New to Biking - Written by a Newbie for Newbies!

A couple of months back one of our forum regulars took it upon themselves to begin writing up their experiences of entering the biking fraternity and posted these to the UKBike forum.

It seems like a real waste for this great read to be lost amongst many other posts, so for those of you that might be interested, below is an excerpt from the first instalment and a link to the full post in our forum.

Thanks goes to Trick3003 for the time and effort, it's great stuff! If you want to say thanks personally then you can do so on the forum or via Trick3003's page - http://forums.ukbike.com/UserInfo5297.aspx.


It begins:

Being a user of public transport for nearly 10 years I had always envied those people who skipped to the front of every queue, didn’t have to stop at every bus stop and was generally slightly quicker than the 10 tonne monstrosities that are busses. When I was at Senior School, I dreamed of being able to cruise into the playground on my Harley, pull all the girls and generally be Mr Cool. I always wondered why 16 year old run around on dodgy 2nd hand 49cc scooters and not a babe magnet instead. When I looked into the facts behind biking at a young age I was horrified! Until you turn 17 you’re restricted to a measly 50 cc engine with a top speed of 50Km/h (around 32 mph) REF Link1. These scooters can easily cost you 500-600 pounds (there are cheaper ones available! Just have a good scout around) and probably cost the same to insure (as you’re a young, reckless teenager). On my meagre part time salary of 60 quid a month this was beyond my financial reach and so had to wait.
By the time I could afford to run a bike I had reached the grand old age of 20! With a full time job in a busy city centre office, unreliable public transport and sick of getting a lift of everybody I decided it was time to take my CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) and make myself mobile.
What You Need

- A Valid provisional License (these can be obtained via an application form from the post office, or over the internet. The cost is £50, plus the cost of passport size photos (around £4).

- Once you have this you can find a local Training Centre (Google is handy for this, or Yell.com) and ask them for a price. Mine cost £115 (on a Saturday). You will find that prices vary from area to area (down south costing slightly more) and it will be cheaper during the week.

- Book a date!

Please note: When you apply for a provisional license, you are agreeing to the fact that you have read the latest version of the Highway Code. It is important to know what is in this book; it may well save your life and stop you breaking the law inadvertently.

To continue reading visit the thread in our fourm - http://forums.ukbike.com/Topic3723-6-2.aspx#bm3759


Happy reading!

Rob