Want to start driving again

cotton

Hi all, I don’t even know why I’m posting this, a bit of a rant & a question I suppose! Sorry in advance if you've heard this a million times before.
Here’s the story. I’d been solely driving bikes for nearly 10 years but never got around to doing my full test, stupid, I know. I let my provisional lapse 6 years ago as I started to learn to drive a car & then the OH got sick so I had to be our main form of transport for a while. Between that & needing a car for other reasons, I never got my bikes back on the road. I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to start driving my bikes again & I’ve gotten some shock, I just can’t believe what I have to go through now.
First off, I’m almost sure my bikes (2 Yamaha XS 650’s, a Suzuki Savage 650 & a Bonneville 750 Chop) are more or less useless to me unless I restrict them.
And apparently my gear has to be new?
I had planned to get a refresher lesson off friends or family who nearly all drive bikes, but now that’s not legal.
I have to pay a crazy amount of money to do all these hours lessons with a registered instructor . Now I’ve no problem doing the second 2 modules to be on the safe side but doing the first 2 modules seems to me to be a bit of a waste of time & money as I know that stuff already.
I can fully understand why all of this is in place for new drivers but there must be tons of people in the same situation as me who find this very frustrating.
The oh is telling me just go & do it in England but I’m wondering are there any workable solutions around all of this here before I do?

jameshayes

cotton wrote: »

Hi all, I don’t even know why I’m posting this, a bit of a rant & a question I suppose! Sorry in advance if you've heard this a million times before.
Here’s the story. I’d been solely driving bikes for nearly 10 years but never got around to doing my full test, stupid, I know. I let my provisional lapse 6 years ago as I started to learn to drive a car & then the OH got sick so I had to be our main form of transport for a while. Between that & needing a car for other reasons, I never got my bikes back on the road. I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to start driving my bikes again & I’ve gotten some shock, I just can’t believe what I have to go through now.
First off, I’m almost sure my bikes (2 Yamaha XS 650’s, a Suzuki Savage 650 & a Bonneville 750 Chop) are more or less useless to me unless I restrict them.
And apparently my gear has to be new?
I had planned to get a refresher lesson off friends or family who nearly all drive bikes, but now that’s not legal.
I have to pay a crazy amount of money to do all these hours lessons with a registered instructor . Now I’ve no problem doing the second 2 modules to be on the safe side but doing the first 2 modules seems to me to be a bit of a waste of time & money as I know that stuff already.
I can fully understand why all of this is in place for new drivers but there must be tons of people in the same situation as me who find this very frustrating.
The oh is telling me just go & do it in England but I’m wondering are there any workable solutions around all of this here before I do?

Yup. Pain in the as$ but you now have to do the IBT training and it will cost you a healthy sum - but shop around, some are twice the price as others.

REgarding the restriction issue - yes, you will be required to restrict them to 33bhp.. but it's not a huge issue and it's not a deal breaker imo, it's only 2 years after passing your test

The bit about the new gear? Thats a load of bólloxology, but for your own peace of mind & safety, you should buy a new one every 2 years...

There is no legal requirement for gear other than a roadworthy helmet.

Alkers

cotton wrote: »

Hi all, I don’t even know why I’m posting this, a bit of a rant & a question I suppose! Sorry in advance if you've heard this a million times before.
Here’s the story. I’d been solely driving bikes for nearly 10 years but never got around to doing my full test, stupid, I know. I let my provisional lapse 6 years ago as I started to learn to drive a car & then the OH got sick so I had to be our main form of transport for a while. Between that & needing a car for other reasons, I never got my bikes back on the road. I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to start driving my bikes again & I’ve gotten some shock, I just can’t believe what I have to go through now.
First off, I’m almost sure my bikes (2 Yamaha XS 650’s, a Suzuki Savage 650 & a Bonneville 750 Chop) are more or less useless to me unless I restrict them.
And apparently my gear has to be new?
I had planned to get a refresher lesson off friends or family who nearly all drive bikes, but now that’s not legal.
I have to pay a crazy amount of money to do all these hours lessons with a registered instructor . Now I’ve no problem doing the second 2 modules to be on the safe side but doing the first 2 modules seems to me to be a bit of a waste of time & money as I know that stuff already.
I can fully understand why all of this is in place for new drivers but there must be tons of people in the same situation as me who find this very frustrating.
The oh is telling me just go & do it in England but I’m wondering are there any workable solutions around all of this here before I do?

IBT can be got for as little for €290 if you share with another person so it's really not all that much for getting into biking. As for your gear, it should all be grand but the helmet may be knackered if you've left it somewhere where it gets the sun.
Theory test, IBT, wait 6 months, full test. You should have your full A within a year and for less than €500

cantdecide

The restriction thing is grand. Don't listen to the pub talk. They drive grand. My Blackbird was restricted last year and between restriction and no Blackbird, it's a no brainer.

EDIT: In fact, my GSX1400 is still restricted. Haven't got around to removing it.

cotton

Thanks for the replies.

Regarding restriction, there is now a question mark over whether the Savage needs to be restricted at all. I know I’ll want to get back onto the XS’s as soon as I can though so it’s good to know that the restriction issue isn’t as bad as people make out. The oh can do this for me so that’s one expense I won’t have to worry about.

I had a good read of the thread Female front and back protection so will be looking into protective gear mentioned there. Everything else I have but if I have to get a new helmet, so be it. Glad I don’t have to fork out for a new jacket, leathers, gloves & boots too though.

Suppose I have to find someone else that wants to do this too & shop around.....I just can’t get my head around some of this module stuff though, it’s such a waste & is really annoying me.

JohnnyCrash

The Savage is rated at 30 to 31 bhp,which is under the required 33bhp.
The XS's,as far as I can calculate,are bang on 0.16kw/kg(power/weight ratio),so im fairly sure you dont need to restrict any of these;):D Happy days!

AgileMyth

cantdecide wrote: »

The restriction thing is grand. Don't listen to the pub talk. They drive grand.

+1
Didn't even realise mine was already restricted 'til we went to fit a restrictor!

Del2005

jameshayes wrote: »

There is no legal requirement for gear other than a roadworthy helmet.

FYP.

There is no requirement for the helmet to be anything other than a motorcycle helmet, and I'm not even sure it to be a motorbike helmet. No mention of condition or nearly as important fit.

I can never find anything when I look in the Irish statue book. The RoTR mentions fit and condition, but that isn't law.