Cycling transition to Scooter

[ukoldschool]

Scooters? Here's mine

 

[Brads]

Cool scoot.

The TV I posted earlier is a ridgeback 1959 flavour. I have a few, lovely expensive wallet draining things.

 

[byegad]

I'm not such a fan of the staggered licence system. Despite many attempts by different bodies to prove it, including the Governments TRRL, there is no link between horsepower and the likelihood if crashing a motorbike. After all, if its so brilliant rten why wasnt it applied ro new car drivers?

As a motorbicyclistist of 34 years to standing myself, I know first hand that you're far, far safer on any middleweight sports bike at 70mph, with brakes and handling to spare, the than you would be on a CG125, where you're right at the ragged edge of handling, on skinny bakelite wheels with very limited grip, and well beyond the ability of the brakes to help you if you get into trouble.

Riding across the country to get back to barracks I was far, far safer at 18 years old on my GSXR1100 than I was the week before on my 30bhp KMX200. 70 is 70, 30 is 30, 100 is 100, regardless of the engine beneath you - it's how and where you decide to do those speeds that matters, and the 33 BHP limit is zero impediment to that.

Being a tit is the problem. You can still be a tit on an estate road oitside a school at 100mph with 33bhp. The limited power in no way makes you immune to being a prat, and in no way negates any of the laws of physics when you muff it up.

I'm old enough to start riding when a 16yr old learner could buy a 250cc, which back in the late 1960s could potentially get you close to 100mph, and a test which involved riding around the block in either direction and fake emergency stop. I also remember the change to 16yr old being limited to 50cc, then at 17 a learner could only ride a 125cc. That change taught a new rider to use the throttle as an off/on device, meaning, as a friend of mine sadly demonstrated that once past the silly test you could buy a machine capable of well over the 'ton', and wrap it and, fatally, yourself around a tree.

My mother was worried stiff about her son riding a bike, and I had to take the RAC/ASU training scheme before she was happy to let me out. Speaking to my elder son, who took his bike test in 2016, the licence test sounds much like that needed to pass the RAC/ACU test in 1969. Observed riding over a road course, slow riding to prove control and a theory test.

While today's test may not be perfect, it at least is as good as the modern deriving test, a fact I can confirm from my driving instructor years.