 & 2) £330 Mod1 Fee £15 Mod2 Fee £75 A grand total of £531.

Well done on your test! Trying to insure a sports bike at your age having just passed your test is the same as passing your car test and getting a quote for a Porsche 911 - it will be stupidly expensive. It's the insurance companies way of politely telling you to get lost!

Well done, enjoy the bike!

This is so true. I did my CBT, then DAS and was on the road in under two months with only around 12/14 hours experience under my belt. I've learned more about riding since I passed than what I did on the DAS training. As for whether it's safe or not is down to you. Bigger bikes are easier to ride and you can still have a major "off" on a 125.

Yes, go for it, the GSR is a great bike and good fun to ride without going near the powerband, which is probably how it would ride if it was restricted.

It's more the components such as the bars, switch gear and paint job that looks a bit cheap on the GSR when you compare them to their siblings on a Honda. The bike is too new to show any mechanical issues, but I'm fairly sure that older gixxers/bandits etc are pretty reliable in terms of motors.

Yep, it's a real place near Oldham, not just a name for the test centre! Well done mate - enjoy!

What model was it? Suzuki GSR600 2008 with 400 miles on the clock, so it was virtually a new bike. http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k551/getready1/DSC00029.jpg Good points? Engine – the slightly detuned Gixxer 600 engine is probably the best bit of the bike, it sounds awesome and pulls extremely well. Spin the engine above 8k and it really goes, but it’s equally happy enough mooching along in traffic. A mate of mine had a go on it and he said he thought it would be a tarted up Bandit, but he got off it with a massive grin on his face! Looks – I think it looks great, smooth lines and being all black makes it even better. I’ve seen some other GSR’s in what I would deem to be dodgy colour schemes, but for me black is the colour to have. It does get quite a few looks from people. Rear LED’s look cool. Handling – extremely light and chuckable and great fun to ride. The front has a habit of coming up if you wind the power on too quickly – not sure whether this is good or bad! Gear indicator – very useful. Bad points? The overall build quality is not comparable to Honda for example in terms of paint/components, but most people already know this.... Brakes – The front brake is not really powerful enough and fades a bit, given the engine that is in this bike. The rear foot rests appear to have a mind of their own and often drop down to invite non-existent pillions to climb aboard. Mirrors – If you are tall like me, the mirrors are way too low to see anything out of without bending down. You can slacken the bolts and twist them forwards, but this also moves your front brake and clutch down to a ridiculous angle, which is also less than ideal! Probably need to buy a pair of mirror extenders. Storage - No under seat storage due to the exhaust running under the pillion seat. You would struggle to get more than a pencil in there. Tyres – BT016’s do not last very long if you like to ride in a spirited fashion. Would you get another? Definitely yes. As this was my first bike I was looking for a naked bike that I could ride around town and have a bit of fun on at the weekends. I didn’t want a full on sports bike, but did want something that would give decent performance, so job done.