Advice re a starter moped....

[Gollom]

Suzy Cute's son is now 16 and wanting to bust out and spread his wings. Of course as a mother she has reservations! They gotta grow up sometime though haven't they?

Looking for advice on a low cost starter moped. Seen some at around £100 - are these suitable? Of course it needs to look fairly good too. LOL

Maybe someone even has one that they have finished with?

 

[kwakdonut]

It's really hard to say but for a £100 you're not going to get something that lasts too long. Avoid buying new - maybe go along to a local motorbike shop for some advice?

The best bit of advice I can give is ensure your son has a good helmet, good clothing and best of all - GOOD TRAINING

Best of luck to him!

 

[peterg1965]

Not necessarily very useful advice, but when in the same situation as a 16 yo i craved after a Yamaha FS-1E (fizzie). Doubt they make them anymore, that was 27 years ago! I ended up with a Honda SS50 - a four stroke heap of junk.

 

[Laurie]

Well I'm no spring chicken but if I understand 16 YOs today (as if !) there will be a few bikes that are acceptable to his peer group and OK to be seen on. Anything else he will leave in the shed (which might be no bad thing). Have you asked him for his input ?

 

[lynall]

Not necessarily very useful advice, but when in the same situation as a 16 yo i craved after a Yamaha FS-1E (fizzie). Doubt they make them anymore, that was 27 years ago! I ended up with a Honda SS50 - a four stroke heap of junk.

Christ you must be ancient they were old when i was a kid and im no spring chicken



Lynall

 

[Aoraki]

Not necessarily very useful advice, but when in the same situation as a 16 yo i craved after a Yamaha FS-1E (fizzie). Doubt they make them anymore, that was 27 years ago! I ended up with a Honda SS50 - a four stroke heap of junk.

I had a fizzie DX, the one with front disc brake, god they were leathal, every time you touched the brake, it wanted to lock up. Swapped it for a Suzuki AP50 (ape) much quicker. (about 45mph compaired to fizzie at 44mph!)

As for mopeds nowdays, they're all restricted to a very unsafe 30mph, as for which one, sorry but I can't help, but I wouldn't expect any for £100 to last more than 5 mins though.

 

[Gollom]

Suzy Cute's son is now 16 and wanting to bust out and spread his wings. Of course as a mother she has reservations! They gotta grow up sometime though haven't they?

Looking for advice on a low cost starter moped. Seen some at around £100 - are these suitable? Of course it needs to look fairly good too. LOL

Maybe someone even has one that they have finished with?

Thanks all! Mistyped - it should have said £200

He seems quite keen to get anythng actually - sees it as a bid for freedom

If it goes ahead (now got to convince his dad!) the correct kit and a safety course are mandatory and he fully understands that

 

[Spinal]

For £100/200 you may have some trouble, but the son of a colleague of mine bought a Pugeot scooter thing... its a 50cc engine, looks pretty good and can't have been too expensive as he paid for it by working at McDonalds... I can find out the model if you wish...
M.

 

[Sp!ke]

My daughter has just asked me to sell her moped for her as its been sitting in the garage for 8 months since she passed her car test.

I cant recall the exact details but its a Boatian QT50 (chinese made) 4 stroke, Its done some silly low mileage like 1500 or something. Not sure on the year.. maybe a 2007.

When she first got it, I gave it a thorough going over and its not a bad machine surprisingly.

Not sure of its value (I'll have to look it up) but sub 500 at a guess - and I'll throw in a service and you can have it in standard trim (dangerously slow) or with the brass restrictor in the carb removed making it a marginally less slow but able to keep up with traffic.

If you want more detail, I'll have it early in the week.

 

[CE230]

The problem with buying unknown used 'peds is that the previous owners, knowing they'll only have them a short time, will thrash them to bits with no regard to service or maintenance.

 

[kwakdonut]

Not necessarily very useful advice, but when in the same situation as a 16 yo i craved after a Yamaha FS-1E (fizzie). Doubt they make them anymore, that was 27 years ago! I ended up with a Honda SS50 - a four stroke heap of junk.

You are right, they stopped making them some time ago but did you know mint ones go for £2000-£3000!!! That's some moped.....

 

[Ian B Walker]

or with the brass restrictor in the carb removed making it a marginally less slow but able to keep up with traffic.

Isnt that illegal?

 

[timwood2000]

Yes, for a 16 year old at least. I wouldn't let any child of mine near a moped that only cost £100-200 - it will almost certainly be thrashed to pieces and be defective in some way. Spend the extra and get a new or nearly new one, or don't bother at all.

 

[Bill_33]

£200 - the best Honda C90 that you can find - if he does some work on it he will make money when he sells it

A true "moped" classic

But as has been pointed out, he, (or you), really should consider spending at least that amount, (maybe double), on "protection", helmet with visor, gloves, sturdy boots, good Jacket and reinforced jeans., etc

If he comes off even at 20 mph, he will feel it

 

[verytalldave]

My advice - for what its worth is this.

My son who is now 20 years deeply craved a 'ped when he was 16/17.
I refused point blank to buy him one and pay for ANY of its running costs.
I would not be party to something that statistically could very well either kill him or injure him badly.
I said I could not and would not stop him from owning or driving one. But if he REALLY want to own one he had to procure a part time job - or some way of earning money to pay for it.
Now he is 20, he looks back with hindsight and can appreciate why I said what I said and that HE would have done the same knowing what he knows now 4 years later.


And as a rather sobering PS to this tale. He lost 3 good friends who died on peds many years ago.
They are dangerous, underpowered killing machines and in the hands of 16 year old youths full of testosterone they are nothing more than accidents waiting to happen.


Just my 2 bobs worth.

 

[Benzowner]

Isnt that illegal?

Only if you are caught

 

[SL300-24]

£200 - the best Honda C90 that you can find - if he does some work on it he will make money when he sells it

A true "moped" classic

But as has been pointed out, he, (or you), really should consider spending at least that amount, (maybe double), on "protection", helmet with visor, gloves, sturdy boots, good Jacket and reinforced jeans., etc

If he comes off even at 20 mph, he will feel it

Sorry Bill, the Honda C90 is not a moped. A moped is under 50cc any thing else is classed as a motorcycle. You have to be a minimum of 17 to ride a C90.

 

[kwakdonut]

Sorry Bill, the Honda C90 is not a moped. A moped is under 50cc any thing else is classed as a motorcycle. You have to be a minimum of 17 to ride a C90.

You beat me to it!!

I would still advocate lots of good quality training over the 'best' moped to buy

 

[DSLiverpool]

Not necessarily very useful advice, but when in the same situation as a 16 yo i craved after a Yamaha FS-1E (fizzie). Doubt they make them anymore, that was 27 years ago! I ended up with a Honda SS50 - a four stroke heap of junk.

Me to !! I went through piston rings almost weekly on my SS50, I had to commute from Liverpool to Wallasey through the tunnel and it killed it - should have got a FS1E or a fantic

 

[BlackC55]

I recently bought a Aprillia 50 for Emma's brother for his 16th birthday. I paid £200 for it.

I painted it gave it a once over to make sure it was safe and he was over the moon.

For £200 you don't get much ped for your money. Buy wisely as there are loads of sheds out there.