50 cc or 125 cc moped?

dudenstumpy

I agree with Jem above, avoid Chinese makes. I'm certain you will find it much more cost effective and pleasurable to buy a used scoooter for the same price ( or slightly dearer ) than a new Chinese one.

Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki are the four Japanese makes and Italian makes also have a good name.

I base this upon having owned 30 odd motorbikes including one Chinese scooter ( which devalued from £700 to £180 in just one year ).

AdrianHi

CLLC wrote: »

Great response Thank you

So , Safety gear is a must have {I suppose I out to wear a high vis jacket} , Avoid Japanese scooters , Bigger engine is better {So I'm going for a 125cc} , Bigger wheels not tiny "Pushchair type ones". Any More suggestions?

Oh yes and I plan on getting a bike from this website : http://www.scooter.co.uk/125cc-scooter.html specifically planning on getting the 125cc cruiser scooter or the 125cc cobra scooter

What do you think?

Out of that lot I'd spend an extra £100 on the City Scooter .... because the wheels are bigger which does make a difference to stability. Used use to have a 50cc bike, styled like a proper motor bike with "full sized" wheels. I also tried my mothers scooter with very small wheels and it was a nightymare. The bumps and holes in the road grab you and the whole thing is no where near as stable. The bigger wheel creates a gyroscopic effect when they are turning which producers a force to help keep you upright.
Be as visible as possible, buy brand new decent helmets but what I really want to say is.... buy a car. When I was aged 16 to 18 I was 1 of 10 with a small motorbike at college. 3 did not make it to their 18th birthday, another 4 suffered injuries, I was 1 of the 3 that came out of it unscathed though I do remember some close shaves.
If it has to be a bike go get all the training you can and drive assuming everyone else on the road cannot see you, some of the time they can't, which might be their fault and not yours, but you'll be the one that suffers for it.

jamesb1239

Please before you go making any purchases look into this more, as when I was 17 and had a moped the law was either a 50cc moped OR a 125cc bike, you were not allowed to use a 125cc moped. you also require to pass a CBT as well as holding a provisional license

scbk

jamesb1239 wrote: »

Please before you go making any purchases look into this more, as when I was 17 and had a moped the law was either a 50cc moped OR a 125cc bike, you were not allowed to use a 125cc moped. you also require to pass a CBT as well as holding a provisional license

I think you're a bit confused

In the eyes of the law, a moped is a motorisied vehicle with an engine not greater than 50cc and with a design speed not exceeding 50kmh (31.5mph). It coule be a scooter
or motorbike, automatic or manual. Usually the speed will be restricted so it meets the criteria. If you were to remove the resctricters then it would technically no longer be a moped. You can ride a moped at 16 and on some older car licences.

Anything over that is a motorcycle, no matter what the body of it looks like. You have to be atleast 17 to ride a motorcycle. On a provisional motorcycle licence you can ride up to 125cc and 12bhp. Some of the 125 motorbikes are restricted to keep the power within this limit.


You can do a CBT at 16 on a moped and as soon as you turn 17 you can ride a "learner legal" bike

Wig

"moped" has the meaning given to it in paragraph 5 of Schedule 9
The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986

Unfortunately I can't quote it.

Curiously there is a lot of govt/dvla info defining it as not exceeding 50kmh
But The Motor Cycles Etc. (EC Type Approval) Regulations 1999
defines it as
"a two or three wheel vehicle fitted with an engine having a cylinder capacity not exceeding 50cm3 if of the internal combustion type and a maximum design speed of not more than 45 km/h"

MarkyMarkD

Definitely wrong to get confused that body style = legal status.

My wife (a while back) had a 50cc motorbike, with gears, which was legally a moped.

Other people have 125cc scooters which look pretty much identical to 50cc scooters and which don't have gears - but the 50cc ones are legally mopeds and the 125cc ones are legally motorbikes.

Chocolate80

125cc all the way!!!

I used to have (in the days before I could afford a car) a Gilera Runner 125 and it was amazing! Honestly, it was such good fun and so reliable.

dudenstumpy

I agree with Adrian Hi, the best advice to a new 2 wheeler is to ride like everyone is likely to knock you off. Pedestrians walk out, cars do Uturns, Lorries jacknife, dogs try to bite your legs, car doors spring open, stuff falls out of skip lorries, deer run accross your path, seagulls hit you. Herds of sheep and cows are waitng on the road around the next bend.

I've even been knocked off by a motorcyclist who pulled out of lane to start filtering without looking to see if any other motorcycles were filtering.

You have to look out for pot holes, diesel spills, farm manure, gravel ,black ice and braking suddenly in the rain. Punctures in your tyres going at speed.

Do not ride mainly in the left side of the carriageway, ride out near the white line thus increasing your visibilty. Keep your lights on all the time and wear a bright jacket.

BikerEd

50cc? No, no, no, no, no!

Only consider a 50cc if you are going to be riding exclusively in 30mph limits. Otherwise being restricted to 30mph puts you at a dangerous disadvantage in faster speed limits as you will be holding up the other traffic. This has two consequences - either you ride in the gutter and put yourself at risk, or you right in the correct position causing other traffic to perform sometimes dangerous overtaking manoeuvres in their frustration at being held up.

On a 125cc you'll be able to go up to 70mph on all roads bar steep hills and will therefore be able to keep up with other road users.

Trebor16

A 50cc moped will be ok if you only plan to use it in areas which have a maximum speed limit of 30mph, but if you are going to go on to faster roads then go for the 125cc scooter. They are far more usable and can keep up with the flow of traffic much better.

But it is worth considering a 125cc motorcycle with gears as the handling is better as a result of the more even weight distribution and if you eventually take your motorcycle test you will not be restricted to automatics only, which you would be if you took your test on an automatic scooter.