The Moped Spot

OK. So I admit it has absolutely nothing to do with mopeds but I just had to mention that my friend’s holiday villa is now available for holiday rentals. Take a look at his new site Torrevieja Holiday Home and maybe organise a road trip. There’s off-road parking for your moped or mopeds and plenty of space for a fair-sized group.

In order to ride a moped on Britain’s public highway you need to satisfy all of the following arguments.
• You must be at least 16 years old.
• You must have a valid driving licence with category ‘p’ entitlement.
• You must have a valid MOT or a vehicle which is less than 3 years old.
• You need to pay road tax and display the licence disk.
• You need a minimum of 3rd party liability insurance.
Assuming you satisfy the initial argument and are at least 16 years of age I recommend you follow this step by step guide to riding a moped below.

Step 1: Apply for your Driving Licence
The first step to riding a moped is to apply for a provisional driving licence. You can get an application form from any Post Office or even apply online if you are a British Resident and hold a valid UK passport. This will cost you £50.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Motoringtransactions/BeforeyouapplyD/DG_172559

Step 2: Take a CBT (Validate Your Licence)
CBT stands for Compulsory Basic Training. This is a training course designed to ensure that you are aware of the hazards on public roads and are reasonably capable of controlling the vehicle you intend to ride. The course also teaches basic maintenance checks and the difference between the various types of bike you might wish to ride. It usually takes around a day to complete and will cost you about £140.

Book your CBT at http://www.shires-motorcycle-training.co.uk

Step 3: Buy a Motorcycle Helmet and Accessories
You’ll notice this comes after step 2, the CBT. That’s because the CBT is designed to teach you some of the basics about choosing the correct equipment. Once you have completed it you should have a better idea about what you want and need.

Buy reasonably priced start-up equipment at http://www.shires-motorcycle-accessories.co.uk

Step 4: Choose your Bike and Buy It.
There’s a huge variety out there. In fact there’s so much choice it warrants its own article. Again this comes after step 2 on purpose because once the CBT is complete you will have a much better understanding of what suits *you* personally.

http://themopedspot.com/?p=9

Step 5: Ensure the Bike is Roadworthy
The British MOT is a fairly comprehensive test of many of the components of a bike to check their roadworthiness. This includes tyre tread, brake operation and suspension. It lasts for 12 months but is not an all-inclusive 12 month roadworthy test. In fact it is only really a valid test on the day in which it is taken. Bulbs can fail, tyres wear out and suspension breaks. Even if the bike you buy has a valid MOT it is still your personal responsibility to maintain it in a roadworthy condition at all times if you are using it on the public highway.

http://www.fasttrackmotorcycles.co.uk/motorcycle_MOT.html

Step 6: Get Some Insurance Cover
Most companies offer immediate cover these days whether you’re dealing with them over the phone or on the internet. The minimum cover required is third party liability. This means that you are insured for other peoples losses if an accident is considered to be *your* fault. You can also get Third Party, Fire and Theft which also covers you if your bike is stolen or catches fire unexpectedly and Comprehensive which covers you for loss for any eventuality.

http://www.bennetts.co.uk/

Step 7: Road Tax
If your bike came with a valid tax disk skip to Step 8. Otherwise take all your documents from the previous steps to a Post Office and pay for the relevant Road Fund Licence. You will need:
• The green tear-off part of the Vehicle Registration Certificate.
• A valid MOT certificate for the vehicle.
• Proof of insurance.

Step 8: Buy Some L-Plates and Fit Them.
Unless you take your full motorcycle or moped test you must by law display full-size L-Plates to the front and rear of your bike at all times.

Step 9: Ride It!
That’s it. You’re done. But do consider taking your full test at some point. It may cost a little more to begin with but will make you a much better and safer rider as well as reducing your annual insurance payments significantly. It also means you won’t have to take a new CBT course every two years and you can lose the L-plates.

Oh. My. God. Whilst rummaging around doing some research for a website I’m currently writing for I came across this old article:

New two-part motorcycle test announced : Directgov – Newsroom

Let me draw your attention to the highlighted quote.

“A two-part test means we can provide more test locations”.

Um pardon?!!? More?!!? Forgive me while I fall off my chair. *More* places have off-road sites big enough for learner riders to reach speeds in excess of 30mph *safely* do they?

In a word, no. The number of motorcycle test centres in the UK has been reduced by over 50% since the new two part test was introduced. Some training schools now have to ride for as much as an hour just to reach their nearest one. That’s an additional two hour’s training (one hour each way) that someone has to pay for.
Instructors aren’t paid very much in the first place for such a responsible and in fact highly skilled job. So they’re not about to give 3 hours of their time for free are they? Which generally means the training schools suffer because they can’t go charging extra to customers when their competitors, who may be nearer, do not.

So what *is* that news article all about then, hmm? Propaganda? Government spin doctoring? Or just a bunch of lies?

Maybe all three. And sometimes I wonder why I never believe what I hear in the news any more…

Unbelieveable! Check *this* out if you have 2 secs spare…

A diesel engined moped!!

The basics of the Internal Combustion Engine
The internal combustion engine is actually fairly simple in principal. Essentially a mixture of fuel and air is sucked into a cylinder where it is compressed by a piston and then ignited by a spark plug at the top. The resulting explosion pushes the piston back down and out of the way making space for a new batch of fuel and air to be sucked in and the whole cycle repeats.

This would all be fine apart from three things. Firstly the explosion produces a fair amount of gases which need to go somewhere before new fuel can be sucked in and secondly metal doesn’t slide very easily across a metal surface. It needs to be lubricated.

The 2 Stroke Solution
Putting a hole in the side wall of the cylinder gives the exhaust gases an easy exit point which is closed by the piston on its way back up. Theoretically all you need to do then is add some oil to the fuel/air mixture and it will lubricate the metal before being burnt up along with the rest of the gas. The only problem then is how to get the new fuel mix back into the space which is left.

So we have a second hole in the opposite wall of the cylinder called an inlet. At the mouth of this inlet is a valve which allows the fuel into the engine but doesn’t let it back out. In some engines this is a simple vacuum operated valve and in others it just looks like a plastic disc with a cut-out window. This disc spins in time with the crank – the bit at the base of the piston – so that once every revolution the cut-out lines up with the inlet and allows a measure of fuel mix into the crankcase.

Once the fuel mix is in the crankcase two things happen. Firstly the oil does its job and lubricates, secondly the whole lot gets pressurised by the piston on its downward stroke. This is whilst the exhaust gases are escaping out the top, which creates a bit of a vacuum so the pressurised mixture floods upwards to fill the gap.

The reciprocal mass of the crank acts like a flywheel and because of momentum it keeps on spinning, pushing the piston back up the cylinder shutting off the exhaust hole and once again compresses the fuel mix ready for the next spark to ignite it so the whole cycle can start once again.

The 4 Stroke Solution
The 4 stroke engine does things with a little more finesse. It takes it’s time and does one things at a time but is still all based around a tiny spark igniting a small but highly compressed volume of fuel and air.

As with the 2 stroke, the power of the explosion forces the piston down the cylinder, spinning the crank which acts like a flywheel as well as turning the gearbox of course. This is called the power stroke. As the piston reaches the bottom of the cylinder the momentum begins to push the piston back upward and starts the exhaust stroke.

Valves at the top of the engine open to allow the release of exhaust gases which are pushed out by the upwardly mobile piston. They then close as the piston reaches top dead centre and a second set on the opposite side of the cylinder head open up to allow the entry of fuel and air which is sucked in by the piston on it’s downward stroke. No oil in the mix with a 4 stroke though. All the moving parts sit instead in a permanent pool of oil which gets pushed around the engine by all this movement in much the same way as the fuel/oil mix gets pushed around the 2 stroke but this clever opening and shutting of valves keeps the fuel and oil entirely separate…

Finally, on the fourth stroke as the piston travels once again up the cylinder still being driven by momentum the valves close once again, compressing the fuel ready for the spark.

Summary
2 strokes are rough and ready simple little engines that have twice as many power strokes at the same speed as a their more sedate cousin, the 4 stroke. However due to the lack of complicated valves they also waste a certain amount of fuel mix as it  rushes over the piston and escapes with the exhaust gases. So they are less efficient as well as being noisier and smellier. They are also less efficient at lubrication and consequently need rebuilding quite a bit more often as they wear out easily.

That said they are far easier *to* rebuild and the extra power form those extra strokes is arguably worth it.