Hi I'm interested in learning to ride, but was just interested into the cost of motorcycling. I expect I'm looking at £400-500 min for a helmet, boots, jacket , trousers and gloves , and about £300 for the training to gain a full cat A licence, andalso buying a reasonable quality 125, once I gain in confidence I'd love to ride bigger bikes. It's one of my ambitions to gain a bike licence, even if it takes me until I'm 90 to do it!!! Obviously with the clothing/helmet, I gather the more I can afford to spend the better the level of protection offered!!!                                                                                                                                                                                     

You don't need to spend that much keep an eye on Aldi stores they do have bike gear in now and then at very good prices also Im sure there will be members on here with some 2nd hand kit that will save you some money. as for training there are a few on here who Im sure will post on this soon

 where bike gear is concerned buy what you can comfortably afford.i would say round the £150 mark for a half decent lid.and as for bike gear have a look on ebay.i just bought two nearly new triumph jackets for £40 for the two.lost of bargains to be had new and second hand.i would only say dont buy a lid secondhand everything else is fine.as long as its not more than 5yrs old will be good  and you dont have to buy a 125 use the training places bike instead and just save your pennies for when you pass if your doing direct access cos it only takes a week  to do it then your on to a big bike.                                                                                                                                                                             

Hey Flitwick - good on yer !! I am just returning to biking and bought a lid for £125, new leathers off ebay for £30 (had to squeeze into the t make em fit though !), I did buy a little 125 but ya dont have to as ZZRbabe says, and the CBT cost me £120 and the online theory was I think £40 - crunch is the training after that! Shopping around and asking training providers is the best way forward - I found the 125 licence training & test for £200 but the Full A licencee I have only found as cheap as £600 so far !! I think its expensive but the training is good generally and think about how expensive it is for learners to get through their car tests nowadays !!
Anyway - Good Luck and you WILL get there !!                                                                                                                                                                               

I did my direct access last year. It's £49 for your theory test, £80 for your CBT, £70 for Mod1 and £120 for Mod2. They are just the test fees so there will be training costs on top. I wouldn't expect much change from £800.
As for kit I spent £100 on my lid and £60 on gloves after all your heads important and your hands will be the first thing to hit the ground should you come off. I bought my boots secondhand for £10 off eBay and got my jacket and trousers for £200.
Don't be fouled into thinking a bike will be cheaper to run than a car as well. Mine definitely isn't but its much more fun! X

 i have to say that overall costs its cheaper for a bike!! i mean road tax for a car minimum £77-6mths bike £74 -12mths
mot bike-£30 car can be up to £56
insurance i think cheaper and all round maintenance is cheaper.and fuel well it up to everyone how hard they ride there bikes but i got a speed triple and it costs me £20 to fill it and i get over 160 mls to a tank when im thrashing the nuts off it lol                                                                                                                                                                              

ALDI DOES NOT HAVE BRITISH KITE MARKED HELMETS... you get what you pay for. C'mon.                                                                                                                                                                              

 i think jp was talking about the bike clothing not the helmets chick!! no neeeeed to shout though we not deaf lol also theres no such thing as british kite mark anymore theyre acu marked nowadays the kite mark went out over 15yr ago !!!!!!! i have an aria helmet £600 worth and thats not kite marked its gold acu marked !!!                                                                                                                                                                             

My car tax is £20 for 12 months and my bike tax is £74 for 12 months. My bike insurance is £250 and my car insurance the same. My car costs £40 to fill and I get about 450 miles approximately 8p per mile. My bike costs £12 to fill and I get about 100 miles approximately 12p per mile. So bikes aren't always cheaper.

Driving a car gives me anxiety attacks, stress kicks in really fast, I have just gone through my first winter in ten years using a car for a commute, The Ford Focus I used took approx £20 per week in fuel compared to the GPZ500 at approx £8 plus I don't need to take pills!

 yeah thats great if you can afford a brand new car thats emmissions friendly omnf. i was just talking about a bog standard run of the mill car.i mean i passed my test in 2005 and i cannot get insurance for an old deawoo lanos for less than £400 and thats only tpft  everyones different.and what fun is a car anyway lol and my lanos used to cost me way more to run than my bike i used to put £20 in the zzr1100 for a weeks work and my car used to cost me over £45                                                                                                                                                                              

Gear off ebay or Aldis/Lidle. Helmet the most expensive thing and was bought after having it properly sized and fitted. Do NOT skimp on the helmet. You don't have to spend £100s but do make sure it isn't second hand, knocked around or dropped. I like Aldi and Lidl gear but I have seen how the helmets can be treated. If you want to buy from somewhere like J&S go when there is a sale on.

The cost of the tests and mods are as above, my training was about £700. You can go cheaper but I did a fair bit of research as to who I wanted to learn with.

As for the bike cost, go second hand. I've a second hand Honda CBF500, only had 2700 on the clock and then I had alarm fitted, restrictor fitted and had it lowered. I know it cost me more than it could have as I went through a dealer, but on the up side of that, I can take her back if anything goes wrong (Hunts in Burnage - really helpful and knowledgable)

I passed my test last July. The insurance, unfortunately cost me more as even though I have driven for over 20 years, the insurers don't take it into account. You are classed as a new rider and the insurance is more because of that, and my insurance fully comp for my first year was just short of £500. I know this will go down (thankfully). therefore the insurance cost the same as my car's. I hunted around and the deal I got was the best one and like ZZRBabe, I then ring up and see if I can get a better deal (do this with the car as well) as you can usually get a bit more of a reduction. Insurers do now limit your extras. I can only have two modifications, so the restrictor and the lowering kit took care of that! If you have more modifications it can up the price so just be careful.

Petrol expense is 18 litres at whatever they are ripping us off for that particular week, but it lasts for approximately two and a half weeks if I just commute. The bus costs me £15 per week and the car would cost me more. I don't pay parking either. Time wise it saves me a huge amount. Instead of leaving at 7.00 in the morning to get to work for 9.00, I leave at 7.45 (I like to read the paper before I start lol) and last night it took me 25 mins to get home (got all the green lights). Normally takes me about 30 mins, so I walk through the door at 5.30/5.45 instead of 6.30.

You do have to have a really good look round with regard to cost of things but it is worth it if you want to save a bit.

RB

For full DAS training you'll be looking at £600-800.
The most important piece of gear is your lid. As has been said - you get what you pay for.
Bikes aren't always cheaper (although the 125 was for definate) and what time you save in commute you can spend getting your gear on (or is that just me?!?!).....but......bikes are a damn sight more fun!!

Best of luck.

Not a shout....im a bit myopic, i got the badge n the parkin space zzzzzzz42jdnkm ???????
Thanks for the correction tho, Some of us oldies do tend to live in the past.... is this muted enuf for you? should i fade away?? get back in me ole box wiv strings attacht to me ead, shud I missis,should i ...?
                                                                                                                                                                             

Its TOO small now  I cant see it ! Gonna have to find me glasses - now where did I put them !!