I am planning on doing the HUMM or the VINCE in summer 2014 with my Son who will be 17 1/2 then.
Just seen the new proposed bike licence changes coming in next year and even with a bike licence he will be restricted to 125cc until he is 19 when he will have to take a 2nd test for bikes up to 48bhp and then a 3rd test at 21 to get the full licence! Bonkers when my daughter takes one practical test for the car at 17 and in theory can drive anything.
This means the planned TTR250s are now not an option because he won't be allowed to ride it.
Any suggestion on what 125s would be suitable. We aren't trying to win it but have some fun. I thought of the sinnis blade or maybe a couple of Suzuki Van Vans but no idea what they are like off road.
We did the HUMM last year with our son Nick and had a great time, Nick has a full bike licence, and our understanding was that you need a full bike licence to ride a 125 in Spain and be over 18. I may well of got this wrong so you need to do your own checks. A friend of ours has a trail riding business in Spain and is happy to hire a 125 to anybody over 18 with either a bike licence or car licence. I have heard else where that that's fine if you have a Spanish licence but does not apply to non Spanish licence holders, it is really confusing!
We did the HUMM last year with our son Nick and had a great time, Nick has a full bike licence, and our understanding was that you need a full bike licence to ride a 125 in Spain and be over 18. I may well of got this wrong so you need to do your own checks. A friend of ours has a trail riding business in Spain and is happy to hire a 125 to anybody over 18 with either a bike licence or car licence. I have heard else where that that's fine if you have a Spanish licence but does not apply to non Spanish licence holders, it is really confusing!
This is from the AA site so if he's 17 it looks like we'd be restricted to 125cc anyway.
Driving licence: Minimum age at which a UK licence holder may drive a temporarily
imported car 18. Motorcycles up to 125cc 16years, over125cc 18 years. All valid UK
I rode my CRF250, Jacki rode a CRF230 as did two other people in our group, Nick started on his step through C90 but managed to snap a rear shock towards the end of the second day, he managed to limp back about 20km on one rear shock but had to adopt a very unorthodox riding style. Fortunately we had taken a spare bike another CRF 230 that he rode the last day.
Several forum members have fitted bash plates and do a fair bit of gentle greenlaning on them (plus ride them to the Alps each year!), but they've got very little clearance. Nice little bikes though. Comfy for touring on road if you don't mind getting there slowly: they'll cruise at 55mph but no puff left for more.
Thanks for this. I want this to be a really fun trip for my son as his first bike adventure where he is riding rather than a passenger and these look like a really fun machine.
Perfect for buzzing down French D roads and suited to the dry trail conditions I experienced on the HUMM.
Thanks for the links I think we've found our chosen machine.
Also saw that a chap had ridden the Sinnis 125 Apache (super moto style) to Mongolia. As they are 1/2 the price of the Derbi Terra adventure I wondered if anyone had any experience of them
New 125 test is going to restrict my son to one of these so it would be good to join him. The wieght I understand is 117KG and not as quoted in the article.