Before you got a car, did you have a moped?

[bimsb6]

Simson s51 for me £199 otr in 1979 , the only difference between the moped and the unrestricted version was the length of the downpipe , so hacked the pipe down and it would do 45 ! Not the prettiest thing but it was cheap and quicker than most of the other 16 ers and it was paid for before i was 17 unlike a lot of mates peds .

[patchb]

Fatball said:

Honda 50 then a Cagiva Mito and onto import 400’s before a 600 and a Fireblade. A friend who teaches motorcycle learners suggests that car drivers become much more aware if they take motorcycle lessons, I’m assuming if you’re riding prior to doing car licence then you’re automatically much more aware but that’s probably down to already being on the roads.

The little Mito 125 was the bike I had most fun on.

Is that photo taken in Milford or Barton on sea?! The pic below of my 125 is taken from Milford.

I had an RS50 - then a Tuono 125. All my mates had minarelli am6 engined 50s so they were all about as quick as each other.
The 125 felt like a rocket ship after the 50 with its 30 or so bhp.

[ThePrisoner]

Great topic

I started my journey in 1974 .

Mobylette step through .
Honda SS50 with a yellow tank .

[Magooagain]

Honda PC50 as soon as I was 16 it didn't last long so I bought a Puch maxi with the 3 gear grip change.
Ended up in hospital for four weeks when I dropped it with 3 months off work. I turned 17 while I was convalescing so went and bought a Suzuki Gt185 to get my test passed on.

[V8RX7]

No - first bike was a DT175 that someone had previously registered as a 125 and chiselled the 175 off the engine

Trying to get around the obstacle course on a trail bike wasn't easy

[bimsb6]

V8RX7 said:

No - first bike was a DT175 that someone had previously registered as a 125 and chiselled the 175 off the engine

Trying to get around the obstacle course on a trail bike wasn't easy

Lack of skills more like .

[black-k1]

V8RX7 said:

No - first bike was a DT175 that someone had previously registered as a 125 and chiselled the 175 off the engine

Trying to get around the obstacle course on a trail bike wasn't easy

Eh?

Just as well there are never any obstacles on a trail then!

[PeterGadsby]

Yuxi said:

Tomos 50, was that the thing you could buy from the Green Sheild Stamp catalogue or something similar?

I bought my Tomos new from Woolworths for £200.... previous to that I had a £25 Raleigh Wisp and for me the Tomos was AMAZING :-)

- Pete

[V8RX7]

black-k1 said:

Eh?

Just as well there are never any obstacles on a trail then!

Are you lot too old to remember the cones were set out for road bike 125s - I borrowed one and it was a breeze on them

I beat everyone on an IAM obstacle course recently - I was on a 690 Duke everyone else had bigger heavier bikes - or "no skillz" according to some

[gusm2]

Started with various old scooters and mopeds before I was 16 in local woods and an area that had about 50 wooden garages on it, then a 3 year old Fizzy for £110 in 1978, Suzuki Gt250 as soon as I was 17 then being an apprentice mechanic also passed my car test at 17, first car was a G reg MK1 1300GT Escort had it 10 days before spinning it on a greasy road taking out about 100yds of farmers fence, next bought an 1100 2 door and transplanted all the 1300 running gear including dash ( very important) and ran around in that for almost a year until I got a 2 year ban for reckless driving trying to out run the local bobbies and getting caught after about 10 miles, fined £245 which was a fortune then, I was on £45 a week. Many cars and bikes have followed since

[black-k1]

V8RX7 said:

black-k1 said:

Eh?

Just as well there are never any obstacles on a trail then!

Are you lot too old to remember the cones were set out for road bike 125s - I borrowed one and it was a breeze on them

I beat everyone on an IAM obstacle course recently - I was on a 690 Duke everyone else had bigger heavier bikes - or "no skillz" according to some

I was a part time instructor when the two part test was originally implemented. As part of the instructor training. I had to attempt to do the cones obstacle course on my own bike, a BMW R100RS. Even with the handlebars on full lock, against the stops, it was impossible to even walk the bike through the many of the obstacles. A small, light trail bike would have made it really easy.

[philcray]

not my bike but my son's Aprilia RS50 "Spain's no.1" Lorenzo which he learnt to ride on. What I would have given to have something like this when I was 16.... I didn't have a ped but my first bike back in 1980 was a Yamaha RD125 which I thought was quite nifty at the time...

[AlBondigaz]

Lets see ....

First off ... Honda Graduate - with drop bars !!

followed by:

Honda C70
Suzuki B120
Yam DT100
Honda CB250RS
Kawa GPz750 Twin Shock
Kawa GPz550 Unitrak
YAM DT125LC (took it in PX for the 550)
Suzuki Dr400

and then got a ’73 Renault 5TL as my first car.

Followed by occasional forays in to bikes over the past 20 odd years

Honda XL250r
Suzuki Dr400
Honda XL400r
Honda XL650r
BMW 650 Dakar
BMW 650 XChallenge

Now it's a MTB and an EMTB.

[bimsb6]

V8RX7 said:

black-k1 said:

Eh?

Just as well there are never any obstacles on a trail then!

Are you lot too old to remember the cones were set out for road bike 125s - I borrowed one and it was a breeze on them

I beat everyone on an IAM obstacle course recently - I was on a 690 Duke everyone else had bigger heavier bikes - or "no skillz" according to some

So what made it so difficult on a trail bike ? Genuinely interested as i have had many trail bikes .

[LHB]

I started riding at 16 on a Husqvarna 50cc that a few on here might have seen before



Went through many bikes including a full power RS125 (with a Cagiva Mito front end), a Chinese supermoto and various other pieces of st before I got my driving licence at 18. Booked and passed my bike theory 3 times without following through to the full test and now I regret it.

I can do my DAS now rather than the restricted license so I’ve been looking into it again recently, especially since I’ve moved to the middle of no where

[neutral 3]

Indeed I did.
My first was KMT 421P, a blue Fantic GT, for my 16th Birthday in July 1977.
The Fantic was Always going wrong and after someone stole it and removed the front end, it was replaced by this early FS1E ( VYF 15M Where are you Now ?? )
It was green when I bought it from a pal called Clive, in Chingford. I rebuilt the engine @ college, bought a Purple tank from House of Horrors ( the local breakers ) and bought a used Allspeed pipe for it. Sold it for £150 in about June 78 and bought a silver GT250A complete with a bent frame....

Edited by neutral 3 on Thursday 29th October 00:32

[Drawweight]

No is the simple answer but I was offered a Puch thing that had sat in someone’s shed for donkeys years so I nearly qualify for this thread.

It looked like an overgrown bicycle and I was much too cool (in my mind) to ride something like that.

I went straight into cars at 17 and I was about 20 before bikes got interesting.

[chris4652009]

I was born into a motorcycle family. As a result I was riding a field bike at the age of 12, so yeah long before driving a car.

Edit: your direct question. No I’ve never owned a moped.

[Pothole]

LuS1fer said:

Downside was a 26-30mph top end and I was overtaken by a pushbike. Lucky i was only borrowing it.

Taught me a lot about keeping momentum, though.

[tr7v8]

This like all of these ends up as a "How old are you thing"
I started at 17 with a BSA Bantam D1 which I rebuilt as I was 16 3/4 & started riding when I was 17.
It had a D3 barrell fitted which was a 150cc & got mildly tweaked, mainly higher compression.
I then started commuting 25 miles each way on it to work, so when my Dads Mk1 Cortina became available, we fixed that up & the BSA got sold. Still got some pics somewhere.