I raced a moped the other day.

whyamihere

Coming onto Monmouth Drive at Banners Gate (Sutton Park, Birmingham), I had a postie on a moped trying to overtake me. I say trying because he didn't really manage it... His top speed was about 27-28mph, and before he'd completed the overtake I was up at the same speed. He started trying to squeeze me toward the kerb, so I dropped back, lit the burners and overtook him again at just over 30 (it's slightly downhill most of the way).

Thus began a 2 mile time trial. I fell back behind after about a mile, dropped back so that I wasn't drafting (pride) and stuck behind him. There's a small rise up to the lights at the end of Monmouth Drive before turning left onto Clifton Road. The lights were just changing as I arrived, he'd already slowed, so I charged up the hill, held my momentum around the corner and took him once again on the run in to an island. I hit the island first. Unfortunately, after the island is a fairly harsh climb, average of 5%, probably up to 10% at the steepest. I got my ass well and truly handed to me by the engine.

I'm still claiming the win.

Bhima

Fantastic. I've done this a few times, it's always fun.

Last time I did it, I flung myself out of the moped's slipstream and we were side-by side on both lanes of the dual-carriageway, proper drag-race style. The cars behind were cheering me on as I attempted to hold 30 all the way to the finish line...errr... I mean lights.

Ash_

Bhima wrote:

The cars behind were cheering me on

I'm pretty sure the horns you heard and shouting weren't actually encouragement - maybe it was more along the lines of "get out of the way, you tw@t"?

Just a thought, like.

Anonymous

Ash_ wrote:

Bhima wrote:

The cars behind were cheering me on

I'm pretty sure the horns you heard and shouting weren't actually encouragement - maybe it was more along the lines of "get out of the way, you tw@t"?

Just a thought, like.

Far more likely.

Bhima

No, no, definately cheering me on.

There were kids hanging out the window behind me shouting "go go go" etc.

Nobody ever tells me to get out of the way - and I take the lane all the time, regardless of speed.

Infamous

if only you could transfer that speed to TTs, then maybe you'll break 14 mins for a 5.

Bhima

Actually, my record for a 5 is currently 11:44

a_n_t

Infamous wrote:

if only you could transfer that speed to TTs, then maybe you'll break 14 mins for a 5.

He is DEFINATELY doing our last club 10 on the 27th :roll:

Bhima

Yep!

Hopefully i'll have my new TT bike by then too...

Infamous

Can you take a camcorder please ant ? that would be superb.

a_n_t

Infamous wrote:

Can you take a camcorder please ant ? that would be superb.

I'm not holding my breath tbh.

Bhima

I'll be there.

Oh, I forgot to mention, my new TT bike is a moped with aerobars.

freehub

Being cheered on is something I'd be surprised about, you sure you did not have headphones on listening to the radio and it was an advert?

I might come to Manchester just to see this TT

stevewj

whyamihere wrote:

Coming onto Monmouth Drive at Banners Gate (Sutton Park, Birmingham), I had a postie on a moped trying to overtake me. I say trying because he didn't really manage it... His top speed was about 27-28mph, and before he'd completed the overtake I was up at the same speed. He started trying to squeeze me toward the kerb, so I dropped back, lit the burners and overtook him again at just over 30 (it's slightly downhill most of the way).

Thus began a 2 mile time trial. I fell back behind after about a mile, dropped back so that I wasn't drafting (pride) and stuck behind him. There's a small rise up to the lights at the end of Monmouth Drive before turning left onto Clifton Road. The lights were just changing as I arrived, he'd already slowed, so I charged up the hill, held my momentum around the corner and took him once again on the run in to an island. I hit the island first. Unfortunately, after the island is a fairly harsh climb, average of 5%, probably up to 10% at the steepest. I got my ass well and truly handed to me by the engine.

I'm still claiming the win.

I expect he turned left at the top, pulled right into the pub carpark (can't remember the name) and let it's poor little engine cool down. I would call the Clifton Road hill more than harsh - I used to walk up it to school and that was bad enough.

Bhima

freehub wrote:

Being cheered on is something I'd be surprised about, you sure you did not have headphones on listening to the radio and it was an advert?

It must be a pretty advanced advert if it is able to morph into your reality so you can chat to it at the traffic lights.

buddha

I've raced a moped and won. Uphill too!

Although at the time it was carrying two (rather large/heavy) yoofs, one of whom was eating a bag of chips!

whyamihere

stevewj wrote:

I expect he turned left at the top, pulled right into the pub carpark (can't remember the name) and let it's poor little engine cool down. I would call the Clifton Road hill more than harsh - I used to walk up it to school and that was bad enough.

No, he turned left halfway up to the RM/Parcelforce depot.

Wappygixer

I raced a Hond melody years ago.
We ended up trading places for about 3 miles.
In the end I just pulled out and went and left the poor guy.

Wappygixer

Bhima wrote:

No, no, definately cheering me on.

There were kids hanging out the window behind me shouting "go go go" etc.

Nobody ever tells me to get out of the way - and I take the lane all the time, regardless of speed.

Is this while they were laughing at your homemade disc wheels??

nolf

I had a go at racing a moped, it was uphill.
He overtook me near the bottom, and I tried to accelerate to keep up, it started to steeped to 10%+ and I managed to catch him again, albeit briefly.
Was great fun though

Also tbh I can't see a person beating a moped downhill.
They have a lot of weight and an engine, so although the power to weight ratio is rubbish, the top end power is good, so on a gentle downhill they would have an advantage.
Just a thought...

gkerr4

nolf wrote:

I had a go at racing a moped, it was uphill.
He overtook me near the bottom, and I tried to accelerate to keep up, it started to steeped to 10%+ and I managed to catch him again, albeit briefly.
Was great fun though

Also tbh I can't see a person beating a moped downhill.
They have a lot of weight and an engine, so although the power to weight ratio is rubbish, the top end power is good, so on a gentle downhill they would have an advantage.
Just a thought...

I'd have thought it more likely as the moped is restricted to 30mph!

top gear, high revs - easily beat 'em downhill!

Tom Butcher

Thinking back 25 years when I rode a Vespa 50 special I'm pretty certain it struggled to do much more than 40 down hills even though it could pull about 34mph on a flat road - so yeah I reckon you'd have more chance downhill on a bike than a moped.