Unfortunately I have a hate/hate relationship with these little Minimoto's. And also trail bikes ridden by youths in residential areas.
In the UK they are generally bought by parents who have no idea where their youngsters are going ride them. They do absolutely no investigation into the legal situation, and they are often of the cheapest and most dubious quality.
They are not road legal and therefore cannot be ridden on the road or the footpaths. Niether are the riders generally old enough to hold any sort of licence.
People generally do not own enough land to allow their kids to ride them on their own property. And there are places where they can be ridden legally, but it often costs and since the parents are generally the type that could not be arsed to look into the pros and cons of owning one of these bikes responsibly in the first place, they are hardly likely to take their kids somewhere to ride legally.
Therefore we get the little blighters on any patch of green in residential areas, making an unbeleivable din for hours at a time. One bike and a queue of 12 kids, riding illegally (and they and their parents know it).
They are a public nuisance and a danger to themselves and others. the older they get, the bigger/noisier the bikes and the faster they go.
When asked as to why they are riding illegally the answer is always the same - "where am I/he/little jimmy suppose to ride it?"
Well I don't bloody care, you should have thought about it before you bought the bloody thing! It is
your problem not mine.
I let them know that I have rung the local Police and if I am lucky they might turn up 3 hours later when they are sure the fuel has run out and then ask where the bikes are!
I have next summer to look forward to, where I cannot sit in my own back yard on a sunny afternoon and relax, because all I can hear is the constant drone of a 2 stroke motor.
Rant over
