Ducati Monster Forum

My fiance desperately wants her bike license and desperately wants a ducati. YES!

 [thumbsup] [thumbsup]

Have her sign up for our Women's Forum (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?board=25.0). :)

I hate you!  Actually, I only envy you.  Congrats.

 [clap] [beer] Good on her.  Always love to see couples that can ride together.  I love going out on my own but I also like going out with my husband. Don't see to many women riders here in Tucson, I see one or two once in a while.  I see a lot more women Harley riders than sport bikes.  But yea for her.  Good luck

Congrats.Sign her up for a M.S.F class. [thumbsup]

One ride on the back of my monster and my wife was hooked.She has her motorcycle license now and wants a 696.We had to put that (696) on hold due to our new 11 week old 13 pound Monster(girl).

Hope you two have fun bike shopping together.    [moto] [moto]
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                                                                       You two riding together aahhhhhhh. [cheeky]

Haha yeah it's sick. We're in Australia so she'll be doing lessons and riding a 250 for a year before she gets a duc. I can't wait though, it should be great fun.

Congrats [moto]

I think that is a good system for beginning riders.

It is. Frankly I'm confused why america doesn't have it. It seems daft to let people with no experience ride what they want.

Ooooh I see you'll capitalize the "a" in Australia but not in America. [laugh]

...but yeah that is a good system. [thumbsup]

I asked my gf to get her M1 and take MSF class before I took her out on rides. Its just safer that way since she knows whats happening up front :) makes riding safe IMO [moto]

Wait. Is that the law in Oz? A new rider has to ride a 250 for a year before getting whatever he/she wants?

It is possibly in the eastern states, but as far as I know Western Australia has had it for ages.

Basically all the licensing laws in the US are pretty lame. In my state, after a certain age (I can't recall what though) one doesn't even need to do any sort of driver education class. There are a couple absurdly simple tests through the Dept of Motor Vehicles, but that's it. Younger drivers do need to complete some education, but it's nothing compared to most of the industrialized world.

That same model trickles down to bikes. There's no mandatory education, jut some basic tests to get an M endorsement on your license. But, it's not necessary to have that endorsement to purchase, or register a bike... so there's a pretty high number of folks on bikes with no legal endorsements... Yeah.  Also, as noted you can go out and buy what ever bike you want. I know some folks who worked in a dealer ship and told stories of 1st time bike purchasers coming to buy a 'busaGixerCB1000RRRRRTurboTo0fast. Then returning a couple weeks later with it on a flat bed in varied states f'ed-up ness.

Totally not sure where I'm going with this point - other than driver education in the States leaves a lot to be desired.

Yep.  The day I bought my 675 some younger guy came in, on crutches mind you, wanting to buy another Daytona.  I heard the sales guy ask him what happened to his leg and what sort of riding experience he had.  Well wouldn't you know it, this Daytona would be his second bike.  The first bike, that was purchased three weeks ago and almost immediately totaled, was "the cause of his broken leg".  I was quite surprised when the sales guy actually told the kid that maybe this bike wasn't the best thing for him to be looking at and maybe he should try a Ninja 250 first.   [thumbsup] for that dealership.

Good for them - too bad this is generally an exception, not the SOP.

Actually, here is CA you are not allowed to register a Bike without endorsment. However, they didn't ask me for mine(only had a permit) recently, or my insurance for that matter, which is also required. WTF??

Clarification on the Australian laws:
in the Eastern states, we have something called the 'learner approved motorcycle scheme' or LAMS. This is pretty much anything 250cc with the exception of four race-rep 2 stroke 250s, and a fair heap of other bikes with a specific power to weight (150kW/tonne; there are some fudge factors for riders weights; most states also limit LAMS bikes to less than 660 cc). There are lists out there saying what is approved.

There are some interesting anomalies, i.e. bikes legal in some places and not others. But, in general, the lists are the same and plenty of tasty bikes on the list. There was a restricted version of the M620 on the lists; the M600 is LAMS approved too (without restrictions, if I remember correctly). There are also some new bike; Suzuki do restricted versions of the Gladius and the SV650, plus a GSXF650 learner model. Some motards on there, even a Honda RVF400 (not the VFR400 - smaller carbs on the RVF = less lower = learner legal, just).

All in all it's a pretty good system and seems to work ok. It doesn't limit people to tiny bikes that they might not fit on, plus, the market is actually held up so the second-hand prices are good. Sure, you pay a bit buying a bike, but it's very hard to lose money on a learner-legal bike...

That said, I did my licence many years ago and was limited to < 250cc. It was probably a good thing: at 16 I did my best to kill myself on the bike I had then... I might have succeeded with something more powerful.

We have a reasonably good system here in Australia ,
 my son and my wife are doing there Learner license course next week.

It is a two day course with both classroom and practical ,bikes are provided on a closed circuit track finishing with a group road ride with instructor.

They will have there learner permit for a year then there are three years on provisional license ,
 the rider must display the L or P plate at all times and must me only ride a motorcycle designated as a LAMS bike or learner approved motorcycle which is on a list and has more to do with power to weight ratio.
So some 600 cc bikes can be used but some 125/250 cc are off the list due to this ratio.
They cannot carry a pillion.
After they obtain their L's I am paying for them to do a riders skill course .

A dealer/finance company cannot sell you a bike that does not comply with your license .

But the major problem here is not the rider but the brainless unobservant aggressive car drivers here
that do not look for bikes don't care about them and cause the majority of incidents ( I wont call them accidents as most of the time it is negligent )

Allowing a novice rider on a powerfull machine is madness , but that said you can get into trouble on
a 250cc at least the skills learnt early may save you once you jump on a serious weapon.

In addition to what Ellingly and Dez have said:

To graduate from your 'L' to 'P' plates requires passing another day of roadcraft practice culminating in a practical exam.


Agreed, it is a good system ... lower-case for america, upper-case for Australia








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Oh, c'mon it was set up beautifully  ;) [cheeky]

One thing I think is backwards here on the mainland compared to Tassie is back in Tassie I also had to do the course, then 1 hour observed riding on the road before doing the skills test; here it's just rock up to a course(1) then do the skills test(2).

(1) In the ACT you can just do the test, fail it, and get the ACT govt to pay for you to do the course. If you pass, well, no need for the course for you...

(2) Skills test: from a standing start, accelerate to a slowish speed (~20km/h), do a 90 degree turn through a certain sized box, then another turn (no limits) then stop with your front wheel inside a 1m wide, 90cm long box. Take off from that, turn around, stop. Do a cone weave around 5 cones (spacing/offset differs state to state), turn around slowly, do a U-turn in a certain sized box (size depends on state and bike capacity), then stop. Set up for an emergency brake test - accelerate up to between 20 and 30 km/h, then stop in a specified distance. Take off from that, go back to a start point, start and do a swerve (with or without getting back into the 'lane' you would have been in had you not swerved) to a certain side. Points are lost for certain things you do wrong(3).

(3) I passed the skills test perfectly back in the day :P so I can't remember what the bloody points are!

In WA, for a person with a car license, you could, in theory, show up to the licensing center, sit a test to get your L's, pass, take the practical test and walk out with your restricted (<250cc) license in a matter of hours. Obviously since it's a government run thing that would never happen and you'd need to wait months for your practical test.

The practical is just a ride around with the instructor following, a few right hand turns inside a small area, and a few emergency stops. Nothing to it really.

The procedure is exactly the same to go from restricted to unlimited, although when I did it I didn't need to take the Learner test because I'd already taken it twice before (car license and restricted motorbike).

congrats on the engagement Luke...   [thumbsup]

you should bring the monster on this Italian ride...   http://www.perthstreetbikes.com/forum/f32/inaugural-psbmi-meet-up-venue-date-confirmed-93363/ (http://www.perthstreetbikes.com/forum/f32/inaugural-psbmi-meet-up-venue-date-confirmed-93363/)

Thanks Geoff! Yeah that ride sound good, I might be able to make it.