DAS Fee's

[Mustafa Day-Off]

Hello Folks,

I am planning to complete my DAS.

However, everyone in Kent seems to be quoting £783.50.

(Don't forget the 50 pence!).

Is this the set fee or is there a conspiracy out there?!

 

[Northants Rob]

Don't think there's a set fee...it should vary in theory.

In Northampotonshire it's usually £6-700 but you can pay much, much more...you should get a quote from H-D Rider's Edge

 

[Frankers]

Depends where you are in Kent and how far you are prepared to travel.

http://www.favershammotorcycletraining.co.uk/courses.aspx are quoting 695 for a 5 day course including the CBT (and less if you have experience/CBT).

http://www.kentandsussexridertraining.co.uk/ offer a day by day deal so you can in theory do it cheaper. Guess it depends on the ability of each rider.

You"ll need to pass a theroy test first - don't know how much that adds.

Don't forget that as of October 2008 the rules change and it's going to get tougher to pass, longer and cost more. Might be hype but they are predicting a rush of people who want to pass before the new rule come it.

It's worth getting recommendations of course providers from people as they all vary.

 

[billynomates]

Hi John
My wife has just passed her test and we were advised not to go down the DAS route.
Get your CBT first it cost us £80 with her own bike (£90 without) if you pass book your theory straight away.
I would advise that you get your own 125 and practice with a patient mate preferably someone with good road skills not a speed pilot.
Lots and lots of slow riding and U turns.
book yourself a couple of 3 hour sessions with a recommended school it cost us £125 for the 6 hours after this a good school will advise you wether you need more road time and what needs polishing up,or they might advise to book your test as they did my wife.
practice any recomendations and then on the day of the test book an extra 2hours of practice before just to refresh everything.
this cost us £120 including the test fee.
My wife was gratefull she'd been advised not to take a DAS for one main reason that after 3 hours on a bike she found muscles she could'nt name and these ached the following day so she was very glad the riding was well spread out.
It also gives you plenty of time to think and practice,Im sure others will have a different view but this route came out far cheaper than if we had taken the DAS route.
The cost of the 125 will be recouped when we sell it and the insurance lasts a year anyway and if you pass you still have to insure a bike to ride so that really is out of the equation.
hope this helps
good luck
ian

ps I think the theory was £32 its just gone up from £28 insurance for the 125 with Carol Nash was £265 fully comp with me as a named rider and to upgrade to a F650 GS is another £86.

 

[Frankers]

I thought DAS meant Direct Access - to any cc bike?

If you want to get on the bigger bike - like a GS - then you will need to get on to a 500cc bike as soon as you are confident enough after doing your CBT, as you will have to take your test of a 500cc bike.

This link should clear the waters.

www.takeyourbiketestnow.co.uk

 

[billynomates]

I thought DAS meant Direct Access - to any cc bike?

If you want to get on the bigger bike - like a GS - then you will need to get on to a 500cc bike as soon as you are confident enough after doing your CBT, as you will have to take your test of a 500cc bike.

This link should clear the waters.

www.takeyourbiketestnow.co.uk

You can ride ANY big bike as long as it has been restricted to 33bhp and after 2 years derestrict it.
Better to pass your test easily on a nimble 125 than struggle on a 500 not everyone is competant straight away.

 

[Mustafa Day-Off]

Thanks

Dear All,

Thank you for your comments.

Noting Ian's comments, getting my CBT out of the way will certainly get me going.

Thanks again folks.

 

[billynomates]

Just one other thing about the DAS,Investigations by Sussex Police accident team found that for non vehicle contact fatalities 75% had gone through DAS and the most common cause was taking bends too fast on large capacity bikes.
It was their opinion that DAS should be withdrawn.

 

[johnnystorm]

You can ride ANY big bike as long as it has been restricted to 33bhp and after 2 years derestrict it.
Better to pass your test easily on a nimble 125 than struggle on a 500 not everyone is competant straight away.

Funnily enough I found it easier on a CB500 than a CG125, the engine was much more flexible and less easy to stall, etc.

 

[Blackal]

Funnily enough I found it easier on a CB500 than a CG125, the engine was much more flexible and less easy to stall, etc.

A lot of folk are with you on that.............. 125 is a gutless engine and the clutch is like a switch.

Al

 

[Geeza]

I would second that.........all the problems I had on the 125 disappeared when I got on the 500.

 

[instructor Boy]

das fees

hello yes, im a newbie. and very dissapointed with this thread! why is everyone obsessed with finding cheap training? we need to live too! to get a das qualification is hard hard work with fail rate at cardington @80%.

give us some respect: we work v v hard to get you through your course and cheapest really isnt always best!

instructor boy

 

[Tilly]

One up for you Instructor Boy _ I'll second that!!!!!!!!!

 

[ianboydsnr]

DAS is £505 in Workington, which includes the CBT and the theory

 

[Adventure Stu]

Mustafa - To give you a bit more food for thought, as a DAS instructor I can safely say that "one man's drink is another mans poison", or something like that. There have been some valid points made here but reading some may cause confusion, so just to clarify some and play devils advocate...

"You can ride ANY big bike as long as it has been restricted to 33bhp and after 2 years derestrict it. Better to pass your test easily on a nimble 125 than struggle on a 500 not everyone is competant straight away."

This is the case when taking the A2 restricted test. The DAS test allows you to ride a bike of any size without restriction. As has been pointed out already, many riders, especially bigger blokes, find it easier to ride a 500cc machine.

"Just one other thing about the DAS,Investigations by Sussex Police accident team found that for non vehicle contact fatalities 75% had gone through DAS and the most common cause was taking bends too fast on large capacity bikes.
It was their opinion that DAS should be withdrawn."

Valid point and hard to argue with, I would however point out that the size of the machine did not cause the accident. It may have been a factor but speed is within the control of the rider and excess corner speed can be achieved just as easily on a machine of smaller cc. Restriction will reduce top end speed but not, for example, stop a rider entering a 30mph cormer at 60mph.

My penneth... Get a CBT out of the way and see if you even enjoy riding. Once that is established you can then do a theory test and get an assesment at a training school and arrange a course to suit. It may be that 2 days training followed by a test is sufficient and will be significantly cheaper than 4 days plus test. Or finally, you could go down the hourly lesson route and test when ready.

A long post I know, but hope it helps.

Stu

 

[Mustafa Day-Off]

Thanks again

Hello again folks,

Your comments have certainly given some great guidance, and strictly speaking, I suppose its not the relatively high figure that concerns me, its the consistent figure.

Anyhow, I have my CBT booked for this Sunday at an established school and I can take it from there.

I also took advantage of their free 1 hour introduction / assessment, which took me past the understandable, but (for me) irrational nervousness of actually getting on a bike to start with and not making a complete custard pie out of it.

Thanks again.

Kevin.

 

[Janie]

i did me cbt then rode a 125cc for a year, then i took me direct access on my own bike which was a suzuki freewind...... everybody learns at a different rate.....so some people will need more lessons than others.......main thing is to enjoy your lessons.........

 

[billynomates]

Mustafa - To give you a bit more food for thought, as a DAS instructor I can safely say that "one man's drink is another mans poison", or something like that. There have been some valid points made here but reading some may cause confusion, so just to clarify some and play devils advocate...

"You can ride ANY big bike as long as it has been restricted to 33bhp and after 2 years derestrict it. Better to pass your test easily on a nimble 125 than struggle on a 500 not everyone is competant straight away."

This is the case when taking the A2 restricted test. The DAS test allows you to ride a bike of any size without restriction. As has been pointed out already, many riders, especially bigger blokes, find it easier to ride a 500cc machine.

"Just one other thing about the DAS,Investigations by Sussex Police accident team found that for non vehicle contact fatalities 75% had gone through DAS and the most common cause was taking bends too fast on large capacity bikes.
It was their opinion that DAS should be withdrawn."

Valid point and hard to argue with, I would however point out that the size of the machine did not cause the accident. It may have been a factor but speed is within the control of the rider and excess corner speed can be achieved just as easily on a machine of smaller cc. Restriction will reduce top end speed but not, for example, stop a rider entering a 30mph cormer at 60mph.

My penneth... Get a CBT out of the way and see if you even enjoy riding. Once that is established you can then do a theory test and get an assesment at a training school and arrange a course to suit. It may be that 2 days training followed by a test is sufficient and will be significantly cheaper than 4 days plus test. Or finally, you could go down the hourly lesson route and test when ready.

A long post I know, but hope it helps.

Stu

Valid point about the throttle control but what the investigating officer at the bike safe day was explaning is is takes more than a week to gather the experience to approach varing radius bends at the right speeds,and as anyone here will admit speed is adictive and the excitement overcomes fear and reasoning.
In a car you may have a chance to brake out of it but most new riders panic brake even if the bend is survivable.(which is not always speed related) What they found in most cases the underlying reason for the DAS route was to ride a sports bike.
Even after 30 years of riding there are times that had I not had the experience of the abilitys of bike and modern tyres a hedge could easily be my bikes new home it is so easy to try and brake out of situations.
One other thing that was mentioned was the macho thing regarding the image of passing your test on a girls 125 and being restricted this was brought up after we had to rate our riding ability from 1 to 10 it was surprizing how the figure either got higher or remained the same as it went round the table.
We did not chose the non DAS route for cheapness we just discussed the pros and cons of both having talked to freinds that have done both routes and the DAS can prove more expensive if you fail with the downside of greater pressure to pass to save money and time.
Which route you take is very individual but can also have a negative effect if you should book your DAS with the wrong people.
ian

 

[JemandSi]

My self and my wife just completed or DAS this week, this is he course of training we carried out,

October - CBT £100 ea
October - April - ride as much as possible on weekends with friends we rode around 650ish miles in this time.
theory test in feb - £28 ea
4 day DAS course in April - £460 ea *note this was 3 days on 550/650's and 1 day for the test.

Found this to be a great way of doing it - would of hated to go straight from CBT to big bikes - the riding experiance in between was of great benefit when we got to the big bikes.

Regards

si