Viewing 33 posts - 1 through 33 (of 33 total)
  • Just bought one of these. I'll probably die. Moped Massif help me…
  • p7rich
    Free Member

    Never ridden anything with two wheels and engine on the road before. Any hints and tips to keep me safe n sound??

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    Same as a bicycle, but slower.

    martymac
    Full Member

    treat every road user with suspicion, as though they were trying to kill you and you wont go far wrong.
    some days it might feel like they actually are.

    rob
    Free Member

    CBT

    p7rich
    Free Member

    No need legal requirement for a CBT, i’ll be just hopping on and buzzing about, hence the request for advice, e.g. are you supposed to jump to the front at lights and sit dead-centre like you do on a cycle??

    Thanks Martymac – that’s my usual approach on 4 wheels.

    gordimhor
    Full Member

    It might be a good idea to get some lessons/training anyway if you have never ridden a motorbike or moped before. It looks pretty good to me, what’s the engine size?

    redsox
    Free Member

    No need legal requirement for a CBT, i’ll be just hopping on and buzzing about,

    Still, might help confidence to do a CBT rather than just flying out into traffic, you’d be surprised what you don’t know and you can do it on your own bike

    br
    Free Member

    Get it derestricted, its safer at +40mph than 30mph.

    And

    No need legal requirement for a CBT

    True, but it’ll be worth it just for a bit of coaching.

    At what is it?

    EDIT – and just like a cycle, the bits of you that stick out usually hit the ground first. So always wear gloves, boots/strong (laced) shoes etc

    p7rich
    Free Member

    gordimhor – Member
    It might be a good idea to get some lessons/training anyway if you have never ridden a motorbike or moped before. It looks pretty good to me, what’s the engine size?
    POSTED 20 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

    Only a 50cc. Max speed around 40mph, limited to around 30.

    No shortage of confidence – that’s most likely to be the issue! Just looking for the benefit of wisdom.

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    Anyone over 40 survived without a CBT. You’ll be fine.

    Wheelying past girls at bus stops was a vital skill when I had a moped, other than that… crashing on the road really, really hurts. Try not to.

    br
    Free Member

    Anyone over 40 survived without a CBT. You’ll be fine.

    And if nearly 50 you not only probably rode a 50mph moped, but also a 250 on L plates.

    I got my son a scooter a couple of years ago, far better (and safer) once I’d had it derestricted – meant cars/vans weren’t hassling him in either 30 or 40 zones.

    unovolo
    Free Member

    Should have got one of these and fitted it with drop bars,instant f*nny magnet!

    paul4stones
    Full Member

    Yes! A fizzie 🙂

    p7rich
    Free Member

    Won’t derestricting cause issues with law and/or insurance?? ❓

    p7rich
    Free Member

    Should have got one of these and fitted it with drop bars,instant f*nny magnet!

    Mine is a Yamaha…so i’m halfway to fannytopia???

    Won’t derestricting cause issues with law and/or insurance??

    Bit of interwebbing answers my question. Yes, +30mph = light motorcycle and requires different rider licensing.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    p7rich – Member

    No need legal requirement for a CBT, i’ll be just hopping on and buzzing about, hence the request for advice, e.g. are you supposed to jump to the front at lights and sit dead-centre like you do on a cycle??

    Honestly? Do your CBT, it will be worthwhile as long as you go to a half-decent school and it’ll be cheaper than any decent crash. It’s not essential but that’s no argument for not doing it IMO.

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    Anyone over 40 survived without a CBT.

    Untrue. Very untrue.

    Do your CBT.

    Markie
    Free Member

    Do your CBT. It’s advicetastic.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    PeterPoddy – Member

    Untrue. Very untrue.

    Quoted for great wisdom.

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    For my next piece of wisdom ( 😉 ) I’d say don’t bother with a 50cc and go straight to a 125. You might as well stick to cycling than have a 50 really.

    EDIT
    Oh, and don’t buy a new one either. There’s loads of decent 2 year old bikes around these days.

    nickname
    Free Member

    Since your asking questions about road positioning, you should probably go for a CBT which will cover that. It’s better than nothing, and not that expensive…

    martymac
    Full Member

    i didnt realise there was no need for cbt.
    do it, its worth the money.

    Jujuuk68
    Free Member

    The idea of anyone being allowed motorised transport WITHOUT a CBT terrifies me.

    Even if for a 50cc its not compulsory, its going to be the best £100 you ever spent. The techniques they drill in for looking over shoulders alone is worth the money.

    (As an A licence holder who did a CBT over a decade ago).

    Seriously, book yourself in – if nothing else, you get a couple of hours supervised riding practice in. Even after a CBT your not really equipped to ride.

    yunki
    Free Member

    The idea of anyone being allowed motorised transport WITHOUT a CBT terrifies me.

    but you’ve no problem with untrained cyclists I assume..?
    A monumentally baffling contradiction

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    It’s a moped. It goes as fast as a bicycle. Generally you wear more than shorts and a piece of pointless polystyrene perched on your head while riding one.

    h4muf
    Free Member

    Lol! my 50cc does 58mph!

    Whathaveisaidnow
    Free Member

    its not how fast you go, its how cool you look, the slower you go the easier it will be for people to see your coolness, sit back on it, straight back, chin in the air, casually nodding….that’s the look.

    yodagoat
    Free Member

    Practice, then trade up to one of these.

    C90 in a field by yodagoat, on Flickr

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    Oh, of course if you derestrict it so it’ll do 40mph, then it’s no longer classed as a moped and you will therefore be braking the law riding it without a CBT.
    Just so you know, see? 🙂

    unovolo
    Free Member

    The techniques they drill in for looking over shoulders alone is worth the money.

    I’m slightly confused ,I do this anyway as a cyclist prior to a manoeuvre or signalling should I be paying someone/somewhere £100 for this advice?

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    not if you don’t want to, you’re a big boy. They don’t call it the lifesaver for nothing.

    br
    Free Member

    Won’t derestricting cause issues with law and/or insurance??

    Yes, and?

    If other road users actually kept to the 30 speed limit it wouldn’t be such a problem, but they don’t.

    Jujuuk68
    Free Member

    The techniques they drill in for looking over shoulders alone is worth the money.

    I’m slightly confused ,I do this anyway as a cyclist prior to a manoeuvre or signalling should I be paying someone/somewhere £100 for this advice?

    You are Chris Boardman, the Green Cross Code man and Steve Peat combined, and I claim my £5. If you think they teach you nothing else either, you are limited in your imagination, and i would presume you haven’t done one. I was focusing on one fairly invaluable bit of advice, which frankly is it was that simple, people wouldn’t be failing bike tests daily on.

    Tell you what, don’t advise any extra training, just assume everyone is as awesome as you, or take some responsibility for your comments and his future. You know nothing about the Op’s skill levels, and it seems most of the bikers like Peter Poddy seem to think counter to you.

    As a cyclist who cycles up the A23 through Coulsden, Purley and into Croydon, where its nasty, bumpy single carrigeway with a lot of side turnings, light controlled junctions and lane changes full of frustrated school run commuters, just about all the way, as a qualified heavy licence motorcyclist who also rides that way to work, and further as someone who works in personal injury for a major insurer, dealing with some of the heavier cyclist and motorcyclist claims, (becauae of my interests) perhaps I have the right to suggest I *might* be in a better place to inform the op than you. You may well be better qualified than me to comment, but if you were, I don’t think your advice would be the same.

    For no other reason that I actually see the results of little/no training, I would heartily recommend some. Only this week have I repudiated 2 claims from crap cyclists, with serious injuries, including an ankle fracture with complications meaning a 20 something wont play football or run again, and a 45 yo female with multiple fractures and a brain bleed causing minor brain injury. The latter was particularly sad as she launched herself out into the path of a slow moving overtaking vehicle which had slowed and given her a wide berth. And why? she was off to the shops to buy a helmet. She lied to the police, said she’d looked, and indicated, but the matter was caught on CCTV which showed she’d done neither. So far turned down by 2 no win no fee solicitors, and I await her “claim shopping” for someone who will take the case on with interest.

    Perhaps some training would have saved a permanent brain injury. Perhaps someone on a forum told her not to bother.

    Being on a pushbike, you rarely hit speeds, on the flat, esp on a mountain bike, of even 20 mph, realistically. Your weight is so much less, and your ability to steer is enhanced, over even a 50 cc moped. On the flat, you will be doing double the speed of a cyclist on even a 50cc, and more on a 125. And with a mtb weighing 10 kg and a motorbike 200kg, with it doesn’t steer or stop the same way.

    My crappy old Orange G2 with its discs can stop me quicker than I can think. Generally, on a motorbike, every NON-fault accident I have been involved with (2 over 13 years and 100k+ miles), the situations developed so quickly, I didn’t have time to think, let alone react. Even on a crappy 50cc Chinese import with drums on cheapo tyres, stuff often happens to you so quickly your brain wont process before you on the floor, even if your actually looking for these situations. Even at 15-20mph, like my last “off” if a car switches lanes, a moped/bike wont have time to stop/slow and swerve, when a cycle can. In my most recent case, the guy pulled out when I was less than 10 feet from his rear, and I hit him amidships, totalling my SV650 and his 306. And it happens so fast you cant believe it til the helmet smacks the side of the car and your skidding down the tarmac a few feet under the bike.

    You also cant ride in the thoughtful cycle lanes, hop upon kerbs, go inside and outside as you see fit and the style of riding is therefore totally different to a pushbike in many ways.

    Even if you were right, and to be honest, your not, whats the worst that happens? He gets a few hours with someone giving him training which it appears you think he already knows? Vs the Worst that can happen, that he’s ill-equipped with the basics, has no one to sit through his first couple of hours, pointing out his errors which could be life threatening? Mopeds and motorbikes are a serious grade up in the dangerous stakes from bikes due to the speeds and weights involved.

    I am confused how anyone can make a case for not having additional training when trying out a new form of transport requiring new or different skillsets to ones they have.

Viewing 33 posts - 1 through 33 (of 33 total)

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