Whats the easiest way to convert from car driver to biker??

Question

i have a golf VR6

and want a motorbike, i've not taken my CBT or DAS yet but love the freedom of the bike.

so what do i do first? sell the car to pay for my DAS and prey i pass, pick up a cheap...... what???? and work my way up in cc's

is this nnecessary

i've been a car driver for 12 yrs but its getting boring now.

Answer 1

Sell your car and buy a cheap runaround. Do your CBT and try to pick up a cheap 125cc bike. This will give you the feel for motorcycling. Try to ride out with SENSIBLE bike riders to get experience, and don't try to keep up if they start hooning it because you may have a prang and end up with no bike !

When you feel confident, book your Direct Access. Pass it and you can go buy something a bit more fun ( i'd suggest something around the 600- 650 cc mark ) maybe Suzuki Bandit, Honda Hornet or Yamaha Fazer.

And also make sure you get the best helmet that you can afford, protective clothing with armour inserts, and decent boots and gloves.

I wish you all the best.

Answer 2

Chop the volkswagen ! So you'll have the wind in your hair,it will clear your mind a little

Answer 3

Driving a motorbike is nothing like driving a car. You will know the highway code which is great, but driving a bike is a totally different.

Personally, I would get a few lessons first from a qualified instructor and they will teach you the basics. They will supply the bikes and all the gear and you will be able to judge whether you enjoy riding a bike.

Once your instructor thinks you are at the right level then you can do the CBT test and once you pass you can decide on getting a bike.

I wouldn't sell the car though. I live in Northern Ireland and there are days I would love to have a car as well because the driving conditions are atrocious

Here we do not have the CBT or Direct Access Test so I cannot advise what is the best course of action. The DAS test seems to be for people who have ridden bikes for years and are experienced. None of the people I met wants it introduced here as it can be quite dangerous. Basically all it is that if you pass your test on a 500cc bike you can drive whatever you want (you are restricted to 33 bhp for the first two years if you pass the normal test).

The problem is that you cannot ride a 500 cc bike on your own on the roads so the people that do the test are either people who have been riding for years or people who have never ridden a bike outside a lesson (who have little or no experience of riding alone, at night, during bad weather or at speed). Most of the instructors I spoke to said they were glad it was not available here as there are a lot of accidents.

With bikes the power is a lot different than it is for cars. Because bikes are so light compared to cars, then a little difference in the engine capacity makes a huge difference to the performance. This is hard to get across in writing, but when you get on something like a 125 cc (which can easily hit 60 mph) and realise that a 500 cc bike is 4 times as powerful yet may only be twice as heavy then you get some understanding of how powerful bikes can be.

I hope you do enjoy riding a bike, but keep the car and take it slow. Remember that on a car you have a steel cage around you with crumple zones, air bags and seat belts. On a bike, the only protection you have is what you wear.

With petrol prices the way they are going, I am sure getting a bike will save you a fair bit of money too.  

Answer 4

Step 1.  Take an MSF basic rider course.

Step 2.  Buy a used bike that you like.

Don't sell the car.  You will still want the car to transport things that you can't put on the bike.  Have a motorcycle as your only form of transportation gets old fast.

Answer 5

KEEP your car! bikes are toys in most of the nation. Do you like getting wet,sweaty,making multiple trips to grocery store for $20 worth of food?

Take a state sponsored safety course to decide if you like it, ...

Make more money get a used bike for a year .

Answer 6

Book your CBT this minute!! Then book your bike theory test for as soon as you can, then after you've passed that try to get a practical test booking for before the end of september. Why? Because the practical part of the bike test is changing to a more difficult off-road test from the end of september '08 and the number of test centres is shrinking making it even more difficult to get a booking-in some areas you'll have to travel miles to get to one. Some of these new driving 'supercentres' haven't even been built yet! I'd work your way up from a 125 rather than buying a big bike and doing your DAS, you'll learn to ride better and gather experience which may save you binning your big, expensive new pride and joy.

Quick!!!

Answer 7

First of all there is no easy way. It either has to be a total commitment on your part or it's not going to work. If you live in an area that gets snow and ice, forget it. That's too steep of a learning curve for a new rider. I've been in the saddle since '96 and have a lot of miles under under my belt and I'm not exactly wild about riding in the snow. (I've done it plenty of times before, but mainly because I wasn't keeping a closer eye on the weather channel). If you live in an area that has no snow, it can be done. You'll need a good set of rain gear, tire repair kit, bungee net, small flashlight, and some other odds & ends thrown into a backpack or luggage on the bike. Do you have a garage to store it in at night? You'll need a lot of different gear as well. Light and protective in the summer, insulated and windproof in the winter. You will probably need to splurge on an electric vest too. Like the other post above me said that being you only source of transportation will get old fast. What happens if the bike breaks down and is in the shop for a couple days? How will you get back and forth to where you're going? What about grocery runs? You'll have to go on a daily basis to pick up the food you need. If you live in a house or apartment I'm sure you'll want to buy or update things for it, if it's anything big you'll have to call a friend to help you, which will get old fast for them too. Just some stuff to think about

Answer 8

get a bike. learn to use it.