48/49cc Scooters / Mopeds

[piston broke]

 

My Wife wants to buy her 12 year old son one of these 48/49cc mopeds / scooter.....

 

She assures me that the Thai law states that bikes under 50cc's are classed as electric bikes and so there is no age restriction and you don't need a licence or insurance or a helmet - in fact you can't get them registered, so there is no registration number / or book...

 

Has anyone got any actual experience with this class of "motor cycle" ?

 

I'm wary that the first time "sunny Jim" rides it, he gets stopped by the Police and the bike gets confiscated.....

 

TIA.

.

 

[thaiguzzi]

First off.

Whats wrong with a bicycle?

My lad just turned 13, and rides a blinged out 110cc Kawasaki KSR on the road. Not the big main road with 18 wheelers and tour buses, into town - we won't allow that. But 10 kms on a country B road to his grand mother's village no problem.

He also rides a 250cc trials bike off road with me.

So he has been schooled in motorcycling since an early age from a lifetime motorcyclist (his Dad).

I would be wary of letting any youngster out on the road who is not skilled in the control of a powered 2 wheeler, inc a 50cc moped.

Cops will pull any under age (16) looking kid on a bike at a roadblock, regardless if the bike is legal or not.

And 15 y/o, let alone 12,  theoretically are not allowed on the road with a powered 2 wheeler.

[DILLIGAD]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CharlieH]

Posts removed, keep it civil please.

[Pattaya46]

1 hour ago, thaiguzzi said:

My lad just turned 13, and rides a blinged out 110cc Kawasaki KSR on the road. //

What about the law that says you must be 15 to drive a motorbike ?

And No licence... No insurance...

Wait for him to be responsible of a severe accident and see what will happen. 

 

59 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

He also rides a 250cc trials bike off road with me.

He must be 18yo for this one !

 

And for the OP:

AFAIK you need a licence (and insurance) of any motorized vehicle going on the roads, even for this small scooter or small electric ones.

Below 50cc can't be register at DLT though, and it's a grey area to know if they really are allowed on roads or not...

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, piston broke said:

My Wife wants to buy her 12 year old son one of these 48/49cc mopeds / scooter.....

Not a good idea!

I had a legal 50cc bike when I was 15 years old. And I managed to "race" it through a corner on the first day and fell down. No damage to the bike, a hole in my jeans, and I learned to be a little more careful the next time.

I guess your 12 year old son will at some stage try the thing with the racing. Is that what you want?

[piston broke]

12 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

What about the law that says you must be 15 to drive a motorbike ?

And No licence... No insurance...

Wait for him to be responsible of a severe accident and see what will happen. 

i wasn't asking about the morals.....

just the legalaties...

 

[piston broke]

6 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Not a good idea!

I had a legal 50cc bike when I was 15 years old. And I managed to "race" it through a corner on the first day and fell down. No damage to the bike, a hole in my jeans, and I learned to be a little more careful the next time.

I guess your 12 year old son will at some stage try the thing with the racing. Is that what you want?

 

i wasn't asking about the morals...

 

just the legalities.....

[papa al]

Go for it.

Make sure he doesn't wear a helmet.

[Musses the hair]

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, piston broke said:

i wasn't asking about the morals.....

just the legalaties...

Yes, you didn't ask about the morals. But you asked in a public forum and you ask: "Has anyone got any actual experience"?

People with experience answer and you don't like what you read.

Do you think these people spent their time reading your post and answering just to anger you?

Or do these people have some experience from which you could learn - even if it is not what you wanted to read?

[richard_smith237]

6 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Yes, you didn't ask about the morals. But you asked in a public forum and you ask: "Has anyone got any actual experience"?

People with experience answer and you don't like what you read.

Do you think these people spent their time reading your post and answering just to anger you?

Or do these people have some experience from which you could learn - even if it is not what you wanted to read?

 

I don't think he cares about the morals... he clearly doesn't care that giving a 13 year old a motorbike in a country with the highest road mortality rate may well have tragic consequences.... 

 

And then looking at a number of the responses... Its apparent that the Op wants to read the answer that he wants to see - The Op even goes on about no helmet !!!...  its clear he's not the sharpest tool in the box... 

 

I don't know why anyone would offer any help... Op - try the Local Police station if you want answers...

 

 

 

[properperson]

 

Never been the same since Looser Lazer did one ..

[canthai55]

When I was 11 or 12 we took a gasoline engine from a washing machine (remember those) built a wood frame, wheels from a baby carriage, and had my Dad weld sprockets on rear axle and end of the crank.

Boys will be boys.

10km on a road with little traffic - no biggy. Wear a helmet and cut/tear resistance gloves (ask me how I know this)

He can learn to fall down on that road, so when he turns legal age to ride a bike he will already have the skills - now just have to learn the traffic flow.

Seems many here led very sheltered lives - if U ain't living on the edge you aren't living.

 

[CharlieH]

Posts removed a warning issued.

 

If this continues the thread will close. You were warned about this earlier.

 

Keep it civil.

 

7) You will respect fellow members and post in a civil manner. No personal attacks, hateful or insulting towards other members, (flaming) Stalking of members on either the forum or via PM will not be allowed.
 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

35 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

 

Seems many here led very sheltered lives - if U ain't living on the edge you aren't living.

 

 

I prefer to keep my children from the ‘edge’... I’d consider it pretty poor parenting not to.

 

Thats not to imply a degree of overprotection, neither is it reckless enough to give a 13yo a motorbike.

 

Of course, there has to balance and exposure to some risk, I draw the line at potentially life threatening activities though... 

[ThaidDown]

Quote

Has anyone got any actual experience with this class of "motor cycle"

Yes I have.

Motorcycles powered by ICE with capacity less than 50cc and with wheels not greater than 10"

are not legal for use on public roads, therefore cannot be taxed or insured for such use.

However if you drive such an (illegal) vehicle on public roads you still require a helmet and driving license.

 

I came across the law relating to this quite a while ago but cannot locate it (sort of remember it was not contained in a law I expected it to be under, if I find it I will post).

(I do not know rules concerning electric bikes.)

 

[canthai55]

3 hours ago, properperson said:

 

Never been the same since Looser Lazer did one ..

LL2 ?  Who went and formed his own Forum ?

[jackdd]

From another topic:

On 3/2/2018 at 9:10 AM, jackdd said:

Definitions from the Thai traffic law:

(๑๕) “รถ” หมายความว่า ยานพาหนะทางบกทุกชนิด เว้นแต่รถไฟและรถราง
Vehicle: All vehicles except trains and trams

(๑๖) “รถยนต์” หมายความว่า รถที่มีล้อตั้งแต่สามล้อและเดินด้วยกำลังเครื่องยนต์ กำลังไฟฟ้าหรือพลังงานอื่น ยกเว้นรถที่เดินบนราง
Car: Vehicle with 3 or more wheels which has an engine, either electric or other energy source and does not run on rails.

(๑๗) “รถจักรยานยนต์” หมายความว่า รถที่เดินด้วยกำลังเครื่องยนต์ กำลังไฟฟ้า หรือพลังงานอื่น และมีล้อไม่เกินสองล้อ ถ้ามีพ่วงข้างมีล้อเพิ่มอีกไม่เกินหนึ่งล้อ
Motorbike: Vehicle that is powered by an engine and that does not have more than 2 wheels. If it has a sidecar the sidecar may have one extra wheel.

 

So unless somebody can link to an exception for mobility scooters: 

Mobility scooters are considered a car by law

Electric scooters are motorbikes by law 

 

So you have to register them (blue / green book), pay tax and insurance, have to attach a license plate and do of course need a car / motorbike driving license

There is no specific minimal requirement as to how much power a bike needs to have to be classed as motorbike, so a 49cc bike is also a motorbike by law and a 12 year old can not drive it legally

[impulse]

25 minutes ago, jackdd said:

(๑๗) “รถจักรยานยนต์” หมายความว่า รถที่เดินด้วยกำลังเครื่องยนต์ กำลังไฟฟ้า หรือพลังงานอื่น และมีล้อไม่เกินสองล้อ ถ้ามีพ่วงข้างมีล้อเพิ่มอีกไม่เกินหนึ่งล้อ
Motorbike: Vehicle that is powered by an engine and that does not have more than 2 wheels. If it has a sidecar the sidecar may have one extra wheel.

 

So unless somebody can link to an exception for mobility scooters: 

Mobility scooters are considered a car by law

Electric scooters are motorbikes by law 

 

From an engineering standpoint, electric motors are motors and not engines. 

 

Engines are run on combustion.

 

I don't know where that leaves them in legal terms, but I had 2 e-bikes and an e-scooter in Bangkok (Asoke) and rode them all for several years without a second look from the cops.  Except the ones who wanted to know how they worked.  But I was never pulled over.  Just asked some curious questions when I parked them outside local stores.

 

I also had a 50cc scooter.  I found out that just because you can't register it, doesn't mean you don't have to in order to be legal.  In effect, they're not legal on Thai roads.  Tolerated in many places, but not strictly legal.  So then the question becomes, even in those places they're tolerated, what happens if you run up a million baht hospital bill in a wreck?

 

[jackdd]

6 minutes ago, impulse said:

From an engineering standpoint, electric motors are motors and not engines.  

Actually in Thai they write engine / motor (seems to be the same word in Thai) electrically powered or using another kind of energy / power

So this covers electric motors as well as combustion engines

[impulse]

8 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Actually in Thai they write engine / motor (seems to be the same word in Thai) electrically powered or using another kind of energy / power

So this covers electric motors as well as combustion engines

 

It wouldn't surprise me that there's a translation issue.  Thanks for that.

 

All I know for sure is that I had no problems in 7 years of riding e-bikes and e-scooter around the Asoke area.  And I often threw them in the back of my pickup when I went on weekend jaunts out of town.  Mostly Jomtien and Kanchanaburi.  Never had an issue riding in those places, either.  I also took them across the river to the elephant's ear in BKK, and no issues. 

 

I was never able to find Thai laws specific to e-bikes, like you can find for Europe or the USA.  That's not to say there are or aren't any...

 

Edit:  I'd also mention that LA Bikes had a significant presence with their E-Bikes in the Ride for Mom and Ride for Dad events in Bangkok a few years back.  Lots of them on the ride, and several on display in prominent places.

 

 

[digbeth]

it used to be legal until around 1970's-80s and since then there can be no new registration of 50cc scooter/moped

 

Any bikes that has paid road tax continuously since then is 'grandfathered' in and can be sold and use on the road.

 

Personally I've seen 50cc scooters without license plate but compulsory insurance where they stick the proof of insurance on the rear,  but the police is of the opinion that it is not legal on the road, yet it is possible to have compulsory insurance paid for them.