In Britain its ridiculously hard and complicated to get a licence to drive a motorcycle and its expensive. Ill go through the requirements for the sheer hell of it.

1. To get on the road to start learning how to ride you need to get a CBT certificate. Compulsory Basic Training is what CBT stands for and it involves doing simple manouvers e.g round cones in a figure of eights etc your then either passed or failed by your instructor.

After passing the CBT you then can ride on the road on a motorbike of 49cc or 125 cc displaying 'L' (learner) plates depending on your age - more on that later. Your not allowed to carry a pillion and your not allowed on motorways.

2. To get a licence you need to have had a CBT certificate and you must be able to perform manouvers such as an emergency stop, U turns, hill start, road positioning etc to test standard. You must be able to answer questions to the examiner such as how would you check that the brake shoe is worn and what is the minimum required tread thickness for your tyres etc.

You must also have a Theory Test Certificate in order to be allowed to sit the test, this is a 35 question test on road theory, you must pass with at least 30 questions correct out of 35. The theory test also has a hazard perception part with 5 questions, it shows a photograph of a road scene and you have to identify the hazards e.g. parked cars create blind spots behind them etc You cannot obtain a theory test certificate until your 17 years of age.

This is where it starts getting complicated. Get ready.

In order to be able to sit the CBT you must be of 16 years of age or older and you can ride on a 49cc restricted 'moped' to 35 mph. When your 17 you then can sit a test for a 125cc licence, you must sit the test on a 13bhp 125cc, you have to have a theory and CBT certificates to be allowed. After the test you can then ride around on a 125cc 33 bhp restricted motorbike for two years without 'L' plates and carrying pillion passengers. After which you can then get whatever cc and bhp powered motorbike you wish. BUT, if your 21 years or older you can then sit a further test on a 500cc motorbike and get "direct access" to the good stuff.

For CBT, 10 lessons, pre-test and test itll cost you about 300 - 350 quid. Itll cost you about 40 quid for the theory test.

After all this you cant get insured! haha Well, a slight exageration, but for the big bikes it is expensive until your about 35 years old.

I think this is all correct! Its complicated, no?

Oh for gods sake take a bus! :)

Its complicated, no?

Indeed, it appears so.

Gotta' love suffocating bureaucracy. I think it's good that we have England to look too and have nightmares about to inspire us to try to make government doings just a little simpler.

My dad probably knows all this stuff already, he’s an avid poster on some “brit iron” motorcycle group (loves Triumphs) and often regales me with information I never wanted to know about the bikes. Is it true that whenever buying a motorcycle or car it’s standard fair to be able to look up the vehicle’s entire history of ownership and any accidents?

Gotta' love suffocating bureaucratic. I think it's good that we have England to look too and have nightmares about to inspire us to try to make government doings just a little simpler.

My dad probably knows all this stuff already, he’s an avid poster on some “brit iron” motorcycle group (loves Triumphs) and often regales me with information I never wanted to know about the bikes. Is it true that whenever buying a motorcycle or car it’s standard fair to be able to look up the vehicle’s entire history of ownership and any accidents?

I dont know, is it?

Its so stupid though because when you go and get a car licence all you need is a theory (+ hazard perception) certificate and test then thats it. You can go and buy a car that can go 130 mph plus and during the test there is little or no word on how to look out for vunerable road users such as motorcyclists. Instead they are making it hard for you to get a motorbike instead of making motorists in general aware of vunerable road users and to check blind spots etc.

Surely its too bureaucratic?

Given the rate at which bikers kill themselves and get killed by other road users, the testing for them doesnt seem overdone, though it could do with being smiplified. And certainly car drivers need to be trained (read beaten with a stick until they get it) to pay more attention to bikers. Who in turn should not put themselves in tricky traffic situations just because they can fit in between 2 cars.

I've seen bikers put themselves in stupid positions and overdo acceleration and so on. I also knw someone who gave up riding a bike beacuse people gave her a hard time, especially since she was a girl.

Oh for gods sake take a bus!

Yeh, I see what your saying, I do quite often but I decided that I could want a bike at some point and that it would be a good idea to get a licence sooner rather than later.

Biking is different from driving a car, granted. Its more efficient, less polluting and you can 'filter' through the traffic jams, not mentioning you can park just about anywhere. You are a vunerable road user, the weather, painted lines, oil patches can all make you skid off at any moments notice but that can be reduced through the training process and experience.

I've seen bikers put themselves in stupid positions and overdo acceleration and so on. I also knw someone who gave up riding a bike beacuse people gave her a hard time, especially since she was a girl.

Yeh, you get really fast motorbikes that are dangeous to control at affordable prices that cant really be transfered to cars - it doesnt really matter how fast a car can go you can always control it and it doesnt matter if you lose control because of airbags, side impact bars, crumpling body work etc that build up a nice sence of control and invunerability.

Mmh... it's not that comlpicated, at least, it should do for save and responsible drivers.

Anyway, just on a side note, to get a drivers licence in Germany, you also have to pass a theoretical test, take at least 10 (I might be mistaken) parctical hours on the bike, and then of course, pass the practical test.
You can ride the normal bikes at the age of 18, the really fast ones...I think you need to be 25 for that.

Is it true that whenever buying a motorcycle or car it’s standard fair to be able to look up the vehicle’s entire history of ownership and any accidents?

www.carfax.com

Yeh, you get really fast motorbikes that are dangeous to control at affordable prices that cant really be transfered to cars

Yup...the world's fastest bike is only $20,000. Very affordable for any bike ethusiast.


- it doesnt really matter how fast a car can go you can always control it

Not really. Most people can't handle speeds above 90mph in cars. I gets chancey and requires fair amount of experience to drive that fast. Also at speeds like 160-180 mph human eyes start playing tricks and laser guiding has to be put into cars to keep the car from swerving off the road because the driver think he/she is going straight when infact they are not. Saw it happen on this show about luxary sports cars.

and it doesnt matter if you lose control because of airbags, side impact bars, crumpling body work etc that build up a nice sence of control and invunerability.

Not in todays cars. Today cars are designed more with the person who gets hit in mind. Gone are the metal Fords of 80s and early 90s. Today's cars barely have any metal in em and get dented by wind drafts. But I understand what you mean and its ironic because the faster a bike goes the more stable it gets...a wierd quirk in physics.

lard: you ever herd of something called IMPULSE???????

THATS why cars are so soft, because the safty people would rather a ride of car than a ride of person. Think about this, a head on with both cars travling at 100Kph in one of those old tanks vs a new car with proper crumple zones. I cant rember the maths but im sure someone else here does, the point however is that the longer you can make the acident between when you first hit and when you stop the safer the passangers will be

Yup...the world's fastest bike is only $20,000. Very affordable for any bike ethusiast

I could go out and buy a Suzuki Hayabusa 1300 GSX1300R for £8,649 (16,043.88 USD) (Suzuki (http://www.suzuki-gb.co.uk/model.asp?id=21#) ) with a top speed of 180 mph. Fantastic.

I take it that you had to go all the way through all of that bollox to get your licence then Crunch? My bike test was done in the forces, and involved riding round a tank park and doing an emergency stop. sign here, here's your licence! The thing is you learn to ride when you pass your test, because if you don't give 100% all of the time your dead meat. A friend of mine (Tim) had his bike for 5 mins. He went to the bike shop with my other mate as a pillion. My other mate picked his new bike up and tim got on his old one ( which my other mate had sold to him) they pulled away and went down the road. Tim overtook a parked van, and looked back as he overtook the van. He turned the handlebars towards the van as he was looking back and splat! Dead.

Ride fast, but be safe :m:

No, Im going through all that bollocks just now. Have my theory test tomorrow.

Tim overtook a parked van, and looked back as he overtook the van. He turned the handlebars towards the van as he was looking back and splat! Dead.

Damn thats sad. Your actually told to look back as your overtaking parked cars while doing lessons, they call it a "life-saver". I dont know if Ill actually get a bike, seems like there is alot of maniacs out there, most of them in cars.

Yeh he was a diamond bloke. But don't let that stop you getting on a bike, what a buzz. If your out in the country its no problem ( apart from cow shit , oil, mud etc..) but here in London- sheeessh, its a nightmare. One continuous " sorry mate , i did'nt see you".

Yeh, Im definetly going to get through all the bureaucracy and pass it. I can decide then if Ill get one. Just need the licence first!