Im hopefully going to open my own garage in a year and a half and after repairing a mates bike at the weekend, i have been thinking it may be an idea to also repair bikes.
Excuse my ignorance but some chavs at college (16-17yo) have a licence that allows them to ride up to 50cc (i think) for 2 years then it is unrestricted. Is this the same for a 22 yo?

sorry thats not quite right.

Rules are as follows (but please check)

16 - 50cc moped, max 30mph on L plates (must pass CBT first)
17- can ride a bike up to 125cc on L plates after passing CBT
17 - Can take full bike test, so can ride 33bhp resistricted bike for two years, then unlimited BHP
22 or over - direct access test can be taken, must be taken on 500cc bike and enables someone who passes to ride any bike (but expensive insurance!)

[Edited on 2/2/09 by Dangle_kt]

When I passed last year it went something like this:

From the age of 16 you can take your CBT which allows you to ride up to a 50cc bike with L plates.

If you pass your standard car driving licence at 17 and hold a CBT you may ride 50cc bikes without an L plate and up to 125cc with l plates.

Anybody with just a CBT must have it renewed every 2 years.

After the age of 17 you can take a theory test and full licence on a 125cc bike which allows you ride any bike up to 33hp (this is possibly wrong, but definitely restricted to a certain hp, you can ride any bike as long as it is restricted) after 2 years you can ride any bike.

If you are over 21 you can take your theory then take a direct access test, which is taken on a 500cc+ bike (you can only practice for the test under the supervision of an instructor) which then gives you an unrestricted licence immediately.


DAMN TOO SLOW

[Edited on 2/2/09 by cd.thomson]

At 16, you can ride a 50cc with a provisional licence and a cbt.

At 17 you can ride a 125 with up to 14.6bhp on a provisional licence with cbt.
You can also take a full test on a 125, which if you pass you are restricted to 33bhp for 2 years, with no more than 0.21bhp per kilo, then unrestricted.

From 21 you can take a direct access test, on a bike of at least 46.6bhp and be allowed on any bike unrestricted straight away, or take the 125 test and be restricted for 2 years.

Some usefull info HERE but it does seem to get more complex year on year

Thats great. Thanks guys.
Dangle_kt - Do you mean expensive or expensive for a bike?

Depends on many things.

My last bike was less than £90 TPFT.
CBR400RR (NC29)
Previous to that (1996) was my new 1996 160mph ZX6R which was £250 for 2 years full comp. cover. (£125 per year)

The only advantage of being old.

Martin

Thats not too bad. I pay nearly £600 for one of my cars and £300 for the other.

Yep the advantage of being old, passed my test at 17, that was 20 years ago

The tester would stand on the side of the road and you had to complete a figure of eight in a small village.

Think you passed if you managed to complete without falling off, or fell off when he was out of site

I've got my bike theory test on saturday. Is it just me or are bikes really expensive to buy? I just want the bike equivelent of a banger that has an MOT, couple of hundred quid, can't find any. Maybe it's me, can anyone link me to a cheap 125/250? ^__^

insurers seem to crusify lads who jump straight onto big bikes with no experience.

Obviously there are exception, but if you go for one of the fast four, r1, fireblade, gsxr thou or ninja your gonna pay through the nose as a 22 year old with no riding experience.

Plus you'll probably die too.

As far as cheap bikes go - you will find as a general rule of thumb, that decent bikes don't drop below a grand.

quote:

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Originally posted by Dangle_ktAs far as cheap bikes go - you will find as a general rule of thumb, that decent bikes don't drop below a grand.

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CB500? Around £500-750 for one with 50k but will easily do another 50k, only a little commuter with about 40bhp and will only do about 110, but still faster A-B than just about any car (given a friendly wave to a Ferrari F430 stuck in a traffic jam on mine). Being slow and naked it also keeps your licence intact, and as a first bike it's forgiving and teaches you to corner properly.

Also with a fairly short 1st gear you can surprise a few sports bikes off the lights, and the handling's not too bad either, I've been overtaken down a dual carriageway by the odd bigger bike, then taken them back around the outside of the next roundabout

The other thing with bikes is they tend to depreciate less, so as long as you don't bin it, you can get most of your money back in a year or two.