Ok Jules, I get it now, thanks for the explanation. I'll have to get me some ankle biters to pass on me no-ledge lol                                                                                                                                                                              

yes indeed spread the lurvvvve!                                                                                                                                                                             

There is a knack of picking up a bike that can help alot i used it quite a few times in the Sahara picking up my fully loaded BMW 1100gs.   But making it law would again be anther rule that people like to bring it as long as it dosnt effect them .   This would probably ban lots of older & disabled riders who are still quite capable of riding safely & it would also restric a lot of smaller & female riders to what they could ride .   An ex of mine who i have to admit was a far better rider than me (on the road) would probably be not allowed to ride some of the bikes she has owned if this was the law even though she is a far more capable rider than me .   Even though its an advantage to be able to be capable of pick up your bike in most cases there is someone who can help you & if your injured from dropping your bike you might not be able to pick it up any way.   And as for the suggestion of making car drivers take bike training 1st how would we feel if they reversed it and said you couldnt ride a bike till you passed your car test .   Or you could look at it from a truckers point of view he would probably say car and bike rider should be forced to learn how to drive a truck so they would have better awareness of what they have to put up from other road users .   How would we feel about having to spend lots of money for that ?                                                                                                                                                                             

Hi Kev,   I never intended to suggest picking a bike up from lying down should be a legal requirement as I agree with you that there are already too many rules and laws and most of them seem to involve raising money for the treasury!   I was just pointing out that doing a u-turn without putting feet down is a nonsense (I can do it by the way if I needed to 'jump through hoops' to pass the test again) I am not up on test requirements today but isn't there some sort of 'cone manoevering' that has to be done, so you have already proven your slow speed control or am I missing something?                                                                                                                                                                             

I have to say the car driving test has by no means got easier and nor has the bike test and no way should the DA be scrapped. If your good enough to pass the DA then your good enough to ride, after that it's down to the person and common sense. Someone on a 125cc can still hit 70mph on it, so whats the difference and the restricted can still hit over 100mph, so what is the point of restricting anyway, it takes only one hit at 10mph or 100mph to kill someone.

But as the article states, its those born again riders, scrapping the DA will not affect them as Kev has mentioned, so why bring that up anyway. I would say those that pass bike tests now and car tests are actually safer drivers/riders than those that took their tests 25 years ago plus. But i am in favour of those taking a car test, having to do a CBT first. Those with disabilities can still ride, they just ride on a modified bike that they can ride or even a trike, simples. You see those with disabilities still riding motorbikes or have their bike converted to a trike. 

I do think that those that haven't rode for at least 10 years should have to do some training to bring them up to date, that is fair.                                                                                                                                                                              

Doing a u turn is different to ridding though cones but i dont agree with all of the points of the new test which seems to be getting harder each year .   Learning the skill can be handy but i think its just in the test to show your riding controls i dont see whats wrong with doing a 3 point turn and putting your feet down as long as its safe and your in control what does it matter                                                                                                                                                                             

I would say those that pass bike tests now and car tests are actually safer drivers/riders than those that took their tests 25 years ago   Ace, i don't see your logic on this. Are you saying that you as a newly trained rider are safer than someone with thirty years riding experience simply becouse you have been trained to pass a test? You don't  start learning untill you've past. Most riders that got on a bike thirty years ago never spent the first few weeks having to work out how to balance.They already knew how.  It never occured to me that i was supposed to be nervous. Most of the people training now appear to be gibbering wrecks most of the time. And before you say it, its nothing to do with the extra traffic on the road.                                                                                                                                                                              

I think that faith based riding or driving is a no no you only have to go to India to see the results.   Carnage   And why blame the christians anyway?                                                                                                                                                                             

yam you nutta!                                                                                                                                                                             

Why does Guy martin look as though he's only in the picture under duress?
                                                                                                                                                                             

He's just been goosed!                                                                                                                                                                             

which one are you in that photo?                                                                                                                                                                             

I'm the gooser, he's the gooseee                                                                                                                                                                             

@bluesbiker

Ah I never said those that have continue riding and never stopped are worse, I said those that haven't rode in a very long time, those that have continued riding without stopping will be better yes, but otherwise those that have passed their tests i would say are better yes. 

I do agree that you start learning when you pass but also you learn while you go once you pass your cbt and ride until you pass, which is what I have been doing. I have very good balance myself and did pretty much from the start, probably thanks to all my years riding a push bike. All riders when they start have to their balance, so i disagree with that statement completely, you don't just have instant balance when you touch a bike and thats goes for those who learnt 30 odd years ago.

I was never a gibbering wreck, I just went straight in to it, but it also depends where you learn as well, in the country is different to learning in the city, iv roe both and country learning is far easier, city learning gives you more skills and observation skills. 

Anyway, all in all, times have changed and i would say anyone that has been riding or just started riding will always benefit from extra training regardless of how good they may think they are as no one and I mean NO ONE is a perfect rider, everyone, including the best can always learn more and become better riders.                                                                                                                                                                             

I wasn't on about you specifically Ace. Most who learn today wouldn,t have dreamed of getting on a bike with no training as we did. By that time you had to be able to ride. My first motorcycle was an RD200. I picked it up from the dealers on the saturday and rode it 60 miles to oxford down the A34 which is a major trunk road on the Sunday. Theres a few pipe and slipper men (and ladies) on here who try to make out that riding a bike is a black art that requires a lifetime of learning and that if you don't then your all gonna die. Simply not true.  A lot that don't make it don't becouse they chose to ignore The basics. Not becouse they didn't know.                                                                                                                                                                              

dont forget when they say born again , they dont just mean people who have got back into riding ,most of the people who are taking there test these day are 40 plus .not many young ones are taking it ,because of the hassel.
theres been a few on here who have taken there test late in life, and have had accidents. like blues said years ago you bought a bike and rode it straight away....mainly cause you wanted to. not becauase like now its trendy..or your having a mid life ..                                                                                                                                                                             

It would be interesting to see how many new / returned riders really do have accidents and how many don't. These headlines are headlines to get attention and everyone nods in agreement.  Is it really any worse than when I was 17 and they brought the 125 law in, all because teens on 250's were blamed for rise in accidents.  People should be old enough to realise that if you get it wrong you can die. Its all a gamble

dont think it makes much difference what age you start at,in the 1st few yrs we are vunerable as we  build up our experience,people who have been riding for years are often happy to share the stories of their hideous mishaps and misjudgements,usually from when they were new to riding,of course this only applies to rider error we can all be the victim of someone elses bad riding/driving at any time no matter how many miles you have under your belt.

Ah ok fair play blues, in that respect yeah your right. I reckon im an ok rider now, im by no means great and when i pass my Direct Access im going on to more training to learn more skills that can help, just a shame so many choose not too. 
I know I wanted to ride a bike, its for the fun, the freedom and not because it may be trendy. I ride for me and not for trend, best way i think. 

I agree Yam, would be interesting to see the real stats and not the massaged stats to tell a story that the media or gov bodies want to tell. I bet its very different from what they tell us. 

Happy riding to all and a happy new year                                                                                                                                                                              

the best way to learn skills ...is do more miles, that includes when its raining..great fun