Just about.

Bike – 160
Honda CG 125 (1984) (ive had to buy 2 different kickstarts, original snapped, first replacement was made of cheese, and second one is good to go)
Repaired by me and a friend, runs like a dream, only 20k on the clock.

CBT – 100 (including bike hire, full equipment was offered but ive got)

Helmet – 90 (Caberg v2)
Gloves – 25 (JTS Summer Gloves)
Boots – 80 (Alpinestars Roam)
Jacket – 100 (Held Gizmo)

Insurance – 150 (I added on another 20 [170] for personal accident cover)
Tax – 15
MOT – 30
New V5 – 25

So all in all – £775 for everything.

All new kit, fully working bike with new V5, insurance, training.
If you bought a second hand jacket, boots and gloves it would be a bit cheaper.
And if the bike comes with a v5, mot and tax then you have taken off 70 already.

Nic

Anyway… I'm digressing.

I got my full unrestricted licence + all my kit for about £250.

Had to buy some kit (2nd hand jacket, trousers - bought new gloves & helmet). That cost me about £150 or so.

After deciding what bike I was going to buy I scoured the net to find out the cheapest possible price I could buy it for. I then went to a bike shop (that also had a bike training centre) at a very quiet time of the year for them. After I'd squeezed as much discount as I could out of them for the bike (waving my internet research at them - which they couldn't match), I said I'd take the bike if they threw in the training for free.

After a bit more bartering, I got the whole shooting match for about £70 - which was to cover them for insurance, petrol money etc. so they'd not be out of pocket (the training itself was free), which was a lot less than the £500-odd they were quoting. There was only one guy doing his training at the time, so there was no problem with me tagging along with him.

There were 2 downsides to doing it this way:-

1. I had to sit my test on the coldest, wettest and windiest midwinter morning (it almost got cancelled because of the wind). But with the copious amounts of adrenalin that were coursing through my veins at the time, I hardly noticed.

2. I had a motorcycle I wasn't licensed to drive (but which was begging to be taken out for a spin) sitting in my garage for 5 weeks until I passed my test. That was torture!

It was a few years ago now, but I'm sure it was no more than £250 all-in.

Recently did:

Theory test - £25 or so
CBT inc bike hire - £100
Hire of a 125 & helmet etc for 1/2 day's practice - £20
DAS, 2.5 days X £120 = £300
Test inc bike hire: £100

Total: £545 or thereabouts

So, not much under £600 admittedly - but I do get to ride any bike immediately, which has got to be worth it.

(This was in Wales - might not be possible in more civilised parts!)

Tim

Many years ago* I was working as a part time motorcycle instructor for Star Rider. Sunday mornings mostly, where I would take prospective motorcyclists through the Part 1 test exercises. One particular Sunday morning a ratty, bright yellow and black Kawasaki KH100 turned up. The bike was road worthy but my guess was that it would have been a close call. After a couple of hours the young man was doing fine and all went well. The following Sunday I was working again when I heard a familiar sound. Yep, you guessed it, this KH100 turned up again with a different person on it. At this point I decided to ask the young man where he had got it from. To my surprise he had bought it for £50 with three of his friends purely to take their tests on. The plan was to then sell it again for £50 when they had all passed. Thus, for an outlay of £12.50 each, which they hoped to get back at the end, they had avoided the major cost of taking their bike tests which was the motorcycle itself.

Rather cunning I thought. It used to scare me rigid when 17 year olds would turn up on their £2500 Aprillia’s (in the late eighties / early 90’s!) which would be defunct in 7 months time. I couldn’t help but to think about the amount of money a new fairing would be when they dropped it.

Anyway, happy days…

* Part 1 & Part 2 test and where the examiner didn’t have a bike, he would just find a place where you could ride a figure of eight circuit, first left, first left, first left, straight on, first right, first right, first right and then straight on… As long as you didn’t fall off you had pretty much passed! Now I feel really old.

Best regards

Kevin Allmond

£366 complete bargain.

From then i went on to buy some descent stuff kawasaki zxr400- £1500
restrictor + labour- £120
helmet- £250
alpinestars boots, gloves and 1 piece leathers- £1500...

all together.....£3370

Bike Suzuki sg125 - £300 inc tax and MOT.
CBT - £90
Insurance - £130
Helmet - £40
Jacket + gloves - already own
Total £560
Just under £600!!!!

Bryony

Get ur mom or dad to buy the provisional licence as a birthday present :)

get ur boyf to pay for ur CBT as birthday present :)

Borrow ur boyfs bike, which comes with MOT and TAX :)

beg boyf to put ur name on his insurance policy, then just forget to pay him half the premuim ;)

So there u go, now ur on the road and u havent paid a penny :)

But after this u may become addicted to world of biking, which means payin £500 for a bike of ur own ......... then a further £200 for TPO insurance and a further £400 for the bike test.

:O ur tellin me I paid over a GRAND to get into BIKING!!!! OMG, think Im goin to have to lie down ......

and thats not even addin all those garage bills and MOTs and TAX etc etc etc and there I was thinking I was broke, I wouldnt be if it wasnt for bikes.......

This email has just become pointless.....

HAPPY SAFE RIDING ALL :)

KATSTER x

Hay everyone! Just thought U might like to hear about my cheap success on my Kawasaki Ar125cc

Costs only 300 bucks on an (F) plate in imaculate condition, and just another 150 bucks Third Party Fire & Theft for a fastish and half descent looking motorcycle. (check the free Adds)

Allan Harvey (Newport - South Wales)

I know you want to know how. A little mechanical knowledge, a lot of patience and time and a bike that was going in the skip that just needed the engine freeing - easy when you know how.

Clothing from a closing down sale, jacket £14, leather jeans (Proper bike ones) £35, Boots £35 (totally water proof), Helmet and gloves £60, CBT £75 inc bike hire, MOT and TAX £30, Piston and rings £35, new front tyre and head light for MOT £30, black hammerite £15, insurance £140 Fully comp. TOTAL £469 well under the £600 limit and yes before you ask I did not pay for the Bike it was free to the collector, and still in daily use on a 70 mile round trip.

The 250 is a different story Suzuki GSX 250 1986 in need of TLC (Fork seals, rear light lens, and brake switch for lever and a MOT) bargain price delivered to my door £150 yes it has TAX, direct access £399 and approx £80 - £100 extra on the insurance. From zero to total biking for just over a grand.

Regards Rob Jones aged 32

Kev

Hi, Used your site to get an insight into finally going for my bike test.

I wanted to go for the full direct access, so here's the costs.............

Lid £40 (brand new!!! from eBay, get looking as there's loads of bike shops trying to get rid of last years ranges)

Two piece Frank Thomas leathers (worn twice) £38 (eBay again folks, loads of bargains to be had)

Gloves £20 (brand new again from bike shop on eBay selling old stock but new)

Boots £60 (brand new from bike shop)

Neck warmer £3 (eBay - buy one of these and stay warm, it's been worth every penny!)

Kitted out for an amazing total of: £161!!!!!

Right on to the getting on the road bit!

Borrowed an off road bike for a couple of weeks (invaluable!!!) but spent time learning slow control and NOT blurting off up and down fields etc!!! £free

CBT £85
Theory Test £21
Four one hour lessons totalling £130
Pre-test lesson and bike hire £40
Direct access test £55

On the road for an awesome total of: £331!!!!!

Then picked up a CBR6 worth £1500 for a grand!!!!! Insured for £270

Overall from zero to on the road hero.......... £1762!!!!!

Not bad eh?

I am currently going through the DAS with a company in the north east, called, North East Motorcycle Training.

They charged me £355 (exc. CBT as I’d already got the CBT FREE through the local Wheels2work scheme), which includes unlimited lessons until I pass, and free bike hire on test day.

Theory Test: £21.50 (Did it in July, before the prices went up)

Practical Test: £60

Total: £436.50

I’ve got the practical test tomorrow (11th September 2007) and hope to pass first attempt.

Rob Laidler

North Yorkshire

hi this is tony now living in wales i got on the road for the first time with every thing legal insurance tax mot leathers helmet all for under £600 £50 for helmet £150 for the rest of it that includes paying £36.50p for my cbt test
(£36.50 for CBT??? Most schools charge about £100)

Got my CBT, with bike training all in for £300
Bike test £60
Theory test £25 or so
Bought leathers off a friend for £80 which is a nice two piece suit! c/w gloves :)
Already had a helmet from scooter.

Now i just need to get a restriction kit fitted to my FRZ 600, i managed to pick up in mint condition in cocktail colours for £700 :)

Happy biking!

Total £465!