Recommend a ped for a young lady?

[trisers]

Well it had to happen eventually i suppose...my eldest daughter now wants a moped to get to college with. She (well, actually me lol) will be on a budget so it will be a second hand machine...might stretch to £500 if need be.

I'm a pretty confident DIY engineer and i'll be taking care of maintenance etc which is no problem so i'm looking for something that primarily would be reliable, but the spares would be reasonably priced and easy to get hold of.

I realise anything second hand is likely to have had the balls ragged off it so what engines/gearboxes/drive units seem to be the most indestructible?

In short, what make/models would anyone suggest to have a look at?

I should add she's only 5`4" tall so it would need to be easily handled too!

[connornrg]

simple to be honest. Nothing Chinese, everything else is good. for smaller people i find the Piaggio typhoon a good choice it is produced in both 50 and 125 cc versions (unsure of your daughters age)
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Bikes (Not Bikes Really Just Shitty Mopeds)
**04 - Piaggio NRG MC3**02 - Yamaha Aerox 50/100**07 - Piaggio NRG Power - Shit.**

[tvchimp]

Why a moped in particular? Is she 16 or 17+ ?

Probably will be repeated by other people, but if she's going to be serious about 2 wheeled transport then she might be better off getting a geared motorbike!

I'd personally stick to the 'main' manufacturers, more reliable, parts and spares are easier to come buy and if she needs help on it, no doubt people will be able to give advice on it straight away.

- Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki (although not sure if Kawa did mopeds?!), also look at Piaggio if she does want a moped, their Zip and Vespa models are 'ok'...

I had/have a Suzuki UF50, used it for my CBT. Pretty good, nothings gone wrong on it and still in daily use. My brother uses it on and off when he wants and he has no issues with it..
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Bike: Currently Bikeless... Gahh

[Teflon-Mike]

My preference is the good old Honda C50.
Not very stylings, I grant you, BUT!
- step-thru frame.
- Low centre of gravity
- Four-stroke engine
- BIG wheels (for a scooterette moped thing!) = stability.
- 3 speed gearbox with centrifugal clutch.
Ecconomical as they come.
Dependable as they come.
Parts are very available
They are pretty cheap

I dont like the flyweight plastic fantastics with little wheels, they are just to a-stable & flighty. Might be more stylish and have e-start, and twist and go rideability, but there's just so much, that from the point of view of engineering asthetics is just SOooooo wrong with them.

When Sochiro Honda stood over the team responsible for the 'Cub' moped, he wanted to build the 'Bike for ANYONE' and make it the BEST in class..... fact that its still here fifty years on, and has been the worlds biggest selling motorvehicle EVER, just shows how good it was right from the start.

Ultimately, probably be as much down to what you can actually find out there, and for £500 you CAN get brand-new Chinese mopeds..... they aint great, but if they work, and last a couple of years while she's doing her A-Levels? Might be as good as anything else..... they aren't well built though, and if they do go wrong there is VERY little support for them.... BUT if you know the basics, bottom line is its a simple two-stroke single, probably with belt drive, no more complicated than a strimmer...... A spark-plug is a spark plug, a coil a coil. There will be bits for them on teh shelf, and you can without too much ingenuity substitute parts if needs be..... though there are the odd things that can be awkward, and it will be more of a ball-ache than a better known quantity.... but it is brand new..... which probably doesn't count for very much at all, to be honest!

The 'sports' mopeds are probably out of your price range, anyway, and older ones that might fall into it, will more than likely have been thrashed to death by now, Which means a scooter is the logical choice...... and away from Chinese, you'll be looking at I dont know what Euro-Brands...... and the odd Jap.

Given the value of bike you are looking at, I think that even a euro or Jap of an age to be that cheap, may be 'iffy' for bits and reliability... though possibly a tad easier to sort than a chink..... VERY tricky call.....

Hence my fail-safe, the tried, trusted, proven, C50.

Its what I got my eldest when he was 16 & in similar situation. Paid £250 for one, needed some scubbing up to get it through an MOT, mainly adjusting the brakes and replacing the drive chain, and did him well while he was at college.

Think its still my top choice.

But a Chinese 50, with a £500 price tag, preferably one with an OTR price tag, presented with number-plate and tax disc, (might be £599 or so) would HAVE to get some seriouse consideration.

Biggest consideration though is the insurance & 'kit'. six years ago, lads C50 cost about £400 to insure, Third Party Only. Wasn't any point getting Fire & Theft or Fully Comp, minimum compulsary excesses were more than the bike was worth!

Then theres the hat, coat & gloves, the cost of the provisional, AND the CBT.....

By the time your done, its NO cheap deal, HOWEVER expensive the bike is in the fiorst place!

What sort of budget have you set 'all in' to get her 'on the road'?

Maybe you could massage it a little, or thing to heck with it, if its going to cost THAT much, a couple of hundred extra on teh bike to get a good'n, & save ME grief, is niether here nor there......

Or vica versa..... stuff it, get as cheap as you can, & if it goes up the duff, just get another one!
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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?'

[trisers]

Thanks for the advice so far, i've certainly taken on board the comments about chinese stuff and looking through the workshop forum i can understand why! My own work involves working on some chinese engineering from time to time too and more often than not i don't fix it i just declare it beyond economic repair as it is so fragile and cheap to replace anyway.

Said daughter is 16 and the plan is two years at college before she goes to uni so it will be for a couple of years motoring...after that she intends to be on campus at uni then go for a car when she's finished there.

Of course being a teenager i can see styling is going to come into it oh joy but having gears rather than twist 'n' go won't be a requirement as she hasn't expressed an interest in becoming a biker...at least not yet!

So would it be better to go jap rather than european or is the difference at the cheap (second hand) end neither here nor there?

[Bendy]

Go for condition rather than name, a lot of peds all seem to use the same guts regardless of what's written on the side, and I wouldn't discount Peugeot, Gilera or Aprillia on the basis of 'not Japanese'.

Just avoid anything that's been barried - if it's got a 'race' exhaust on it then someone's tried to get more power and that's probably a bad thing.

That said, we picked up a Speedfight with a race pipe, taxed and tested for £250 and took it straight out on a moped endurance race with no problems.... and I barely serviced my Malaguti in 7000 miles of ownership so I'd say peds are usually pretty tough.

[stinkwheel]

From personal experience. Get something with an electric start.

My gf loves her little YB100 but I did get a lot of earache about kick starting it. It nearly got thrown on the floor a few times.

Going out and demonstrating starting it first kick does not improve the situation.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Paivi]

[0l0dom0l0]

go for a peugeot v click. retail at £800 brand new. better quailty than anything you will find for that price. probally pick one up almost brand new second hand for £500. wont go wrong!

[tahrey]

Alternative: thing I rode on hols, which was practically flawless :p except for the crazy linked-brake system, and the centre stand which is hard to figure til someone shows you.

Honda Lead (SH) 125, it's basically some kind of Piaggio joint venture so it has that italian link for a touch of style, pretty quick, lots of cubby holes (fit your lunch in the front one ), step through so it's nice and easy to hop on and off, full auto of course, comfy (seat appears to be made for fat yanks), leg guards in a slightly Cub stylee. Big-ish wheels too.

Dunno if they do 50s, or if you'll find any old enough to fit your budget, though. Not any that'll still go. They were quite pricey brand-new.
Maybe there's an actual Piaggio version which could be a bit cheaper?

[WhitesnowR1]

Honda Lead (SH) 125 is rather a good thing I suppose, but I think YBR 125 is what needed. It has 2 wheels and it's easy in riding . It's not as heavy as many bikes.

[Clanger]

Make sure she actually wants or expects a moped to start with.

Me and my mother had a discussion about me getting a motorbike, and she agreed...and on my 16th birthday I ran downstairs and out to the shed and saw my Suzuki FZ50 step through moped.

I was gutted. Totally totally mortified. She justified it by saying girls sit on mopeds and boys ride motorbikes.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[tahrey]

Difference is Whitesnow, you can't have a sh125 or a ybr at 16. I'm sure they do the Lead in a 50 though.

Clanger... which one are you? I'm not sure

[map]

From experience go with a Vespa. However, they are more expensive. Less fragile plastic fairings and side. The one we've got, LX50, is metal so can be bashed back into shape and screwed back together.

Another one I've had good reports from is a Peugeot Speedfight 2.

I'd avoid a Honda. You'd think they'd be reliable but the one my lad ended up with is a bit of a lemon. This is probably down to previous owners trying to increase the performance, something you'll have to watch for in 2nd hand kit of this kind.

HTH
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...and the whirlwind is in the thorn trees, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks...
Gibbs, what did Duckie look like when he was younger?

[Myler]

Got my sister a Yamaha Neo's 50 for her first scoot,
paid £400 for it with full mot but no tax. it was a couple of years old but was like new. very easy to ride, a light scooter
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Current: 1988 Yamaha Fzr400 3en1 Project
Past: 1994 Suzuki Gn125, 2005 Aprilia Sportcity 125, Benelli Pepe 50, 2000 GasGas 249 'txt', 2004 Yamaha Neo's 50, 1990 Yamaha Tzr 125

[c_dug]

[UnspeedySam]

[Paivi]