Mopeds/Scooters..?

pappa_golf

I have other bikes , but always love a "tidler" , 98 kg and fast enough to have fun on

walwyn1978

Late to this, but:

Yes to CBT, OP. It makes you a far, far better rider and means that you're operating from a position of taught basics rather than self taught potential errors. I'm like you, I could ride a 50cc scoot with no CBT, so I did. (Copy of a Japanese bike bu a company called SYM). I found it underpowered and quickly did my CBT so I could buy a more powerful bike, the other positive was the training made me a much better rider - awareness of others, knowledge of road conditions etc. Rode Vespas in London for years.

Yes also to getting decent protective gear - as a minimum high end bike gloves (you WILL come off at some stage and wearing no gloves or thin normal gloves as some do is the easy route to wrecked hands), helmet, high viz jacket or tabard, plus if you do it in winter I'd suggest waterproof trousers. I used to wear reinforced leather jacket even in the summer in case of accident, but that was a personal thing.

walwyn1978

Forgot - 500 quid for new is way too cheap for something you'll be riding in traffic at 30 plus, buy used and higher quality - the 500 quid stuff I've seen tends to be very low grade materials and badly put together. Happy to be proved wrong but just what I've seen.

z1a

"but always love a "tidler" , 98 kg and fast enough to have fun on"

I should really think about going back to a small fun bike, my daily (when sunny & dry) is a ZZR1100, but I tend to still use it to its potential, going to bite me on the 4rse one day. Getting too old at 56 to be putting myself in temptation.

pappa_golf

I have a triumph adventurer (thunderbird) and a yam xp500 (tmax) , but always have a tidler for going into town on , just sold a ts185 to buy this Kawasaki , but major DVLA probs (been trying to get her reg since march) and now a non running engine are defeating this summers fun




to the OP


please look carefully at any "moped" (50cc) that is made in china , consider a 3-5 yr old jap 125 bike , the resale value on the scoot will be minimul (scrap value) in a few yrs , whereas the jap bike will hold its value better .

bigjl

walwyn1978 wrote: »

Forgot - 500 quid for new is way too cheap for something you'll be riding in traffic at 30 plus, buy used and higher quality - the 500 quid stuff I've seen tends to be very low grade materials and badly put together. Happy to be proved wrong but just what I've seen.

I haven't seen a new moped for £500.

Cheapest one I mentioned was £650. Though it is !!!!!!. There are better looking ones for under £800 though.

You can even get a Vespa (ish) knock off for around £1100.

At the end of the day it comes down to one thing.

Will a £2000 Moped get you to work any better than a £650 or £800 Moped?

Norman_Castle

z1a wrote: »

Norman, my user name is indeed derived from my 42YO bike, wish it was just Z1 though, without the "a".
1974 on a "N" plate, not mint, but not bad, and not an import.

When these were new in 1974 there were two brothers who used to go to the local pub who both had one. One Brown and one Green. I can still remember them. They're impressive now. Hard to imagine how good they must have been when they were sharing the roads with Hillman Hunters and Austin Maxi's.

Cash-Strapped.T32

bigjl wrote: »

Or in fact how many motorbikes in general make it to 12years old?

My 400c Burgman is knocking 17yrs old & still going - yay! :j

facade

My NT400 was 24 this year, and despite many winters of commuting the paint is in better condition than that on my Deauville was at 4 years old. (Made in Japan, not Spain )

IndieSinger

Thanks for all of your responses - particularly to those who directly answered my questions about mopeds and scooters. Also thanks to those who mentioned electric bikes - I hadn't thought about this before and will now be pursuing this! Much appreciated!