moped scooter thing for 16 year old, which one?

One of our kids has a 12 mile commute in September to college, bus takes ages and costs nearly £900 for a pass for the year, seems to make more sense to get a little 50cc bike and sell on when he finishes/is 17 to get most of money back assuming he doesn’t trash it. Also handy for getting to p/t job and more independence etc. Doing CBT next week, he’s use to riding off road/private roads since a little kid. Doesn’t want a chavvy looking one, says he likes old C50 or Vespa type things but I worry about the reliability and having to rescue when broken down. My past biking says Honda, just for piece of mind, the only 50 I can see is a Vision, might be okay, anything else to look out for?

Our apprentice used to ride a 50cc stepthrough to work; a journey of around 20 miles each way. Admittedly he was a bit large (rugby player) but frankly it wasn’t up to the job. In the end he went for a Rieju MR50 which is a proper geared bike. Less sophisticated but much more reliable and suited to poor weather etc.

I would probably avoid Chinese models which are usually cheap but are of questionable build quality. The Peugeot Speedfight is supposed to be a good bit of kit if a stepthrough is the preferred solution.

Rich.

Just to add, the Speedfight is the Saxo of the 50cc world so any secondhand one is likely to have been run full bore for most of it’s life.

Our apprentice is about to pass his driving test so his bike is probably going to be up for sale – only problem is it’s in Pembrokeshire but if you’re interested I could put you in touch.

Rich.

Chavy or not, I had a Piaggio NRG when i was 16/17 which went like hot sh*t. Comfy at 60mph and I always felt confident when on the road, ample underseat storage and the mod cons. Really not worth getting a wreck at that age just to avoid being ‘trendy’, more hassle than they’re worth (and you’d struggle to get a Vision over 35mph.

I had the same model as this:

A friend back then had a billy whizz, i was envious:

Thanks for tips
Spotted this near us on ebay, probably impractical but looks cool:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281393754819?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
I like the look of those Honda Zoomers, but they seem to be expensive and hold their price and it’s not my choice of course….

Got my lad a Malaguti Ducati replica it’s derestricted and goes like hell for a 50

I’ll probably get flamed for this but I hate peds! I see kids round here just being dicks on them. Lad died 200 yds down the road from us just over a year ago. He was 16.
I’d much rather see folk get true road sense in a car before having to deal with the bad drivers that frequently kill cyclists let alone young lads doing 40 on a pedder.

Just to add, the Speedfight is the Saxo of the 50cc world so any secondhand one is likely to have been run full bore for most of it’s life.

So will any moped, the throttle may as well be an on/off switch for all the power they have. I had a cheap Chinese one for a year, blew it’s piston rings, stuck a new piston/rings/barrel in for <£90 and kept going. Out of our group of 10 or so the only failures were either ‘tuning’ related or the result of one too many trips down the road, I don’t think any of them died through natural causes.

If he want’s a Vespa style one then it’s as good as any.

I’ll probably get flamed for this but I hate peds! I see kids round here just being dicks on them. Lad died 200 yds down the road from us just over a year ago. He was 16.
I’d much rather see folk get true road sense in a car before having to deal with the bad drivers that frequently kill cyclists let alone young lads doing 40 on a pedder.

It’s barely faster than a push bike and the riders wear proper helmets and jackets, it’s not safe, but it’s no worse than this forum’s raison d’etre.

Gilera,

Remember that just because it’s 50cc doesn’t make it a moped. A moped is limited to a maximum speed of 50kph (31mph).

If the 50cc moped has been derestricted, it’s a motorcycle for the purposes of licencing and a person will need to be 17 years old to ride it.

Rich.

I’ve got a Honda Vision 110 which I use for commuting to work and popping into town, it’s ace fun. We’ll over 100mpg and free parking! I passed my CBT on a Vision 50, very similar but with less power.

In the UK mopeds are artificially restricted to 30mph. In many other parts of the world the same models (without restriction) will be capable of 40, 50 or maybe 60. Hence a life flat out on a UK moped will be similar to no more than half throttle on the same machine in continental spec, so relatively mild use.

In the UK mopeds are artificially restricted to 30mph. In many other parts of the world the same models (without restriction) will be capable of 40, 50 or maybe 60. Hence a life flat out on a UK moped will be similar to no more than half throttle on the same machine in continental spec, so relatively mild use.

True, but at 16 for every restricted 50cc scooter I knew, there was an unrestricted one, and for each of those there was one with an 85cc kit* on it. Not legal, but a fact of being 16 and a rather pointless and unenforceable law, you can go straight to a (restricted to 12hp, again yea right) 125 with a clutch and gearbox at 17 with no further test. What happens at 17 that makes you better suited to them than at 16?

*85cc kits are a bit like girlfriends in 16yo motorcyclist circles, you know you shouldn’t get one off a friend as you know how much use it’s had, but you still covet it.

Expensive but you will get your money back on it come resail is a Honda pcx

I have a 1988 yamaha fs1e 50cc moped for sale, fully restored and ready for the summer, candy blue in colour.

it even has the original luggage rack / standard exhaust/micron exhaust.

£1500

looks very much like this one.

do they sell the Honda Ruckus/Zoomer in the UK? daelim b-bone? they look cool

50cc Vespa esp if bought as a gift by someone for their spouse and never used?