50cc v 125cc first scooter

[stephyt]

As per the title what is the main difference between the 2? Which is best for me starting out on ?

Even tho i prob have my L plates on for a long time and have this bike for the 2yrs.
As im 30 am i limited to about 30mph on both scooters or can i go bit faster ? Will b doin 30 miles per day 5 days a week commuting to work and back

Any recomendations?? Will have a budget of abt 500 -600 depending on my saving ability and xmas n birthday money lol

Steph x
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Pace not race xxx

[Ayrton]

125 will let you go about 60, so i think the obvious answer is to get a 125...
Why not just get a bike though?

[mark111]

Get a 125 , As soon as you hit any sort of hill on a 50cc you might as well get off and walk , Plus most use 50cc mopeds will have had there guts ripped out them by 16 year old's

[symonh2000]

Go for the 125...

Fuel consumption will be similar, insurance won't be a lot more if you are 30.

Have you got a car licence? If you have and you got it before 1st Feb 2001 you can ride a 50 without L plates and without doing a CBT


Even if you can though it is worth doing the CBT to be able to ride the 125, as a 50 will be painfully slow.
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Four strokes is two strokes too many.

[Nope.]

Have you read any threads in New Bikers?

If you had, you would know several things:

1) Only 50cc mopeds are limited to 31mph by law. 125's have no speed restriction, but as a learner there is a restriction on power output (a restriction you'll most likely not get any where near unless you buy a tuned full power RS 125 or something).

2) Here on BCF, we don't tend to condone people riding on L plates and a CBT forever. We tend to suggest that you get a geared bike like a CG 125 or a YBR and do your tests. Not only will your insurance be a lot cheaper, but you can also get a proper bike (e.g. more then a 125) and go on motorways etc.

3) In my opinion (and the opinion of a lot of other members), scooters suck. Get a real bike

So, in summary:

Do CBT, Buy Gear (Jacket, Gloves, Helmet, Boots and some protective trousers e.g. textiles or draggin jeans), Buy CG 125 or similar non-chinese bike, insure it, tax it, MOT it, get some practise on the road, take your motorcycle theory test, get a couple of lessons from an instructor, take your Mod1 and then take your Mod2. If you want to use the current (cheaper) licensing scheme then you need to do it before the law change in january. If you want to read more about this then simply use the search bar or browse similar threads in new bikers.
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2011 XT660Z Ténéré - 2003 YZR-R1 5PW (In Build)

[stephyt]

[stephyt]

[Ayrton]

[stephyt]

[barrkel]

[stephyt]

A 125cc bike or scooter isn't too fast; not fast enough to win a traffic light race with a determined driver in almost any car.

Don't mind too much what computid said about scooters. IMO they're better than geared bikes in denser urban traffic. They're not too pleasant to ride at higher speeds though - psychologically, bigger wheels with gyroscopic stability and something to grip between your legs makes a difference. If the journeys you're thinking of making are in speed limit zones above 40mph, something bike-shaped rather than scooter-shaped feels better.

I don't think there's much wrong with learning road sense, position etc. on a scooter before moving on to a geared bike. Jumping in the deep end with gears can be daunting. My first trip home after buying a geared bike was dodgy enough, and I had had 6 months scooter riding experience beforehand. Of course, that trip home was across 10 miles of central London, so I was shifting every few seconds, traffic lights every hundred meters, etc. On country roads, you have more time to get comfortable.

A 50cc scooter isn't worth it unless it's derestricted, IMO. Restricted to 30mph, it's not safe to ride in normal traffic because people will drive up your ass. I wouldn't bother.[/quote]

I dont particually want a big geared bike for the riding im doin will feel better startin out on a scooter for now til i gain confidance or feel the need to want to go further afield and faster... My riding will b in the city and outskirts of town the only 'fast' roads around me are the A1 and A19 which i cant go on anyways so my top speeds r will b on the minor a and b roads ( cramlington - newcastle - metrocentre and same back again avoidin the A1)
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Pace not race xxx

[Ayrton]

[stephyt]

maybe I should put my concerns across to the cbt instructer c they recomend they might give me try on a 125 geared and see how I go if I don't like it or can't cope go for the scooter one lol
must admit when I was learning to drive years ago I was petrified of the gears for some reason but I got used to them quickly just never passed my test for other reasons
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Pace not race xxx

[Nope.]

[Rogerborg]

Have a go on a geared bike on your CBT. If you don't get on with it, they'll likely have a scooter on standby, even if it's a 50cc ped (which should put you off of that capacity).

As far as "confidence" goes, bigger bikes are easier to ride, at least above a slow walking pace. There's no particular reason for you to make things hard for yourself by sticking to a small bike or scooter.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Knightsy]

Geared 125's aren't all that bad, after a while you won't think nothing of it. As for slow speed control, I agree with computid.
I can't imagine it being easier to go slow just with throttle.
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09' Versys 650 | 07' FJR1300A

[stephyt]

I guess thinking about my hangups are because im only 5ft will i be able to handle a motorbike at speed ?!? then again who knows i cud take to it naturally n it will be a breeze lol used to learn to drive n luved it not scared of goin on the road ect as i cycle will talk to an instructor at the cbt

Thanx for all ur great advice so far
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Pace not race xxx

[symonh2000]

If you get a 125 there is no reason why you should go flat out straight away. Start off slower and as you gain confidence increase your speed.

On my CBT I didn't managed to go over 35mph, even though I was on a 125, as I was paired up on the road rides with a Girl on a Moped and I didn't want to loose her.

Plenty of bikes are suitable for those of 5 foot tall and less.
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Four strokes is two strokes too many.

[Teflon-Mike]

A click on your profile reveals you to be somewhere on the boarders of pictishland... Berwick on Tweed? Long time since I was up that way, but seem to remember rather a lot of almost verticle hills.

Right forget 50's. Wonderful ecconomy, and OK ish round town, BUT they are merely mororised bicycles and a fit kid on a bmx IS actually more powerful and can hop on the pavement when cars give grief, which you cant to on a 'ped!

125 Scooter? 60mph, 100 'ish' mpg..... Hmmmm, useful humdrum commuter transport. Easy to ride, but? They are the most perverse vehicle ever designed with two wheels.... bikes get stability from big wheels, placing the engine in the middle to give good balence, good suspension and a stiff frame to keep it all in place then the more weight the better.

Scooters have NONE of these things; its almost like the bloke who designed them, sat down and said "OK! How can I design THE worst motorcycle imaginable... right whats the rules and how can I break them?!... Wheels, Ok, what are the smallest I can find!" and took it from there!

5' tall.... well thats an inch bigger then My Lilliputian Landy-Lady freind, who at ... sorry.... five foot.... we round up.... remembered JUST in time, from the ache in my knee-cap she gave me headbutting me last time I forgot...... where was I? Yup, 5 foot tall.... not a big problem. See Bendy's advice for short and feeble; no reason that being little you cant manage a bigger bike. Rogers not exactly a sky-scraper, and he manages! And My Lillipution freind, was the Hyabusa Hurse pilot, commuting to work every day on her Meriden Triumph Bonaville T140... an old 650 'Brit-Bike' from the kick-start era!

So, get these pre-conceptions out of your head and dont limit your options before you even start. ANYTHING is possible.

Now, lets look at what you want to do. You want to travel 15 miles to and another 15miles back from your place of work, every day, in all weathers..... in the North.... where its hilly..... and where its cold, wet and damp.......

The imediete solution to spring to mind is...... a car.

Think about this. Warm. Stable. Dry. Has a radio. You don't have to dress up in army surplus to stay dry, or mess your hair putting on a helmet..... its what 99% of people do, there must be good reasons for it.

Bikes; wet, cold, miserable. Have to put special cloths on to ride; risk the damn things will fall over; not be seen by car drivers, and generally aren't all THAT practicle or user freindly.....

To make the leap into the world of powered two wheelers IS to reject convention, which requires a perverse desire to do so, an interest in the persuit, and an enthusiasm above and beyond merely greeting the boss with a cheery grunt every morning.

OK... your reasons, are your reasons... but worth evaluatings hard.

So.... you want to get to and from work... on a powered two wheeler.... cheaper than £120 a month bus-fares.

Well, that distance... just been doing some number crunching, running scenarios, and brand new in the Honda dealers at the moment is the Honda CBR250 sporty commuter, £4,100 its actually only £500 more than the CBR125 sporty-commuter, and £400 less than the Yamaha YZF-R125 sporty commuter, and is on offer with a pretty atractive finance package; £500 down and I think its £80 a month on an zero-apr credit deal. 150 mile a week, 600 miles a month, at 80ish mpg, £40 a month for fuel. So paid for by your bus-fares, anything else for whatever private miles you put on it, in four years time, you have a 'free' bike. This is cheap trouble free motoring.

AND, for that 15 miles each way, up hill and down dale, THAT is the sort of bike I would be looking at. (actually quite compact and liked by smaller ladies that one)

125's are LEarner-Legal. The performance is deliberately restricted to a point where they are 'just' useful enough to give you a good idea what you might do with bikes, but NOT do it very comfortably..... specifically in order to encourage any-one who wants them to do what every other road user has to, take tests and get a full licence.

Your journey is do-able, but picking something to do it on? No other considerations other than just what would do the job.... I'd preffer something a bit more comfy, a bit more stable, a tad heavier and a tad more powerful than the bare minimum, struggle to do the job specs of a 125, and a 250 would fit the bill nicely.

JUST enough extra get up and go to get up hills, and hold a decent road speed without anoying car drivers, trying to push me along, or bully me off the road every time I dropped beneath speed limit. Suspension & wheels that mean I'm bot being bounced around so much by pot holes or blown about by cross winds.

Bigger is Better..... but, much more than a 500 commuter twin, you have to say that for the job, it would be more for mores sake, and most of it luxuary. 125 would do the job, but struggle and not be nice; 250, do it competantly, a 500 'well'.

So..... scooters.... do they make a 250 scooter? Yes they do actually, and they are twist and go, and would do the job. BUT small wheels crude suspension and perverse weight distribution still, probably wouldn't be much better than a 125cc bike... 400 'super-scooter' might so the job about as well as a 250 bike.

125 Scooter? no... idea scares me. Yup it could do the job., but cross winds road bumps bully car drivers? I'd be having a nervouse break-down at the prospect of riding the thing home the first time!

Now.... back to reasonings for wanting a scooter; you couldn't cope with gears in a car, you never got your driving licence, and well, idea that you can jump on a twist and go with nothing more than a CBT cert in your pocket...... its EASY isn't it?

This is where we get to; basically the atraction is purely you DONT have to do tests to get on and do it, isn't it?

Right.... every other road user but bikers have to pass thier tests before they get to use a motorvehicle on thier own unsupervised.

Ironically, motorbikes, THE most dangerous form of motorised transport? No... we let ANY wally loose on thier own after a few hours being told where the controls are!

Just becouse 125's are small, slow and reletively unintimidating does NOT make them any 'safer'. They can still go almost as fast as any other vehicle is legally allowed, and they are just as easily wiped out by careless drivers not seeing them as any other sized bike.... SMIDSY's are indiscriminate.

And if you are brave enough and competant enough to ride ANY powered two wheeler on the road.... well BASICALLY you can do it for 45 minutes infront of an examiner and get a licence that proves it.

If not.... question whether you should be there AT ALL!

So... working with what you got..... why do you want to get a scooter?

If its becouse you dont have the confidence to get a licence... DONT BOTHER... its not risking your life JUST to save £121.50 of test fees an hour of your life and a little anxiety, IS IT?

If you WANT to get a bike, or some description, and ecconomics is a good enough reason, then, think on that commute and self imposed restrictions and hassles trying to do it on a bike that is only just capable of doing it, if a geared 125 and probably, not really capable is a twist and go scooter.

Bigger, not massive, just a little bit bigger, bike whether geared bike or twist and go scooter makes a lot more sense. Same dangers, possibly cheaper costs, more comfort, AND you have to have the licence and in getting it, proved you have got teh competance to ride it, so ought to have the confidence to be reasonably safe.

Yes, talk to the CBT instructor, try a geared bike, BUT.... think about it, and WHY you want to do it, and think hard about the licence, and what is really the best tool for the job, not what is 'easiest'.

Sig line below? See link to my newbie advice pages, all about CBT, getting a licence, bike choices and kit and stuff. Read, ponder and ask what you really want, what you really need and WHY you want to do it.

Dont dive in with these presumptions, like, being short you cant ride a big bike, or that its only a scooter, it must be easy, or its only a little bike, it must be safer! Few if any have much bearing in reality.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[Darth-Simba]

Why is there so much hate for scooters?

[smarjoram]

[stephyt]

what's with the massive lecture?!? hope u don't talk to all newbies like that I'm only on for advice ( which users have kindly givin ) not beclectured at FYI I didn't fail drivers test with the gears I actually got used to the gears I just gave up as I was workin PT n cud no longer afford it Cramlington is not hilly mainly flat as is the journey to work and back berwick must b abt 50-60 miles north of me

so what your gettin at your condoning thousands of ppl on scooters or on 125cc and not riding or potentially riding higher cc bikes just because it doesn't you ?!?

as for being short how the hell am i to know what sizes bike come in that I can use if I've never been shown or whatever I've only been in motorbike shop once last week.. bet it's different from bein sized up for a cycle ?!? have 2 cycles both slightly diff sizes...
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Pace not race xxx

[Teflon-Mike]

[kernow24]

[Rogerborg]