Dibble's DAS Diary
Discussion
Had the first day of my Direct Access course today.
Started off this morning on the "pad" at the back of the training centre, slow speed manouevuring and u-turns.
Having been a car driver for the last 20 years or so, it's a whole new concept slipping the clutch, keeping the revs up and using the back brake to control the speed... But fianlly it's coming. Much to the instructiors relief. Still, it's not like he takes the piss out of me when I mess up...
Then out onto the roads. Oh. My. God....
I've previosuly been TrafPol, so I'm used to going fast. In a car, that is. On a (naked Kawasaki ER 6n) bike, 30mph feels like warp factor 8, and at 60mph, I keep thinking I'm going to get blown off. Which would take some doing, being the size I am (I had to resort to XXXL gear from Hein Gericke!).
And the throttle. What the hell's all that about? Move it an eighth of a millimetre, and it's like getting kicked in the back of the head. By an elephant. In lead diving boots.
Chucking out time at the primary schools was nice. Not at all like every Mummy in a 4x4 was trying to kill me - some of them had two or three goes at pulling out in front of me. And the size I am (see above), me in a hi-viz tabard must look like a moving mini roundabout, so I'm easy to not see. Maybe it's because they're all on mobiles? Surely not, it's probably my "riding style". Still at least their little darlings will be safe in a crash. Or they would be if they were anything remotely like strapped in.
At least it didn't rain. But I must have lost half a stone in sweat. Got another two and a half days, and the test is booked for Thursday afternoon (assuming the school think I'm ready for it at that point).
Mrs Dibble is worried about me going too fast on a bike (despite the fact that she paid for the DAS for my birthday). All I can say is, at the moment, she doesn't have anything to worry about - it's much too scary!
Right, I'm off for a lie down on the sofa now. I'll let you know how day two goes tomorrow... assuming the Mums don't kill me first.
Started off this morning on the "pad" at the back of the training centre, slow speed manouevuring and u-turns.
Having been a car driver for the last 20 years or so, it's a whole new concept slipping the clutch, keeping the revs up and using the back brake to control the speed... But fianlly it's coming. Much to the instructiors relief. Still, it's not like he takes the piss out of me when I mess up...
Then out onto the roads. Oh. My. God....
I've previosuly been TrafPol, so I'm used to going fast. In a car, that is. On a (naked Kawasaki ER 6n) bike, 30mph feels like warp factor 8, and at 60mph, I keep thinking I'm going to get blown off. Which would take some doing, being the size I am (I had to resort to XXXL gear from Hein Gericke!).
And the throttle. What the hell's all that about? Move it an eighth of a millimetre, and it's like getting kicked in the back of the head. By an elephant. In lead diving boots.
Chucking out time at the primary schools was nice. Not at all like every Mummy in a 4x4 was trying to kill me - some of them had two or three goes at pulling out in front of me. And the size I am (see above), me in a hi-viz tabard must look like a moving mini roundabout, so I'm easy to not see. Maybe it's because they're all on mobiles? Surely not, it's probably my "riding style". Still at least their little darlings will be safe in a crash. Or they would be if they were anything remotely like strapped in.
At least it didn't rain. But I must have lost half a stone in sweat. Got another two and a half days, and the test is booked for Thursday afternoon (assuming the school think I'm ready for it at that point).
Mrs Dibble is worried about me going too fast on a bike (despite the fact that she paid for the DAS for my birthday). All I can say is, at the moment, she doesn't have anything to worry about - it's much too scary!
Right, I'm off for a lie down on the sofa now. I'll let you know how day two goes tomorrow... assuming the Mums don't kill me first.
Good stuff dibble, sounds like you're having fun
It's great learning on something that accelerates quicker than 95% of the traffic around you
Have you read up about countersteering? If not try here : www.survivalskills.clara.net/riding_skills_10.htm
Good luck and keep us updated!
Paul
It's great learning on something that accelerates quicker than 95% of the traffic around you
Have you read up about countersteering? If not try here : www.survivalskills.clara.net/riding_skills_10.htm
Good luck and keep us updated!
Paul
Great stuff mate. I only did my DAS last year, and can fully appreciate what you're saying (was laughing throughout the post!). I too thought that any more than 60(ish) and I was gonna blow off the back! I first got into bikes when my neighbour took me on the back of his factory Aprillia.....he was doing about 25-30 coming up to a roundabout and I just thought, jees...he's never gonna get round that! As previously said, it funny how quickly you get used to it.
Someone mentioned counter steering earlier....Spot on. I was never told about this throughout my DAS, and it is VITAL you know about it. Def ask your instructor to explain/show you how it works, will def help.
Looking forward to the next post.
Cheers.
Someone mentioned counter steering earlier....Spot on. I was never told about this throughout my DAS, and it is VITAL you know about it. Def ask your instructor to explain/show you how it works, will def help.
Looking forward to the next post.
Cheers.
Agree with every word you said. Back late last year when I was in your position I remember thinking how fast the Kawasaki 500 that I learnt on was. Just how much quicker could I Fireblade be I remember thinking.
The first time I went on a dual carriageway I got bollocked from the instructor for not getting upto speed quick enough. Jees, I though I was going to come off the back or that a gust of wind would push me off the road.
Things change, however. Some all too quickly.
Don't feel you have to rush into getting your licence. After 2 or 3 days training you know nothing.... literally.
A couple of other points:
* Upon passing your test you will inevitably be purchasing a bike of the 'larger' engined capacity. Whilst I wouldn't put you off most things, I would suggest that something along the lines of a ZX10R may not be the way to go. The thing will scare you senseless all the time & you'll not learn anything. ALL bikes are pretty quick (as you now know).
* Remember your limits. Its easy to think that because you have a licence that you can keep up with that bloke on the RS250 who just shot past you. You may even have a 'theoretically' faster bike. Who cares ? Just go at your own speed & increase it when YOUR ready to. Maybe consider a few track days. Great place to improve as you don't have to worry about the road surface, traffic coming the other ways, etc, etc.
* Whilst I would advise further training (not necessarily advanced), don't feel you need to do this straight away. Buy a bike, put a few miles on it & get used to it. The last thing you want to be doing is to be booked in for training straight away & find your more preoccupied with not stalling the new bike than taking in what the instructors are telling you.
* Get the best gear you can afford. You are hugely vunerable on a bike & as people will no doubt tell you, if you pretend your invisible you won't go far wrong. Leathers, helmet, boots & gloves. Spend some money. One day you may find out why you did & be glad of it.
In summary, just have fun. You'll be cr@p to start with & will probably be embarrased by people on car slow machines (with far more experience though). You'll crap yourself when riding in the rain (or snow as I found). You'll struggle to keep up with the instructors on 'guiding' laps (as I did) at trackdays, etc, etc.
Things don't stay like this for long though. Give it a few months & you'll think you're Rossi.
Have fun, and don't listen to people about black bikes being faster. We all know white ones are really.
The first time I went on a dual carriageway I got bollocked from the instructor for not getting upto speed quick enough. Jees, I though I was going to come off the back or that a gust of wind would push me off the road.
Things change, however. Some all too quickly.
Don't feel you have to rush into getting your licence. After 2 or 3 days training you know nothing.... literally.
A couple of other points:
* Upon passing your test you will inevitably be purchasing a bike of the 'larger' engined capacity. Whilst I wouldn't put you off most things, I would suggest that something along the lines of a ZX10R may not be the way to go. The thing will scare you senseless all the time & you'll not learn anything. ALL bikes are pretty quick (as you now know).
* Remember your limits. Its easy to think that because you have a licence that you can keep up with that bloke on the RS250 who just shot past you. You may even have a 'theoretically' faster bike. Who cares ? Just go at your own speed & increase it when YOUR ready to. Maybe consider a few track days. Great place to improve as you don't have to worry about the road surface, traffic coming the other ways, etc, etc.
* Whilst I would advise further training (not necessarily advanced), don't feel you need to do this straight away. Buy a bike, put a few miles on it & get used to it. The last thing you want to be doing is to be booked in for training straight away & find your more preoccupied with not stalling the new bike than taking in what the instructors are telling you.
* Get the best gear you can afford. You are hugely vunerable on a bike & as people will no doubt tell you, if you pretend your invisible you won't go far wrong. Leathers, helmet, boots & gloves. Spend some money. One day you may find out why you did & be glad of it.
In summary, just have fun. You'll be cr@p to start with & will probably be embarrased by people on car slow machines (with far more experience though). You'll crap yourself when riding in the rain (or snow as I found). You'll struggle to keep up with the instructors on 'guiding' laps (as I did) at trackdays, etc, etc.
Things don't stay like this for long though. Give it a few months & you'll think you're Rossi.
Have fun, and don't listen to people about black bikes being faster. We all know white ones are really.
As for countersteering. I don't think they mention this during instruction for a couple of reasons:
a) You do it automatically & therefore they don't want to bombard you with technical stuff all at once.
b) To tell you about it in depth would take forever.
You'll go through your test doing it anyway, the best thing to do is to buy a couple of books that go into it further when you've got your licence.
a) You do it automatically & therefore they don't want to bombard you with technical stuff all at once.
b) To tell you about it in depth would take forever.
You'll go through your test doing it anyway, the best thing to do is to buy a couple of books that go into it further when you've got your licence.
Well done. It may be hard work but it is worth it. As has been said, what seems fast now will seem all too slow after a very short time.
Don’t worry about the technicalities of things like counter steering at this stage. As Hobo said, you do it automatically and your concentration needs to be on the things that keep you alive rather than those that allow you to go faster.
People pulling out in front of you while you’re on a bike is all too regular an event. While your size/clothing does help with visibility, your road position is the key. During your DAS you will be taught to ride approximately 1m from the kerb. ONLY do this to pass your test. At all other times ride in the road position you would be in were you in the drivers seat of a car. I was advised many years ago to ride in this position and “command the road” by claiming the whole of my lane. This has the advantages of:
1. Putting you into the likely line of sight of anyone waiting to pull out. (This is where car drivers tend to look for on coming vehicles)
2. Giving you more space to manoeuvre to both left and right should something happen.
3. Giving you better forward visibility past vehicles in front of you.
4. Keeping you away from pedestrians/cyclists who seem to “hang around in the gutter”.
5. Stopping vehicles behind trying to “muscle past”.
Once you’ve passed you test, do get some further advanced training. While many of your car road skills will be directly transferable, there are some that are bike specific and the sooner you can learn and start using these the safer you will be.
Don’t worry about what bike you get next. As you have found with the ER6, you don’t have to use all the performance. If you get a mega-sports bike next then there will just be more unused performance. Given the performance of current sports bikes there is NO ONE riding on the road who uses all the performance of their bike on a regular basis and still has a license/all their limbs/life. Buy what you feel happy and comfortable with regardless of top speed/power/acceleration figures.
Have a great couple of days and good luck with the test at the end.
Ride safe and enjoy.
Don’t worry about the technicalities of things like counter steering at this stage. As Hobo said, you do it automatically and your concentration needs to be on the things that keep you alive rather than those that allow you to go faster.
People pulling out in front of you while you’re on a bike is all too regular an event. While your size/clothing does help with visibility, your road position is the key. During your DAS you will be taught to ride approximately 1m from the kerb. ONLY do this to pass your test. At all other times ride in the road position you would be in were you in the drivers seat of a car. I was advised many years ago to ride in this position and “command the road” by claiming the whole of my lane. This has the advantages of:
1. Putting you into the likely line of sight of anyone waiting to pull out. (This is where car drivers tend to look for on coming vehicles)
2. Giving you more space to manoeuvre to both left and right should something happen.
3. Giving you better forward visibility past vehicles in front of you.
4. Keeping you away from pedestrians/cyclists who seem to “hang around in the gutter”.
5. Stopping vehicles behind trying to “muscle past”.
Once you’ve passed you test, do get some further advanced training. While many of your car road skills will be directly transferable, there are some that are bike specific and the sooner you can learn and start using these the safer you will be.
Don’t worry about what bike you get next. As you have found with the ER6, you don’t have to use all the performance. If you get a mega-sports bike next then there will just be more unused performance. Given the performance of current sports bikes there is NO ONE riding on the road who uses all the performance of their bike on a regular basis and still has a license/all their limbs/life. Buy what you feel happy and comfortable with regardless of top speed/power/acceleration figures.
Have a great couple of days and good luck with the test at the end.
Ride safe and enjoy.
Edited by black-k1 on Tuesday 11th July 09:40
Well,
I passed my test just over a week ago, and am beginning to enjoy my new mode of transport. I concur with all comments about speed. I crapped myself the first time I filtered onto a dual carriageway during training!!!
Regarding first bike, sportsbikes are fine. Your brain has a direct bearing on the actions of your right hand, so use them in unison... The only thing I find is that good shoulder checks and general awareness have to be worked at much harder, generally the mirrors are full of elbow on my CBR!!!
I'm a big lad too, I hated the training tabard - it fitted like a second skin!
Take it easy after your test. I almost got cleaned off at a roundabout by some prat in a car doing her hair/mobile phone etc, not 200m from the test centre!!! A salutory lesson learn't VERY early. Pretending you are invisible is good advice.
PS. Don't you just love the way all bikers acknowledge each other on the road!
I passed my test just over a week ago, and am beginning to enjoy my new mode of transport. I concur with all comments about speed. I crapped myself the first time I filtered onto a dual carriageway during training!!!
Regarding first bike, sportsbikes are fine. Your brain has a direct bearing on the actions of your right hand, so use them in unison... The only thing I find is that good shoulder checks and general awareness have to be worked at much harder, generally the mirrors are full of elbow on my CBR!!!
I'm a big lad too, I hated the training tabard - it fitted like a second skin!
Take it easy after your test. I almost got cleaned off at a roundabout by some prat in a car doing her hair/mobile phone etc, not 200m from the test centre!!! A salutory lesson learn't VERY early. Pretending you are invisible is good advice.
PS. Don't you just love the way all bikers acknowledge each other on the road!
julianb said:
Well,
I passed my test just over a week ago, and am beginning to enjoy my new mode of transport. I concur with all comments about speed. I crapped myself the first time I filtered onto a dual carriageway during training!!!
Regarding first bike, sportsbikes are fine. Your brain has a direct bearing on the actions of your right hand, so use them in unison... The only thing I find is that good shoulder checks and general awareness have to be worked at much harder, generally the mirrors are full of elbow on my CBR!!!
I'm a big lad too, I hated the training tabard - it fitted like a second skin!
Take it easy after your test. I almost got cleaned off at a roundabout by some prat in a car doing her hair/mobile phone etc, not 200m from the test centre!!! A salutory lesson learn't VERY early. Pretending you are invisible is good advice.
PS. Don't you just love the way all bikers acknowledge each other on the road!
I passed my test just over a week ago, and am beginning to enjoy my new mode of transport. I concur with all comments about speed. I crapped myself the first time I filtered onto a dual carriageway during training!!!
Regarding first bike, sportsbikes are fine. Your brain has a direct bearing on the actions of your right hand, so use them in unison... The only thing I find is that good shoulder checks and general awareness have to be worked at much harder, generally the mirrors are full of elbow on my CBR!!!
I'm a big lad too, I hated the training tabard - it fitted like a second skin!
Take it easy after your test. I almost got cleaned off at a roundabout by some prat in a car doing her hair/mobile phone etc, not 200m from the test centre!!! A salutory lesson learn't VERY early. Pretending you are invisible is good advice.
PS. Don't you just love the way all bikers acknowledge each other on the road!
Unless they ride a Hardley Worthit........
I was told about counter-steering on the second day of my DAS course. The instuctor explained what to do, how it worked etc, and found us a nice quiet road to practice on, just flip-flopping the bike from one side to the other by pushing on the inside bar. You'll be amazed at how a tiny amount of pressure will generate a pretty big response from the bike.
I was the same as you, thinking "Jesus this is fast" on a Honda CB500. I passed my test two and a half weeks ago and picked up a 2002 Kwak ZX6-R the day after. What you're on now is nothing compared to a 600cc sportsbike. I've been out as often as I can on mine, I'm developing some sort of two-wheeled obsession. It's the most fun I've ever had, even though I scare myself stupid every time I go out on it.
I was the same as you, thinking "Jesus this is fast" on a Honda CB500. I passed my test two and a half weeks ago and picked up a 2002 Kwak ZX6-R the day after. What you're on now is nothing compared to a 600cc sportsbike. I've been out as often as I can on mine, I'm developing some sort of two-wheeled obsession. It's the most fun I've ever had, even though I scare myself stupid every time I go out on it.
hobo said:
As for countersteering. I don't think they mention this during instruction for a couple of reasons:
a) You do it automatically & therefore they don't want to bombard you with technical stuff all at once.
b) To tell you about it in depth would take forever.
You'll go through your test doing it anyway, the best thing to do is to buy a couple of books that go into it further when you've got your licence.
a) You do it automatically & therefore they don't want to bombard you with technical stuff all at once.
b) To tell you about it in depth would take forever.
You'll go through your test doing it anyway, the best thing to do is to buy a couple of books that go into it further when you've got your licence.
Hmmm disagree
I ran wide when learning a few times, I'd tense up and the bike wouldn't make the turn... once I realised you push the left bar to go left and right bar to go right, it made all the difference as I knew which concious movements needed to turn/lean the bike... It is as simple as that and can be a lifesaver if you tense up or misjudge a corner (even at learner speeds) Worth reading : www.visordown.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135044
Edited by momentofmadness on Tuesday 11th July 17:52
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