Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be! I was 16 In 1980, that was the era of the first slowpeds (restricted mopeds) so myself and many of my mates bought used faster sports mopeds like the FS1E, AP50, SS50 etc, but a 2 or 3 year old sports moped was a slightly dodgy proposition because they were typically not well cared for. In truth I was envious of the kids who had new but restricted bikes like the RD50M, TS50ER, MT50 etc.. they were slower, but they had foot pegs instead of awkward pedals and while slower they often had decent acceleration (relatively speaking) and good brakes. All we really wanted was to get on a 250 on our 17th birthday and the RD250LC, X7 or even the CB250N were what we considered proper bikes…. Sadly a few of my good mates did not make it to their 18th birthday as a result of the madness of being able to get on a bike like that with no training… far far too many deaths and the government responded.. I started with 50cc, then 125cc, then 250cc, then 500cc then 750cc, 1000cc, then eventually a BMW1100.. recently I bought a Honda 125cc and it’s the most fun I ever had on a bike and I appreciate how superb modern lightweight bikes have become. For me the era around 1976 to 1986 were the most beautiful bikes…
Ahh yes! The good old days of laying flat on the tank, racing your mates at 30mph! I spent most weekends working on one of my mates mopeds to give them that 'edge' in a race. They all had Yamaha DT50s and I used to give them a partial de-restriction by removing the restrictor tube that Yamaha had spot welded into the manifold end of the exhaust pipe. This would give the bike a speed of around 40 to 45 miles an hour, I also did a bit of extra tuning if they wanted it which was to file the exhaust port 2mm higher and bend the reed stops to allow the intake reeds to open further. A complete tune up involved 'piston porting' the engine, this (with a bigger front sprocket) would see the bike doing over 60mph and all with the factory carburetor which needed replacing with a bigger bored carb. Yamaha made a design flaw with the DT50, I discovered that if you reach up under the headlight fairing, you'll feel a large wiring connector, if you disconnected it, the bike would start without a key! So security wasn't a huge concern for the Yamaha engineers because they must have known about it.
The early Yamaha FS1E had the same problem take the side casing off battery side find the black wire pull them apart and give them a kick and there start up
I had a mate that had a DT50 and he derestricted it by taking out the restricter in the manifold. I was so jealous as my Honda MTX50 didn’t have an easy way to derestrict it. Motorcycle Mechanics mag in 1982 took a Honda MB5 and attempted to derestrict it. I think they managed 50mph but took a lot of work. My MTX50 had basically the same engine. Loved the bikes back then. They’re not the same anymore just scooters these days. Great memories 😊
In 1983, in readiness for my 16th birthday, I was going to get an old secondhand Yamaha DT50, which really had seen better days. My parents thought it looked like it was on its last legs and thought I would be better off with a new bike. So in July 1983, when I was 16, I got a brand new Honda MTX50. I had to pay for it myself on HP. It looked great, like a scaled down XL125 but with only a 30mph top speed. I used to read Motorcycle Mechanics and used to drool over the learner bikes back then. I still have most of those magazines now. When I look at these bikes, I just get that feeling I had then of excitement, looking at bikes especially ones like the Yamaha RD125LC. I’d had a few bikes before I could ride on the road so knew a bit about bikes. I had an old Fantic 50cc and a GarelliI 50. I loved the bikes back then, even if they were restricted. I had mates that had fast Fizzies, derestricted Yamaha DT50s, Simson 50 and other classics back then. We all had great fun. I did try and get a few more mph out of mine. Changing the front sprocket, new exhaust and fitting different reed valves but 38mph was its limit 😂. Thinking about it, we all had different bikes. None of us had the same ones. I completely run out of fuel once out of town late in the evening. I was getting ready to push my bike the 3-4 miles to the petrol station and my mate said, hold on to me, I will pull you. I know we shouldn’t have but we did it and I was at the petrol station in no time. Oh what fun we had back then. Thanks for the video. Brought back great memories 😊
Good times, interesting video as always mate. I had a TS50ER and my mate had a GT50. Painfully slow compared to his older brother's AP50. The newer restricted bikes looked better than the old bikes with pedals though.
I had the Suzuki ZR 50 SL shopper. Bought it new i 1982, Norway. Almost all my classmates got a moped at that time. Newer had any problems with it. Got a Suzuki now as well, a SV650😊 Thanks for the video, had to share it with my kids.
Big Bore kits ,Fresco/Micron silencers and Renthal Hanlebars with Jackup Suspension those were the days riding with L plates before the late 1980`s compulsory driving test was introduced and as soon as this happened small motorcycle dealers dissolved.
Great to see these again, it was good to see a DT50 M the same as I used to have back in the day. I put a Delorto 65cc big bore kit on mine, complete with expansion chamber. It was definitely a lot quicker and sounded like a miniature moto cross bike. Thanks for the video 👍
Had an suzuki x1 50 in the 80s....bought it off my milk round driver for 70 quid ...it was mint with 1200 miles on it....loved that bike till it was stolen.....it was a rare sight even back then...after cycling all my youth it was an amazing feeling to go where I wanted with power....
Heh, I had a Gilera 50 "Trials" back in the day (1973). I was convinced it looked like it was bigger than other 50s, and it had a switchable pedal on one side, so that when riding, both pedals were locked in place at matching positions.
Great vid. My intro to powered 2 wheelers was sitting on the carrier of a Puch 50 step through of my mates. We hit a bump and the back end collapsed dumping both of us on the road. Happy times in the early 80s.
At first when the restriction came in, it was achieved by physical means like a sleeve welded inside.the exhaust pipe and in some cases a very small bore carb as well. It was possible to de-restrict some models by removing the sleeve by chiseling away the spot welds, and a lot of young lads did exactly that. Later most were the standard bikes as sold all over the world and were restricted electronically with a device which restricted the rate at which the spark plug could fire. Again many owners de-restricted them by just snipping a wire to the little box, allegedly mainly the blue one. You could just join it up again to get an MOT. The UK was ridiculous in requiring pedals on mopeds before the restriction came in then abolishing the pedals but restricting them to 28 mph.
@@moncktonhotmail At the time I worked in the spare parts department of a main dealer for Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha, so I was very much involved when these mopeds were selling like hot cakes. Part of my job was to ensure we had sufficient stock of the parts those 16 year old lads broke when they came off their bikes, like winker lights and brake and clutch levers. On one occasion I helped a young girl who had bought a 90 cc conversion kit for her Vespa 50, by fitting it for her. Unfortunately it didn't do much because it had a very small bore carb and sleeved exhaust., but worse the whole gear set was designed to be low geared too. It would have been better to get a s/h engine from a scrapped Vespa 90 which would have given her at least 10 mph more for less money than a conversion kit plus an exhaust, carb and gear set. A 125 would have been better still.
3:55 I had an MT5 40 years ago, it was the slowest of the restricted 'peds, Honda being Honda made it do exactly 35mph when the likes of Suzuki made the ER do 37mph. Now it was only 2 mile an hour quicker but seeing your mate slowly disappear into the distance was very annoying. I decided to learn about engines and even at 16 years old I managed to tune up my bike to get about 47mph out of it, my mates weren't laughing at me after that! 50 years later I purchased a basket case of an MT5, I've rebuilt it and applied as much 2-stroke know-how as I possess to beat my 47mph record. I'm a lot heavier now but my current MT5 is doing an easy 55 MPH on the flat, its good fun! (I have a 2007 Triumph Speed Triple 1050 and a KTM 300 enduro bike but my 'ped is more fun!) I am cheating a bit, it has a 65cc big more kit fitted to it, but even with that kit it would not do 55 without a lot of porting and cylinder head work, not to mention the expansion chamber and ignition mods! As bit of a joke my wife purchased an original sales leaflet for the MB/MT bikes, it shows two 16-year-old girls and talks about the 'pulling power' of these bikes!!!! Anyway nice vid!
This is a great comment , thanks I realy love this generation in motorcycling , I can see you have been healthy influence too 👍, really pleased you enjoyed the video keep watching 😊
I had a black and yellow mt5 H reg I did new piston rings cleared out the exhaust and went 1 tooth up on the front sprocket. I found others that were very quite and would only pull 25mph I think they had a habit of clogging up. I still have a very rough mb5 that goes really well has a micron exhaust probably a 65 kit on it.
@@chrishart8548 You are right, the MT5 exhaust had a very bad restrictor in the upright part of the exhaust, it would build up with carbon which choked the engine even more, it was very difficult to clean out the carbon. The replica exhausts that you can buy now don't have the front restriction which is nice! They do have the hemispherical plate just at the point where the expansion chamber starts to narrow down, some people think that the exhaust works better with this part left in place, it may well do but I removed it and fabricated a true expansion chamber baffle cone that sits inside the exhaust, it looks standard from the outside.
I'm so happy that you made this video the whole series in fact, my first bike was a Honda ss50 N reg, what a lovely little machine for a 16 year old to spread his wings and sew his oats so to speak I was 16 between 85-86 which makes this video very nostalgic for me
@@moncktonhotmail my current bike is a gixxer k5 600, the first gixxer I've ever ridden as most of the bigger sports bikes I've had have been various cbr models and capacities, please keep the videos coming
Another great video and summary of the times. I had the honda mt5, friends had pretty much all the other mopeds listed here, apart from the kawasakis oddly enough. Restricting them to 30mph was dangerous I always thought, 40mph would have been more appropriate in my opinion. The only way to see 40mph on the clock was to find neutral on a long steep hill! 😂
I agree with them being dangerously slow . I had a debate with the motorcycle instructor when I done my unrestricted motorbike licence and they tried to make me look a fool in front of everyone until I explained how / why going so slow is dangerous then they agreed
Great vid and usual I wish I had a garage full of these. Definitely agree with your comments on the Kawasaki. The comment from you German viewer is interesting, A friend of mine had an NVT (Norton Villiers Triumph) Easy Rider. It was an odd looking step through with a tubular frame and Italian ( I think) two stroke engine. There were also some BSA branded mopeds around the same time.
Yeh Pete I couldn't find a decent photo of the NVT models, I know that sounds ridiculous but I only have limited time on these videos, they sold them in my town in Mill street. Some of these models just don't show up on the Internet, the Germans gentleman's knowledge is very refreshing I am impressed, thanks Peter a regular blog from you is appreciated
My first bike was a Simpson S51, cool to see you including it, loved the bike, but fell apart after just a year. If you sat on the pillion seat, leaned back, you could do power wheelies!
I saw a OR many years ago with a 6 foot tall lanky teenager on it, dont think he realised how silly he looked on it, it was a tiny bike that i suspect a 6 year old could sit on it and still put both feet flat on the floor !
Interesting video, by the 80's I was on much larger bikes, so didn't bother with the 50cc bikes. I started with a Honda SS50 in 1976, I was familiar with the 70's unrestricted mopeds, I even passed my moped test! The reason I did it was to let me know what it was like, the Police kept stopping me and asking where my L plates were! It was useful, I passed my bike test less than 3 weeks after my 17th birthday on my Honda CB250G5. I recently restored a CB360 to relive my youth, along with my DT3 250 Enduro! They are the smallest bikes in my fleet though.
Passing moped test, very few did that 👍you had some intresting bikes, I am guilty of reliving my youth I have a Z 250 scopion it's 40 next week, thanks for comment
I had a 74 ss50 4 speed, I put a c70 barrel and carb on it, the 2 stroke boys didn't know what I'd done, they just knew that a crappy old 4 stroke was faster than they were lol. Great days.
@@moncktonhotmail Z250, nice one, as I've said before I had a 250 hustler and I've often thought about finding another one but I can't help thinking that considering how far bikes have come on since then I would be very disappointed and for the money hustlers are making now that could be a very expensive mistake.
I dunno if I commented on your sites before about my 50x. It was a blue A plater and I searched a long time to get it as the yellow and red was common and I wanted the blue one to be different. I bought a blue leather jacket and Nolan n19r lid with goggles and I looked cool. I was cruising at 29 mph (it's top speed) across Kingshill Road and become aware of this humming noise and then this old granny riding a yellow Honda melody wearing a red piss pot helmet went by me with ease. I went straight down to Kids on and bought a 66cc Autisa kit after that lol. Rode this bike to weston super mud and back in 87/88. Great days.
Nice video. Back in the early to mid 80's we (not sure if correctly) used "moped" only for anything with pedals (ped being pedal of course). We had a yellow one (can't remember the make). Was a terrible pedal bike with one gear I think, but it was fun.
Great video, my 1st bike was a suzuki TS50ER, ( I fitted a 65cc big bore kit to that with a Giannielli exhaust) followed by a yamaha FS1E and a suzuki AP50 (both at the same time) then I had a TY50, after that I had an RD250.
Very good bikes I think the single seat bikes had a tool kit in the back piece, behind the seat, not they would ever break down incredibly reliable, thanks for comment 👍
I bought a Yamaha RD50 m back in 1983 in black when I was 16 to get to work, only 18 month old and bought off a mate for £280 pounds pure bargain never let down and ended putting a 60 cc barrel and piston on which flat out 50 mph whoooo 😀
I'm a couple of years older than you Gary and I had a honda SS50, I put a C70 top end and carb on it and it did a genuine 56mph. Back then there were a lot less cars on the roads and people drove slower so within reason you could pretty much keep up with the traffic (unless it was uphill or head wind lol).
Hello again, I own 2 x AR 80’s, 1 x AR 50, 1 x AE 50, 2 x AE 80’s, 1 x KX 80 1978/9 , 1 x KX 80 small wheel 1982, 1 x KX 80 big wheel 😁😁😁👍 plus many more 😁😁😁🤤
Excellent video as the norm from BAB. I had many 50cc bikes back in the early 80's and I still love them as much today ( I only have 5 now) had a Kestrel 50 if anyone remembers them, also a NVT Ranger child's motorcycle that was road reg. I know the Yamaha bikes were the easy one's to make faster but still keeping at 50cc, you could squeeze a few mph out of the rest with small mods or special top end kits but in general most needed an engine change except the AR50, you could fit the 80cc top end on those. I did have a restricted Fantic Caballero and stunning Beta 50mx.....both were restricted by lowering the gearing! so rev to the death if you wanted, the Beta also had no key!!!!! only a kill switch. My girl friend had a ER50 and a group of us, girls and boys, went down to the beach or raced around the local abandoned quarries until we all drifted into adulthood and mortgages etc, what fun we had...I married my girlfriend who then commandeered one of my CG125's and later my 400-4, good times ....good music .....and a hell of a laugh with good mates.
@@kushkush7954 I was born in 63, yes we did drift from one part of life to another back then lol, but it was fun, what bikes did you have Kush....you sound like a mod.....that wore two tone shoes lol, that was the only Kush I knew!
Had. Yam Rd 50, air cooled, brilliant bike, bullet proof and so easy to derestrict, got mine to reach 60mph on the flat with just a few carb and gearing mods... The AR 50s were great but never took off, very few still exist. The MB50 was a joke, at the time...just like the puch step though ...nowadays every 80s moped is worth over 1k 😱😱😱
Maggie's lot had them restricted to no more than 30 mph. And for the 17 year olds. Gone were the good old days when you could ride a 250. Now, you could only get a restricted 125, which had its power pegged back.
I bought a brand new RD50M in 1980. I had it delivered late July and had to wait till 1st August to ride it on W Reg. I got pulled over by a cop who insisted I should not be riding a 125cc at 16 on L Plates 🙄😂. I lived on it and did all sorts of mods to try and get it to go faster. I traded it after a year with 12,0000 miles on it. The dealer said he had never seen such a high mileage in a year on A 50cc. The bad thing about it was the crap Yokohama tyres 😱
I had an mb5 in red 1980 really easy to get to go faster with a bit of filing of the exhaust port. Though always jealous of the south African version reputedly good for 70mph .
I had a 1980 MT5 and don't ever recall hitting 100 kph (70mph) in Johannesburg. Friends had an MBX and Suzuki they might have got upto that mystical figure.
@@davidjones3712 I said reputedly mate. mine and my mates after we'd messed with the porting etc got almost 50 mph out of ours we read about the South African ones in our local bike mags and were as jealous as anything. Happier times ..
I like them both John and you do too by the sound of it! It's hard to even to find "decent pictures ' of them now never mind seeing one of them, thanks for comment 👍👍
Back in 1983 l had a red honda mb-5 it was absolutely mint,,then I realised a honda H100 would fit straight in only difference was the H100 engine was alloy finish and the mb was black..not an issue my uncle owned a body shop,,one weekend later engine was stroller painted black,,ported polished opened reed block and sprocketed H100 micron and clocks fitted,it was the envy of every one,, it was clocked at 78 mph on the flat by a Suzuki X7,,,bike is still listed on DVLA website but obviously dead somewhere,,XUG 745X....😃
I remember my friends and they had many of these bikes but like the bikes most have disappeared I had Suzuki X1 Honda cb 50 that Honda was one tough little bike
Great flash back, at 16 I had the Yamaha rd50m wow what a bike , later a rd 80mx that I still have today , 1mph for each cc , little flyer , still sounds good today with a classic micron expansion pipe , brilliant seeing all those brilliant bikes .
@@moncktonhotmail I have a 16 year old daughter just edging to get on the road ! No plastic air dryer for her , Rd 50mx with 80cc engine , watch out boys !!
I had as a first bike the MZ50 - blue had 3 gears, i later sold it to upgrade to a Fantic caballero 50cc which sounded FAB. - awful lights though! cool vid - i forgot that there was a yamaha TY-50 .. that looks ACE my brother had a yamaha DT50M as his first bike.
I had a Kawasaki AR50 when I was 16 it was unbelievably slow and would aventualy do 31 mph on the clock , it was a lovely little bike and I wish I knew how to de restrict it at the time . The Suzuki TS 50 yellow with gold wheels was best looking bike in this video in my opinion
Hi Joe ,great to hear from your , I actually made one released ten days ago , 7 minutes long ,on motorcycle paints and graphics , also I have a longer one releasing at Christmas , 👍thanks for your support
The AR50 had a massive advantage over the other 50s. They also made the AR80 which had an identical engine, just a bigger bore, that you could drop into a 50 in a couple of hours thereby giving you a 50 good for nearly 60 mph and at least as quick as any of the unrestricted 50s from the 70s. I always thought the restricted 50s were bloody dangerous, way to slow to be safe on any main road. Sure the government statistics showed a huge drop in the number of youngsters killed riding a restricted 50 as opposed to the older, faster unrestricted models but the reason for that was that there were far fewer restricted peds on the road than there were unrestricted so the government claimed that their idea was a resounding success but in reality all they had actually done was what governments always do and manipulate the statistics to fit their narrative. Another good video mate, keep up the good work.
Again, a very nice video. It seems only the big (japanese) 4 counted in the U.K.. I remember even Norton built mopeds these times. Here in Germany, we had a wider variety. There were lots of mopeds from Kreidler, Hercules, Zündapp, KTM, Puch, Garelli and many more. Other than with the big bikes, the 50cc market was not dominated by japanese bikes.
That is very interesting really appreciate your comments on the German Market, I honestly thought the Japanese had market control in Europe, thank you so much 👍
@@moncktonhotmail The 80s in NL, the japan big four (mainly honda and yamaha) + zundapp, kreidler, puch, tomos, vespa/piaggio. Still have a few jdm monkey 50 and a ape 50.
@@nielsdebakker3283 great insight into the NL , moped market appreciate, different countries sold very different stuff it seams , thanks for your comment
One of my mates had a Simpson MZ50, was dead easy to deristrict. If i remember rightly the exhaust was in two pieces. The downpipe and the silencer section, you shortened the downpire where it went into the silencer a long way ! 2 inches off worked great on it, clocked it at 50 mph on the flat. I passed by the "chicken chasers" and got my first bike, GT125A . Glad i did as the restricted 50s were dangerous on the roads as they were so slow.
They were dangerous, couldn't really keep up with other vehicles even in 30 limits. Glad I had a 1976 Garelli Tiger for my year on mopeds, and replaced by an RD250E at 17 🙂
my 1st bike was a Honda CB 50J, T-reg in white, so that i could get to day release college for "Youth Opportunities Programme" (AKA YOP scheme) via Morris Motors. I vaguely remember paying the dealer £5.00/week on hire purchase (parents as guarantors) to cover the loan. Px'd it the following year for a CB125T2 at the same dealer.
I had an RD 50, fettled it, got more out of it for the 13 months or so I had it. My mate's old AP50 was still faster though, until we were both trounced by a, iirc, 50cc Aprilia. We then moved onto 125cc and took the then, new, two part test.
luckily in 81/82 i had a Suzuki AP 50, then made the mistake of buying a Suzuki ER 50 restricted.....bad move. Other top bikes of the day were FSIE, RD and AR.
This is the thing the talent at 16 yrs old is incredible for rest of your life😊 never leaves Tony! , I purchased a 250 scopion a few years ago, got it home well my mums garage my old road she has more room and my head went back to 1981 I got out the spanners and bike tool kit plus manual, mum made a cup of tea for me😂 , To say that's a werid experience is an understatement,
Yes the good old days 😌 I had a ap 50 it still had pedal drive then a rd lc 125 then a tzr 125 I still have a tzr 125 uk model to this day with working ypvs it's a little pocket rocket 🚀 it puts most of the modern 125 4 strokes to shame
Some 20 years back, the Two Wheels Only motorcycle resort and campground in Suches Georgia (high in the Appalachian mountains) used to host an annual 50cc-and-under road race. This was run on some of the most difficult two lane roads in the region ... and also with the look-away-and-wink cooperation of the county sherriffs. I hung up my helmet several years ago due to age-retarded reflexes and arthritis, so I can't tell you if this race is run these days. But it was a major, major hoot back in the day - entries ranged from scooters to mini road racers, anything that ran but was under 50cc.
I bought a brand new 1981 X reg Honda MB5 ( that i would eventually de restrict and tune) while a mate had an RD50 exactly the same as the one @ 1.08 which he tuned before i did mine. I originally wanted a blue TS50ER but the MB5 was £100 cheaper inc tax and insurance at the time
In the day I had a white cb50 j as dad had a cb750 four f2 in metallic blue , im sure these wer developed by the same guy , wish I still had one though as dads not long to go maybe an f2 😌that bike looked heavy , I have a 2016 triumph scambler now , I do struggle , guess it’s a dream I can’t handle 😞
You missed out the Jawa 50-207 Freewheeler moped & Jawa 50-223 Mustang, which Bike Magazine dubbed "The fastest (44 MPH) "restricted" moped in the UK", back in 1981. Also, the BSA Kestrel & Mongoose 50's, which were a joke.
I had a Kawasaki AE80. Tiny little thing, but went like stink. I think you could improve the 50 version by swapping the engines over. Naughty, perhaps, but as with the AR50 and 80, I bet a few were tempted...!
Hi Lucy, I guess many people did ride with the bigger engine, I owned a fantastic AR 50, when I was 35 yrs 😂 I loved the kawasaki two bikes, why kawasaki never continued with the tiny bikes I don't know, Intresting bike the AE 50, unique some how, thanks for the comment 👍
Whoever thought of the 30mph moped law has obviously never ridden themselves. Putting an inexperienced 16 year-old on something with a maximum speed of 30 with huge lorries thundering past at 50 is surely a recipe for disaster. The first thing most buyers did was derestrict it and stuff the law. I don't blame them. Their safety is more important.
i was given an RD50 and after nearly being killed by a bus on it i had to look inside the motor, did some measurements got the tools out and set to work a week of machining, porting ,modding the ignition and making a new and slightly noisy expansion chamber with a slight change of gearing i was able to get up to 60mph and around 45-50 mph 2 up, turned into a great little bike did some work on an AR50 got nearly the same results the little AR had pin sharp handling (but i did manage to crash it once 🤫)
Sounds like you like a challenge, obviously some great memories for you , owned a AR 50 myself back in the 1990s for short while , appreciate your comment
Never bothered with 50s, waited for a GP100 but did like the AR and the RD. The MBX was nice but came out later, the MBX125 was beautiful, quality built and went well too.
Yes Roger, the bikes of this era, great quality machines, All my friends had GP 100, because the GP 125 cost more on insurance, strange loop hole, so the 125cc version are very rare now, sold alot of 100cc GP, I had AR50, great bike for the time.
I had a w reg TY with a DT graphics set and from mudguard I sold it and got a TS ER with a 65cc big bore kit and gianelli exhaust, that thing would Show 55 on the clocks
@@moncktonhotmail never had a key for it, the ignition was permanently switched on, it a 6 volt so as soon as you kicked it over the lights would work 😂 we actually bought as scrap from a motorcross shop we used when I was racing who’d taken it as px and didn’t know what to do with it.
You could have mentioned the BSA Brigand, and Beaver 50 cc off road and sports bikes, extremely rare, just rebadge foreign bikes really. Saw a Brigrand on Ebay recently £2195, compared to a FSiE that is a bargain.
I had a fs1e, spoked wheels, drum brake, '76 I believe. 1980 it was. Some mates had latest greatest (restricted) like x1 and rd50 and mbx50 which were all piss poor compared to my fizzy... 🙂
I thought the rare suzuki chopper was an or50, as my mate had one. I had the ZR50 with square clocks which was la later model of the X1-50.. I thought my x1 zr was a zr50sl butting looking now I see the OR was named ZR50SL aswell. Perhaps a later variant. There was also a GT50 which I once saw, and was jelous of his micron as my ZR didnt have one lol. Although I did have a 65 bore kit and apart from killing cranks it was well worth it at the time.
Brill video ar50 for me shame we went to scooters these where better in every way bigger wheels and normal gearboxes probably got more people into biking bring em back
Michael, non of them we certainly had 80cc version RD 80 LC , but 50 , I am not so sure , unless someone knows better than me ? LC 50 , didn't really exist in the UK , great comment thank you
@@moncktonhotmail It may be worth you looking into them, and adding to your list. I had an AR50 Kawasaki, as well as the RG50W Suzuki. Water cooled, front disc, and ANDF forks - a bit of a gimmick, but what a nice bike? Beautiful styling with a 12 V headlight. It was the fastest standard 50cc of its time, deposing the Yamaha RZ 50 LC of that accolade.
Great review but didnt the Italians produce "slowpeds" Garelli, Gilera, Malaguti etc as there were a lot of unrestricted mopeds from these makers around in the 70's ? As I understand it the "restriction" was that the engine power should not exceed 3hp from a 49cc engine that resulted in a lower top speed !
Although it says "Restricted 50cc motorcycles," the speed limit was probably imposed by the foolish British government, which tried to protect British and other European motorcycle manufacturers from Japanese motorcycle manufacturers under the pretext of traffic safety. In Japan, 50cc bikes were much faster and more powerful in the 80s than in the 70s.
My mate had a ZR 50 Custom in red and he brought a big bore kit to find out the exhaust port only on the ZR engine came out on the opposite side of the barrel 🤦❗
4:53 affordable? Not really, for a sixteen year old on the "Youth Opportunities Programme" (AKA YOP scheme) in the early 80s, on £25 per week. I was lucky that my mum paid for my second-hand FS1E, because I'd never have been able to afford it myself. Since then, the whole of Britain has become far wealthier in real terms, and thinking that we have always been able to buy whatever we want is a mistake.
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be! I was 16 In 1980, that was the era of the first slowpeds (restricted mopeds) so myself and many of my mates bought used faster sports mopeds like the FS1E, AP50, SS50 etc, but a 2 or 3 year old sports moped was a slightly dodgy proposition because they were typically not well cared for. In truth I was envious of the kids who had new but restricted bikes like the RD50M, TS50ER, MT50 etc.. they were slower, but they had foot pegs instead of awkward pedals and while slower they often had decent acceleration (relatively speaking) and good brakes. All we really wanted was to get on a 250 on our 17th birthday and the RD250LC, X7 or even the CB250N were what we considered proper bikes…. Sadly a few of my good mates did not make it to their 18th birthday as a result of the madness of being able to get on a bike like that with no training… far far too many deaths and the government responded.. I started with 50cc, then 125cc, then 250cc, then 500cc then 750cc, 1000cc, then eventually a BMW1100.. recently I bought a Honda 125cc and it’s the most fun I ever had on a bike and I appreciate how superb modern lightweight bikes have become. For me the era around 1976 to 1986 were the most beautiful bikes…
Ahh yes! The good old days of laying flat on the tank, racing your mates at 30mph!
I spent most weekends working on one of my mates mopeds to give them that 'edge' in a race. They all had Yamaha DT50s and I used to give them a partial de-restriction by removing the restrictor tube that Yamaha had spot welded into the manifold end of the exhaust pipe. This would give the bike a speed of around 40 to 45 miles an hour, I also did a bit of extra tuning if they wanted it which was to file the exhaust port 2mm higher and bend the reed stops to allow the intake reeds to open further.
A complete tune up involved 'piston porting' the engine, this (with a bigger front sprocket) would see the bike doing over 60mph and all with the factory carburetor which needed replacing with a bigger bored carb.
Yamaha made a design flaw with the DT50, I discovered that if you reach up under the headlight fairing, you'll feel a large wiring connector, if you disconnected it, the bike would start without a key! So security wasn't a huge concern for the Yamaha engineers because they must have known about it.
Great knowledge and memories 👍
The early Yamaha FS1E had the same problem take the side casing off battery side find the black wire pull them apart and give them a kick and there start up
I had a mate that had a DT50 and he derestricted it by taking out the restricter in the manifold. I was so jealous as my Honda MTX50 didn’t have an easy way to derestrict it. Motorcycle Mechanics mag in 1982 took a Honda MB5 and attempted to derestrict it. I think they managed 50mph but took a lot of work. My MTX50 had basically the same engine. Loved the bikes back then. They’re not the same anymore just scooters these days. Great memories 😊
In 1983, in readiness for my 16th birthday, I was going to get an old secondhand Yamaha DT50, which really had seen better days. My parents thought it looked like it was on its last legs and thought I would be better off with a new bike. So in July 1983, when I was 16, I got a brand new Honda MTX50. I had to pay for it myself on HP. It looked great, like a scaled down XL125 but with only a 30mph top speed. I used to read Motorcycle Mechanics and used to drool over the learner bikes back then. I still have most of those magazines now. When I look at these bikes, I just get that feeling I had then of excitement, looking at bikes especially ones like the Yamaha RD125LC. I’d had a few bikes before I could ride on the road so knew a bit about bikes. I had an old Fantic 50cc and a GarelliI 50. I loved the bikes back then, even if they were restricted. I had mates that had fast Fizzies, derestricted Yamaha DT50s, Simson 50 and other classics back then. We all had great fun. I did try and get a few more mph out of mine. Changing the front sprocket, new exhaust and fitting different reed valves but 38mph was its limit 😂. Thinking about it, we all had different bikes. None of us had the same ones. I completely run out of fuel once out of town late in the evening. I was getting ready to push my bike the 3-4 miles to the petrol station and my mate said, hold on to me, I will pull you. I know we shouldn’t have but we did it and I was at the petrol station in no time. Oh what fun we had back then. Thanks for the video. Brought back great memories 😊
Great knowledge and memories, thanks fir the comment 👍
I bet that RD50 was a blast to ride.Thanks for sharing. Take care. Cheers from the States
Luckily unrestricted in South Africa. MBX 50 super bike it was..100kmh on a flat.Mb5 was a massive seller too.
Good times, interesting video as always mate. I had a TS50ER and my mate had a GT50. Painfully slow compared to his older brother's AP50. The newer restricted bikes looked better than the old bikes with pedals though.
Great comment appreciated thanks 👍
The RD50 is one of the most beautiful motorcycles EVER created...
Sorry missed your comment before the yamaha styling department have a habit of great bikes there , thanks for your support
I had the Suzuki ZR 50 SL shopper. Bought it new i 1982, Norway. Almost all my classmates got a moped at that time. Newer had any problems with it. Got a Suzuki now as well, a SV650😊 Thanks for the video, had to share it with my kids.
Great comment thankyou 👍
Big Bore kits ,Fresco/Micron silencers and Renthal Hanlebars with Jackup Suspension those were the days riding with L plates before the late 1980`s compulsory driving test was introduced and as soon as this happened small motorcycle dealers dissolved.
Great to see these again, it was good to see a DT50 M the same as I used to have back in the day. I put a Delorto 65cc big bore kit on mine, complete with expansion chamber. It was definitely a lot quicker and sounded like a miniature moto cross bike. Thanks for the video 👍
Thanks for the comment I had a black DT80 MX, brilliant bike amazing fun 👍
I did exactly the same thing.
exactly what i did
I had a Honda MB5 I still remember the reg number NAH 254V. Wow brilliant days. I am 57 now .I also loved the Yamaha fizzy in yellow.
I am 58 , my best mate had a MT5 , and the yellow fizzy was the most common model in our group P and R regs if I remember correctly 😄
Had an suzuki x1 50 in the 80s....bought it off my milk round driver for 70 quid ...it was mint with 1200 miles on it....loved that bike till it was stolen.....it was a rare sight even back then...after cycling all my youth it was an amazing feeling to go where I wanted with power....
Great comment Martin 👍
Really enjoyed watching that - thank you! Memories from the early 80’s - I had a T reg Fizzy 👍🙂
Heh, I had a Gilera 50 "Trials" back in the day (1973). I was convinced it looked like it was bigger than other 50s, and it had a switchable pedal on one side, so that when riding, both pedals were locked in place at matching positions.
Great comment thanks
Great vid. My intro to powered 2 wheelers was sitting on the carrier of a Puch 50 step through of my mates. We hit a bump and the back end collapsed dumping both of us on the road. Happy times in the early 80s.
Sounds like a lot of fun 👍 appreciate comment
At first when the restriction came in, it was achieved by physical means like a sleeve welded inside.the exhaust pipe and in some cases a very small bore carb as well. It was possible to de-restrict some models by removing the sleeve by chiseling away the spot welds, and a lot of young lads did exactly that. Later most were the standard bikes as sold all over the world and were restricted electronically with a device which restricted the rate at which the spark plug could fire. Again many owners de-restricted them by just snipping a wire to the little box, allegedly mainly the blue one. You could just join it up again to get an MOT. The UK was ridiculous in requiring pedals on mopeds before the restriction came in then abolishing the pedals but restricting them to 28 mph.
Great comment, great knowledge and memories, thankyou 👍
@@moncktonhotmail At the time I worked in the spare parts department of a main dealer for Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha, so I was very much involved when these mopeds were selling like hot cakes. Part of my job was to ensure we had sufficient stock of the parts those 16 year old lads broke when they came off their bikes, like winker lights and brake and clutch levers. On one occasion I helped a young girl who had bought a 90 cc conversion kit for her Vespa 50, by fitting it for her. Unfortunately it didn't do much because it had a very small bore carb and sleeved exhaust., but worse the whole gear set was designed to be low geared too. It would have been better to get a s/h engine from a scrapped Vespa 90 which would have given her at least 10 mph more for less money than a conversion kit plus an exhaust, carb and gear set. A 125 would have been better still.
I had a SS50 and a TY50. Loved them both and a right of passage riding it to school.
3:55 I had an MT5 40 years ago, it was the slowest of the restricted 'peds, Honda being Honda made it do exactly 35mph when the likes of Suzuki made the ER do 37mph. Now it was only 2 mile an hour quicker but seeing your mate slowly disappear into the distance was very annoying. I decided to learn about engines and even at 16 years old I managed to tune up my bike to get about 47mph out of it, my mates weren't laughing at me after that! 50 years later I purchased a basket case of an MT5, I've rebuilt it and applied as much 2-stroke know-how as I possess to beat my 47mph record. I'm a lot heavier now but my current MT5 is doing an easy 55 MPH on the flat, its good fun! (I have a 2007 Triumph Speed Triple 1050 and a KTM 300 enduro bike but my 'ped is more fun!) I am cheating a bit, it has a 65cc big more kit fitted to it, but even with that kit it would not do 55 without a lot of porting and cylinder head work, not to mention the expansion chamber and ignition mods! As bit of a joke my wife purchased an original sales leaflet for the MB/MT bikes, it shows two 16-year-old girls and talks about the 'pulling power' of these bikes!!!! Anyway nice vid!
This is a great comment , thanks I realy love this generation in motorcycling , I can see you have been healthy influence too 👍, really pleased you enjoyed the video keep watching 😊
I had a black and yellow mt5 H reg I did new piston rings cleared out the exhaust and went 1 tooth up on the front sprocket. I found others that were very quite and would only pull 25mph I think they had a habit of clogging up. I still have a very rough mb5 that goes really well has a micron exhaust probably a 65 kit on it.
@@chrishart8548 Chris some great memories here for you 👍enjoyable time in your life it seams
@@chrishart8548 You are right, the MT5 exhaust had a very bad restrictor in the upright part of the exhaust, it would build up with carbon which choked the engine even more, it was very difficult to clean out the carbon. The replica exhausts that you can buy now don't have the front restriction which is nice! They do have the hemispherical plate just at the point where the expansion chamber starts to narrow down, some people think that the exhaust works better with this part left in place, it may well do but I removed it and fabricated a true expansion chamber baffle cone that sits inside the exhaust, it looks standard from the outside.
Thats what I like about your channel, the unusualness, keep it up :) Brilliant!
Cheers thanks
I'm so happy that you made this video the whole series in fact, my first bike was a Honda ss50 N reg, what a lovely little machine for a 16 year old to spread his wings and sew his oats so to speak I was 16 between 85-86 which makes this video very nostalgic for me
Thank you my channel is a memory channel , I am no expert 😀 means a lot to me your comments please support , by watching my stuff 👍
@@moncktonhotmail my current bike is a gixxer k5 600, the first gixxer I've ever ridden as most of the bigger sports bikes I've had have been various cbr models and capacities, please keep the videos coming
@@thegit8698 thanks again for 👍
thanks for posting another brilliant film loved the kawasaki AR50 in green
Cheers Paul yes the AR range from kawasaki had a mystic about them so modern and clever, really appreciate your comment 👍
Another great video and summary of the times. I had the honda mt5, friends had pretty much all the other mopeds listed here, apart from the kawasakis oddly enough. Restricting them to 30mph was dangerous I always thought, 40mph would have been more appropriate in my opinion. The only way to see 40mph on the clock was to find neutral on a long steep hill! 😂
Thanks has always paola for great import on the videos really appreciate 👍
I agree with them being dangerously slow .
I had a debate with the motorcycle instructor when I done my unrestricted motorbike licence and they tried to make me look a fool in front of everyone until I explained how / why going so slow is dangerous then they agreed
Great vid and usual I wish I had a garage full of these. Definitely agree with your comments on the Kawasaki. The comment from you German viewer is interesting, A friend of mine had an NVT (Norton Villiers Triumph) Easy Rider. It was an odd looking step through with a tubular frame and Italian ( I think) two stroke engine. There were also some BSA branded mopeds around the same time.
Yeh Pete I couldn't find a decent photo of the NVT models, I know that sounds ridiculous but I only have limited time on these videos, they sold them in my town in Mill street. Some of these models just don't show up on the Internet, the Germans gentleman's knowledge is very refreshing I am impressed, thanks Peter a regular blog from you is appreciated
My first bike was a Simpson S51, cool to see you including it, loved the bike, but fell apart after just a year. If you sat on the pillion seat, leaned back, you could do power wheelies!
I remember the bike well , used to sell them in my town , cheers for memory
You must have abused it, I’ve got a 1980 v reg Simson and done miles and miles on it and still looks mint
@@Timemachine74 well I was only 16 so your probably right it got abused for sure, cool you have one :)
Hi, a good video, but one bike you missed was the Suzuki OR50 . A tiny chopper styled bike. Extremely rare, I've only ever seen a couple in the flesh.
Yes well done , happy new year
I saw a OR many years ago with a 6 foot tall lanky teenager on it, dont think he realised how silly he looked on it, it was a tiny bike that i suspect a 6 year old could sit on it and still put both feet flat on the floor !
Interesting video, by the 80's I was on much larger bikes, so didn't bother with the 50cc bikes.
I started with a Honda SS50 in 1976, I was familiar with the 70's unrestricted mopeds, I even passed my moped test!
The reason I did it was to let me know what it was like, the Police kept stopping me and asking where my L plates were!
It was useful, I passed my bike test less than 3 weeks after my 17th birthday on my Honda CB250G5.
I recently restored a CB360 to relive my youth, along with my DT3 250 Enduro! They are the smallest bikes in my fleet though.
Passing moped test, very few did that 👍you had some intresting bikes, I am guilty of reliving my youth I have a Z 250 scopion it's 40 next week, thanks for comment
I had a 74 ss50 4 speed, I put a c70 barrel and carb on it, the 2 stroke boys didn't know what I'd done, they just knew that a crappy old 4 stroke was faster than they were lol. Great days.
@@moncktonhotmail Z250, nice one, as I've said before I had a 250 hustler and I've often thought about finding another one but I can't help thinking that considering how far bikes have come on since then I would be very disappointed and for the money hustlers are making now that could be a very expensive mistake.
I dunno if I commented on your sites before about my 50x. It was a blue A plater and I searched a long time to get it as the yellow and red was common and I wanted the blue one to be different. I bought a blue leather jacket and Nolan n19r lid with goggles and I looked cool. I was cruising at 29 mph (it's top speed) across Kingshill Road and become aware of this humming noise and then this old granny riding a yellow Honda melody wearing a red piss pot helmet went by me with ease. I went straight down to Kids on and bought a 66cc Autisa kit after that lol. Rode this bike to weston super mud and back in 87/88. Great days.
What great memories Rich , certainly had some fun back then 👍
Nice video. Back in the early to mid 80's we (not sure if correctly) used "moped" only for anything with pedals (ped being pedal of course). We had a yellow one (can't remember the make). Was a terrible pedal bike with one gear I think, but it was fun.
Thank you for the comment Andrew appreciated 👍
Great video, my 1st bike was a suzuki TS50ER, ( I fitted a 65cc big bore kit to that with a Giannielli exhaust) followed by a yamaha FS1E and a suzuki AP50 (both at the same time) then I had a TY50, after that I had an RD250.
Great comment , big bore kit 🧐 very nice
I had a Honda CB50J in that exact same colour. I did tune it but was still not quite as quick as my mate's AP50s & Fizzys lol.
Very good bikes I think the single seat bikes had a tool kit in the back piece, behind the seat, not they would ever break down incredibly reliable, thanks for comment 👍
I bought a Yamaha RD50 m back in 1983 in black when I was 16 to get to work, only 18 month old and bought off a mate for £280 pounds pure bargain never let down and ended putting a 60 cc barrel and piston on which flat out 50 mph whoooo 😀
Great memories, for you 👍
I'm a couple of years older than you Gary and I had a honda SS50, I put a C70 top end and carb on it and it did a genuine 56mph. Back then there were a lot less cars on the roads and people drove slower so within reason you could pretty much keep up with the traffic (unless it was uphill or head wind lol).
Hello again, I own 2 x AR 80’s, 1 x AR 50, 1 x AE 50, 2 x AE 80’s, 1 x KX 80 1978/9 , 1 x KX 80 small wheel 1982, 1 x KX 80 big wheel 😁😁😁👍 plus many more 😁😁😁🤤
You are extremely lucky 👍
Had a Suzuki ZR50SKX in Red. Very rare now.
Excellent video as the norm from BAB. I had many 50cc bikes back in the early 80's and I still love them as much today ( I only have 5 now) had a Kestrel 50 if anyone remembers them, also a NVT Ranger child's motorcycle that was road reg. I know the Yamaha bikes were the easy one's to make faster but still keeping at 50cc, you could squeeze a few mph out of the rest with small mods or special top end kits but in general most needed an engine change except the AR50, you could fit the 80cc top end on those. I did have a restricted Fantic Caballero and stunning Beta 50mx.....both were restricted by lowering the gearing! so rev to the death if you wanted, the Beta also had no key!!!!! only a kill switch. My girl friend had a ER50 and a group of us, girls and boys, went down to the beach or raced around the local abandoned quarries until we all drifted into adulthood and mortgages etc, what fun we had...I married my girlfriend who then commandeered one of my CG125's and later my 400-4, good times ....good music .....and a hell of a laugh with good mates.
Sounds like you had a great time, such fun, these machines became I have very fond members myself, great comment 👍
Which year you were born ?
My favourite part -drifting to adulthood and mortgadges.
@@kushkush7954 1965
@@kushkush7954 I was born in 63, yes we did drift from one part of life to another back then lol, but it was fun, what bikes did you have Kush....you sound like a mod.....that wore two tone shoes lol, that was the only Kush I knew!
Lots of research, well done.
Thanks appreciate
Had. Yam Rd 50, air cooled, brilliant bike, bullet proof and so easy to derestrict, got mine to reach 60mph on the flat with just a few carb and gearing mods...
The AR 50s were great but never took off, very few still exist. The MB50 was a joke, at the time...just like the puch step though ...nowadays every 80s moped is worth over 1k 😱😱😱
I agree with everything you say , you make some good points , 👍
Maggie's lot had them restricted to no more than 30 mph. And for the 17 year olds.
Gone were the good old days when you could ride a 250. Now, you could only get
a restricted 125, which had its power pegged back.
Another great video 😎😎
Thank you Desmond 👍
I bought a brand new RD50M in 1980. I had it delivered late July and had to wait till 1st August to ride it on W Reg. I got pulled over by a cop who insisted I should not be riding a 125cc at 16 on L Plates 🙄😂. I lived on it and did all sorts of mods to try and get it to go faster. I traded it after a year with 12,0000 miles on it. The dealer said he had never seen such a high mileage in a year on A 50cc. The bad thing about it was the crap Yokohama tyres 😱
Great comment Carl 👍,
Great video.
Keep making them as they are good.
Cheers David, look out for my new stuff too , got two out this month , if you like retro bikes thanks for feed back
I had an mb5 in red 1980 really easy to get to go faster with a bit of filing of the exhaust port. Though always jealous of the south African version reputedly good for 70mph .
Thanks for comment Stephen 👍
I had a 1980 MT5 and don't ever recall hitting 100 kph (70mph) in Johannesburg.
Friends had an MBX and Suzuki they might have got upto that mystical figure.
@@davidjones3712 I said reputedly mate. mine and my mates after we'd messed with the porting etc got almost 50 mph out of ours we read about the South African ones in our local bike mags and were as jealous as anything. Happier times ..
SS50,Honda Camino and AE50 I am 16 again. Thanks for sharing 👍
I like them both John and you do too by the sound of it! It's hard to even to find "decent pictures ' of them now never mind seeing one of them, thanks for comment 👍👍
Back in 1983 l had a red honda mb-5 it was absolutely mint,,then I realised a honda H100 would fit straight in only difference was the H100 engine was alloy finish and the mb was black..not an issue my uncle owned a body shop,,one weekend later engine was stroller painted black,,ported polished opened reed block and sprocketed H100 micron and clocks fitted,it was the envy of every one,, it was clocked at 78 mph on the flat by a Suzuki X7,,,bike is still listed on DVLA website but obviously dead somewhere,,XUG 745X....😃
These are the great comments I am after Tony 😊brilliant
Great video 🇬🇧👍
Thanks appreciate
Great video
Cheers Sam
I remember my friends and they had many of these bikes but like the bikes most have disappeared I had Suzuki X1 Honda cb 50 that Honda was one tough little bike
I had a green single seat CB50 J on a V reg, incredibly reliable 👍 thanks for comment
Great flash back, at 16 I had the Yamaha rd50m wow what a bike , later a rd 80mx that I still have today , 1mph for each cc , little flyer , still sounds good today with a classic micron expansion pipe , brilliant seeing all those brilliant bikes .
Thanks for comment 👍
@@moncktonhotmail No problem I'm still a big fan of the small 70s & 80s 90s classics , got a Ty 175 ,& a rd 80mx and a rd 50mx in box of parts lol
@@Radio_crazy I have a z250 scopion today, but had a DT80 MX in black and a black AR 50 both brilliant 👍
@@moncktonhotmail I have a 16 year old daughter just edging to get on the road ! No plastic air dryer for her , Rd 50mx with 80cc engine , watch out boys !!
I had as a first bike the MZ50 - blue had 3 gears, i later sold it to upgrade to a Fantic caballero 50cc which sounded FAB. - awful lights though!
cool vid - i forgot that there was a yamaha TY-50 .. that looks ACE
my brother had a yamaha DT50M as his first bike.
Great comment thanks appreciate 👍
Two great mopeds..
Puch grand prix 1976
And the
Fantic chopper ..
Also
BSA Brigand.Beaver .Boxer
Great little bikes.
Had a grand prix....solid little motor.
@@evilelf5967 loved the black n gold paint job
Bit J P S..
Happy New year.
Had a girlfreind that rode a Fantic chopper, used to rib her by calling it a FRANTIC CHOPPER.........lol
I had a Kawasaki AR50 when I was 16 it was unbelievably slow and would aventualy do 31 mph on the clock , it was a lovely little bike and I wish I knew how to de restrict it at the time .
The Suzuki TS 50 yellow with gold wheels was best looking bike in this video in my opinion
I agree 👍 on the looks
Bit late now but the usual method was to replace the engine with one from an AR80
My ar50/80 had some nice Dunlop k series tyres on it,cornered on rail's 😂🤠👊🤟
Still watching your videos, hopefully you will make some more one day.
Hi Joe ,great to hear from your , I actually made one released ten days ago , 7 minutes long ,on motorcycle paints and graphics , also I have a longer one releasing at Christmas , 👍thanks for your support
@@moncktonhotmail thanks for that I will watch it now and look forward to the one at Christmas, good to hear from you also and keep up the good work.
My dad brought us an RD50 great bike
The AR50 had a massive advantage over the other 50s. They also made the AR80 which had an identical engine, just a bigger bore, that you could drop into a 50 in a couple of hours thereby giving you a 50 good for nearly 60 mph and at least as quick as any of the unrestricted 50s from the 70s. I always thought the restricted 50s were bloody dangerous, way to slow to be safe on any main road. Sure the government statistics showed a huge drop in the number of youngsters killed riding a restricted 50 as opposed to the older, faster unrestricted models but the reason for that was that there were far fewer restricted peds on the road than there were unrestricted so the government claimed that their idea was a resounding success but in reality all they had actually done was what governments always do and manipulate the statistics to fit their narrative. Another good video mate, keep up the good work.
Sam what a fantastic summary mate👍 you got everything spot on really appreciate your support thanks
@@moncktonhotmail thanks mate, hopefully when all this mess is done with we can have a ride out.
@@sambrooks7862 sounds good 👍
I loved my JPS coloured Puch Grand Prix.
A classic for sure now 👍
Again, a very nice video. It seems only the big (japanese) 4 counted in the U.K.. I remember even Norton built mopeds these times. Here in Germany, we had a wider variety. There were lots of mopeds from Kreidler, Hercules, Zündapp, KTM, Puch, Garelli and many more. Other than with the big bikes, the 50cc market was not dominated by japanese bikes.
That is very interesting really appreciate your comments on the German Market, I honestly thought the Japanese had market control in Europe, thank you so much 👍
There were a lot of garellis and puchs here in the uk and a few simson but kreidler were very rare but I do remember they were very quick.
@@moncktonhotmail The 80s in NL, the japan big four (mainly honda and yamaha) + zundapp, kreidler, puch, tomos, vespa/piaggio.
Still have a few jdm monkey 50 and a ape 50.
@@nielsdebakker3283 great insight into the NL , moped market appreciate, different countries sold very different stuff it seams , thanks for your comment
Good to see the MZ Simson in there. My first bike. Robust as anything, and it needed to be in my hands lol.
Thanks for great comment , great little bikes
One of my mates had a Simpson MZ50, was dead easy to deristrict. If i remember rightly the exhaust was in two pieces. The downpipe and the silencer section, you shortened the downpire where it went into the silencer a long way ! 2 inches off worked great on it, clocked it at 50 mph on the flat. I passed by the "chicken chasers" and got my first bike, GT125A .
Glad i did as the restricted 50s were dangerous on the roads as they were so slow.
They were dangerous, couldn't really keep up with other vehicles even in 30 limits.
Glad I had a 1976 Garelli Tiger for my year on mopeds, and replaced by an RD250E at 17 🙂
We also raced both a Mobylette and a Tomas in Moped Mayhem in the late 80's, quite hairy as too many of the sports class weren't 50's...
my 1st bike was a Honda CB 50J, T-reg in white, so that i could get to day release college for "Youth Opportunities Programme" (AKA YOP scheme) via Morris Motors. I vaguely remember paying the dealer £5.00/week on hire purchase (parents as guarantors) to cover the loan. Px'd it the following year for a CB125T2 at the same dealer.
I had a V reg green , cb50 j , secondhand for £200 , , great bike rare now , obviously slow but solid engine , wish I never sold it obviously 😃
@@moncktonhotmail i kept a photo of all the bikes i owned. I can remember the reg no's too. :o
I had an RD 50, fettled it, got more out of it for the 13 months or so I had it. My mate's old AP50 was still faster though, until we were both trounced by a, iirc, 50cc Aprilia.
We then moved onto 125cc and took the then, new, two part test.
Great memories 👍appreciate the comment
luckily in 81/82 i had a Suzuki AP 50, then made the mistake of buying a Suzuki ER 50 restricted.....bad move. Other top bikes of the day were FSIE, RD and AR.
Good comment 👍thanks
Since building my MB-5/H100 HYBRID all those years ago I have gone on to build lots of one offspecials... currently own a R1 Street fighter,
This is the thing the talent at 16 yrs old is incredible for rest of your life😊 never leaves Tony! , I purchased a 250 scopion a few years ago, got it home well my mums garage my old road she has more room and my head went back to 1981 I got out the spanners and bike tool kit plus manual, mum made a cup of tea for me😂 , To say that's a werid experience is an understatement,
Yes the good old days 😌 I had a ap 50 it still had pedal drive then a rd lc 125 then a tzr 125 I still have a tzr 125 uk model to this day with working ypvs it's a little pocket rocket 🚀 it puts most of the modern 125 4 strokes to shame
TZR excellent bike Glenn 👍
Some 20 years back, the Two Wheels Only motorcycle resort and campground in Suches Georgia (high in the Appalachian mountains) used to host an annual 50cc-and-under road race. This was run on some of the most difficult two lane roads in the region ... and also with the look-away-and-wink cooperation of the county sherriffs.
I hung up my helmet several years ago due to age-retarded reflexes and arthritis, so I can't tell you if this race is run these days. But it was a major, major hoot back in the day - entries ranged from scooters to mini road racers, anything that ran but was under 50cc.
Great comment thankyou 👍
They made a lot of effort with the looks/style of Restricted mopeds.
Unbelievable effort thank you for your comment really appreciate 👍
I bought a brand new 1981 X reg Honda MB5 ( that i would eventually de restrict and tune) while a mate had an RD50 exactly the same as the one @ 1.08 which he tuned before i did mine. I originally wanted a blue TS50ER but the MB5 was £100 cheaper inc tax and insurance at the time
Thanks for comment 👍
Had a mbx50 and my mate had a melody!Oh boy did we cut a dash....
Great times then Paul 👍
i miss the German 50cc bikes like Kreidler RMC , Hercules Ultra 50 and Zundapp KS 50 Watercooled TT,
In the day I had a white cb50 j as dad had a cb750 four f2 in metallic blue , im sure these wer developed by the same guy , wish I still had one though as dads not long to go maybe an f2 😌that bike looked heavy , I have a 2016 triumph scambler now , I do struggle , guess it’s a dream I can’t handle 😞
Thanks for comment, I had a green CB50 j 😄1980 V reg
Had a RD 50 all my mates had FS1E 😂 I was always late 😂
😁
You missed out the Jawa 50-207 Freewheeler moped & Jawa 50-223 Mustang, which Bike Magazine dubbed "The fastest (44 MPH) "restricted" moped in the UK", back in 1981.
Also, the BSA Kestrel & Mongoose 50's, which were a joke.
Well done Andy , great knowledge 😎
I had a Kawasaki AE80. Tiny little thing, but went like stink. I think you could improve the 50 version by swapping the engines over. Naughty, perhaps, but as with the AR50 and 80, I bet a few were tempted...!
Hi Lucy, I guess many people did ride with the bigger engine, I owned a fantastic AR 50, when I was 35 yrs 😂 I loved the kawasaki two bikes, why kawasaki never continued with the tiny bikes I don't know, Intresting bike the AE 50, unique some how, thanks for the comment 👍
Whoever thought of the 30mph moped law has obviously never ridden themselves. Putting an inexperienced 16 year-old on something with a maximum speed of 30 with huge lorries thundering past at 50 is surely a recipe for disaster. The first thing most buyers did was derestrict it and stuff the law. I don't blame them. Their safety is more important.
i was given an RD50 and after nearly being killed by a bus on it i had to look inside the motor, did some measurements got the tools out and set to work
a week of machining, porting ,modding the ignition and making a new and slightly noisy expansion chamber
with a slight change of gearing i was able to get up to 60mph and around 45-50 mph 2 up, turned into a great little bike
did some work on an AR50 got nearly the same results the little AR had pin sharp handling (but i did manage to crash it once 🤫)
Sounds like you like a challenge, obviously some great memories for you , owned a AR 50 myself back in the 1990s for short while , appreciate your comment
I had a ZR50SL, in red. PLJ 740 W iirc. It was slow af. I'm pretty sure that the restriction was mostly in the gearing........
Never bothered with 50s, waited for a GP100 but did like the AR and the RD. The MBX was nice but came out later, the MBX125 was beautiful, quality built and went well too.
Yes Roger, the bikes of this era, great quality machines, All my friends had GP 100, because the GP 125 cost more on insurance, strange loop hole, so the 125cc version are very rare now, sold alot of 100cc GP, I had AR50, great bike for the time.
@@moncktonhotmail Put a 125 barrel and piston in mine, happy days
I had a white mb50 was fantastic
My mate had an MB5 and hammered a steel bar down the exhaust pipe to try and make it go faster/sound better 😂
Hope it worked , ha ha
My first bike was a DT50MX
I remember having a AR 50 I thought Cycling would have been quicker , but hey I thought I looked cool until my friend turned up on a ke 100 🤣
The Simpson was the fastest restricted 50cc back in the day. It’s small margins but it counted back then especially as it was the cheapest.
It's a great debate , on the top bike , but they were definitely up there 👍
I wanted an unrestricted Fizzie but got an MB50. £351 new in 1981 but it was slow. How they could pack in 5 gears between 0 and 30mph.
I had a w reg TY with a DT graphics set and from mudguard I sold it and got a TS ER with a 65cc big bore kit and gianelli exhaust, that thing would
Show 55 on the clocks
Great memories Chris 👍
@@moncktonhotmail never had a key for it, the ignition was permanently switched on, it a 6 volt so as soon as you kicked it over the lights would work 😂 we actually bought as scrap from a motorcross shop we used when I was racing who’d taken it as px and didn’t know what to do with it.
You could have mentioned the BSA Brigand, and Beaver 50 cc off road and sports bikes, extremely rare, just rebadge foreign bikes really. Saw a Brigrand on Ebay recently £2195, compared to a FSiE that is a bargain.
They sold these models in my local shop back in the early 1980s , rare very rare now
Another video missing the mighty Puch Grand Prix's & Monza's.........
Very good 😎👍
I had a fs1e, spoked wheels, drum brake, '76 I believe. 1980 it was. Some mates had latest greatest (restricted) like x1 and rd50 and mbx50 which were all piss poor compared to my fizzy... 🙂
There all just has collectable now 😁 glad you had some great times 👍
I thought the rare suzuki chopper was an or50, as my mate had one. I had the ZR50 with square clocks which was la later model of the X1-50.. I thought my x1 zr was a zr50sl butting looking now I see the OR was named ZR50SL aswell. Perhaps a later variant. There was also a GT50 which I once saw, and was jelous of his micron as my ZR didnt have one lol. Although I did have a 65 bore kit and apart from killing cranks it was well worth it at the time.
Brill video ar50 for me shame we went to scooters these where better in every way bigger wheels and normal gearboxes probably got more people into biking bring em back
Great comment 👍
What about the RZ 50 LC, the RG 50W, the RG 50 E, The DT 50 LC? These were hugely popular in South Africa. Were they not available in the UK?
Michael, non of them we certainly had 80cc version RD 80 LC , but 50 , I am not so sure , unless someone knows better than me ? LC 50 , didn't really exist in the UK , great comment thank you
@@moncktonhotmail It may be worth you looking into them, and adding to your list. I had an AR50 Kawasaki, as well as the RG50W Suzuki. Water cooled, front disc, and ANDF forks - a bit of a gimmick, but what a nice bike? Beautiful styling with a 12 V headlight. It was the fastest standard 50cc of its time, deposing the Yamaha RZ 50 LC of that accolade.
1972 fantic Chopper 50cc six speed in uk Garelli Rekord and tiger cross 50cc 4 speed were quite fast italian flair a bit temperamental though.
Italian electrics we always dodgy even when new, the chrome plating was shocking as well.
I saw a xi50 Suzuki not long ago it was red with gold mags and a w reg 81.
Nice rare bike Gary 👍
My mate had an RD80LC what a bke
Nice machines 👍
It the mid 80's I had a Yamaha 50cc 4 stroke factory replica of a 750 midnight special ... 5 speed would almost do 55
Wow that was some bike , Never knew about them , great knowledge every day on this channel 😊 thanks for the comment 👍
What about Honda stream witch you showed how were they restricted???
Great review but didnt the Italians produce "slowpeds" Garelli, Gilera, Malaguti etc as there were a lot of unrestricted mopeds from these makers around in the 70's ? As I understand it the "restriction" was that the engine power should not exceed 3hp from a 49cc engine that resulted in a lower top speed !
Yes they produce a models during this period, hard to get get everything in a 5 min video, thanks for your reply 👍
Some DT 50S
& Old fizzas had pedals.
👍 thank you for your comment
Although it says "Restricted 50cc motorcycles," the speed limit was probably imposed by the foolish British government, which tried to protect British and other European motorcycle manufacturers from Japanese motorcycle manufacturers under the pretext of traffic safety. In Japan, 50cc bikes were much faster and more powerful in the 80s than in the 70s.
Great comment thanks
My mate had a ZR 50 Custom in red and he brought a big bore kit to find out the exhaust port only on the ZR engine came out on the opposite side of the barrel 🤦❗
Sure they did a yellow ZR too , never seen a red one , thanks for your comment 👍
What was that three wheeler from Honda called?
Honda gyro 1984
4:53 affordable? Not really, for a sixteen year old on the "Youth Opportunities Programme" (AKA YOP scheme) in the early 80s, on £25 per week. I was lucky that my mum paid for my second-hand FS1E, because I'd never have been able to afford it myself. Since then, the whole of Britain has become far wealthier in real terms, and thinking that we have always been able to buy whatever we want is a mistake.
OK fair point I was on £25 ,a week , I had savings from my paper round from 14 yrs old ,appreciate your comment 👍