125cc on a motorway!?

Originally Posted by Tomtoms

the only thing is the bikes we find arnt close to us! and it may be a case of me (with a full bike license) riding back down the motorway to save the time of taking a non-motorway detour.

Has anyone done this before? and it is actually legal to ride a 125cc on the motorway (it wont have L plates on) ?

A colleague of mine recently passed his CBT & bought a CBR125. He was looking at getting hold of a van to transport it back, to the tune of £150.

I told him to pay me a few beer tokens & I'd take the train to the bike & ride the bike back. So he paid me £100 (and covered the cost of the train), saved himself some money & I picked up on a few minor faults on the journey, sorting them before he even finished work.

Down a steep hill on an A road (designated as motorway for the purposes of speed limit), with the wind behind me, I struggled to make the thing get to 75mph!

Overtaking was possible, but needed planning approx 3 days in advance. Keep an eye out for cars coming up behind you, and don't be afraid to tailgate if you need to in order to overtake properly.

Check your mirrors more than you do on a bigger bike, as it's a lot easier for traffic to catch up with you!

It's fine. I've done it on a scooter and I was overtaking the lorries on the uphills. It's boring but you can watch the scenery go by.

Traffic here (Malta) usually averages 50mph so 125's make great sense as they reach traffic speed pretty quick, much quicker than cars in fact and are great fun in such an environment. There's great satisfaction to be had in keeping the bike in song and planning turns and overtakes so as not to loose speed.So if you ride in 'A' roads which are somewhat similar to our roads here you'll love the experience. I do.

[ogden]

Originally Posted by Tomtoms

how strange!

i will call my insurance company tonight (im with H & R if anyone already knows how they work?)

I have two policies with H&R, but with different insurers. It depends entirely on the policy.

Often the ability to ride other bikes TPO depends on the capacity of your own bike - under a NIG policy I used to have, if I was insuring a bike > 400cc I could ride any other bike TPO, whereas if I was insuring something smaller I couldn't. The capacity of the other bike was irrelevant.

My current policy for the GSXR (RSA) covers me for any other bike TPO whereas the one for the RGV (Chaucer) doesn't. So check your policy documents carefully. Or ask H&R, they're usually very helpful.

I took my scooter (100cc speedfight) on the A27 dual carrigeway a few summers back. That was a 70 mph road, and sat at 60 mph I was quite alright really. Mind you, I wasn't on the road for too long (7 miles or so?). How long would you be on the motorway?

cheers for that! yeah i will ask them tonight when i give them a call.

hopefully i can get some fairly cheap car insurance with them too!

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

I took my scooter (100cc speedfight) on the A27 dual carrigeway a few summers back. That was a 70 mph road, and sat at 60 mph I was quite alright really. Mind you, I wasn't on the road for too long (7 miles or so?). How long would you be on the motorway?

its a section of the A1 and A1(M). it merges between motorway and A roads a bit.

so wouldnt be that many miles i guess.

I think you would be ok. Just see how you feel from one junction to the next - if its no good for you, then pull off and continue on the smaller roads.

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

I think you would be ok. Just see how you feel from one junction to the next - if its no good for you, then pull off and continue on the smaller roads.

True, i think as soon as im home ill have to jump straight on my SV and take her for a spin! haha

[ogden]

Originally Posted by Tomtoms

True, i think as soon as im home ill have to jump straight on my SV and take her for a spin! haha

Prepare to be disappointed.

The SV will feel like a moped after something like a YBR125.