Discussion
I went through the CBT training in October 2019 and bought a 125, which I used for a short commute through all weathers (although been working from home since April) , along with leisure riding I've done 1900 miles in 12 months. I called a local training place who advertise DAS at around £700. In discussion, they advised typically riders who do well on Das have done at least 4,000 miles on a 125 and they'd need to do an assessment of me on the 125 first, which costs £75 and takes 2 hours.
Is this usual? Im waiting to hear back from a couple of other options, but I was under the general impression most people progressed straight from CBT to das without ever owning a 125, so this training school must make a few quid out of assessing people. I'd be happy to pay the 75 quid if it was deductable from the das cost if they thought you were ok to proceed , but it isnt. And I'd have thought they'd be able to tell alot quicker than 2hrs if you were unlikely to be able to make sufficient progress.
The other way of looking at it would be that they aren't wanting you to book and spend £700 on something you are unlikely to pass (better to lose 75 than 700!).
Interested in other experiences. Maybe I'm out of line with reality.
Is this usual? Im waiting to hear back from a couple of other options, but I was under the general impression most people progressed straight from CBT to das without ever owning a 125, so this training school must make a few quid out of assessing people. I'd be happy to pay the 75 quid if it was deductable from the das cost if they thought you were ok to proceed , but it isnt. And I'd have thought they'd be able to tell alot quicker than 2hrs if you were unlikely to be able to make sufficient progress.
The other way of looking at it would be that they aren't wanting you to book and spend £700 on something you are unlikely to pass (better to lose 75 than 700!).
Interested in other experiences. Maybe I'm out of line with reality.
I went straight from CBT to DAS, never ridden a bike before.
Passed MOD 1 and MOD 2 with one minor each.
My course cost about £800, at a guess, that was 9 hours per module, plus test day (3 hours).
So all in 24 hours bike time, give or take, that also included test fees. (Excluding CBT / theory).
I did book a 3 hours transition from CBT to DAS in addition, but I was alright so they deducted it from the course.
Passed MOD 1 and MOD 2 with one minor each.
My course cost about £800, at a guess, that was 9 hours per module, plus test day (3 hours).
So all in 24 hours bike time, give or take, that also included test fees. (Excluding CBT / theory).
I did book a 3 hours transition from CBT to DAS in addition, but I was alright so they deducted it from the course.
It worked out quite expensive for me as i took lessons over a few months rather than the four/five day course or book a block of lessons, also failed my first Mod2 attempt which added to the cost, did my CBT with one school and went to another school for DAS, the DAS school insisted i had a few 125 lessons as they hadn't seen me on a bike before, so probably not uncommon, dont know about the 4000 miles on a 125 bit, owning and riding a 125 is not compulsory to gain a full license.
Agree they are taking the piss. I did my CBT and then DAS with a different school. They didn’t even ask about my experience and just needed to see the certificate. I passed Mod 1 & 2 first time and the whole process (including booking and passing theory) was done within 6 weeks and did not own a bike until after passing Mod 2.
sooty61 said:
Agree they are taking the piss. I did my CBT and then DAS with a different school. They didn’t even ask about my experience and just needed to see the certificate. I passed Mod 1 & 2 first time and the whole process (including booking and passing theory) was done within 6 weeks and did not own a bike until after passing Mod 2.
Sounds like the OP did his CBT 12 months ago. Did you have a break like that as well?Sounds like a pisstake, £75 for the pleasure of watching you ride your own bike.
I called a few schools and tbh they all try to take the piss.
Let’s do an assessment....yep you need a weeks course and I’m gonna be a condescending cock the whole time.
I done my cbt didn’t need/want to do lessons so I ended up buying and insuring a bike and taking it in the van to the test centre and doing mod1 I passed that 3rd time was actually quite fun tbh then mod 2 I offered a local instructor £50 to let me follow him to the test centre because parking was really difficult. Passed first time.
same for my brother and my mate also got his licence the same way on a 750 gsxr
I called a few schools and tbh they all try to take the piss.
Let’s do an assessment....yep you need a weeks course and I’m gonna be a condescending cock the whole time.
I done my cbt didn’t need/want to do lessons so I ended up buying and insuring a bike and taking it in the van to the test centre and doing mod1 I passed that 3rd time was actually quite fun tbh then mod 2 I offered a local instructor £50 to let me follow him to the test centre because parking was really difficult. Passed first time.
same for my brother and my mate also got his licence the same way on a 750 gsxr
OP you're best placed to make a judgement on the integrity of the training school, could it have been that they say it's about £700 for DAS but with your experience it could be less which they wouldn't know until they'd seen you in action? I wouldn't expect someone with some experience to take longer than someone starting from scratch, however back when I did DAS (before MOD1 &2) I did ask about getting a 125 and the opinion voiced was for what I gained it would take as long to knock out the bad habits.
I think if you're not convinced by that school you should either have another chat with them with some pointed questions or you should look at taking your business elsewhere.
I think if you're not convinced by that school you should either have another chat with them with some pointed questions or you should look at taking your business elsewhere.
Sounds like they are trying to have your pants down.
Your initial DAS lessons will be yard based anyway, so they will be able to assess how competent you are from that.
If you're North East based there is a very good school right next to the metro centre that bears the same name as the motorway that runs past it.
Your initial DAS lessons will be yard based anyway, so they will be able to assess how competent you are from that.
If you're North East based there is a very good school right next to the metro centre that bears the same name as the motorway that runs past it.
I've seen a few schools offering big bike taster lessons.
If £700 is their price for DAS for anyone starting from scratch then i dont see why you should pay more unless they think you could be suited to doing less lessons .
I did similar to you. CBT followed by full licence. Felt pretty comfortable on bikes so it was just making sure i was riding to test standard. I think I did 1 training day ahead of mod 1. Mod 1 was a half day and then a full day ahead of mod 2 and mod 2 was first thing in the morning. This was spread out over 3 months. Most of the training was riding to the test centre.
So if you're pretty comfortable find a school that can tailor your tuition.
If £700 is their price for DAS for anyone starting from scratch then i dont see why you should pay more unless they think you could be suited to doing less lessons .
I did similar to you. CBT followed by full licence. Felt pretty comfortable on bikes so it was just making sure i was riding to test standard. I think I did 1 training day ahead of mod 1. Mod 1 was a half day and then a full day ahead of mod 2 and mod 2 was first thing in the morning. This was spread out over 3 months. Most of the training was riding to the test centre.
So if you're pretty comfortable find a school that can tailor your tuition.
Edited by joema on Tuesday 27th October 14:09
I wouldn't bother with the assessment. You will find the bigger bike is easier to ride because it's heavier than your 125 and therefore the CoG will be lower.
I passed my test way back in 1996 just before they introduced the new regime. I bought a 125, took my CBT and rode around for about 700 or 800 miles in the evenings and weekends over about a month, booked the course and did Tuesday to Thursday riding round with a group of 4 others plus the instructor and on Friday took the test. Dropped the 125 back at the dealer because I did a deal under which I got my money back on the 125 provided I bought a bike costing at least X grand. Next day I picked up a VFR 750 and that's when I realised that a big bike was a lot easier to ride than a small one.
I passed my test way back in 1996 just before they introduced the new regime. I bought a 125, took my CBT and rode around for about 700 or 800 miles in the evenings and weekends over about a month, booked the course and did Tuesday to Thursday riding round with a group of 4 others plus the instructor and on Friday took the test. Dropped the 125 back at the dealer because I did a deal under which I got my money back on the 125 provided I bought a bike costing at least X grand. Next day I picked up a VFR 750 and that's when I realised that a big bike was a lot easier to ride than a small one.
I went the other way by having lessons as I can't take the mount of time off work for an intensive, costs do seem pretty in line with what my local schools are charging, it probably won't differ much from my overall costs doing lessons.
I did have an initial assessment as they hadn't done my cbt and needed to see my level, it was about 90 minutes on the road on an sv650 just doing some urban stuff, no more than 40mph to work out how I handled the weight and power along with road sense. It all seemed pretty sensible to me, I would think that there would be limited value from putting you on a 125.
I did have an initial assessment as they hadn't done my cbt and needed to see my level, it was about 90 minutes on the road on an sv650 just doing some urban stuff, no more than 40mph to work out how I handled the weight and power along with road sense. It all seemed pretty sensible to me, I would think that there would be limited value from putting you on a 125.
ruprechtmonkeyboy said:
Normally you’d do cbt and das with the same school so they know how capable you are as a rider. This is probably the reason for the 125 lesson first to assess your capability before going on one of their bigger bikes. Makes sense to me.
Yep it'll likely be this. I had the same thing as I did CBT with a different (terrible) training school. They wanted me to do a couple of hours on a 125 to check riding ability before starting on a bigger bike. Like the OP I also bought a 125 after passing DAS and logged some decent miles on it before deciding I wanted my full license so the assesment was no problem. 4000 miles means nothing towards passing your DAS if you can't do a U-turn on command or avoidance manoeuvre going at least 50kph.
In my opinion, once changing gears/clutch control/braking become second nature, MOD1 manoeuvres are the hardest part of the journey to getting your licence.
Being good at the former helps with the latter.
For ref, I paid around £800 for 4 days, The fourth day including mod1+2 tests.
In my opinion, once changing gears/clutch control/braking become second nature, MOD1 manoeuvres are the hardest part of the journey to getting your licence.
Being good at the former helps with the latter.
For ref, I paid around £800 for 4 days, The fourth day including mod1+2 tests.
slapstickk said:
4000 miles means nothing towards passing your DAS if you can't do a U-turn on command or avoidance manoeuvre going at least 50kph.
In my opinion, once changing gears/clutch control/braking become second nature, MOD1 manoeuvres are the hardest part of the journey to getting your licence.
Being good at the former helps with the latter.
For ref, I paid around £800 for 4 days, The fourth day including mod1+2 tests.
Mine was about £650, but same timescale. That was a couple of years ago and in the North mind.In my opinion, once changing gears/clutch control/braking become second nature, MOD1 manoeuvres are the hardest part of the journey to getting your licence.
Being good at the former helps with the latter.
For ref, I paid around £800 for 4 days, The fourth day including mod1+2 tests.
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