Moped classes AM / P

[Piercee100]

Bought my son a tidy 1989 Honda Vision for his 16th birthday in June. It's only got to last a year as he will have a restored DT100 when he's 17. Somebody was telling me he may not be able to ride this scooter at 16 due to the change in licence catagories AM replacing P ?

Also, how soon can we send off for his provisional so it arrives in time for his Birthday and then safely book a CBT?
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Rides: Honda H100a (Retired), VT500e (Sold), Kawasaki ZX400 (sold), Kawasaki GT550 (Sold), Suzuki Inazuma (Daily), Honda CD185t (Broken), LML Star 2t (Last run edition).

[andyscooter]

50cc so will be fine as after the 1970s restriction period

an older Suzuki ap50 or fz1e wouldn't be possible due to the fact they can do more then 28mph (30 in normal world)
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gilera runner vxr200 (chavped)
if its spelt wrong its my fat fingers and daft auto correct on my tablet

[Piercee100]

Ty for that
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Rides: Honda H100a (Retired), VT500e (Sold), Kawasaki ZX400 (sold), Kawasaki GT550 (Sold), Suzuki Inazuma (Daily), Honda CD185t (Broken), LML Star 2t (Last run edition).

[Rogerborg]

The current Vision 50 is advertised as AM, and it's not like Dibble is going to do a lot of background research.

That said, we have heard of Operation Pedboi Sweep where Farces bag college kids en masse, put their peds on rolling roads, say "Oh dear, oh dear, it can do 29mph. " and hand out LC20 + IN10s like sweeties.

Just prep him that if he is tugged, be adamant that it's an AM vehicle, not to admit to anything, and personally I wouldn't even give them the satisfaction of watching them performing any such (irrelevant) test.
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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

[M.C]

Technically he can't, I don't remember the precise date but it was something like 2003 they started restricting 'peds to 28mph. In reality no one will care, if he's not doing 40+ on a de-restricted 2-stroke he's unlikely to raise suspicion. It's another example of the pedantic mess the EU left us in with their brilliant bike laws.

[Piercee100]

Well, collected it from Hastings last night and rode it back to Medway which is around 45 miles pinned at 32mph so that must be a real world 28mph! Good fun and as far as I can tell, 16yr old safe. It's not really ped boi friendly being 80's boxy styled so should be a safe bet. Might add him a top box with a big L on it so even less chance of being pulled- He's too lazy to take it off lol. Seems to have proper Honda quality to it too (remember that folks?).
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Rides: Honda H100a (Retired), VT500e (Sold), Kawasaki ZX400 (sold), Kawasaki GT550 (Sold), Suzuki Inazuma (Daily), Honda CD185t (Broken), LML Star 2t (Last run edition).

[Fizzoid]

[Monkeywrenche...]

[Rogerborg]

[M.C]

[andy46]

Hi all, I don't post much on here because usually someone has already said what i would say, usually using a lot less words, but I don't think the OP is being made aware of the possible bad outcome here.

Mopeds made between 1976 and 2003 had to be restricted to 50kph (31mph) in order to comply with regs and be classed as mopeds (rather than motorcycles).

From 2003 this restriction was lowered to 45kph (28mph) due to EU meddling.

These restrictions were based on "design speed" and manufacturers or importers had to certify that the vehicle complied in order to pass UK or EU type approval.

The OP's son has a provisional licence to ride category AM which is a motorcycle restricted to 45kph - commonly called a moped.

Only mopeds made after 2003 come into this new AM category.

He will therefore be riding a machine which he doesn't have a licence for and although it is a technicallity he might just as well be riding a 750 as his licence isn't technically valid for that either.

This means that his insurance very likely won't be valid and in the event of a third party claim the insurance company would be able to cancel the policy and make a legal claim against the policyholder to get back any money they paid out.

Of course this would only happen if they realised or know about the different classes of moped or different licence catergories, and could be bothered to claim their money back. Having a cancelled policy on record isn't good, but then again that probably won't happen either.

I found all this shit out when my daughter was 16 and I got her a moped - I had to change my mind about what to get her as I simply didn't think it was worth the very small risk of getting caught out.

I have no idea whether anyone has been caught out by this but I am sure that it's not a "grey area" of the law - it may be a law which isn't enforced due to general ignorance of it. Or it might be that there just aren't enough pre 2003 mopeds around being ridden by otherwise legal 16 year olds for it to be a recognised issue.

OP I'm really sorry to piss on your chips but I thought it best you make an informed choice on what to do - so weigh up the risks/costs to you and all the best from me.

[Rogerborg]

[M.C]

Fairly certain I said all that in about 100 less characters. It's a very small discrepancy, and one that in reality won't stop most mopeds doing about 35mph. My understanding was that the introduction of the AM class was to introduce those stupid little cars (like the Renault Twizy), not to stop teenagers breaking the 30mph barrier, which as we both pointed out was actually implemented a decade earlier.

[Rogerborg]

[Andy_Pagin]

When it comes to getting caught/convicted for a moped offence I suspect the 'attitude test' is crucial. If Piercee100s' lad is a pedboi knob-end then the choice of bike is a bad idea. The fact that he's willing to ride a bike styled like a tumble-dryer that's considerably older than he is suggests he's not the sort of rider who'll attract plods' attention.
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[M.C]

[andy46]

[Kickstart]

[Rogerborg]