Different licence laws - which is best?

[janno]

Over here in Queensland, you can get your full bike licence straight away if you've had your car licence for more than three years. (One day course for the two fifty, one day course for the full, bobs your auntie.): :

Interestingly, the largest group killing themselves on the road are the men in their 40's returning to riding after a long break (say 10 - 15 years) and getting a 1000cc plus bike.

I'm curious about what other people think. Does limiting new riders to the smaller bikes save lives? In the UK don't you have to ride a teeny tiny bike for a million years before you get your full licence? What about the older ones coming back - how can you legislate if they need retesting or not without turning the place in to (more of) a Nazi state?

My history is - Yamaha virago, lasted three months on that before I was ready to give the damn thing away. That was because I found the riding style heinously uncomfortable and it was such a tiny bike for the touring I ended up getting keen on.

Then Suzuki SV650 - physically the wrong bike for me. I was as happy as a clam as long as I was going more than 25km or the petrol tank was half empty. Too top heavy for my skill level at that time.

Then Honda NT650 - just the right size, plenty of grunt and torque, and after a year on that I'm ready for bigger, though the finances'll be struggling on that one for quite a while.

In my opinion, once you've mastered how to "operate" a motorcycle, the real learning begins, and you are safer on a 400 - 650cc bike as opposed to a light and buzzy 250cc. I'm really interested in what others think on this matter, because I'm conscious that my three years riding is basically just out of nappies.

I have to add that the other half has taught me to ride and mentored me the whole way. He has been riding for over thirty years and is a very clean and smooth rider with plenty of road smarts. After talking to friends who have learned through a course then been out there on their own, I'm thinking having someone at home to continually monitor you and act as a sounding board is invaluable.


Jan.

[90s]

Interestingly, the largest group killing themselves on the road are the men in their 40's returning to riding after a long break (say 10 - 15 years) and getting a 1000cc plus bike.

BRONZ trainers mentioned this recently - and cited the amazingly improvement in tyre and bike design. Older riders remember the fun process of pushing a bike to test its limits - feeling tyres squeel and slip and then backing off. The are used to that in cages too.
But on modern superbikes the limits are huge. You pull awesome speeds compared to the old days ... and get virtually no warning from tyres etc. before BAM - you're gone, and at high speed.

[janno]

The next feature article I've got coming out in AMCN is about a guy here in Brisbane who is well respected for mentoring sportsbike riders.

He says the same thing, the bikes now are so well engineered they require very little rider input to do the same thing that the older bikes only did with quite a fair level of rider skill required.

Almost as if it's too easy to ride a bike now, so you can do things without having to learn how to do them, if that makes sense. And then you don't know how to solve a problem if one comes up.

My old Bomber is 19 years old now, and I really notice it if I get on a mates VFR800. But I've learned plenty on my bike which is a bit more forgiving. You seem to get a couple of nano seconds more to react if you've stuffed up somehow.

Jan.

[Patrick]

Interesting, but glad they don't do it here. I fall in to that category, returning to bikes after 25 odd years and had to start from scratch on a 250. Got to learn it all over again and progress up to the big Bandit. If I went straight to the big Bandit, I'd hate to think where I might be... as there were a few scary moments on the 250, I tell ya!!!

[Timber020]

Part of the high fatalitys amongst the over 40's is those buying heavy cruisers which lack clearance, braking power, handling yet have a whole heap of weight behind them. I know of a few guys that have stacked them after finding they were a little underwhelming in stopping or avoidance performance when it was required.

I was shocked in that states when guys were riding a dirtbike for a day to learn enough to get the licence to go and get a 1100 ninja