Katana Owners Club U.K.

Met a bunch of Dutch riders last week on their annual Carbage rally. Any bike welcome but must meet 3 criteria :- cost no more than €500, be at least 20yrs old & no bigger than 50cc.
300 of them (yep,300) crossed over to Harwich on their way to Dublin. A's & B's all the way. All in 5days.
A nice bunch of loosely wrapped individuals. Their website is Carbage. Com and a few YouTube clips. A good selection of peds with some serious luggage.

Ive always said the Dutch are nuts, you’ve gotta love em though

Great to see, if only the Dutch Katana owners were so enthusiastic. Webite is http://www.carbagerun.com btw with the Dutch group at http://www.carbagerun.nl/

It wouldn't work in the UK, you would be hard pressed to get even a rusty non running Mobylette for under €500

I think Bobster and John Martin used to do a similar run but with old 125s (again not going to finf them cheap anymore)

There is a run in Switzerland for mopeds I think it's called the Alpine Brevet which attracts 100's of mopeds from around Europe.

UB

Personally I’ve never seen the attraction in mopeds, especially the so called “sports” mopeds like the fs1e etc. Bloody dangerous things they where/are. Maybe it’s because I’m of an age where I didn’t have to ride them on L plates? 250’s for me or if you where really insane an old 650 Brit with a coffin bolted on the side

mopeds werent really made to appal to adults though. theyre there to fill a legal loophole allowing 16 year olds on the road.youd probably think 'i'll wait till im 17 and get a proper bike', but if you remember back to your youth, those 52 weeks between 16 and 17 seem to last forever.
as for peds, i have to admit a sneaking admiration for them. theres something perversely gratifying about thrashing a machine to the absolute limit of its abilitys on the road in relative safety, (try that with anything over 125 and see how long you last) whereas the little peds can be pasted at the redline for tank of fuel after tank of fuel, without risk of arrest or accident. ive got a couple of 125s that i ride often and theyre great fun. i think that its easy to forget when youve got a stable of bikes capable of 100mph+ just how much fun can be had on small bikes.
now, anyone want to buy a katana 50......