Scooter de-restriction

colm_c

I've recently gotten an Aprilia Mojito 50 custom scooter imported from the UK and it seems to be restricted to 45kph...

Are there are any garages in dublin that would de-restrict it for me? or is it better to wait for the first service/run-in period?

a_ominous

50cc scoots are restricted for a reason. What kind of licence you got? You wouldn't be thinking of riding illegally?? :eek:
If you want more speed, you could get a bigger scooter, there are 180cc 2 strokers out there, but then your insurance would be higher. However if you de-restrict a 50cc scooter and have an accident, my insurance will be higher.

Hotblack Desiato

The 45km/h restriction only applies to you if you're riding it with a full car licence and you have no bike licence.

If you have an A1 or A bike licence (either full or provisional) then the 45km/h restriction on mopeds does not apply to you.

a_ominous

A1 licence is restricted to max speed of 45kmph as well as the M licence. See here for details.

LegacyUser

a_ominous wrote:

A1 licence is restricted to max speed of 45kmph as well as the M licence. See here for details.

"Motorcycle (without a sidecar) with an engine capacity not exceeding 125 cc. The machine must have (a) an engine capacity greater than 50 cc. or (b) a maximum design speed of more than 45 km/h."


MORE than 45 km / h. So if he did have an accident with the top speed at 45 km/h, then your insurance would go up. And you want him to keep it at 45 km/h so you want your insurance to go up do you? :rolleyes:

LegacyUser

Oh BTW, to the OP - any bike shop around town will do it for you. You could do it yourself if you're half - decent with bikes or cars, its not that hard. There is usually a restrictor in the exhaust and one at the throttle I think.

Just type in "Aprilia Mojito 50 scooter derestriction" in Google and it should tell you what to do.

colm_c

I have an A1 provisional at the moment, so it is legal for me to get my bike derestricted.

I've read up online about how to do it, but it seems you have to cut a piece off the exhaust... and that you lose some of the acceleration afterwards, and to help this they recommend just changing the exhaust instead to some kind of performance one...

I was more looking for people's experience with them? is it worth doing? i.e. is the speed gain worth it?

a_ominous

Spogpean wrote:

"Motorcycle (without a sidecar) with an engine capacity not exceeding 125 cc. The machine must have (a) an engine capacity greater than 50 cc. or (b) a maximum design speed of more than 45 km/h."

I stand corrected. Monday tiredness.

Spogpean wrote:

MORE than 45 km / h. So if he did have an accident with the top speed at 45 km/h, then your insurance would go up. And you want him to keep it at 45 km/h so you want your insurance to go up do you? :rolleyes:

If the OP has an accident at 45kmph, he's a better chance of surviving a crash than say if it was at 60kmph. The guy is buying a scooter that is classed by the insurer in group 1. It would appear this is a first PTW. colm_c, correct me if I'm wrong. Build up your experience and roadcraft on your unmodded 50cc scotter. When you're more aware and competent on the roads, then think about moving to something with more power.

colm_c wants more power by de-restricting it. Is colm_c going to notify his insurer of the modification to his vehicle? If so, grand; he can pay the correct premium and I'll be satisfied. Not that I'm taking the insurer's side. We have to have insurance, but there are silly feckers out there who take their chances and crash which has meant my insurance has been going up 25-35% per annum. I regularly see kids with lids propped up on the tops of their heads, giving their mates a lift. This recklessness irritates me and it also hits me where it hurts: my pocket.

colm_c

I've only got the bike a little over a week, just curious about de-restriction as I've gotten passed out a few times by other scooters which seem to be doing at least 20kph faster than me.

I'll obviously inform my insurance company before I do anything and get a quote from them of how much it will cost extra, again if the cost isn't justified then I'll wait for my 25th birthday (next year) and do it then as I hear insurance price drop immensely.

Tomohawk

originally posted by a_ominous

Build up your experience and roadcraft on your unmodded 50cc scotter. When you're more aware and competent on the roads, then think about moving to something with more power.

I would say build up your experience on a 125 scooter or motorbike. When buying my first scooter, I was given the advice that driving anything lower than that ie 50cc and you can't comfortably keep up with urban traffic which is dangerous. You will find yourself riding in the gutter or bullied by cars more so than a bigger bike. I was very glad I heeded the advice and started on a px125. A geared machine is also better for engine breaking and control I have found than a Twist and go. Which would you perfer take up the long mile road with a light drizzle pouring down?

If your heed one piece of advice, for gods sake buy and wear good leather biker GLOVES, 'cos instinct is to put your palms down first when coming off unexpectedly, especially at slower speeds. Skin graft surgery for the mess your hands will be in is both painfull and expensive in this country. Choosing a good fullface Helmet goes without saying...

The amount of gimps I see riding gloveless around Dublin just annoys me. And its not just young fellas on mopeds, its college kids and white collar workers in their 20s and 30s on all sorts of bikes: cruisers, street bikes, superscooters, performance bikes etc...people who should know better!!

a_ominous

colm_c wrote:

I've only got the bike a little over a week, just curious about de-restriction as I've gotten passed out a few times by other scooters which seem to be doing at least 20kph faster than me.

I'll obviously inform my insurance company before I do anything and get a quote from them of how much it will cost extra, again if the cost isn't justified then I'll wait for my 25th birthday (next year) and do it then as I hear insurance price drop immensely.

Don't judge the engine size by the physical size of the scooter. I've seen 180cc 2 stroke scooters (very nippy) that very similar in size to 50cc scoots. There are 650cc scoots out there too that can tip along quite happily at 100 mph according to various bike mags, things like the Honda Silver Wing and Suzuki Burgman.

I wouldn't worry about trying to be quicker. Build up your knowledge of riding a PTW over the next year and then consider buying a bigger scooter. I started off on a 125cc 'cruiser' of 12bhp because I was nervous about having too much power. I changed to a 400cc bike after 2 months because the 125 was not powerful enough on my commute which was all dual carriageway. The guy I took lessons from also made a few suggestions. If you're in city traffic, 50kmph is the limit, so why worry about an extra 5 kmph? If my commute took me into city traffic, I'd be considering a 250cc scooter or motorbike to allow me to manoevre better in heavy traffic. Current bike is a 1300cc 250kg bike which would be a PITA in that sort of traffic. But it suits my current commute and I don't have time at the moment to be tinkering with the older bike I had. It's horses for courses.

Also IMHO Modding any vehicle makes it more difficult to sell and you'll probably make a loss. Knowing more about the background to your original query, I'd suggest leaving the scooter as is. You should be able to insure a bigger cc bike after your 25th and have the road sense to handle it better. With knowledge comes power, grasshopper. :cool:

Oh yeah, as Tomohawk said: gloves, etc are essential. More important than insurance coz they'll help you if you go down. Mind you training would be more important becuase will help you identify the hazards in the first place.

galwaytt

...fwiw, and leaving insurance to one side for a mo, there's some odd choices out there.

For instance, a Piaggio X9 500 can be ridden on a Provisional. I've an Aprilia Atlantic 500 - amongst other things - with the same engine, so that might be too. Which means X9 250 and Xmax 250 should also be licence friendly. I'd buy the biggest I could get.

John M

Roddy23

I've only got the bike a little over a week, just curious about de-restriction as I've gotten passed out a few times by other scooters which seem to be doing at least 20kph faster than me.

Obviously your going to have to tell your insurance company, because if you have an aciident and come off the bike at a speed, that thery thought you couldnt reach, then they probaly wont pay out. Hopefully that wont happen tho.
I would recommend that you have done at least 500km, before your thinking about getting the bike de-restricted, this just gives the bike a better chance of lasting longer. I got mine done a few months ago, as I was having the same problem, of not keeping up with traffic.
Now she's grand!!

rick_fantastic

when i got my bike it was restricted. waited til frist service and got all restrictors taken off.
i dont think you have to tell insurance company anything regarding derestricting bike its not like ur really modifying the bike

i can understand it if you were on sumthing like a bandit 1200 restricted to 33bhp maybe but not a scooter

performance exhausts on mopeds can **** up the bikes life in my experience.

my moped is an 02 gilera runner and ive never ("touch wood") had a single problem with it and its fully derestricted

norton_t16

i have a norton t16 125 on a 57 plate Brand New i am getting about 45mph but i am told it can do upto 60mph, i am not sure if it restricted or not, but if i take it to a garage and have it serviced, if i ask them to check for a restriction and remove it if thay find one, would a garage do it?

rick on your 02 gilera what sort of speed are ya gettin out of it?

Lonan

norton_t16 wrote: »

i have a norton t16 125 on a 57 plate Brand New i am getting about 45mph but i am told it can do upto 60mph, i am not sure if it restricted or not, but if i take it to a garage and have it serviced, if i ask them to check for a restriction and remove it if thay find one, would a garage do it?

rick on your 02 gilera what sort of speed are ya gettin out of it?

IV got 74mph out of a tuned gilera ice