New blog post: Be Seen on your Motorcycle
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Here almost everyone does the riding tests -- and later, the required practice for the unrestricted license -- on a school motorcycle. Doing it on your own bike is too much of a hassle.
Can you restrict (to 47hp/35kW) any bike? Here it's only possible for bikes up to 95hp/70kW, and it means many models are artificially factory-limited to 95hp to make them an easier sell.
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@mbpaz @SeaFury @dHeinemann same here. The issue is that it probably costs ~ £1000 (or €1000, I think the exchange rate is roughly 1:1) for the five days of training to pass A2, then many (not all) riding schools will want you to pay again and go through the whole thing again for the A licence. Wouldn't be so much of an issue if it was easier to use your own bike
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@vroom @SeaFury @dHeinemann Apparently serious motorcycle accidents are concentrated in two age groups: ~20something year olds with a sports bike (call it too much enthusiasm), and males 45-49 years old with a large bike (call it mid-life crisis). Licensing paths are designed to make you ride a smaller bike before a bigger one, no matter your age, and hopefully calm you a bit. Do they work? I'm not sure.
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@vroom @SeaFury @dHeinemann Ouch. It's expensive here as well, but not as much (maybe half that) and usually includes more practice sessions.
At least, few people try the exam after just 5 classes, and when I took the closed circuit tests the pass rate was about 30%.Then the A (unrestricted) license is quite expensive for what it is... but if one thinks of it as "three hours hearing safety advice and then some tour on the open road and a free track day with a leased bike", it's even fun.
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Dave Heinemann 🇦🇺replied to thefathippy last edited by
@thefathippy It seems crazy how easy it used to be to get drivers licenses. Overall, I think the requirements and restrictions introduced since then are really positive and do a good job of preparing new drivers and riders.
The only loophole I know of is moving state. My buddy who got his restricted motorcycle license with me in Queensland. When he moved to Victoria, they upgraded his motorcycle license to unrestricted without having to wait 2 years or do another course.
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@SeaFury 80 km/hr?! And do you have to wait two years to get your unrestricted license?
That sounds insane to me. I like travelling, but I don't think I could do that with an 80 km/hr restriction. We have 110 km/hr highways here, and 80 km/hr on those wouldn't be safe.
What are the highway speed limits like in Tassie?
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@dHeinemann
I bought the Grom about 110 km away and rode it home on national roads. With its mighty 9hp and 0km in the odometer (break in is 600km or so) I could hardly exceed 80km/h and the travel was... well, interesting. -
@mbpaz We use the driving school motorcycles too. Bringing your own bike is usually allowed, but few people bother since it's a nuisance when you don't have a license to ride it there.
Some manufactures sell detuned motorcycles that are learner legal, but they can't exceed 660 cc and about 45 HP. Full-power bikes can never be converted to learner-legal status, even if they are detuned to meet the requirements. It's a nuisance.
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@mbpaz Yep, it costs about $1,000 AUD ($680 USD) to get enough training to ride unsupervised. Then around another $1,000 AUD for basic protective gear, then maybe $3,000-5,000 for a cheap used motorcycle.
The up-front costs of getting into motorcycling are a high barrier to entry for a lot of people.
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@mbpaz That was exactly my experience when I took my Grom on a 400 km road trip on the national highway. The Grom's max speed is about 96 km/hr, but between the high wind speeds and gear I packed, I was doing more like 80 km/hr and redlining it the whole way.
This highway had a 100 km/hr speed limit, so it was a bit sketchy. Afterward, I decided I'd never take the Grom on the 110 km/hr highways.
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@mbpaz @vroom @SeaFury @dHeinemann
No. They must appear on an approved list of bikes. Max capacity 660cc, max power to weight 150kW per tonne, ebikes up to 25kW. No mods, even if they don't make the bike exceed power to weight (eh, Dave...)
NSW page, supposedly national rules, has link to "the list":
Approved motorcycles for learner and provisional riders
Planning to get your rider licence? Make sure you know what you're legally allowed to ride as a learner, P1 or P2 provisional rider.
NSW Government (www.nsw.gov.au)
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Dave Heinemann 🇦🇺replied to thefathippy last edited by
@thefathippy I've noticed that the lists vary between state, and can also be woefully incomplete.
For example, all Royal Enfield bikes meet the requirements, and are sold as learner approved. Yet no new Royal Enfield bikes have been added to the Queensland list in the last six years. I think that's nine missing bikes.
It actually put me off buying a Royal Enfield when I was a total beginner because I couldn't confirm whether they were actually learner legal.