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

[rjfp1962]

My motoring journey started here in 1978 - with a 1976 Puch Grand Prix Special - Sure it looked special, but was seriously unreliable - But when it was good.. it was very good...!

I remember a mate had the "Supreme" model with alloy wheels....!





Then I had a Honda TL150 - The only way you could tell it was a road legal, was that it had a number plate and tax disc... nothing else..!
After a blast around the fields... straight back on the road to get the muck off the tyres...!

Edited by rjfp1962 on Sunday 25th October 01:10

[reggie82]

Yep, I had an Aprilia RX50. I loved that thing, was brilliant fun until I wrote it off.

[anonymous-user]

Never had a moped, but had a Suzuki GP100, Suzuki GSX250, Kawasaki Z400J and Yamaha Diversion 600S before I passed my car test.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 25th October 00:22

[ClaphamGT3]

FS1E - bought for £45 just before my 16th birthday. Eventually weighed in when I couldn’t even give it away 13 months later

[Mr Tidy]

Mine started in 1975 with a KTM Comet Cross like this.



A school-mate had a Puch Grand Prix and it was way quicker than my KTM, my mate's Gilera or all the FS1Es. But my mate's younger brother had an AP50 that felt quicker than any of them!

Then in 1976 I got a Honda CB175 - and soon found out why everyone else was buying Yamaha 2 stroke twins - YC3SE, YC5SE, YDS7 or RDs.

But I only had it a couple of months before I got a clapped-out 1500cc MK2 Cortina!

[The Rotrex Kid]

I bought a brand new TS50 in 2000, my dad said if I was having a bike it had to have gears!!

I was a bit short for it first of all and fell off a lot. All my mates had scooters and they were all a lot faster too.

Just looked it up and it’s been SORN and run out of MOT this year, racked up 23k til last year which is good going!

Not my exact bike but looked like this..

[Fatball]

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.

[A1VDY]

Garelli Tiger Cross.
Likely an optimistic speedo but would touch 60mph, much quicker than any other 50's of the time. It was fragile though, had a chrome bore so rebuilds would be rings only.

[MOBB]

Tomos 50cc - dreadful thing
Honda Vision 50cc - much more like it
Honda C90 cub - ooh more than 30mph yay
Honda CM125 - mistake to get this, looked like a proper bike but nope it was cack
Suzuki RG125 Gamma - a real hoot

Then cars for many years before I got another bike

[Yuxi]

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

[myvision]

Yes started on a Yamaha DT50.

[loskie]

yes in 1986 a Suzuki TS ER 50. Then Yamaha DT125 LC then a Mk1 1.3 Golf (CNC443Y)

[Shnozz]

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.

Ah you bd! Always wanted a Mito.

100% agree with your mate. Learning roadcraft, clutch control, gear changes, traffic around you and being vulnerable on a bike and checking all blind spots, lifesaver checks etc - all added up to a greater awareness I feel of those around you on the roads, even second guessing what someone else might do.

[anonymous-user]

Yep! Had an FS1E, I genuinally miss it sometimes, the innocence of just missioning around slowly, getting over taken by everything and not caring. Every ride was an adventure and it was brilliant

[kambites]

I had a cheap second-hand 50cc moped at 16. I can't even remember the brand but I do remember it cost less than £100.

[loskie]

as a kid I remember Woolworths selling Tomos Mopeds. They were displayed on the top of the fishing tackle cabinet!

[Pit Pony]

The Rotrex Kid said:

I bought a brand new TS50 in 2000, my dad said if I was having a bike it had to have gears!!

I was a bit short for it first of all and fell off a lot. All my mates had scooters and they were all a lot faster too.

Just looked it up and it’s been SORN and run out of MOT this year, racked up 23k til last year which is good going!

Not my exact bike but looked like this..

I had an earlier version of that the TS50ER.
Rode it from Liverpool to the lake district, and over buttermere pass, stayed a youth hostels for a few days. It was so choked up i had to walk it up steep hills, and slip the clutch.

Came home, revoked it, filled the top of the exhaust port, and it would hit 40 mph on the flat, and get up hills.

I passed my moped test on it, and got stopped 3 times by the police for having mates on the back. They seemed shocked that i was all legal.
At 17 I sold it and bought a TS125ER (twin rear shocks)

Went all round the lakes and Dales on that one. I passed my test on it, and took my girlfriend on the M53 to Chester in a head wind and it struggled to do 50 mph. On the way back it was going into the Red line in top.

Bought a Z500, had that a year and then an RD350LC which ended up 375 cc due to a big seizure.

Then moved onto a 1974 mini 1000. Which the same girl learnt to drive in.

Not been on a motorbike since.

[awg454]

I had a NVT easy rider followed by a new Honda CB50 which was restricted while most of my mates had unrestricted FS1E’s etc

[LosingGrip]

Nope wasn't allowed one!

Did get my motorbike licence at 23/24 though. Mum still wasn't impressed and she likes that I'm bikeless at the moment!

[eliot]

Bought a TS50 that was a wrecked field bike for £75 in 1985 when I was 15 - spent a year repairing it.
When I turned 17 I shoe horned a TS100 engine into it!