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Transition: Moped to 125.

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Riejufixing
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PostPosted: 03:30 - 08 Nov 2018    Post subject: Transition: Moped to 125. Reply with quote

Well, the boy's coming up to 17, and has been riding a restricted twist'n'go Peugeot Kisbee 50cc since February.

Soon, if all continues well, he'll have a nice Rieju RS3 to ride, and be able to do 80 on a thing with gears, and unfamiliar controls.

So, the parental worry goes from "He might be hit by something" to "He might hit something". If you see what I mean.

The question then is what steps can be taken to mitigate the risk?

Training of some sort (what)? Some proper gear (that he can afford, what)?

Urgle.
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pepperami
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PostPosted: 10:22 - 08 Nov 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

He’s been riding around on the roads already.
He will have some idea of what to expect.
On the plus side, he may be able to accelerate out of trouble, however the other side of that coin is the higher speeds he’ll be traveling.

I guess finding some quieter back roads and time for him to get acquainted with his need steed.
Plus you drumming into him to take it easy for a while.
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 11:17 - 08 Nov 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

To quote Arthur Ransom, Swallows & Amazons:
"If duffers will drown. Better Drowned than duffers"

Impertinently; did you stick the lad on a push bike when he was about three? Did you make him wear a cycle hat? How long did that last? How many buckled bike rims ensued in the intervening decade as he and his mates built ramps on the park and tried to do super-man or other big air stunts? How many Toys-r-us specials did you indulge him with each Christmas when you were fed up of trying to fix broken saddle clamps with old kitchen unit washers and super-glue?

Hmmmm... statistically, cycling is about if not more dangerous than riding a motorbike... did you have such qualms about indulging this mode of transport before he could ride something sporting a registration plate?

If not, more fool you... he was at as much risk on that as this.... and the major danger is STILL not the bike, or how fast it might go... but how much of a duffer he gonna be.....

MY approach having gone through this with my kids, was to limit financial aid, and spanner support... your bike, your problem... they fall off and cant go cause carnage for a few weeks while they save up to fix it... well, its a lesson, and in the mean-time, no bike, not (so!) much risk of bike accident!

They learn!

They dont LIKE it... but they learn!

Training! Great thing to get... but finding a school that will offer anything but CBT and DAS courses for higher licences these days can be hard. We have a wonderful old sckool school nearby, that still does 125 training old-school style in weekly two hour lessons, which if bought with a CBT course is barely much more expensive than a CBT alone on your own bike, and for the price of a repeat CBT that your lad will need to perpetually L-Plate until eligible to do A2, gets you a full A1-125 only licence.

My strategy; insist he go get a full A1 licence. If he cant find lessons locally, then its NOT so hard to do it DIY... I'd even pay for it... costs about £120 or so all in if he pases Theory/Haz, Mod 1 and Mod 2 first time each time.... and he'll learn as much (about passing tests!) on even a failed test than he would on a lesson.

The tests are actually the same, whether for A1 - 125, A2 restricted big bike, or Ride-Wot-You-Like 'A' via DAS at 24.... they are just taken on the bigger bike, which between A2 and A is probably just swapping a black-box ignition module to release the extra ponies.

IF he can pass tests on a 125... no real reason hge cant pass on a big bike... and in two years, can rock up to test for A2, and get that higher licence, pretty sure he can pass tests, and get ahead by that to test for RWYL-A at 21, three years before doing it in a oner by DAS.. probably on the same bike he's been riding fopr two years, adding L-'s and de-restricting in the car-park, with similar confidence that having done tests now twice, repeating to get all restrictions lifted should be a piece of pizz....

In the meanwhile, doing and passing A1, gets the clock started on the New-Driver-Probation, where they can 'revoke' the licence for just 6 points rather than 12, AND riding about on a sporty 125, IS mopre likely to get him them points when I believe its 2-points per defective of missing L-Plate.... and they can get pedantic about them being cut down or stuck horizontal on a front mudguard, or nibbled at the bottom on the back by man-handling the thing onto the road each morning... let alone, being cought riding onto the pavement outside the chippy, or pulling a wheelie outside the school gates, etc.... But, that probation, will be counting down in his favour the moment he gets his first full licence, and getting one via A1 on his own bike, is pretty cheap and easy, gets that out the way, and he dont have to spend the full two years pratting about with a ruddy red 'L' on his bum, belying the fact that njo matter how much fancy plastic there may be around the thing, to make it 'look' like something more than it is... its still 'only' a 125.... A-N-D disipline and diligence of doing that bit of learning, and taking tests... SHOULD instill some 'pride' some 'sense' and some common cocum that will help him survive the roads.....

If duffers will drown, better drowned than duffers... you just HAVE to at some point let them get on with it, and IF they are deturmined to learn the hard way... learn the hard way.....

Plenty of ways teenager can end up deaded... and to be honest, the real risks little darling might dead themselves on a bike ARE compared to those of taking a bad 'e' or having thier drink spiked in a club, or jumping off a motorway bridge conmvinced they can fly on an acid trip.. ACTUALLY not that big....

Like I say, IF duffers will drown, better drowned than duffers... and the more you do to try and wrap them in cotton wool, odds is the more they will do to make life more dangerouse doing other things... probably without a clue to just how dangerouse they are, LIKE sticking a toddler on a push bike......

Once they have a full licence? Well, they are the qwualified road user... pays your money and take your chances kid.... but congratulations, let me buy you a beer.... Oh-Kay, your not old enough to drink... lets get a bottle go home, and look at this ere machine of yours in the shed, and ponder doing deviouse things to it....

GEAR... well, yeah, gear is good, but how many cycle hats did you buy before they could have a driving licence? How many were actually used? A-N-D gear only saves hurt when common sense hasn't.. and they HAVE crashed... and then, its not an invulnerability shield, and 'might' save 'some' hurt in 'some' situations... its no better than a wooly hat in a low impact off, where impact force is no higher than banging head on a low door-frame in quant country pub; face plant a Scania at 50... you probably gonna go to the morgue, and there's not SO many scenarios that it can genuinely be said that "Oh yes! That T-Pro armour saved my spine, I'd not still be walking without it!"...

Better to NOT crash to begin with... and kids will be kidz... your have to let them graze thier knee a few times, and sick their fingers in the fire to prove to themselves you are telling them the truth.. on which score, NOT giving them so much protective gear, letting them get some sense of vulnerability, maybe, might get them to think a bit more... if not? You were onto a looser before you began, and back to Arthur....

For the most part, Let him get on with it... let go... you cant keep'em wrapped in cotton wool forever; allo you can do is educate and advise... and HOPE that they take some notice... and NOT spoil them in the mean-time, kidding yourself its all for thier 'good', when it probably isn't and its like trying to mold plasticine... squeeze it one way, it squidges out the other... and all you can do is HOPE what you do is 'better' than something else....

If it's any consolation? No1 unson, has been riding oooh, about 15 years now. I refused to help him get a 125 of his own; I DID offer to help him get a full licence, but alure of a clapped out 2T 125 was too much, and it took him over two years to bite the bullet; then on 33bhp restrict, more project bikes than even I have, all over ambitiouse clapped out 600 sports wrecks, before he was convinced to get a 'sensible' GPz500 twin... which he then wrecked... beforte getting a 900 as soon as his restriction lapes... and T-boning a taxi! It was the taxi drivers fault aparently... he turned 'right' without inndicating, as he was 'filtering' past.... Hmmm... why was traffic going so slow he could filter... and how the HECK do you write off a taxi, bumping into its door at 'filtering' speeds.... hmmmm.. which is but ONE in a very long list of 'incidents' it took him to learn that riding a bike you cant afford, with no brakes 'cos new pads is not as important as a new jacket, is NOT really such a great idea....

As said, kids will be kids.. better drowned than duffers... they WILL learn, one way or another, because of you, despite you, inspite of you, or just to spite you... and you just have to let them get on with it... same as when they pedalled off on that push bike and hid the cycle hat in the nearest convenient hedge out of sight.....

Sometimes, the hardest thing to do, is nothing, but that is so often the very best thing you CAN do..... especially when it comes to teen-age offsprogs!
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vp1977uk
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PostPosted: 13:00 - 08 Nov 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

You should do a CBT aswell. Its only £150. You'll get an understanding of biking and ride he's 125cc too. You might even like it.
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talkToTheHat
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PostPosted: 17:03 - 08 Nov 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

CBT, then licence, then a bikesafe or ERS.
Mod1 high speed manouvers component is really useful. Consider that a major factor identifeid in the HURT report was an inabilty of riders to properly emergency stop or perform a swerve evasion and these are part of the mod1.

But if there's one key bit of knowledge that keeps younger riders alive its cars stop faster than bikes, particularly modernish cars that detect an emergency stop and automatically apply maximum braking effort. A proper instructior probably has ways of communicating this that might reach a teenager better than doing the worrying parent thing.

If he's going to come off, it's more likely to be at 20-30 in an urban environment, 125 is probably safer than a 50 as it can actually keep up with urban traffic.

There's lots of CE rated kit out there (as in whole garment, not just impact), but kit that is worn is more use than kit that isnt. Surprisingly, lined jeans (the stuff that looks like regular denim) have some of the best safety ratings (check labels) due to the suspicion such items have been regarded with. AlpineStars (and others) make bike boots that look like trainers.

You're probably wasting your time considering fluorescent yellow or or other such loud kit, but there's loads of kit out there with fairly subtle markings in retroreflective material that shows up really well in headlights (phone camera flash is good for visualising this).
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Riejufixing
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PostPosted: 13:09 - 09 Nov 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Christ! I'll read through the above when I feel better. Bennett's, quote, ~£4K, TPFT. If that's really the case, he will not be riding it.
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