Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • getting a motorbike licence – to ride a classic bike
  • neilnevill
    Free Member

    My dad has recently finished restoring a classic motorbike, a Greeves Scottish. He doesn’t want to ride it though, he sees himself as too old (which is daft in my view…he is fit and able and I think a few short pootles over the nice days of summer would be very rewarding for him). I don’t want to see the bike just sat in the garage, and neither does he, so I’m thinking of getting my bike licence so that I could take it out for a few short runs from time to time. So…what licence to get and how?

    the greeves has a villiers 34a engine, a 250cc 2-stroke. Dad hasn’t tuned it but it does have the Ally barrel and possibly (not sure) has an improved/higher power cylinder head…..bascially though we don’t know exaclty what BHP it produces and no-one would without measuring it. the orignal 9e engine (the for-runner of the 32a and 34a) produced about 9 BHP….tunned 34a engines can deliver 30 or 40 bhp (although dad’s wont!), but we are fairly sure his engine won’t be producing more than 9 or 10 BHP. Would I be legal to assume that dad’s bike produces less than 11kw (14.6 BHP) and thus legal to ride it on a provisional licence and CBT?

    looking further ahead for a more permanent licence, I’m trying to decide what to go for. I probably wouldn’t want to take a test on the greeves….emergency stops on a bike known for poor brakes, and riding a bike with no lights (thus having to do hand signals) would seem a challenge, even if a bike with a day-light only MOT was allowed! So I either buy, borrow or hire a bike. The options as I see them are
    1. Do a direct access training course and big bike test – costly, I’m guessing this would be near a thousand pounds?
    2. by a 125 second hand and do the test, which then allows me to ride a bike up to err 35kW (so I guess most 350cc bikes, maybe some bigger…and definitely okay for the greeves) and then all bikes after 2 years. If I sell the bike once I have my licence, I imagine this could be fairly cheap….pick up something for £1500, sell 6 months later for not much less.

    Anybody got any other ideas or suggestions? If I buy a 125 can anybody suggest what to look for? My gut feel would be a relaible Honda or similar that would not cause trouble and would be easy to sell on.

    cheers.

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    My advice would certainly be to get used to riding something you’d be happy to drop for a while before going out on your dads bike it sounds valuable and certainly is emotionally valuable.

    I’d also recommend doing the direct access, it shouldnt be much more expensive than the full test on a 125 and the 500cc bikes are much easier to ride.

    Your lucky, for some reason my old man wont let me anywhere near his Honda GL1000

    neilnevill
    Free Member

    good point, dropping the scottish would be upsetting, although it isn’t ridiculous money (it’s worth around £2500 probably)

    so a bigger bike would be easier to ride? Seems counter intuitive, my instinct would be that the bigger bikes would be heavy and a pain in traffic, for a novice at least.

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    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    so a bigger bike would be easier to ride? Seems counter intuitive, my instinct would be that the bigger bikes would be heavy and a pain in traffic, for a novice at least.

    Yep but its true, not sure if you’d have to do the carpark cones part of the test, but slow riding is much easier on the bigger bikes. I think its mostly due to the better components and a Honda CB 500 aint big in height.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    neilnevill – Member

    Would I be legal to assume that dad’s bike produces less than 11kw (14.6 BHP) and thus legal to ride it on a provisional licence and CBT?

    CBT restricts you to a 125cc or smaller engine, so you’ll need a full licence. But the A-class licence should cover you, unless it’s outrageously light anyway.

    But, either way, the test and training only get you on the road, they don’t teach you everything you need to know, so getting straight on the Scottish would be a bit of a risk.

    scunny
    Free Member

    Just did my direct access with bike included for £500. £1000?!!! Not on your nelly.

    Seem’s daft to buy a bike to do your lessons on when any reputable training company will be able to supply you with a bike.

    neilnevill
    Free Member

    the CBT allows you to ride a bike <125cc or <11kW (14.6bhp)….ahh…is it a bike less than both of these limits? I’d hoped that the scottish having a pwer output <14.6bhp would mean I could ride it despite it being a 250cc bike.

    And yes, rding the scottish would carry some risk, but it woud be gentle pootles at speeds not much more than I ride my ‘pushbike’ at daily, and on quite country lanes. I’m no too concerned about a big off. BTW, for those that don’t know the bike, the Scottish is an off-roader, a trials bike. It’s identical to the Hawkstone (the scrambles bike) apart from slightly lower gearing and the pegs/footrest position beng further rearward….Once the bike can be ridden and hence moved it might well get taken off-road, although not seriously.

    Dickyboy
    Full Member

    First bike I ever rode was a Greeves 250 🙂 – unfortunately I only got as far as the nearest tree & my brother wouldn’t let me have another go after that. Back on topic, for the expense of getting a licence, insurance, tax etc – wouldn’t you be better off finding somewhere local you could ride it off road, even just round a field a few times would be good fun for you & your dad by the sounds of things, if you can a bike trailer would be a good investment.

    neilnevill
    Free Member

    Hee he! Hope you’re better off road now!

    We have somewhere not more than 5 miles away where it can go off road (brother’s father in law owns a couple of fields). It’s getting it there and back that is awkward. Brother has a small trailer and dad intends to modify that/make a rack so the bike can get transported to the odd show perhaps, but with brother being 15 miles away and having young family/busy life I know dad won’t get the bike to the field much, if at all 🙁 my thought is, if I get the licence I would, when I visit, ride the bike to the field and this would encourage dad to drive over too. A couple of laps around the field each then I’d ride it back and wash it off….a pleasant afternoon 🙂 However, if getting a licence is too costly to make it worth while, then brother’s trailer is the fall back….and I get a tow bar fitted to my car perhaps.

    simon_g
    Full Member

    CBT limit is <125cc AND <11kw. It’s to stop things like unrestricted Aprilia RS125s being used on L plates.

    Full test on a 125 would get the job done, the 33bhp limit you end up with is fine for your dad’s bike and clears after 2 years so you can ride anything. It’s not much cheaper than DAS though, you still do the same mod1/2 tests and theory and probably need the same amount of instruction.

    dobiejessmo
    Free Member

    Lovely bike as said above bit of a handfull for a first timmer.Get your self a full licence.Then take it for a spin your be amazed at the people looking at it and talking to you when you stop.
    Hope your dad takes it for a spin he deserve to.

    neilnevill
    Free Member

    cheers all. Looks like I may as well do DAS then, since it is cheaper than I’d guessed, possibly the simplest and not much more costly than going the 125 route.

    thanks.

    and this is the bike (not quite finished at this point…it now has a very nice chromed exhaust with dinky comp. box)

    br
    Free Member

    Looks good, but if your Dad is happy for it to be used properly why not look for someone experienced who rides classic trials to enter it into something?

    http://redroseclassictrials.moonfruit.com/

    Or enter yourself – shouldn’t need a licence if off-road.

    Woody
    Free Member

    Very nice indeed. I’d love something like that to do some classic trials.

    Would be a shame if it didn’t get used properly and I can’t believe your Dad isn’t going to have a go too after all the hard work.

    You’ll really enjoy it once you’ve got used to the gears/brakes being on different sides to the one you do the DAS on 😉

    jackthedog
    Free Member

    Holy moly, that’s all kinds of nice. Lucky man.

    derekrides
    Free Member

    What a beauty! Your dads done an excellent job, can’t believe he doesn’t want to take it for a spin, couldn’t you both go take it ‘up the hills’ as we would round here. Back in the day I’d have given my eye teeth for one of those..

    neilnevill
    Free Member

    Thanks (on behalf of dad) for the nice comments, he has done it well, it was a total pile of rust virtually beyond repair 2 years ago.

    I’m rather disbelieving that he doesn’t want to ride it too. When he was a young man he rode bikes, he owned a Greeves Hawkstone (among others), rode on the road, raced scrambles and competed in trials. But I guess it must be over 45 years since he owned and rode a bike and he doesn’t fancy it now. He has ridden it up and down a quiet private lane (from the farm workshop where he restored it), just to test it. He’d like to do that, and perhaps a lap of the field occasionally, but seems nervous about taking it on the roads so getting it to the farm is the awkward bit. It can’t be left at the farm workshop any more, lack of space and both he, and my brothers father in law (owner of the farm) are nervous of it being stolen from there as the farm isn’t always occupied.

    cheez0
    Free Member

    man up, top faffing and get a proper licence.

    ‘a bit of pootling at not more than I’d do on my pushbike’?
    a crock of shoite.

    do it properly, like the bike deserves.

Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)

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