My mad mate and a moped

[Odd-no-more]

A friend is intending to do a run for charity, along with his son, they are setting off in Wales and riding to Essex (the actual route has not been decided on yet) In itself not Mad but the bikes chosen for the trip should make it interesting he (28stones) is riding a 100cc mini chopper his son also a bigish man is doing it on a 50cc moped. They are planning to do it on the 25 March, so the weather may be not so good the trip is about 300 miles they plan on doing it non stop. Because of the moped they can't used motorways and even A roads would have big safety concerns. I hope they manage it and I will post again when I have more information, but I think they're mad

 

[Spriddler]

Good on them. There's nothing so much fun as an outrageous mad challenge, especially for a good cause.

In 2012 as part of my progression to riding my 'big' bikes again 2 years after a major crash in which my right arm became permanently unusable I rode an old 90cc Honda 800 miles in 6 days to Burgos in Spain with camping gear, but I did return on the ferry from Santander. My original intention was just to see how far I could get before finding it too tedious but it was very satisfying.
I did many miles practising with my 'Hells Angina' chums before the trip.

 

[Jamesh]

Good luck!!

They need a couple of flags on whips out the back of the moped to warn approaching traffic but that will reduce thier speed by 50%!!!

I'd stop regularly and take in the sights no point rushing it....

 

[Odd-no-more]

And this is the big bike

 

[Spriddler]

View attachment 572131
And this is the big bike

Great! It's such a lot of daft fun just being silly little boys

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[jockaneezer]

Three of my pals are riding the UK coastline on Cub 50's for charity. They imported a couple of Cubs from Japan and did the East coast of Scotland last year.
I think, although they gave him some stick, they were happy that one of the lads is a bit portly and isn't getting the same mpg as the others as it gives them extra smoke breaks when he has to stop to refuel !

 

[bigwood]

Thats not as mad as the Elephant Rally at Nurburgring Ring. It was held in February I think. A couple of students rode from one of the UK universities on mopeds the last time I was there in the seventies.
I believe the contest was linked to how far you had ridden and on what. I was amazed at how meany people turned up. There were camp fires with circles of tents round them. I took my mates belongings in my Mk3 MG Midget and he rode down from our camp in the north of Germany on his DucatI.
We tried sleeping in the tent on the first night but ended up in my car after that. Not fun but warmer than the floor believe me.
I have a photo of a couple with a side car outfit on the start and finish line in the snow. The side car looked like it was made from wicker.

 

[scotzsue]

Many years ago John’s mum, then in her late 70s went to /France from Hull on a moped, on a provisional licence she loved it, 2 of her sons egged her on the other 2 had the vapours.

 

[Emmit]

Son No. 2 rode a NZ 'postie' bike ie 110cc Honda from Queenstown to Auckland. Sold it, (cos its v. difficult to import 2nd hand motors into Oz.)
He flew to Brisbane, bought a similar Oz 'postie' bike and rode it from Brisbane to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Alice Springs to Darwin.
He put the bike on a steamer and sent it to Timor L'este. He flew there and took the bike from there to Indonesia, all across their islands including Borneo.
He finished the trip in KL because he ran out of money and flew back to the UK.

Mrs Emmit is in fear that one day he will go back out to the Far East and finish the journey.

 

[jockaneezer]

Thats not as mad as the Elephant Rally at Nurburgring Ring. It was held in February I think. A couple of students rode from one of the UK universities on mopeds the last time I was there in the seventies.
I believe the contest was linked to how far you had ridden and on what. I was amazed at how meany people turned up. There were camp fires with circles of tents round them. I took my mates belongings in my Mk3 MG Midget and he rode down from our camp in the north of Germany on his DucatI.
We tried sleeping in the tent on the first night but ended up in my car after that. Not fun but warmer than the floor believe me.
I have a photo of a couple with a side car outfit on the start and finish line in the snow. The side car looked like it was made from wicker.

3 lads from work went across there in the eighties on a 6 cylinder Honda CBX1000 fitted with a sidecar. They were camping in the snow and struggled with their camp fire as it kept disappearing !
On the way back and short of cash, they each had a pot noodle, filled with hot water from a tap in some services. They never thought about it as they "crunched" it down, but about an hour later, the three of them were in agony as the noodle ingredients expanded in their stomachs !

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[Nanniemate]

Where are they starting from could wave them off

 

[Crazylegs]

A buddy of who I had previously ridden to Africa with followed up that eventful trip with a ride to southern Spain with his wife on a couple of brand new 50cc Tomos mopeds. They had to walk them up steep hills, the motors were worn out and required rebuilds after the trip.

 

[tonyidle]

Another difficult trip:

 

[Gromett]

At 16 I used to commute on a Yamaha V50 most weekends from Retford to Louth a 50 mile trip. Even in the depths of winter.
At 17 I would commute from Retford to Manchester (woodhead pass not snake pass) even in winter most weekends in a Yahama RXS100.

Would I do it now. Not friggin likely... Roads a busier, drivers are worse and the road conditions are worse I am sure. I am also a lot older and a lot smarter lol.

Good luck to them both. Hope they have fun and raise lots of money.

 

[Odd-no-more]

Where are they starting from could wave them off

Not sure yet the route has still to be decided

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[TizzyOnTour]

At 16 I used to commute on a Yamaha V50 most weekends from Retford to Louth a 50 mile trip. Even in the depths of winter.
At 17 I would commute from Retford to Manchester (woodhead pass not snake pass) even in winter most weekends in a Yahama RXS100.

Would I do it now. Not friggin likely... Roads a busier, drivers are worse and the road conditions are worse I am sure. I am also a lot older and a lot smarter lol.

Good luck to them both. Hope they have fun and raise lots of money.

Ah. Great memories. My first legal road bike was a Yamaha FS1E (Fizzy). Regularly used to track down to Brighton from where we lived in London, for a day at the coast, then all the way back in the dark. No motorways and wouldn’t have helped as we were still on L plates

 

[Gromett]

Ah. Great memories. My first legal road bike was a Yamaha FS1E (Fizzy). Regularly used to track down to Brighton from where we lived in London, for a day at the coast, then all the way back in the dark. No motorways and wouldn’t have helped as we were still on L plates

After my V50 but before my RXS100 I had a MZ Simpson 50. This was a czech bike that was mechano like in it's construction but the engine was a goer. Spent a whole summer modifying in competition with a friend who had a fizzy. I learned everything I know about 2 strokes that summer

The best thing was near the end of the summer another friend of ours got a restricted TZR125 and we were out accelerating him He was showing off that he was getting a proper racing style bike. My mate and I were absolute nutters so would rag our bike places he wouldn't go and take corners at speeds that were verging on suicidal. He was too scared to scratch it Great memories.

I still love the idea of motorbikes but I won't get one as I know I still have that nutter somewhere inside of me and I know for a fact I would kill myself if I got one again.

 

[Odd-no-more]

Long way round the small way.

Help Joe Workman raise money to support Macmillan Cancer Support

www.justgiving.com

They are doing this for Macmillan Cancer support, if anyone would like to support them I hope the link works

 

[Odd-no-more]

A friend is intending to do a run for charity, along with his son, they are setting off in Wales and riding to Essex

I almost got it right it now looks to be from Wales to Suffolk 300miles they hope in 16 hours so they're hoping for an average 20 miles an hour, I suspect that is optimistic for a moped and a not very young man. I hope they do manage it and I will donate but I suspect they will take 2 days in the end

 

[Odd-no-more]

Well after a postponement due to the sad passing of the lady for whom they were doing the run, it went ahead last weekend. Unfortunately the ancient moped didn't even make it to the start line and was replaced by a newer model. They did manage to do it in the 16 hours they predicted and they have raised well over £1,000 for cancer research, of course it has cost them far more to organise, buying the bikes along with a spare 125 in case of a breakdown, hotel accommodation and hiring a van etc. but they have paid for that themselves. My mate who was the 28 stone man on the 100cc mini chopper is thinking of keeping it but everything else will be sold.

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