50cc bike for a 16year old?

I work on bikes for a living, chinese stuff is terrible imho cheaply made and poor quality materials.

A 4 stroke 50cc won't pull a greasy stick out of a dogs bum..

We sell loads of Piaggio Zip 2 stroke scooters, ideal first bike and reliable. They're discontinued now due to Euro emissions (we had the last 10, might have 1 left in stock?).

If you go for a 2nd hand one make sure it hasn't been messed about with, usually a "mate" has tuned it up..

They do 40mph with a little tinkering, technically not allowed at 16 but significantly safer than being stuck at 28mph..

Once again, avoid Chinese like the plague!.

Think Yamaha still make an Aerox 50 2 stroke, they aren't to bad.

Geared 50's you're looking at big money for an Aprilia RS50, be VERY careful buying a 2nd hand geared 50 as they just get run into the ground.

Post up what you're thinking of buying and I'll let you know if we've had any good or bad experiences with them Ian.
 
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I'm with Keithmac on most things he mentions.

The Yamaha FSIE I had for my 16th birthday cost me old man £340. I was its 4th owner. It's still on the road today, it's on its 48th owner & will cost you approx £3.5k - £4.5k to buy similar.

Avoid Chinese like the plague.

Have a look around for a 2nd hand bike from one of the big 4, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki or Suzuki, possibly an Aprillia but definately NOT anything you have never heard of & definately NOT anything Chinese.

The first bike, the 50cc at 16 is something they will never forget. It's transport (freedom) & only needs to last 1 year. If you buy right then you can pass it on to the next years 16yr old & not lose a penny.

Avoid Chinese like the plague.
 
Dork Lard said:
The Yamaha FSIE I had for my 16th birthday cost me old man £340.
Click to expand...

When I was at school, the 'fizzer' was the bike to have. Unfortunately only those with funds from the bank of mum and dad got those, then they usually moved on to an RD 250/350 LC. My old man didn't want me on a bike, so had to fund my own and had to settle for a Suzuki B120 in an uncool odd pinky/red colour. Still, it was freedom, and as Arthur Daley once said "second class motoring is better than first class walking". Bought it for £30, used it for 18 months, then sold it to the local bike breakers for £15. Cheap transport. Next bike was the old Honda Wet Dream. Great improvement on the previous bike.
 
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Couldn't afford the japanese mopeds in my youth, so had to make do with a Gilera...
(I envied the fizzy and suzuki riders)

Typically Italian was the Gilera - looked good, but spent more time off the road than on :LOL:

A mate still has an AP50 that he occasionally gets it out for a laugh.

Smells awful, but still runs well !
 
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ReganAndCarter said:
When I was at school, that was the 'fizzer' was the bike to have. Unfortunately only those with funds from the bank of mum and dad got those, then they usually moved on to an RD 250/350 LC. My old man didn't want me on a bike, so had to fund my own and had to settle for a Suzuki B120 in an uncool odd pinky/red colour. Still, it was freedom, and as Arthur Daley once said "second class motoring is better than first class walking". Bought it for £30, used it for 18 months, then sold it to the local bike breakers for £15. Cheap transport. Next bike was the old Honda Wet Dream. Great improvement on the previous bike.
Click to expand...

The bank of mum & dad isn't so bad when you consider the average 15yr old was earning £5 a week on a paper round or £15 a week if you were lucky enuff to do the milk.

My dad paid £340 for my fizzy & it wasn't until well after he passed that I learned the true cost to him. I used that bike to travel to my first ever job where I earned £45 a week !

Us 16yr olds had no money & we needed a 'guarantor' to sign for any HP.

I feel for you, I really do with regards to the B120. The lad in our gang who had one . . . His nickname was 'Runt' :)
 
When I was a teenager you could ride a bike on L plates with a provisional license up to 250cc. My Suzuki GT250 could do 90 mph and my Yamaha XS250 (the four stroke, not the two stroke RD) was a lovely bike, wish I'd kept it.
 
ellal said:
Couldn't afford the japanese mopeds in my youth, so had to make do with a Gilera...
(I envied the fizzy and suzuki riders)
Click to expand...

The Gilera trials 50 was absolutely epic IMO. Much nicer looking and fast if you new how to use a set of files. I always thought they were cool as. Fantic cabby was too. I had an AP 50, uglier than the fizzy but at least it had a proper gearbox lol. My mate had his fizzy rebored and ported to take an rd 125 piston...the barrel was so thin it collapsed regular as. Halcyon days. Sold my 350lc to a breakers yard for 100 quid when it seized for the umpteenth time. Beckett pipes, full race fairing, rearsets, etc etc. Our new boy needed a fooking pram or something. Wish I had it now :cry:
 
mitch66 said:
The Gilera trials 50 was absolutely epic IMO.
Click to expand...
Had the touring version myself.

If I'd I realised how rare the yellow tank/blue frame was I wouldn't have sprayed the tank with a matching (or so I thought) metallic blue paint can from halfords - and would have kept it as an original!

Had a 'near death experience' on a Bob Gollner KT250 (bored out to 270) that I owned slightly later, and decided on 4 wheels from then on!
 
Never heard of Yamaski before!.

We had a "Hongda" in once, bloody cheek of it!.

All the sellers of Chinese sh1t always go down the line of "its got a Honda engine in it", when we tell the customers it hasn't they look a bit annoyed to say the least..

We had a Chinese bike in that was a carbon copy of a Honda CB 125 F, panels/ tank/ clocks etc looked completely interchangeable.

China have no copyright/ patent protection so they just churn out badly made copies of everything (including Range Rovers and Iphones etc).

Must be some massive back handers flying around for them to get through Type Approval.

I repaired a 125 scooter with 500 miles on it, toffee cam chain failed and wrecked the engine, bike only cost £900 new but he still paid us £500 to fix it, madness!.

Motman said:
Sounds like a quality Japanese hybrid but it’s just a piece of Chinese Shyte.

https://onetwodeal.co.uk/advert/yamasaki-ym50-50cc-2018-03-18-14-45-32

They had some of these in 125cc size at the MOT training centre. Proper crap and they couldn’t hit 40mph.
Click to expand...
 
had a Yamaha DT 175 , then an RD 250 . several cub Hondas 50 & 90 . there after it was all British bikes apart from 2 Harleys :eek:

Still got a 1971 Norton Commando 750.

Always remermber my mother when I first got into bikes . "make sure u got clean under wear on " " just in case u have an accident & end up in hospital"

:) Have an accident end up in hospital yer mother turns up sees the doctor , yer son has 2 broken legs , broken ribs ect . But that's not the worse of it Mrs Transam . His under wear was a kin disgrace :LOL:
 
My sister had a Honda Express NC50.
She sold it years ago, but it's still going!
 
I was on the Honda site today and saw this:
E456CD2E-F084-400F-A8BE-7559AA811BF2.png


Where it says a 16year old can have a 125cc moped, does that mean a just scooters or bikes too?

We have been looking and he likes the Honda MSX125 and the Yamaha MT125.

The place where he will do the CBT will hire him a 50cc bike on a monthly basis, we thought so that for a couple of months then buy one of the above. I’d get the Yamaha myself:

E7C5A482-D230-4753-A8CA-3AC6BFC26E85.jpeg
 
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