Hi, ivbe been working up in london for a few months now. I'm finding travel costs very expensive, i live in zone 5 so my montly travel card costs £169, and with the proposed fare increases could soon be coming closer to 200! Thats like a quarter of my wages!

I've been thinking of getting a moped for commuting on. Id be looking at buying something like a 50cc Honda vision or similar retro cheap model :) roughly how much would insurance cost for an 18 year old with a years no claims on a car licence? and also roughly how mucg would it cost for petrol about 34 miles a day?

Cheers! Rich

You'll need to do your CBT, I'm not sure what insurance is like for young riders, but if you go on somewhere like Bennetts and do a quote, that'll give you an idea. As for fuel from a 50, you'll probably see about 70mpg.

Riding in London is scary as fuck, I've done it a few times and everyone clearly has their head way up their arse, so if you can spend a bit of time with an experienced rider, that'll work well in your favour.

about £150-200, obviously depending on your area but i would get something like a 125 because 50's way under powered

Cheers for the comments guys

That was my main worry I would definatly wait until after the winter to start as I've never ridden a moped before. I work 7-3:30 so id be missing the rush hour traffic. However itll still be manic! What do you mean by the riding with a more expericanced rider comment?

Also the 150-200 insurance, is that a year or a month? If its a month it wouldnt be saving me that much money at all :( I'm mainly thinking of this idea to save on travel, and for the novelty of owning another vehicle

per year depends very much on your area tho

200 on per year roughly and get a Peugeot Speedfight, there great mopeds, also cheap to run, I'm on a moped whilst my car is getting a full makeover and there good but sometimes in the morning the coldness can be unbareable

mine was £166 on a 50 gilera runner same cicumstances and that used to do like 365km for a tenners fuel so it was very rare to see me at a petrol station

Get a c90, 100idh to the gallon. my insurance was about 300. tax is 15 a year. a tanks about 3-4 quid, and they're a laugh to ride. Just look out for rust and dont be a pleb like me and try jumping the fucking thing.

mine was 147 a year on a aprillia sr50 at 16 with a cbt

You've all got me wanting a Derbi GPR-50 now.

mine was 160 a year at 16 on a 2 grand vespa pk50 and i got 100mpg and a manual gearbox

Cheers for the comments guys

That was my main worry I would definatly wait until after the winter to start as I've never ridden a moped before. I work 7-3:30 so id be missing the rush hour traffic. However itll still be manic! What do you mean by the riding with a more expericanced rider comment?

Get someone who's ridden down there a lot to show you the ropes, there's so much goes off down there that certainly isn't in my highway code. As a rule, you need to be fucking good at filterring.

Wicked thats alot cheaper for insurance than I thought it would be!

in reply to Yeti- I dont know anyone thats ever done the route, but ill probably drive it a couple of times to get used to the roads.

Id be looking at buying something like a 50cc Honda vision or similar retro cheap model :) roughly how much would insurance cost for an 18 year old with a years no claims on a car licence? and also roughly how mucg would it cost for petrol about 34 miles a day?

Cheers! Rich

i remember the days when you struggled to get a quids worth of 4 star in the tank of a honda vision, and that would give you a full weekend thrashing it around fields

Id stay away from derbi tbh IIRC the gpr is a copy of an rs (had an rs rebuilt it twice in one month and got rid) , i find the build quality is a bit on the shit side, i have always sworn by jap bikes, and as said honda c90 there virtually bulletproof, mine only died because i had a mix and match of engines (was good tho with the 110 triple valve bore and head ) the original block heat siezed once and kicked over fine atfter 10 mins :).

Or if you have got your heart set on a little sports bike id reccomend the nsr 125, cracking little bikes and have a bit more power than 50`s.

Insurance will be dirt cheap compared to a car as well.

Hope this helps and be careful out there, some right wankers on the road.

Id be looking at buying something like a 50cc Honda vision or similar retro cheap model :) roughly how much would insurance cost for an 18 year old with a years no claims on a car licence? and also roughly how mucg would it cost for petrol about 34 miles a day?

Cheers! Rich

i remember the days when you struggled to get a quids worth of 4 star in the tank of a honda vision, and that would give you a full weekend thrashing it around fields

Your way too old

how far do you need to commute?

honda zoomer. cant go wrong, absolutly bombproof and 4 stroke, did over 10k on mine in a year and insurance was only 130 quid for the year at 16 pm me if u want more info bud.

I'd reccomend staying away from 2 stroke sportsbike 125s at first to be honest, tooo many dogs about and difficult to insure properly on L plates. Get something cheap and shit at first, get to know it, kill it then upgrade or repeat steps 1-3.

I used to commute from Euston station to Hampstead and back on a mountain bike last year,was the quickest way to do it. Cant see a 50 being any quicker but still it'll piss on cars down the more restricted routes.

Its not the way forward in Milton Keynes as we have a by-pass grid for speedy car use and a seperate cycle network for bikes - but nowhere for mopeds, you'd need something far more powerful on these roads.

Still,I've considered running a bike alongside the car. But there's no suitable insurance packages i know of? Apart from restricted mileage on both policies,i dont see a fair way of doing it when one is off the road whenever I'm using the other one! Why dont insurers offer a package that insures both vehicles? Or does such a policy exist?

I just have two policies, one for the van and one for the scooter.

its worth the money to travel in style just do it! scooters are shizer!

I have a honda CG125.

Bike: £200

Insurance: £150

CBT: £100

petrol: 100mpg (easily)

so that's £450 i spent on getting on the road, and i spend next to nothing on petrol for a 20 mile commute.

honda cg125 are probably the best beginner bike around.

fucuking cold in this weather though... wait till summer lol.

I used to commute from Euston station to Hampstead and back on a mountain bike last year,was the quickest way to do it. Cant see a 50 being any quicker but still it'll piss on cars down the more restricted routes.

was gonna say, the easiest and cheapest way is by bike surely.

One massive tip. spend as much as you can afford possible on a helmet. Try loads on, youll know when youve got the right one. Can you reallly put a price on your face/brain?